Monday, February 26, 2007

Only Choose One Player From Each Premiership Teams XI

Saw this on Football 365 and thought it'll be interesting to do it myself based on my own preferences. Let's see:

Goalkeeper: Ben Foster (Watford)
Starting off from the goalkeeper position, the young English goalkeeper certainly impressed me enough as well as Steve McClaren, who gave him his first cap for England in the friendly against Spain earlier this month. A fantastic all round goalkeeper who is an excellent shot stopper and seldom flap at important moments. He's at Watford to keep the scores down, that's about it I guess.


Left Back: Gareth Barry (Aston Villa)
Another of those under-rated players around in the Premiership. Although his performance didn't really set the world alight but he certainly showed that the English players CAN take penalties. A capable and reliable captain for Villa, he gets my pick at left back.


Right Back: Micah Ricards (Man City)
Highly rated by the whole of England and touted to take over Gary Neville's place at the right back slot of England, he's an enthusiastic player who is versatile and never afraid to stick his foot into challenges. He gives Man City the extra physical presence in the team and also a tourniquet for them.


Centre Back: Ivica Ingimarrson (Reading)
Reading have been the surprise package of all surprise packages this season and their excellent run in the Premiership is not only their potency in front of goal but also the fact that they have a proper backbone. Like Wigan last season, who had the experience of Arjen De Zeeuw, Reading had this Icelandic at the heart of defence and he performed reasonably well, putting a few balls into the opponent's net as well.


Centre Back: Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea)
You must be wondering why I didn't pick John Terry. To me, I thought the Portugese performed far better than the England captain in recent times and just watch his performance against Arsenal last night. Although he was caught out by Walcott for that goal but he stepped up his performance after Terry went off and made some crucial interceptions and his reading of the game has always been immense.


Left Midfield: Morten Gamst Pedersen (Blackburn)
One of the best free kick takers around, Pedersen has a lethal left foot. But his contributions go beyond just striking powerful free kicks into top corners but also helping his team mates with good passes and he's in charge of the Creative Department of Blackburn.


Right Midfield: Cristiano Ronaldo (Man Utd)
A winger who swapped flanks so often yet it never hamper him from scoring fantastic goals. The number of league goals this season from his winger position just showed us what a quality player this young Portugese can be. If he could do away with his diving antics, he'll be more well respected by the English. This man was transformed into what he is now after the WC '06 controversy and have been at his top of his game.


Centre Midfield: Mikel Arteta (Everton)
Another Spanish centre midfielder that can walk into most national team but can't with Spain purely because of the number of quality midfielders in the same position. The Basque play maker is an integral part of Everton and without him, they looked bit part and an apparent lack of quality. Could argue that Cahill is a better goal scorer, but I pick Arteta for his overall contributions.


Centre Midfield: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
Not having a stormer of a season like the last but certainly did his job well after being moved back to his favourite centre midfield role. He's the player that will walk into any team in England, or perhaps, even Europe. He's got goals, guts and guile. He'll certainly be the man to conjure up some magical moments and a must have for any sort of XI except for perhaps 'Best Hairstyle'.


Striker: Dimitar Berbatov (Tottenham)
The big man from Bulgaria was brought in to be a target man and his performance must have been an enriching lesson for all the target men in the Premiership. Just watch his performance last night against Bolton and you'll get the jeez. He has an excellent touch, big, strong and physical. The type of player that will fit in the Premiership well and also, he's hardworking, he scores the goals and also set up for others. Might turn out to be one of the signings of the season.


Striker: Thierry Henry (Arsenal)
The icon of English football is ironically a French. But one could understand why. He have been troubling the Premiership defence since his arrival from Juventus few years back and many Arsenal fans and neutrals didn't look back from it. Setting the world alight consistently throughout his Arsenal career, he scores the goals, leads by example and the symbol of Arsenal's artistic, aesthetically pleasant but often over-elaborating play. The only doubt will be how he'll work together with another striker from their North London rivals.


Sub 1: Brian McBride (Fulham)

Sub 2: Jussi Jaaskalainen (Bolton)

Sub 3: Obafemi Martins (Newcastle)

Sub 4: Phil Jagielka (Sheffield Utd)

Sub 5: Yossi Benayoun (West Ham)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

i think xabi alonso shoudl be a sub at least. and what's wrong with stevie's hair? i rather like it now =D

DROGBALLS said...

But if I pick Gerrard, I can't get another one from Liverpool eh. Have to pick one from each team :)

Haha he's more vain now and looks like tintin! But I'm okay with it actually. Carra doesn't like it though.

alanna said...

carra doesn't like anybody's hair!

DROGBALLS said...

Except for his own I think, heh.

Anonymous said...

Should there be a Salary Cap in Football?
Personally I think there should be! It’s just getting to be stupid money in football at the top of the premiership!
It’s always the same teams at the top proving that football success is based purely on money which ruins the idea of it being a sport! They’ve done it in rugby, basketball, hockey and American football and it makes the sports more competitive and better to watch!
I do a little Football Betting Online from time to time and most matches don’t hold much surprise who is going to win, its boring! I want to see a team at the bottom pulling off an amazing season beating last seasons winners in a close fought battle!
Make things fair! It shouldn’t be about money!

Anonymous said...

i like to bet on football. and i also think that the introduction of a salary cap would result in more interesting betting... we are seeing what is currently echoed throughout society - the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer...