It’s almost that time of year! This past weekend, Mohamed Salah claimed the Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year, with more individual awards soon to follow. Individual awards are fraught with controversy within a team sport that relies on all eleven players working in tandem, and sometimes fail to acknowledge those that didn’t do the flashy bits on a football pitch, but performed like their lives depended on it week in and week out. On both accounts, that’s what often makes the Team of the Year an intriguing award to follow. When it comes to the PFA Team of the Year, it becomes all the more fascinating to see who the pros themselves had the most difficult time playing against this season, and who they felt deserved to be remembered for their role in making the 2021-22 season special. So with that, we ask you to pick your PFA Team of the Year, if you were one of the pros.
You must name eleven players to your team, in a realistic formation. As an example, here are my selections for the Team of the Year.
GK David De Gea
RB Trent Alexander-Arnold
CB Joel Matip
CB Aymeric Laporte
LB Joao Cancelo
DM Rodri
RCM Bernardo Silva
LCM Declan Rice
AM Kevin de Bruyne
RS Mohamed Salah
LS Heung-Min Son
I’ve personally gone for a 4-4-2 Diamond formation this season, due to the strength of all the central midfielders in the league. Not too many centre-forwards stood out in either goal-scoring or overall influence, so I’ve gone for two high-flying wingers to play in my high-flying front two. The back-line is fairly straightforward, with fullbacks bombing forward into the attack to support the verticality in midfield.
But who would make your team? Be sure to share your thoughts below.
ANSWER NOW!
Need more prompting? Check out the following…
-> Pep Guardiola – Manchester City – Tactical Analysis (2021-22 Edition)
-> Jurgen Klopp – Liverpool – Tactical Analysis (2021-22 Edition)
-> David Moyes – West Ham United – Tactical Analysis (2021-22)
-> Mikel Arteta – Arsenal – Tactical Analysis (2021-22 Edition)
-> Antonio Conte – Tottenham Hotspur – Tactical Analysis
-> Why Declan Rice is perfect for Manchester United
-> David De Gea – Player Analysis
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