Your first point is impossible to discuss as there is no relative point of reference for 'better' when you're comparing a defender with 3 attacking midfielders and 2 strikers. Your second point probably fails to take into account the fact that Alderweireld was the only addition to a defensive line that was frankly embarrassing last season and in the space of a few months became the stingiest in the league by a country mile. If you think the upturn in fortune is mere coincidence you obviously haven't watched enough of us this year because the guy has been insanely good. I assume you'd rate Morgan and Huth ahead of him and that's fair enough, but what makes Toby so good is that he doesn't base his success on kicking and elbowing people. He is such a talent on the ball who has scored and assisted more than any other defender in the PL. Anyway I'm not being drawn into a protracted debate on the matter. Toby is the best defender on the planet. (Quote Benitez) "fact" (end quote).
Your first point is somewhat fair, although is it fair to compare midfielders to strikers? That's what the award is about. As for your second. Since Huth has come in (with a few weeks of getting used to the partnership with Morgan) we've gone from relegation certainties to title favourites. He has, without doubt, been the best defender in the league.
Alderweireld is the best CB in the PL this season. He has been paired with Vertonghen and Wimmer this season, and the defence has been the best in the PL irrespective of the pairing. Of course you could say that he is the weak link and that the other two are better (lucky for the PL then that Vertonghen and Wimmer were not paired all season) ...
Alderweireld has committed 21 fewer fouls recieved 4 fewer yellow cards, scored more and created more goals, he has played every second of our campaign so far, and at the same stage last season (33 matches) we had conceded 49 goals and you had conceded 51, so both defences have improved significantly, but even by this measure our improvement is greater and Toby is the main reason for this (along with Diers emergence as a quality cdm). They should be the 2 defenders in PFA team of the season, but if you are looking for people to agree that Huth has been better I suggest you stay on the Leicester forum because no one here is going to agree
IMHO better measures on this would be the number of : 1. fouls committed against tackles made 2. goals conceded from the set-pieces taken after all the fouls made (ie what has been the cost of their fouls) Not sure if the source data (Opta etc) is available to do the analytics.
Hush hush now RDBD or we'll have @AKCJ back telling us how Robert Huth's 13 appearances for them that year were an integral part of their successful campaign. In fairness though, I hadn't realised how drastically Leicester have improved since Huth signed - I thought he'd been there since the beginning of last season but he actually joined on loan in February, and within a few weeks they went on that brilliant run to secure survival and haven't looked back since. It's amazing when you think about how a player who couldn't buy a game at Chelsea for love nor money, got relegated with Middlesbrough, then deemed surplus to requirements at mighty Stoke has done a serious amount to turn Leicester from relegation certainties to champions elect. It essentially boils down micro-cosmically to the season-long argument we've been having with the Leicester mob. No-one in their right mind would suggest that Huth is a more cultured, talented footballer than Toby, so it really comes down to the old effective defender v exciting defender paradigm...
I don't think Huth is a better "footballer" (by that i'm assuming you mean Alderweireld can pass it and dribble a bit) but no-one in their right mind would suggest that Alderweireld is a better defender.
Football League Nominees: Championship Player of the Year: Andre Gray (Burnley), Alan Judge (Brentford), Ross McCormack (Fulham) League One Player of the Year: Nicky Ajose (Swindon), Bradley Dack (Gillingham), Romaine Sawyers (Walsall) League Two Player of the Year: Ricky Holmes (Northampton), Kemar Roofe (Oxford), Matty Taylor (Bristol Rovers) Young Player of the Year: Lewis Cook (Leeds), Moussa Dembele (Fulham), Rico Henry (Walsall) Andre Gray would be my pick for the CPOTY, quality goal scorer and I hope Burnley come up so we can how he fares at the top level. If they miss out on promotion (which doesn't look likely at the moment), I'd say a Prem side will go in for him, even if he did only join them last Summer. Gillingham's Bradley Dack is an interesting one to watch, a mate of a mate is a Gills fan and they reckon Dack is Premier League quality. Disappointed that Jay Simpson isn't nominated for the League Two award, mainly due to sentimental value although he is the League's 2nd top scorer, I went to Primary with him while his missus is now good friends with my work colleague. Rico Henry up for the young player award, he's the one that's been on our radar since the Summer.
The measures I suggested (perhaps with others too) would IMHO objectively rank the CB. If I had the source data I would do the analytics, but I suspect that Toby will only come out top yet again and more stupidity would follow.
You're coming onto the Spurs board trying to make a claim that Huth is better than Toby. Toby's been part of the best defence in the league and was a major catalyst in turning us into that, he's contributed to goals both by scoring and assisting, his ball-playing skills works well for our style and his defensive abilities are also at the highest standard. "No-one in their right mind" would come on to this board and tell us another Premier League defender has been better because you're going to get shot down immediately. Praise Huth with your Leicester buddies as much as you won't but not one single guy or girl over here will nod in agreement with you when suggesting Huth is better than Toby, it's actually comical you really believe that.
Huth is a better defender than Alderweireld, stats back that up. Whether you want to believe that having the ability to pass it a bit better or dribble it a bit further makes you a better defender is your opinion.
I think that the problem the kid has is that he seeks more acclaim for Leicester other than for the reason they may win the PL because they get the most points. As things stand, the team who may finish second have the top PL goal scorer, the most goals scored, and the least goals conceded.
Huth and Alderweireld both make an average of 1.2 tackles per game. Huth makes 2.2 interceptions per game to Alderweireld's 1.6. Huth makes 0.9 blocks per game to Alderweireld's 0.8 Huth is dribbled past 0.3 times per game, Alderweireld is dribbled past 0.5 times per game. Alderweireld wins more offside decisions (1.3 per game to Huth's 0.6) although you play a much higher line with attacking fullbacks so this is to be expected. Alderweireld fouls less per game, 0.3 to Huth's 0.9. Stats taken from whoscored.com
Most people in their right mind would suggest this, those who are clearly pissed, perhaps not. He's the lynchpin of the defence that's conceded the fewest goals this season. There have been no better centre backs in any prem team this season than Toby.
