Alessandro Benedetti’s take on PFA Player of the Year and Team of the Year Awards

I, Alessandro Benedetti, self confessed football fanatic but general sports enthusiast do not claim to be an expert in the field just a died-hard fan of sport and the watching of sport. Discussing football is always controversial; everyone has their say, their favourite team and their strong beliefs. If you love football, you love talking about football and that’s what I want to do – all day long.

This week there has been a lot of discussion regarding the Professional Footballers’ Association Awards. Was Eden Hazard a deserved winner of the Player of the Year? The general consensus does seem to be that he is the fair winner but as I said, everyone has differing opinions. He scored 13 goals and made 8 assists in 33 Premier League games for Chelsea. Personally I, Alessandro Benedetti, football nut, might have gone for Harry Kane, who won the Young Player of the Year award and others would agree with me.  His track record for a lesser team has been exceptional so what could he have be capable of in a stronger team? The 21 year old has scored 30 goals for Tottenham Hotspur this year, having only really started properly in November. An amazing track record if you ask me and such a young, promising player. I was pleased therefore that he did get the Young Player award but I think perhaps he could have been a bit better recognised than that. John Terry has also come up in discussions as having had a stellar year and of course an excellent career too.

Another interesting topic of discussion is of course always the PFA Premier League team of the year which has caused massive backlash online as a result of Cesc Fabregas not being included on the list. Was this an oversight? Despite making 16 assists in the Premier League this season, which is more than any other player, Chelsea’s Fabregas was not recognised. Phillipe Coutinho, who was in the list, made only 4 assists.  Fabregas fans have reacted angrily to the decision to put Coutinho in and leave Fabregas out but the decision sticks and that it that. It is always interesting when people get bogged down with stats. Obviously they do play a key part in deciding who the better player of the season is but I also feel that there is a lot more to a player’s ability that can’t really be measured by cold hard statistics. I think perhaps some of the angry fans should have a think about this and see Coutinho’s other strengths.