Player Of The Month: January 2009
Friday, 30 January 09, 07:41 AM · Comments (10)
It's been another superb month for Barça: four wins out of four in La Liga plus we are through to the Copa del Rey semi-finals after knocking out Atletico Madrid and Espanyol. The level of some players continues to be very high which makes choosing a player of the month very difficult. However, the player of the month for January 2009 has to go to Dani Alves whose progression in recent weeks has been exceptional. We all knew that Alves had great talent and never-ending resources of energy, but his adaptation to his new team has impressed us all and the combination with Leo Messi on the right wing has surpassed all expectations. In January alone Alves has notched up five assists which might have been much more if his team mates finishing had been better. He set up Messi's first at Atletico Madrid, Xavi's equalizer at Osasuna, Henry's first against Depor, Messi's first against Numancia and last night his cross set up Piqué for the third goal.
Leo Messi would have won but for Alves's fantastic month. Messi scored seven goals this month including the unbelievable hat-trick at Atletico, a performance which earnt him the first ever perfect ten out of ten rating on this blog. Third place goes to Sergio Busquets who is also growing with confidence the more he plays. Commanding performances in midfield have been fundamental to our progression in the cup. Xavi is fourth this month, he deserves special praise for being the only player who has made the top five in every player of the month so far this season. In fifth place is Andres Iniesta who has quickly found his form again after coming back from injury making the competition for places more difficult than ever. Also in the running this month were Toure Yaya and Eric Abidal but with such high standards it's getting more and more difficult to get in the top five, strikers Eto'o and Henry have both scored four goals this month and yet they wouldn't make January's top seven!
January's top five:
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Dani Alves
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Leo Messi
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Sergio Busquets
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Xavi Hernandez
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Andres Iniesta
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10 Comments · Add yours
Nic I think we are gonna need a top 10 mate
.....top 5 just isnt enough space to fit everybody in. Yaya should defnitely be in there, so should Abidal and i think Henry should prob get a shout too. He has really been raising his game of late. Maybe no.5 should be "team" because the best thing about us right now is not any idividual talent (of which we have the best of the best) but the way they work together as a team. They play for each other and it really is beautiful!!
and that could have been our best margin of the season had it not been for Eto'o having an off night and Messi hitting the post.
Cant argue with no.1 though....Alves is simply outstanding, he brings a whole new dimension to this team and makes it close to impossible for teams to defend against us.....even with the double decker bus parked in front of goal. Numancia even tried playing with 5 at the back
i usually dont pay any attention to these articles because like hilal alluded to the fact is most our team is playing absoultely fantastically and its almost unfair to decide between them. VV has let in barely any goals, abdial has been excellent, xavi, yaya, etoo, MESSI, and yes even henry all have strong cases for a month of excellent performances and/or great improvement.
BUT, this month i would totally agree that alves has been just been incredible in his progress. i could not be happier to have him on the team. i would however like him to stop diving and play acting, its quite distasteful at times. but hey, thats just how he is.
yup....I totally agree with it...Alves has been just outstanding this month...He truly deserves it...
good you recognise alves, he deserves it
Alves was earlier criticized for his inadequate crosses but look how far he has come . Several of Barça's goals have come as a result of Alves'great crossing. He is tremendous and his link up with Messi on the right flank is perhaps the best anywhere !!
messi number 1 , ronaldo number 2
messi i love you
MESSI has sometin no oder player has his simply the BEST not dat PONSE ronaldo BARCA for da TREBLE nd put english football in its place!!
Actually all the squad is doin great .As u said it's so hard to pick up one of them .but it is obvious some players are doin great job . Beside Messi , Xavi , iniesta, Bousquets,.... there is also a knight . yeh he deserves such title . It's "Alves" the best signing since 2003 .
Hope that he gotta play vs Gijoun next sunday .
barca do seem like the team to take all the silverware possible this season aesome is their attack spearheaded my Messi
Slid in defence ... mybe not so solid But...attacking strenghts make up for minor defensive weaknesses.