Five City Players Headline 17-18 PFA Premier League Team Of The Year

Post #1 » by **RealGM Wiretap** » Wed Apr 18, 2018 2:33 pm

Manchester City has five players on the 17-18 Professional Footballers’ Association Premier League Team of the Year.

Defenders Nicolás Otamendi and Kyle Walker, midfielders Kevin de Bruyne and David Silva and forward Sergio Agüero were named to the team.

Mohamed Salah and Harry Kane are the other forwards on the team.

Tottenham Hotspur have three selections in Kane, Christian Eriksen and Jan Vertonghen.

David De Gea is the keeper and only member of Manchester United while Marcos Alonso is the selection at left back.

Via The Guardian

ecuhus1981 · Post #2 » by **ecuhus1981** » Wed Apr 18, 2018 3:30 pm

Pogba deserves a nod over Aguero IMO, but it's a pretty fair list.

DANNYLANDOVER · Post #3 » by **DANNYLANDOVER** » Wed Apr 18, 2018 5:17 pm

ecuhus1981 wrote:Pogba deserves a nod over Aguero IMO, but it's a pretty fair list.

LOL are you kidding me? The guy who gets benched routinely deserves it over the top scorer on the league winning team? :crazy:

ecuhus1981 · Post #4 » by **ecuhus1981** » Wed Apr 18, 2018 5:30 pm

DANNYLANDOVER wrote:
ecuhus1981 wrote:Pogba deserves a nod over Aguero IMO, but it's a pretty fair list.

LOL are you kidding me? The guy who gets benched routinely deserves it over the top scorer on the league winning team?

Heck, Sergio was routinely benched/rotated as well, he has one foot out the door at City if you believe some of the rumors. Good teams are really deep, and even great players aren't always in great form or the greatest matchup. In Paul's case, he also has a crazy man for a manger, who likes to play mind games with his best players.

I know that Aguero has been a consistently elite attacker, but he wasn't one of the 2 best or most prolific forwards in the Prem this season. Pogba was one of the 3 best midfielders for all-around impact, not just goals and assists. I'm not saying Sergio was trash, but these awards always seem to shoe-horn in an extra goalscorers, and leave out a worth defender or midfielder.

City controlled the race for the title, and sometimes 5 out of 11 is warranted. But if 4th-place Tottenham can land 3 players on this list, then the 2nd place team can surely get 2. By that logic, you could instead say remove Eriksen instead, but I personally would choose Christian over Aguero also (I know, I just opened ANOTHER debate).

DANNYLANDOVER · Post #5 » by **DANNYLANDOVER** » Wed Apr 18, 2018 6:36 pm

ecuhus1981 wrote:
DANNYLANDOVER wrote:
ecuhus1981 wrote:Pogba deserves a nod over Aguero IMO, but it's a pretty fair list.

LOL are you kidding me? The guy who gets benched routinely deserves it over the top scorer on the league winning team?

Heck, Sergio was routinely benched/rotated as well, he has one foot out the door at City if you believe some of the rumors. Good teams are really deep, and even great players aren't always in great form or the greatest matchup. In Paul's case, he also has a crazy man for a manger, who likes to play mind games with his best players.

I know that Aguero has been a consistently elite attacker, but he wasn't one of the 2 best or most prolific forwards in the Prem this season. Pogba was one of the 3 best midfielders for all-around impact, not just goals and assists. I'm not saying Sergio was trash, but these awards always seem to shoe-horn in an extra goalscorers, and leave out a worth defender or midfielder.

City controlled the race for the title, and sometimes 5 out of 11 is warranted. But if 4th-place Tottenham can land 3 players on this list, then the 2nd place team can surely get 2. By that logic, you could instead say remove Eriksen instead, but I personally would choose Christian over Aguero also (I know, I just opened ANOTHER debate).

Aguero deserves his place. I can see an argument for Firmino, but Pogba? I'm not really sure how you can say that with a straight face. He's been awful most of the season.
The formation for this year is 4-3-3, which is what most good teams play now, so I can't agree with you on that point either.

ecuhus1981 · Post #6 » by **ecuhus1981** » Thu Apr 19, 2018 2:26 pm

Yes, a 4-3-3 is normally a lone-striker system, with wingers like Hazard and Sanchez on either side. What ends up happening in these Best XI lists is that the top 3rd end up as 3 strikers, and the 2 best wingers occupy 2 of the 3 midfielder spots. It sounds like a video gamer's dream, but it isn't realistic for football, and it typically short-changes players that heavily affect the outcome of a match, beyond simple goal/assist statistics. THAT'S my beef, and I know it is not a popularly held belief.

Believe me, I'm a huge admirer of Aguero (after all, I'm for Atleti!). I just don't feel he was one of the eleven best players in the league this season, nor do I feel he was one of the 2 best strikers.