PFA Premier League Team of the Year

Along with their announcement of their Player of the Year (Cristiano Ronaldo) and Young Player of the Year (Cesc Fàbregas), the PFA announced their Premier League Team of the Year yesterday. For once, I have no real issue with any of the selections made; I think the players did a good job with this and full credit to them for it. To be honest, my Premiership XI looks exactly the same with one exception: Liverpool's Jamie Carragher ahead of Rio Ferdinand at center back.

GK: David James (Portsmouth)
RB: Bacary Sagna (Arsenal)
LB: Gaël Clichy (Arsenal)
CB: Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United)
CB: Nemanja Vidić (Manchester United)
RMF: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
LMF: Ashley Young (Aston Villa)
CMF: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
CMF: Cesc Fàbregas (Arsenal)
ST: Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal)
ST: Fernando Torres (Liverpool)

A couple quick observations:

• I would've liked to have seen a true defensive midfielder on this team rather than two attacking central midfielders in Gerrard and Fabregas. You can't deny that either of those two guys have had great seasons, but it would've been nice to see either Javier Mascherano or Mathieu Flamini in there. The role they play is one that isn't sexy; it doesn't get a lot of recognition from the casual fan, but it is critical to winning.

• It's interesting that Chelsea, who is tied on points with Manchester United on top of the table, didn't get one representative in this team, and even Arsenal got one more player (four) than United (three).

• As you all can probably guess, I'm ecstatic to see Ashley Young here. He has had an absolutely fantastic season for Aston Villa and has surely played his way into the England starting lineup for years to come.

Ronaldo is PFA Player of the Year, Fabregas is Young Player of the Year

This makes no sense, or at least half of it doesn't.

For the second year in a row, Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo was named the Premiership Player of the Year by his peers. He's scored 38 goals in all competitions this season and is fully deserving of the award. If he didn't win it unanimously, or at least very near unanimously, I would be surprised.

But somehow, some way, Cesc Fabregas won the Young Player of the Year award. Don't get me wrong, the Arsenal midfielder has had a good, if not great, season. In any other year, he would've been the top candidate for this honor. However, he was up against Ronaldo (and others), and the Portuguese winger already won the more prestigious award.

So how did Fabregas, who was also nominated for Player of the Year, beat Ronaldo? I don't get it.

Let me get this straight. According to the players, Ronaldo was the best player in the league. The BEST PLAYER, regardless of age. Yet Fabregas was the best young player, even when Ronaldo was also eligible???

It just doesn't make any sense to me. It's a regular occurrence for someone to be the Young Player of the Year but not the Player of the Year; that's normal. I've rarely ever seen it go the other way, though, in any sport, and I question it when it does each and every time.

As it is, I don't think either Fabregas or Ronaldo (or Torres or Ashley Young, for that matter) should've been up for the young player award in the first place. It's a joke that these players were; first of all, they're not "young" in age in soccer terms, and they each have more top-flight experience than players five or six years their senior.

I talked about this more when I wrote about the original nominees a few weeks ago, but I think the young player award should be limited to those 20 years of age at the start of the season and younger, and who also have appeared in 38 or less top-flight league games at the start of the season. That would rule out guys like Fabregas, who has played in 137 Premiership games for Arsenal.

That issue is for another time, though. Congratulations to both Fabregas and Ronaldo on their achievements this season. They've both had wonderful years for their respective clubs. I can't say I agree with the players on naming Fabregas as the YPoY, but that's just how it goes.

PFA Award Nominees Released

The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) has named their candidates for their Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year awards.

No problem here with the nominees for Player of the Year, but I definitely take exception with a couple of the possibilities for Young Player of the Year. More on that in a bit.

Player of the Year (club):

Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, last year’s PFA Player of the Year)
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
David James (Portsmouth)
Fernando Torres (Liverpool)
Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal)
Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal)

Young Player of the Year: (club)

C. Ronaldo (last year’s PFA Young Player of the Year)
Torres
Fabregas
Micah Richards (Manchester City)
Ashley Young (Aston Villa)
Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa)

First off, it was nice to see someone from outside the “Big Four” represented in the finalists for Player of the Year. David James has had an outstanding season in goal for Portsmouth and has been the best keeper in the league, bar none. There’s a reason that Fabio Capello has made him England’s number one at the moment, even at Jam-O’s age.

As I said, I have no issue with any of the six players on that list. They all deserve to be there, although if Ronaldo doesn’t win close to unanimously, it would be a joke. He’s had a truly once-in-a-lifetime year for the Red Devils.

The Young Player of the Year nominees, however, is where I do have a problem. It’s not so much the fact that three players (Fabregas, Torres, and Ronaldo) are in the running for both awards; yes, I would rather see this honor be completely exclusive and separate from the Player of the Year, but I can live with the current alternative. Again, Ronaldo should win nearly unanimously, though Torres will get some votes as well.

It’s the definition of a “Young Player” that has me irked. To be eligible to win under the PFA’s definition, a player has to be under 23 years of age at the start of the season. Newsflash: 23 is not young in soccer; almost every single Premiership team has multiple players from ages 21-23 that feature regularly. If you’re going to give this award based strictly on age, it should be for players under 21.

Personally, I think two factors should go into it. One of them, obviously, is being 21 or younger, and the second is a maximum of 38 Premiership games (a full season) played. I understand that Fabregas is only 20, but he’s been playing in the league for Arsenal since he was 17 and has appeared in 135 league matches for the Gunners.

Give me a break. He’s young in age, but certainly not in experience.

Torres is now 24 years old, come on.

You get the point. This award should be more for a breakout-type young player, a guy who splashed on the scene out of the blue. Theo Walcott, for example, would be a perfect candidate to win this honor. He couldn’t get a game last season, but has played some hugely important minutes for Arsene Wenger this year and has really contributed. He's not even on this list though, which is ridiculous.

With the PFA’s list of nominees for both awards, then, here are my 1st-3rd place winners:

Player of the Year:

1. C. Ronaldo
2. Torres
3. James

Young Player of the Year:

1. C. Ronaldo
2. Torres
3. Young