EPL Talk » Jack Rodwell

The PFA Player Of The Year Shortlists Are A Joke

Paul Bestall — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:42:48 +0000

If today’s PFA Player of the Year shortlist shows us anything, announcing the player of the year with almost 6 weeks of the season left looks a stupid decision. With only Steven Gerrard not from Manchester United on the six player shortlist, it just shows how quickly things in football can change. What if Frank Lampards goals fire Chelsea to a treble this season? What if Arsenal win the Champions League? Could Manchester United miss out on the Premiership, F.A. Cup and Champions League yet have a player win the PFA award?

Has Edwin Van Der Saar really been the best Premiership goalkeeper this season? Surely Mark Schwarzer’s contribution for Fulham has been more important between the sticks, as perhaps Shay Given at Newcastle and Manchester City this season can claim too. Manchester United could play a snowman in goal sometimes and no-one would notice.

Liverpool have now only got one chance of silverware after Wednesdays classic Champions League Quarter Final say Chelsea edge them out, with Lampard once again dragging the Blues through. Lampard has now scored 19 goals in all competitions, 2 less than Gerrard and Ronaldo but has set up more goals for his team mates than those two put together.Ferdinand has been superb all season, Vidic has seen his form drift away since February.

I don’t understand why the PFA awards have to be announced so soon and the voting to be concluded before all the major trophies are handed out. Last season, it was obvious that Ronaldo was head and shoulders ahead of anyone else, won all the domestic player awards and then failed to deliver once again for Portugal, spent all Summer flirting with Real Madrid and then missed the beginning of the season through injury and still won the World Player of The Year Award.

This year, there is no stand out candidate, but for Lampard to be omitted is beyond a joke. During the final weeks of Scolari’s reign at Stamford Bridge, Lampard carried them single handed it seemed to try and keep them in as many competitions as possible, showing guts and determination throughout the chaos that seemed to be going on all around him. Are professional players that daft that they couldn’t see that?

The Young Player of the Year award seems even more ludicrous, only 3 of the candidates have truly played well all season. Ireland, Rafael and Lennon have been head and shoulders above the other 3 candidates, with Ireland being the stand out nomination. Of the other 3, Agbonlahor has scored 3 goals since Christmas, has Jonny Evans been that good all season and Ashley Young has been so inconsistent as to be almost laughable to be included in the final six.

How two Aston Villa players could be included when they’ve won 3 games out of their last 15 matches makes me think that the nominations must have been done on New Years Eve because Villa have fallen away so far and are in danger of finishing 6th when they had a good chance of finishing 3rd. Are there so few young players kicking around? Where’s Jack Rodwell? Mark Noble and Jack Collinson from West Ham have both had excellent seasons yet don’t feature at all.

Hopefully Ferdinand and Ireland will win the awards, but the nominations themselves just don’t make any sense at all. It’s time to move them to the end of the season when it actually matters.

Welcome Back Eduardo While Russian Increases Arsenal Share

Johnathan Starling — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 06:58:30 +0000

I have to admit this is one return I am glad to see.

After getting match fit in the reserves, and helping Croatia to a friendly victory, Eduardo Da Silva returned to the Arsenal starting eleven in glorious fashion Monday night as his two goals blasted Arsenal into the fifth round of the FA Cup in a 4-0 defeat of Cardiff City.

Last year when we saw Eduardo’s horrific injury, I seriously doubted Eduardo would be back in eighteen months, much less 24. To be back in less than twelve is a credit to modern medicine.

For Eduardo every game now has to be a dream. The roar from the Emirates crowd when he headed on Vela’s ball spine tingling. While granted this was Cardiff City, Eduardo looked like he hadn’t missed a beat.

His return to the first team should be a much needed boost for Arsenal’s chances of finishing inside the top four. The only hope for me is that Eduardo bounces back from that first hard tackle that will probably be intentionally coming once he starts again in the Premier League.

It was indeed the perfect dream return for Eduardo. Here’s to many more happy returns.

There was other big Arsenal news tonight. Red and White Holdings Limited, the Alisher Usmanov group, has announced they have increased their stake in Arsenal. Now at 25 percent, they are inching their way closer to the magical thirty percent number. That is the percentage that would require formal takeover talks to begin.

Furthermore, at twenty-five percent, Usmanov can now block attempts by the Arsenal board at changing the financial structure of the club or the transfer of equity to other board members.

While it doesn’t look likely a formal takeover bid could happen in the short term, one does have to wonder what Usmanov’s intentions are with the club? Having twenty-five percent of the club, he’s been an awfully silent partner with the club. Though with share prices about twenty-five percent lower since Usmanov’s initial purchase, could we see a takeover bid? All it would take is a percentage of Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith’s shares.

Other Stories
Everton have shone up the services of Jack Rodwell for the next five years. With his performances of late, he deserves it. I know it’s early, and he’s no Wayne Rooney, but will Rodwell be one of these people who will want to move on in a few years time?

Guus Hiddink is worried about his players fitness. I guess age and not being at AC Milan will do that.

Rafa Benitez is claiming that he wants his Liverpool future sorted soon…and denying he wants total control of transfers. Usually when the quote reads ‘I would like to clear one thing up – I have never asked for complete control’, that usually means you have.

Robinho is doubtful for Manchester City as FC Copenhagen approaches midweek in the UEFA Cup.

Here’s the latest player to complain about English food. That person, Roman Pavlyuchenko.

Roman Abramovich has seen his wealth drop to 13.9 billion dollars. At the rate he fires managers, it won’t take long for that wealth to be zero.

And Newcastle United could be getting Mark Viduka, Obafemi Martins and Alan Smith back for their clash against Everton. However for Mark Viduka, he won’t be back next season.

Chicago 2-0 Everton: Photos And Match Report

The Gaffer — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 06:27:47 +0000

EPL Talk reader EPLNFL was at last night’s friendly between Chicago Fire and Everton at Toyota Park. Here’s his mini-report from the game:

“As a Fire fan I had a great time with a 2-0 Chicago victory. As a EPL fan I was disappointed in Everton and the quality of play. They were extremely cautious with the ball during the first half moving the ball more backwards then forward at times. In the second half, they came out more aggressive and tried to break the ball up the middle — with no results however.

Clearly Everton is training and weary from the US Tour, but the Fire was without Blanco and McBride which leaves them with no offense. David Moyes is a favorite of mine and, of course Tim Howard I follow with great interest, but if Everton keeps up this form it’s the bottom half of the table this season!

There were about 250 people in the American supporters group for Everton and an additional group of English fans on the US tour. The American supporters seemed to be a very good group and no trouble was seen by me. The tour group seemed to be on the verge of a beer too many but gave no trouble.”

To view more photographs from the game, visit the EPL Talk photos section.

Thanks to EPLNFL (aka Lou Bruno) for providing the photos and mini-match report. A more detailed match report will be published tomorrow.

Editor’s note: To be fair, this was not Everton’s first team squad. Several players got a run-out for the Toffees including new faces Jose Baxter, Dan Gosling and Jack Rodwell.