Writers POTY .. Salah

[the plasterer]

Who won it the year Yaya got 20 goals from midfield because a I do remember Yaya not being very happy about it.

saurez??, not sure though

 

[Neville Kneville]

Fucking joke.

 

[jamesha]

I am nothing like as pissed with this as I was when Suarez was chosen in front of Yaya for the award in 2013/2014. Freddie scored most of his goals against relegation fodder, behaved terribly and bottled the league. Salah seems a decent guy but I am wondering whether he has just had a "Stephen Ireland" never to be repeated season.

The amusing thing is that Maureen let both of these players go - would you trust him to rebuild Manyoo?

 

[chaddblue]

If Madrid thrash them and they finish 5th he should be ordered to hand the awards to the rightful owner, KDB

 

[Manchester1894]

salah is a v good player to be fair and has timed his impressive run post xmas so its fresh in football writers minds. I can see why he has won it .

doesn't take away from the fact that kev has been consistently good all season long

I am sure salah would swap his award in a heartbeat for a premier league champions and league cup medal.

Yep. As a football fan, totally understand why he won. He's been very consistent and that's given him some big numbers. I agree that it's fine lines (like hitting 4 v Watford) but he's carried Liverpool towards a final and top 4 should be easy. And the reason I don't mind him winning an individual award, he comes across as a really humble bloke. Kane hasn't exactly endeared himself to people with the goal claims and FA whinging.

Ultimately Kevin and the team have to take responsibility for him not getting the award. For us he's the clear player of the year. He had to cover Silva's absence and was instrumental in a record breaking season.
Although his form was fine, his output in terms of goals and assists dipped at the exact same time Salah's went up. (which I come to in a second)
Results also a factor which is why the team also hold some responsibility. Going out of the FA Cup (I know Liverpool did to, but it's at the time where the award was being spoke of) and CL to a Salah inspired team didn't help.

But going back to the output I mentioned: https://www.whoscored.com/Players/73084/Fixtures/Kevin-De-Bruyne

No goals or assists in this period of 5 consecutive matches:
FAC 19-02-2018 Wigan 1 : 0 Manchester City 25' N/A
EFLC 25-02-2018 Arsenal 0 : 3 Manchester City 90' N/A
EPL 01-03-2018 Arsenal 0 : 3 Manchester City 90' 7.59
EPL 04-03-2018 Manchester City 1 : 0 Chelsea 90' 7.54
EPL 12-03-2018 Stoke 0 : 2 Manchester City 90' 7.64

Then no goals or assists in these too:
UCL 04-04-2018 Liverpool 3 : 0 Manchester City 90' 6.52
EPL 07-04-2018 Manchester City 2 : 3 Manchester United 18' 6.73
UCL 10-04-2018 Manchester City 1 : 2* Liverpool 90' 7.65
EPL 14-04-2018 Tottenham 1 : 3 Manchester City 89' 7.34

Like I said, his form was fine, but being critical the only way to guarantee the award was for the team to progress past Liverpool, and to wrap up the league in record time along with assists and goals. He's still the better footballer, and will excel as long as he's got a Silva or another creative mid across the whole of the season. Not Silva's fault, we all know family is more important than any game or award. :)

 

[EL APACHE TEVEZ]

Who’s bothered about a piss poor award,trophy’s are what players want we’ve got 2 this season I bet if you ask kev what he’d rather have.

 

[malg]

Fuck me, move on.

 

[pudge]

Fuck me, move on.

No spooning?

 

[NorCalBlue]

Salah seems a decent guy but I am wondering whether he has just had a "Stephen Ireland" never to be repeated season.

I certainly hope you're right (at least if he stays at Liverpool), and the stats give some hope that you may be on to something. His goals scored total is obviously extremely impressive, but there's another stat I came across that suggests he also wastes a lot of opportunities.

According to SofaScore, Salah has 21 "big chances missed" this season in 2720 minutes (1 per 130 mins), but Sterling only has 12 "big chances missed" in 2387 minutes (1 per 199 mins). Now what they call a "big chance missed" is anyone's guess, but it seems odd that while Sterling is well known for bad misses (even by those of us who rate him highly nonetheless), the only thing you ever hear about Salah is how clinical he is in front of goal. Did he just miss a load in the first half of the season, or are we just not mentally acknowledging bad misses on days he scores 1 or 2 as well?

Hi xG is phenomenal, by the way, so he's either scored enough goals from difficult chances to cancel out the bad misses (and then some), or else his "big chances missed" refers more to times when he didn't even get a shot off, or failed to make a pass to someone better place. Either way, if he doesn't fix that stat, and his goal production drops off a bit, he might be a lot less effective next season.

 

[Clercqs]

I certainly hope you're right (at least if he stays at Liverpool), and the stats give some hope that you may be on to something. His goals scored total is obviously extremely impressive, but there's another stat I came across that suggests he also wastes a lot of opportunities.

According to SofaScore, Salah has 21 "big chances missed" this season in 2720 minutes (1 per 130 mins), but Sterling only has 12 "big chances missed" in 2387 minutes (1 per 199 mins). Now what they call a "big chance missed" is anyone's guess, but it seems odd that while Sterling is well known for bad misses (even by those of us who rate him highly nonetheless), the only thing you ever hear about Salah is how clinical he is in front of goal. Did he just miss a load in the first half of the season, or are we just not mentally acknowledging bad misses on days he scores 1 or 2 as well?

Hi xG is phenomenal, by the way, so he's either scored enough goals from difficult chances to cancel out the bad misses (and then some), or else his "big chances missed" refers more to times when he didn't even get a shot off, or failed to make a pass to someone better place. Either way, if he doesn't fix that stat, and his goal production drops off a bit, he might be a lot less effective next season.

Salahs finishing was terrible for the first half of the season. It felt like he missed a couple of 1v1 in every game. These last months he's been ridiculous clinical in front of goal though after being a crap finisher for his whole career.