Stats Zone Premier League Team of the Season 2013/14
You've met the players, now meet the team: the finest XI that statistics can muster...
The individual winners have been announced, but who has made it to the Stats Zone Awards Premier League Team of the Season? Read on for some possibly surprising inclusions - and omissions...
Goalkeeper: Vito Mannone (Sunderland)
It would be wrong to say that Mannone saved Sunderland's season single-handedly: he tended to use both gloves. Ho ho. But while Gus Poyet somehow herded the Black Cats from chaos to safety through organised teamwork and a few stand-out individuals, tip of the hat goes to the Italian netminder, who saved more shots per match than any top-flight goalkeeper.
Mannone especially impressed on his travels, making 5.13 saves per away game to help the Mackems mine unlikely points at places like Chelsea, Manchester City, Everton and Manchester United. And that's why he's the Stats Zone Premier League Goalkeeper of the Season 2013/14.
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Right-back: Seamus Coleman (Everton)
Ever willing to attack adventurously while remaining defensively solid, Seamus Coleman personifies the rebirth of Everton under Roberto Martinez. That's not to say the Toffees didn't send the full-backs forward last term – after all, Leighton Baines was the Stats Zone Premier League Full-Back of the Season 2012/13 – but Coleman did so with an attacking élan which caught the eye.
Thoroughly enjoying himself up and down the flank, the Irishman contributed 64 dribbles, created 43 goalscoring chances and scored half a dozen goals, equally split between his left and right pegs. Only Martin Skrtel, across the park at Liverpool, contributed more goals from defence. Coleman's creative consistency and kinetic coverage of the entire right flank make him the Stats Zone Premier League Full-Back of the Season 2013/14.
Centre-back: Curtis Davies (Hull)
With England's centre-back situation somewhat fluid as the team awaits a long-term pairing to succeed John Terry and Rio Ferdinand, it's perhaps surprising that the country's best stopper didn't get a look-in. The affable and intelligent Londoner has quietly set about defying the critics who thought he wasn't cut out for top-flight action.
Davies has won individual awards at Luton (Football League One Player of the Year 2005) and West Brom (as part of the PFA Championship Team of the Year 2007), but hadn't established himself in the Premier League, comparing his Aston Villa debut to a "pub team player". However, he has flourished under Steve Bruce at a Hull side happy to switch between a three- and four-man defence, thanks to his combination of intelligent interceptions and strength in aerial duels. No defender made more of either, and that's why he's the Stats Zone Premier League Centre-Back of the Season 2013/14.
Centre-back: Ryan Shawcross (Stoke City)
Curtis Davies was unanimously approved by the number-crunchers and pencil-chewers around the table as Opta and FourFourTwo debated the award winners, but choosing his centre-back partner took a bit longer. Liverpool's Martin Skrtel made the most clearances but also made a few too many errors; Steven Caulker contributed the most blocks, but Cardiff conceded 74 goals. Chelsea's John Terry, in case you're wondering, wasn't in the top three of any of the datasets we checked, for all his fine organisation skills.
Eventually, one defiant figure emerged across the lists: Ryan Shawcross. Only Curtis Davies won more aerial duels (171) than the Stoke man's 155; only Caulker contributed more blocks. As the Potters improved their football and their league position, Shawcross kept it locked down at the back; of the 17 occasions on which a Stoke player made 10 or more clearances this season, 14 were the former Manchester United man. Mark Hughes may have been brought in to make the side more attractive, but he'll be keen to keep Shawcross at the heart of his rearguard.
Left-back: Joel Ward (Crystal Palace)
Crystal Palace's eye-catching success under Tony Pulis was about hard work, opportunism and adaptability, and few players fit the bill better than Joel Ward. Having only played three top-flight games before this campaign, the former Pompey player was hardly expected to make the Premier League elite XI in a season expected to be a struggle, but defying expectations is what Pulis's Palace love to do.
Although previously a centre-back, Ward can play in either full-back role and even on occasion operated in midfield for Pulis, who was delighted with him: "Wardy has been absolutely superb since I came to the club, he's a good lad. He gives you everything." In the 1-0 win against Chelsea in March, Ward made eight interceptions; no full-back made more this season.
Central midfielder: Mile Jedinak (Crystal Palace)
The Australian at the heart of everything good about Palace this season racked up some extraordinary numbers. He made more clearances and interceptions, and won more tackles and aerial duels than any other central midfielder. Furthermore, in several of those categories, he won by a country mile. Steven Gerrard was second for clearances with 90 to Jedinak's 133; interception runner-up Youssouf Mulumbu managed 115 to his 139.
His aerial presence effectively added a third centre-back but Jedinak was no slouch on the ball, knitting together Palace's play all over the pitch. Strong enough to win the ball and happy to then use it with intelligent efficiency, Jedinak is a perfect player for Pulis's Palace, and the Stats Zone Premier League Central Midfielder of the Season 2013/14.
