Reading: Odd couple can still be a perfect pairing
There is an odd couple at the helm at Reading.
It’s not Russian owner Anton Zingarevich and his rather delightful wife Katsia – a Victoria’s Secret supermodel who, purely for the sake of adding colour to this article, I’ll let you go and do a quick Google Images search for now.
You’re welcome.
Anyway, the odd couple isn’t Zingarevich – an heir to a multi-billion fortune – and his lovely lady wife, but rather the Reading owner and his manager Brian McDermott. One doesn’t seem to quite fit with the other.
When Zingarevich formally purchased Reading from Sir John Madejski last May, the usual fallout from a foreign takeover could have been expected by many, yet there haven’t been behind the scenes rows, pleas for more money or angry fans demanding investment. The manager has even stayed the same.
McDermott impressively led Reading to the Championship title last season, and yet whilst the owners of the previous title winners Queens Park Rangers have dismissed two managers since they returned to the top flight, the Royals boss is still standing. He’s above QPR in the table too.
Admittedly that is the only Premier League club that McDermott and Reading find themselves above at the moment, but after three wins from their last six Premier League home games and the brilliant comeback to beat West Bromwich Albion last weekend they have at least got a decent platform to build on.
Zingarevich has helped pay for some decent players too, but by and large McDermott has been allowed to approach the task of staying up with last year’s squad left intact.
In Pavel Pogrebnyak they have a forward who adds a dash of stardust to a group of players still largely drawn from the lower leagues – and a dash that certainly bears the influence and cash of Zingarevich – but arguably the most impressive striking performances for the Royals this season have come from the likes of Adam Le Fondre, Jason Roberts and Noel Hunt, all of whom were around when the club won promotion under their popular manager.
Signing the likes of Adrian Mariappa, Chris Gunter, Garath McCleary and Danny Guthrie might not have made the headlines in the same way that signings made by clubs in similar situations have, but all have fleshed out the squad and given it a fighting chance to stay in the top flight.
Admittedly there have been times when they have look out of their depth this season, but instead of that causing a mistrust of the ability of the manager or the capability of the owner instead it seems to have forged a closer bond within the club. The final eight minutes against West Brom last Saturday were amongst the most important of the season for anyone.
A match at a struggling Newcastle this weekend offers McDermott’s men the chance to both record a first away league victory of the season and to drag another team down towards the relegation mire with them, and you can be certain that Reading’s manager, owner and supporters will be desperate for a positive result – particularly as they are coming up against Alan Pardew, a man who once sat in the Madejski Stadium hotseat whilst McDermott worked in the background.
The same can be said of another high profile Premier League manager in the form of Liverpool’s Brendan Rodgers, and whilst McDermott will have one day called those men ‘boss’ he can now look them in the eye as a contemporary. That Zingarevich has allowed him to do so says a lot about the character of both.
It would have been easy for the Russian owner to dismiss with the manager and look to attract a big name boss – with Reading’s close proximity to London no doubt making it an attractive possibility – but he stuck to his guns and has given McDermott his shot at the top flight.
There is still an awful lot of work to do to ensure that such faith will be rewarded, but you get the sense that Zingarevich goes to bed at night knowing that he’s made the right choice.
And not just with who he married.
You can follow FantasyYIRMA on twitter @FantasyYIRMA
Where do you think Reading will finish? Drop a comment below…
#FPL GW22: NOTHING BUT BONUS POINTS!!
| 12 Jan 12:45 | QPR |  |
0 – 0 |  |
Tottenham |
|
|
|||||
| 12 Jan 15:00 | Aston Villa |  |
0 – 1 |  |
Southampton |
|
|||||
| 12 Jan 15:00 | Everton |  |
0 – 0 |  |
Swansea |
|
|
|||||
| 12 Jan 15:00 | Fulham |  |
1 – 1 |  |
Wigan |
|
|||||
| 12 Jan 15:00 | Norwich |  |
0 – 0 |  |
Newcastle |
|
|
|||||
| 12 Jan 15:00 | Reading |  |
3 – 2 |  |
West Brom |
|
|||||
| 12 Jan 15:00 | Stoke City |  |
0 – 4 |  |
Chelsea |
|
|
|||||
| 12 Jan 15:00 | Sunderland |  |
3 – 0 |  |
West Ham |
|
|
|||||
| 13 Jan 13:30 | Man Utd |  |
2 – 1 |  |
Liverpool |
|
|
|||||
| 13 Jan 16:00 | Arsenal |  |
0 – 2 |  |
Man City |
|
|
|||||
| Chelsea | |
2 – 2 | |
Southampton | |
|
|
|||||
..
