R/soccer's Team of the Decade: Premier League edition!
So with this decade coming to an end, there have been lots of talks about the team of the decade for different leagues. Hopefully, if this gains traction, I'll do some other leagues next.
If you are like me, you've talked and argued with your friends, family, or some random people online over who makes the final XI team of the decade for the Premier League. Therefore, r/soccer will combine as a whole to make their team of the decade.
But of course, there are different opinions which can lead to arguments so I want to make the criteria clear:
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The criteria for a player making the team is NOT "how good they were in their prime/best season in the premier league", but more so how good they were in the premier league over the decade. What I mean by this is the following: if you were arguing Suarez vs Aguero most people would agree that Suarez's 13/14 season with Liverpool was better than any of Aguero's seasons with City. but for the whole decade, Aguero WAS the better "Premier League" striker as he's had 9 great years in the league, whereas Suarez was only in the league for 3 years. Hence, Aguero would make the team over Suarez. So once again, the players who make this team are based on how good they were in the prem for this decade as opposed to just "the best" players. That being said, it doesn't necessarily mean a player who played only 2-3 seasons in the prem can't make the team, but this is just food for thought.
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This is a premier league debate only, meaning that Champions Leagues and FA Cups won by these premier league sides are NOT necessarily taken into account.
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I've spoken with others, and we've agreed that the 2009/10 season is part of the previous decade as it did start in 2009. Hence, the 2010/11 season marks the start of the decade up until this season.
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Trophies, team of the season appearances, PFA player of the year awards are not the be-all and end-all, but they still are important to judging players.
Finally, we have to decide on a formation. I think 4 at the back is by far the best way to go, with 2 centrebacks, 1 right-back, and 1 left-back being the optimal options. When it comes to these teams, I believe the best option is a 4-4-2. The 2 attackers should be strikers or "forwards", and the 4 in the midfield line can be either center defensive midfielders, center midfielders, center attacking midfielders, and/or wide midfielders/wingers. That means you can have 3 center mids on the team, with 1 wide midfielder, or have 2 wide midfielders with 2 center attacking midfielders, etc.
Let's start the voting, and see how this thing pans out. Please feel free to comment your thoughts about your thought processes about choosing Player A over Player B, or just other stuff in general.
Thought 1: I actually have no idea where to put Azpilicueta as he's played everywhere along the back 4, but I think he played the most as a LB, especially under Mourinho, so I'm gonna put him there.*
Thought 2: The Midfielders section is filled with wingers as well, so even tho the likes of Salah and Sterling are technically forwards, they're a part of the midfielders section.*
Centreback (Pick 2): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdzsu1c3UlmIB8UaJeOZy6tCBOPm3A2iAgBN2OhZBMfkA3YhA/viewform?usp=sf_link
Midfielder (Pick 4): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdZ_Ji8ltL_hFuF6JYjFZeXzq7BkQY0Z-kIpdxvtoxafSpg3A/viewform?usp=sf_link
Striker (Pick 2): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe8Np1EhyNJ4u0BtscpWoS-_LQbWepb5PVFPwNI78LTLn3Leg/viewform?usp=sf_link
If I forgot any options, PLEASE tell me in the comments who I forgot and/or write it down in the "other" option. There are for sure some important players I forgot. Thank you guys for taking the time to look at this (hopefully), and have a good day.
EDIT: It seems as if people could make multiple responses to a poll, so I had to limit it to 1 response per person. Unfortunately, it requires for you to be signed into google.
Posted Dec 23, 2019, 5:09 PM UTC · edited