Player Of The Month: May 2009
Tuesday, 02 June 09, 11:49 AM · Comments (10)
I've a lot of catching up to do over the next few days. Coming soon you will have a Player by Player Review of the Season, the Player of the Season award, as well as the final fantasy football table. For today you are getting the Player of the Month for May, and I have to say it was another close one. Given that some of our games this month were somewhat more important than others I've based the results on performances in the games at Real Madrid and Chelsea and our two finals against Athletic Bilbao and Manchester United.
The May Player of the Month goes to Gerard Piqué after scoring the sixth goal in the Bernabeu, driving the team on against Chelsea when we were down to ten men and a superb performance in the Champions League final in Rome. It has been an excellent end to the season for our young defender. Andres Iniesta is just behind Piqué in second place. He may only have played three games this month but he showed great courage to get back in time for the United game where he played extraordinarily well, he also scored the goal at Chelsea which should go down as Barça's most important goal of the decade. In third place is Leo Messi. For some reason people said that Messi couldn't perform on the big stage but Leo proved his critics wrong by scoring in both cup finals and he also scored two of the goals at Madrid. Xavi Hernandez is fourth. His performance with four assists at the Bernabeu earned him a 10/10 rating on this blog and he also had an excellent game in Rome: what a peach of a cross for Messi's goal! I'm pleased to say that Victor Valdés is fifth this month, a clean sheet against United and we should never forget that without his saves against Chelsea Iniesta's goal would have counted for nothing. It just goes to show how good our month was when Carles Puyol and Toure Yaya couldn't get in the top five. Both these players also performed splendidly this month.
So to recap, the top five is as follows.
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Gerard Piqué
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Andres Iniesta
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Leo Messi
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Xavi Hernandez
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Victor Valdés
So, let's here what you guys think.
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10 Comments · Add yours
Yes, the whole team should be player of the month, as almost all of them performed brilliantly, I just think it would be fair to give also a mention for Eto'o, was it just for his marvellously taken goal in the CL final which proved all his critics wrong, and in what manner! But credit where it's due, Pique has been just outstanding in this end of season, he fully deserves the player of the month award!
In my opinion the best player is Xavi
maybe Iniesta scored the best goal and maybe messi scored twice at Madrid and one in each cup final, but Xavi plays with a lot of control, and dominates the midfield which is Barca's Strenght,
the others should be
2 - Pique
3 - Valdes
4 - Iniesta
5 - Messi
Close Nic, maybe the order slightly around differently.
1) Xavi
2) Iniesta
3) Pique
4) Messi
5) Valdes
I can't believe I'm entertaining this thought, but I think I WANT Valdes next year.
I like him more the Czech. Casillas, VDS, Julio Cesar... they just aren't real options, and I love the confidence Valdes is playing with. Our defense is only going to get better.
Keep Valdes, keep it Catalan.
Oooh... it IS a close one!
Picking out of this amazing team is impossible!
But I'd say that Xavi was the Player of the month. He was consistent in his performance and helped his team win every match!!!
But Iniesta made THE GOAL - and he really deserves being in the top of the team...
well im a Man utd fan... but barca did really good beating us.... and i got with messi as the player of the month and the player of the year... thats my opinion ... wat u think????
It's so hard to pick just one. It's like giving the golden ball to Messi..if that happens, we will be like "why not iniesta" "why not xavi" etc.. I do think pique has been incredible this month, but i would probably have picked iniesta, not only for the stamford bridge performance, but because he outplayed manutd with ONE LEG and an INJURY in the other!. So yes, he would be my choice.
Iniesta and Pique probably just stand above the rest and for me Pique should just about win it.
When Iniesta had the ball in Rome he was electrifying, but it was Pique's tackle in the very first minute with Park 5 yards from goal which changed the game. For me, that, the performance at the Bernabeu, and more importantly that at Stamford Bridge, he literally shades Iniesta by a very small margin
To be fair, you could of made cases for Yaya, Xavi and Messi just as well, so to be honest this is probably the most meaningless play of the month, everyone was just amazing!!
Pique, Messi and Iniesta have all played superbly in May, so its almost impossible to decide...
This was definately the best month we Cules could have asked for.
ALL PLAYERS WITHOUT AN EXCEPTION WERE MARVELOUS!!! they are all heroes they are all the stars of the show!!! But, if I had to go for only one PLAYER OF THE SEASON 08/09, no doubtly I would go for the one man show, the current best player in the universe and the next FIFA GALA AWARD winner, Leo Messi!!! As for the Player of the month (May 09), it is without a doubt, the MAJICIAN, Andres Iniestaaaa!!! The hero of the Stamford Bridge battle!! For the lads sayin that Pique is better than Puyol, I would unfortunately disagree with them!! Pique had a perfect season, his goal at the bernabue was exceptional, he has all the potenial to become the world's best defender soon, and he is ONE HELL OF A PARTY STARTER!!!
But, he somehow still lacks a few amount of experience, still needs more time on the pitch. On the other hand we have, the one and only CARLES PUYOL, people!! He is without a doubt the best defender in the world right now!! He have GOT IT ALL!! The defending skills, the speed, the fitness, the physique, the talent of passing opponents & attacking and definetly the experience, EVERYTHING!! now he is the best!! So I would go for Puyol in defending and right after him Gerard who proved worthy and passed his test PERFECTLY after being held the responsibility of playing as one of the team's first choice two Central Defenders, after Marquez have been ruled out for the rest of the season due to injury!! Finally if I had to choose the Top 5 for the 08/09 season, I would list'em as follows:
1. Leo Messi
2. Andres Iniesta
3. Xavi Hernandez
4. Carles Puyol
5. Thierry Henry