Join the FantasyYirma Mini-league
You can still join the #FY mini-league also- be warned the competition is tough! The FantasyYirma mini-league is now one of the top5 in the Click the LOGO to join
Official FantasyYirma League. FREE 2 PLAY £100 the winner. Click HERE to Join.
Newcastle United: Third season syndrome?
Given their past experiences at the top end of the Premier League table in the mid to late 1990s – times they really, really loved – it is easy to forget that Newcastle United are still a recently promoted club.
Relegation in the 2008/09 season meant a season in the Championship for the Geordies and their devoted followers, who were able to watch a team including the likes of Andy Carroll, Kevin Nolan and Joey Barton bounce straight back to the big time at the first time of asking under manager Chris Hughton.
Just a glance at those names above and a consideration of the varying degrees of success they’ve had since they held aloft the Championship trophy in 2010 will tell you that two-and-half years can be an awful long time in football, and as today’s vastly different Newcastle staff face up to the realisation that they are in another tough relegation battle they are unable to call upon the experiences of too many of those who were involved in the last one.
A reasonably solid first season back in the Premier League in 2010/11 – albeit one which didn’t prevent the removal of Hughton – was suddenly transformed into a rapid change of personnel as the likes of Carroll, Nolan, Barton and Jose Enrique departed and Demba Ba, Yohan Cabaye, Hatem Ben Arfa and Davide Santon arrived. It could have gone one of two ways, but it went upwards.
Aided by last January’s arrival of Papiss Cisse the Magpies flew to a thoroughly deserved fifth place in the table, impressing all onlookers and embarrassing a number of teams below them who had spent a lot more money in the quest for success.
Given the relative newness of the team and breath of fresh air brought by many of the personnel in some ways it was the equivalent of a new team to the division impressing in their maiden campaign; an approach which would place the current problems experienced by Alan Pardew and his side squarely in the dreaded ‘second season syndrome’ territory.
Fifteenth in the table and only two points above the relegation zone, Newcastle go into Saturday’s trip to Norwich off the back of nine defeats in their last 11 league games and a demoralising FA Cup loss at Brighton & Hove Albion last Saturday.
Pardew has problems, that much is self-evident, and with Ba deciding to swap the north-east of England for west London – ensuring that the Senegalese top scorer is just another name to come and go during Tyneside’s whirlwind two-and-a-half years – the onus will fall upon Cisse to start finding the net again to lift his side up the table.
Given that matches against fellow strugglers Aston Villa and Reading follow the Norwich game it is not too far-fetched to claim that January is the most important month for Newcastle in quite some time, especially as February brings a fixture against Ba’s Chelsea and a trip to Tottenham as well as the distraction of a two-legged Europa League tie against the Ukrainians Metalist Kharkiv.
European football appears to have come far too soon to a squad and a manager who have struggled to cope with the demands it brings, and these next few weeks before they head out onto the continent again offer a huge chance for Newcastle to pull away from those who – at the moment – appear more likely than them to remain near the foot of the table the longer the season goes on.
The Magpies dare not fail.
Their third season back in the big time has exhibited many of the characteristics of a team going through a second season of struggle after a first season of success, and with Pardew admitting that his team face a second period of the campaign in which they’ll be more concerned about the bottom places in the table than the ones at the top, the likes of Cabaye, Ben Arfa and Cisse simply can’t return to fitness and top form quick enough.
Time has a habit of flying just when you don’t want it to, after all.
Gameweek 22 preview: Cole to light up the Double Gameweek?
To the die-hard Fantasy manager, the FA Cup is nothing but an inconvenience.
It is simply an unwanted chance for your players to get injured, to suddenly rediscover some flickering form or to play themselves out of contention for the next league game. What use were last weekend’s goals from Robin van Persie, Michu and Luis Suarez to anyone but Uruguayan Beach Volleyball Team selectors anyway?
Fear not though, for the Premier League returns this weekend, and it does so with a bang for the European champions (yes, believe it or not they still are).
