So as we face Southampton on Sunday, members and ST holders have been voting for their player of the season and the winner will be announced after the final whistle before the lap of appreciation from the players and staff. What's everyone's selections? I've added a few sub-categories too. Player of the season: Toby. Hardest group to choose from in years as so many have been brilliant but his consistency and performances have been immense, barely put a foot wrong and only committed something like 9 fouls! Young player of the season: Alli. Mad to think that a year ago he was playing for MK Dons in League 1. Only just turned 20, frightening to think at how good he can become. Goal of the season: Alli vs Palace. Un-****ing-believable. Team performance of the season: Man Utd 3-0. Was flawless in my opinion and ended a long hoodoo, some well worked goals and a clean sheet, not much more you can ask for. Unsung hero of the season: Eric Dier. Signed as a CB in the Summer of 2014, played CB and RB in that season, moved into DM this season and has become an England international and one of the best young midfielders in Europe such has been his consistency and hard work, yet doesn't get the limelight like the more attack minded players do. ***CK added the next award below, completely agree with his choice and reasoning so have copied it word for word.*** Most Improved Player: Danny Rose. To think I would've happily seen him upgraded or at least permanently usurped by Davies (who is a fine player in his own right) at the start of the season...wow. Simply the best LB in the country by a mile and gets better every game. Signed for £1m has to be worth £20m now minimum - absolute bargain.
I thinks it's great that we have the leagues highest scorer (atm) but we are aware that it is defenders who should receive our praise, Toby and Dier are huge factors in our major improvement. Let's mention Kane for confounding his critics, you know the ones that said he was a one season wonder.
My final targets for the boys : - 76 pts in total - Top scoring side in the PL - Goals conceded < 30 - Kane to finish PL top scorer I'm not sure if Spurs still have the PL most diverse scoring squad (number of different players who have scored a PL goal this season) . If not, Vert/Wimmer/N'Jie/Lloris get your shooting boots on.
Absolutely, the pair have completely turned around a shabby defensive unit into a formidable one while maintaining it's fluidity to play good football. Though take nothing away from our attacking players as like you say, Kane has proved any doubters wrong in terms of possibly being a one season wonder, whereas Eriksen has again waded in with goals and assists, Lamela has added more goals to his game while continuing with assists, Alli has been a sensation and Chadli and Son have both played their part at times but we probably somewhat had expectations for most of these lads to do their jobs well as we've often been a solid attacking outfit. Our defence in previous years has left way too many heart-in-mouth moments as well conceding some ridiculous goals and it's safe to say that this season has been a complete turnaround and somewhat a rarity to see silly goals being conceded and that's no doubt been down to the addition of the superb Toby and the emergence of Dier at DM. They've been the difference from challenging for the 4th CL spot to challenging for the title. Long may it continue!
Yeah great shout, the dejection on the West Ham fan's faces was a joy to see, even more so when we started singing the "you're ****" version of "hey Jude".
Yeah I think we've sung it to everyone this season once we've gone 2 goals up, it's come back to bite us once or twice (including Chelsea the other night ) but for the majority it's been bloody enjoyable, just adds further to the reason why we're not very much liked by neutrals .
POTY: This was a horrendously hard decision as SOS says, you could pick any one of 5-6 players and it would be a valid shout. I'm going for my namesake, not just for that reason but because he came into this season with all the 'one season wonder' pressure, he endured that horrible dry spell at the beginning of the season, compounded by the fact that he was (and still is ) our only striker. The way in which he has dealt with all of that and improved on last season at the grand old age of 22 is simply mind-boggling. A natural leader on the pitch and a joy to watch. Young Player: Dele Alli. I still drool over that goal. Breathtaking first season and a massive future ahead. Most Improved Player: Danny Rose. To think I would've happily seen him upgraded or at least permanently usurped by Davies (who is a fine player in his own right) at the start of the season...wow. Simply the best LB in the country by a mile and gets better every game. Signed for £1m has to be worth £20m now minimum - absolute bargain. EDIT: Also worth highlighting the fact that he has done it all this season without a player like Lamela covering him. Despite a probably confusing rotation at LW between Eriksen, Chadli, Son and Alli, none of whom are as good at tracking back as Lamela, Danny has improved beyond recognition this year. Best Signing: Toby. Could've should've would've put him in POTY so I invented a category to honour our cucumber cool brick wall at the back. Such a class act and has done more to transform the entire team than any other signing in recent years. Incredible to think we signed him from Southampton without paying them a penny .