Central midfielder: Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal)
Let's first deal with the elephant in the room. Were these awards decided by acreage of newsprint and social-media flannel, Steven Gerrard would walk away with not just a place in this XI but probably the Player of the Season. The Liverpool captain certainly dragged his team on, with 13 assists and 1,908 completed passes, but he was less impressive defensively, making five vital errors (yes, including that one against Chelsea): among outfielders, only Mark Noble and Marc Wilson made more. Gerrard also only made a third of class leader Mile Jedinak's 139 interceptions.
If the fairytale narrative was Gerrard leading Liverpool to the title, Arsenal fans can only wonder about Aaron Ramsey's injury. When fit – and yes, he reached the Stats Zone Awards minimum of half the available minutes – the Welshman was superb, either scoring or assisting every 98 minutes on average, one of only five players to do so. Crucially, without him Arsenal collapsed – before rallying upon his return to clinch both fourth place and the FA Cup. Had he lasted the season, he might have had other medals to polish, both collective and individual.
Attacking midfielder: Raheem Sterling (Liverpool)
Dig the new breed. Raheem Sterling heads to Brazil as one of England's brightest young talents, not to mention the Stats Zone Premier League Young Player of the Season 2013/14, blessed with blistering speed, an ever-improving eye for goal, positional flexibility and innate confidence increasingly backed up by hard-won respect.
Like many of the new generation of attack-minded English players – think Ross Barkley, Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck, Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – the Liverpool man can play in a number of different positions, often within the same game. Brendan Rodgers can employ Sterling out wide to stretch teams, up top to push defences back or in advanced midfield to run at them. And the kid's still in his teens. Whatever happens in Brazil, players like this give England hope for the future.
Attacking midfielder: Yaya Toure (Manchester City)
Destroyer of defences and darling of the birthday-card industry, Yaya Toure can dominate games like few others in the Premier League. At times, when he charges forward with the ball, he resembles a muscular U15s player pushing aside terrified U12s – a case in point being his late goal against Aston Villa in early May, when he picked up the ball in his own half and charged unstoppably forward until he reached the goal.
That was one of five successive wins in which Toure either scored or created a goal as City pushed past Liverpool to win the title. The Ivorian ended up with 20 goals, but also found his team-mates with reliable accuracy, frequently completing more than 100 passes per game. He could have been in this XI's central midfield, but his devastating ability to make things happen at the business end make him a worthy successor to Gareth Bale as the Stats Zone Premier League Attacking Midfielder of the Season 2013/14.
Attacking midfielder: Eden Hazard (Chelsea)
A curious, notable season for Hazard. Just 22 at the start of the campaign, Hazard quickly established himself as the key man in Chelsea's title challenge. He had shown unquestionable talent in his first English campaign, but became the Blues' go-to guy this time round, especially as Jose Mourinho deselected Juan Mata, the previous season's main man.
Meanwhile, established icons like Samuel Eto'o, Fernando Torres and Frank Lampard were outshone by the brilliant Belgian, who created more chances from open play (90) than anyone else in the Premier League. Against West Ham in January, he created eight alone – but Chelsea couldn't score, and fell short. It summed up the season. By May, after a couple of quotes from the manager questioning his application and with PSG willing to throw money at him, it seemed Hazard might follow Mata out of the door. Perhaps being Chelsea's main threat is a poisoned chalice.
Forward: Luis Suarez (Liverpool)
Couldn't be anyone else, could it? One final tip of the titfer to our Stats Zone Premier League Player of the Season 2013/14. It's a sign of the man's talent (and rehabilitation from naughtiness) that several English fans, upon learning of his possible absence from the World Cup, had their parochial pleasure at Uruguay's loss tempered by a sadness over the loss of a player truly on globe-conquering form.
Although he took Liverpool's late title-race defeat worse than most, Suarez can take immense pleasure that the side he stuck with last summer rose from seventh to second, and can look forward to a tilt at the Champions League. If he can't pursue the World Cup, he may even come back champing at the bit for more. After all, look what happened last time he was forced to sit on the sidelines…
Stats Zone Premier League Goalkeeper of 2013/14
Stats Zone Premier League Full-Back of 2013/14
Stats Zone Premier League Centre-Back of 2013/14
Stats Zone Premier League Central Midfielder of 2013/14
Stats Zone Premier League Attacking Midfielder of 2013/14
Stats Zone Premier League Striker of 2013/14
Stats Zone Premier League Young Player of 2013/14
Stats Zone Premier League Player of 2013/14
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Gary Parkinson is a freelance writer, editor, trainer, muso, singer, actor and coach. He spent 14 years at FourFourTwo as the Global Digital Editor and continues to regularly contribute to the magazine and website, including major features on Euro 96, Subbuteo, Robert Maxwell and the inside story of Liverpool's 1990 title win. He is also a Bolton Wanderers fan.