Branislav Ivanovic (£7.1m) may have exhibited a worrying fondness for providing assists for the opposition during the midweek Capital One Cup defeat to Swansea, but if we’re going to stay strong and keep our disdain for the cup competitions alive then we are going to have to ignore that and instead look forward to him taking his place in a Chelsea defence which is about to embark on a Double Gameweek. Or will he?
The gradual return to fitness for John Terry (£6.5m) and the constant relocation of David Luiz (£6.6m) – sometimes inadvertently – means that the only member of Chelsea’s back four surely certain to line up against both Stoke and Southampton is Ashley Cole (£6.5m), who looks to be a fine investment for Fantasy bosses who may have activated their January wildcard ahead of this weekend, and who scored the winner and kept a clean sheet which Stoke visited Stamford Bridge in September.
Further forward, the signing of Demba Ba (£8.6m) has put the once secure place for Fernando Torres (£9.8m) under threat, whilst Rafael Benitez will surely avoid angering Fantasy bosses for a second Gameweek running and restore Juan Mata (£9.9m) to his Premier League line-up after resting him for the shock loss at home to QPR.
Harry Redknapp’s side entertain the manager’s former club Tottenham at Loftus Road in Saturday’s early match, with Gareth Bale (£9.8m) primed to score big on a weekend when many of his highly priced rivals are facing tougher fixtures. A wildcard move for the Welshman could have benefits well beyond this Gameweek.
Before the FA Cup so rudely interrupted us the name on everyone’s lips was that of Theo Walcott (£9.0m) but he and Arsenal face a tough test at home to Manchester City this weekend, with City likely to be missing the hamstrung Sergio Aguero (£11.0m) and Carlos Tevez (£8.9m) looking to start.
Suarez (£10.4m) won’t have many friends at Old Trafford and is unlikely to find many points either, with Robin van Persie (£14.0m) certain to lead the line for Manchester United against Liverpool. Those who back the Reds defence – which could include the cheap Andre Wisdom (£4.3m) after Jose Enrique (£5.9m) was ruled out for six weeks – to keep out the Dutchman aren’t short of options to replace him, with one of those options coming at Sunderland.
The Mackems have a relatively friendly set of four fixtures coming up, and so Fantasy bosses who had lost faith in Steven Fletcher (£7.0m) could be tempted to turn back to the Scotsman ahead of his side’s home match against West Ham, whilst the departure of Ba is sure to see Papiss Cisse (£8.8m) given a central striking role for Newcastle’s visit to Norwich if he can overcome a knock.
Another battling injury is Southampton’s Gaston Ramirez (£5.6m), but the Uruguyan is certainly worth keeping an eye on ahead of the Saints’ Double Gameweek trips to Aston Villa and Chelsea, whilst teenage full-back Luke Shaw (£4.0m) could find himself becoming an inexpensive addition to plenty of teams once that wildcard kicks in.
Whilst his price hasn’t yet risen, Marouane Fellaini’s (£7.4m) has been falling ever since his three-match ban, but with the Belgian back and ready to play a part in what look to be a winnable next four games for Everton, starting with this weekend against Swansea, then his addition could be crucial.
FA Cup magic makes FPL points disappear!
With it being an FA Cup weekend there is excitement, supposed magic in the air and the potential for some major upsets and great fixtures. It does mean however that there are no Premier League fixtures this week so no Fantasy Premier League. There will be a full GW22 preview coming in time for next weekend and a club insight article from Fantasy Yirma ‘Pundit’ @Mark_Jones86.
For keen FPL managers all eyes will surely be watching out for the final score coming from St. Mary’s Stadium this weekend. Southampton take on Chelsea in the FA Cup on Saturday with both teams aware that they will play each other in the league in GW22 thanks to their rearranged fixture.
This match will only go ahead however if it is not a stalemate in the Cup game. In this scenario the FA Cup game would be replayed on January 16th instead of the rearranged league fixture.
Fingers are crossed that there will be a winner in the cup game between Southampton and Chelsea meaning that GW22 suddenly turns into a Double Gameweek!
Southampton are away to Aston Villa and Chelsea are away to Stoke in GW22 at the minute – throw in the potential for a Chelsea / Southampton game and suddenly we are faced with FPL questions like “Should I take a chance on Torres?” and “RAFA ROTATION….Which of his bucket-load of midfielders will get the gametime across a double gameweek??”