It really is a tough one, any one of Toby, Harry, Dele, Eric and Danny can win it in my opinion, I've never known it to be this close, there's often usually just been a real stand out with maybe one competitor. I think Harry is one more excellent season away from putting himself in the world class player bracket, he's been phenomenal these past two years. Great shout on the improved award, I'll throw that in at the top . I too am amazed at his transformation, I said prior to Poch's arrival that he should've been sold and when he was given a new contract I thought the club was mad yet the past two years has seen him blossom into a fine full back and one that I wouldn't trade for anyone in the country right now. With Davies as his competition, we're ridiculously well covered in that spot.
I’m not sure what award he should win, but Dembélé should win something. To my eye he’s often the classiest of an excellent group of players. To WhoScored stats he’s the third best PL player, and the best Spur. Nobody in football may do as much to win the midfield battle. I would pick him on the FA team of the year in Alli’s place. It’s not that Alli hasn’t had a great year, and will go on to greater things. But this year I think Dembélé has been even better. Another player who deserves something is Eriksen. Second in the PL in assists, and the glue that holds the passing game together. It’s remarkable that he, Alli and Lamela are on course for a combined 30 assists this season.
Player of the season: Kane - set himself seemingly impossible targets last season, and the media were so quick to label him a one-season wonder when he had a slow start to the season...until he showed just how much the media know about teams not named Man Utd, Chelsea or Liverpool by surpassing those targets with casual ease Young player of the season: Alli - as if I have to say anything more on this one! Signing of the season: Alderweireld - slotted into the defensive line beautifully with a string of assured and commanding performances at the back, while his chipped passes over the top added an extra dimension to our attacking play that we were lacking last season Most improved player of the season: Lamela - after a couple of seasons of not living up to the hopes placed on him he was set to join Marseilles on loan, and the only reason the loan fell through was because OM had already filled their quota of loan players for the season, but after that there was a huge turnaround in his form as he became a key part of the team to the point where the team noticeably performed better with him in the team Turnaround of the season: Dembele - plenty of people were content to see him leave after a couple of injury-plagued seasons so that Bentaleb would have more chances to continue his development, but instead Poch persevered and Dembele regained the form he showed in 2012-13...and also made himself the leading candidate for the Ballon d'Or by giving Diego Costa a long-overdue taste of his own medicine the other night Goal of the season: Alli vs Palace - again, it's not like much more needs to be said Performance of the season: vs Stoke away - for a few years a trip to the Britannia has always given reason to fear the worst and usually resulted in scrappy performances, but this season we walked in and utterly annihilated them
Despite the fact I initially stuck Dier as unsung hero, I think I may have had a change of heart, we've all noticed Dier's excellent performances this season and he's one of the candidates who could easily be worthy of winning the POTS award, it's not as if what he's done hasn't been recognised by us and the wider footballing community. My new choice would be Kevin Wimmer, we signed him as an unknown quantity, someone that had come off the back of a good season with Koln but had no experience in the Prem. When Jan got injured it's safe to say a few of us panicked as it meant that Wimmer was going to be thrown into the side having only played a handful of games in the Cups and was facing a load of fixtures that included matches against sides like City, Arsenal & Liverpool. During his run in the team I thought he was brilliant and made Jan's loss a lot easier to take, having recently endured seasons with underperforming CB's like Chiriches, Fazio and Kaboul it's an absolute breath of fresh air to know that aside from our two superb first choice centre halves, we have a top quality back up ready to challenge the Belgians and step in when needed. ! The FA and all of England in fact should be thanking Mousa for that, not condemning and hitting him with a ban.
As an outsider, what strikes me about Spurs' rise to being title challengers is the development of a strong spine this season - Lloris - Vertonghen/Alderweireld - Dier/Dembele - Alli- Kane. In the early, part of the season a lack of width led to inertia and this looked to be a major problem going forward. That issue was solved by Alli's dynamism and Dier's protection for the two centre backs, thus allowing the full backs to push forward and give width - often both attacking at the same time. Alderweireld has been superb and as the best defender in the PL (along with Morgan, albeit they are different types of defender), he must be your Player of the Season. Young Player - Alli (obvs) Signing - Alderweireld Most improved - Alli (League 1 to major influence for title challengers is a quantum leap) Turnaround - Vertonghen (from uninterested and thinking he should be at Barcelona to top class defender again) Goal - Alli v Palace Performance - Stoke (away) (showed a real ability to counterattack clinically and at pace against a team who were a potential banana skin. City (away) a close second.)
A few other awards... Prospect of the season: Josh Onomah - while there were the obvious disappointments of Azzaoui joining Wolfsburg in August and Veljkovic moving to Werder Bremen in January (and Marcus Edwards is apparently stalling on a contract), on the positive side of the fence Onomah certainly looked like he fit into the team whenever he was given the opportunity Bromance of the season: Alli & Dier Hashtag of the season: #HereComesTheSon Cosplayer of the season: Erik Lamela, for his spot-on Vaas Montenegro in every lineup video Daughter of a former player of the season: ...what?
