Ordsall Quays Red wrote:
Why not? In this day and age where a) most of the rule changes favour attacking players and b) the standard of a lot of defending is shockingly inept at most levels of the game (including the PL), then a truly outstanding defender should be applauded. For this I would have Vidic as my POTY and agree with others that Kompany has been wrongly overlooked.
Oh give over. Rule changes favour attacking players? That's why on every set piece, if a defender or goalkeeper is touched, it's automatically flagged as the attacker fouling, 90% of the time the call is wrong. The offside rule, again, you see more 50/50's called in favour of the defender, and, if it isn't, there is an outrageous amount of grief given to a linesman for giving the attacker the advantage. The art of good defending is something that has been mastered far better than the art of good attacking over here. Well over half of the sides in the league approach games with the 'keep clean sheet' mentality.
Still, that doesn't mean a defender shouldn't win the award, a defender should if he has been by far the most consistent performer in the league. However, with attackers being much more 'productive', it's easier for their worth to be measured as you see a lot more end product, whereas a great defender can often be ignored because of those around him.
That list shows how pretty darn average the league has been this year. Not one side has really played great football, all sides have struggled for consistency and there obviously hasn't been a truly outstanding individual. Still, how Kompany and Nani have been left out, but Adam, Parker and the laughable Bale have been included, perplexes me.