That is just the starting point.. Fonte , Puncheon and Lambert all have merit for consideration in the event of a DGW…
Combine this with the fact that GW23 sees Arsenal and West Ham with a DGW, the African Cup of Nations kicks off this month and the small matter that a January Wildcard is now available and to be perfectly honest – It’s probably a good thing there is no Premier League fixtures this weekend!!
There are difficult decisions ahead.
However while there may be a few challenges in the next few GWs for everyone, it is a proud day for the team at Fantasy Yirma. The FY mini-league has made it into the top 5 “best leagues” on the official fantasy.premierleague.com website.
FYI: Our mini- league is still open for anyone to join and have a go, but be warned…the standard is extremely high…
Completely FREE to PLAY with £50 for the winner. The official Fantasy Yirma mini-league is still available to join!!
Click the red picture below to Join.
It is great to see so many people involved in our league doing so well. Looking at the players who make up the top 15 of the Fantasy Yirma mini-league and it is extemely impressive that all of them are in the top 1000 globally out of more than 2.5m players that is certainly an achievement! Leading the charge in our league is team Wallofame who is having a great season so far sitting on 1,314 points which is 28th in the entire game…
| # | Team | Manager | GW | TOT | |
| 1 | Wallofame | Sir Alex Jnr | 92 | 1,314 | |
| 2 | Ravel M FC | Saugaat Ranjan | 79 | 1,313 | |
| 3 | Rocky’s X1 | Rocky Ogle | 79 | 1,305 | |
| 4 | Fluorescent Lampards | Eli Lourie | 69 | 1,284 | |
| 5 | TerrorToon | joe p | 78 | 1,277 | |
| 6 | Colbert Nation | Tom Kingscott | 93 | 1,277 | |
| 7 | The Cucking Funts | Richard James | 64 | 1,265 | |
| 8 | Anthony’s Wingers | Didier Drogba | 94 | 1,264 | |
| 9 | juniors | Ray Harding | 81 | 1,263 | |
| 10 | Nortei Nortey | Chris Galloway | 85 | 1,262 | |
| 11 | Skycat | Richie Browne | 78 | 1,258 | |
| 12 | DreamKillers | Sarnab Das | 87 | 1,257 | |
| 13 | real kaka krakers | mell hyzam | 78 | 1,251 | |
| 14 | Grande Elias Team | Jorge Pacao | 78 | 1,249 | |
| 15 | [MUSVN] Tom | Nguyen Bui Huynh | 104 | 1,246 |
So enjoy the magic of the FA Cup this weekend because next week – FPL is back…and back with a potential DGW vengeance.
Ryan
@FantasyYirma
GW21 NOTHING BUT BONUS POINTS: Updated
| 01 Jan 12:45 | West Brom | |
1 – 2 | |
Fulham |
|
|||||
| 01 Jan 15:00 | Man City | |
3 – 0 | |
Stoke City |
|
|
|||||
| 01 Jan 15:00 | Swansea | |
2 – 2 | |
Aston Villa |
|
|
|||||
| 01 Jan 15:00 | Tottenham | |
3 – 1 | |
Reading |
|
|
|||||
| 01 Jan 15:00 | West Ham | |
2 – 1 | |
Norwich |
|
|
|||||
| 01 Jan 15:00 | Wigan | |
0 – 4 | |
Man Utd |
|
|||||
| 01 Jan 17:30 | Southampton | |
1 – 1 | |
Arsenal |
|
|
|||||
| 02 Jan 19:45 | Chelsea | |
0 – 1 | |
QPR |
|
|
|||||
| 02 Jan 19:45 | Liverpool | |
3 – 0 | |
Sunderland |
|
|
|||||
| 02 Jan 20:00 | Newcastle | |
1 – 2 | |
Everton |
|
|
|||||
Guest Post: JANUARY WILDCARD by @FPL_mentor
Many thanks to @FPL_Mentor for providing this guest post! You can view more of his work at http://fantasyfootballmentor.blogspot.co.uk
Excellent resource and well worth a follow.
If you would like to feature an article on Fantasy Yirma email Ryan at FantasyYirma@hotmail.com or contact us via the website/twitter
January is almost upon us (or already is depending where you are right now!). A time of new hope, new promises and new starts. I’m not talking about New Year resolutions, I’m talking about the January wildcard.
- Player values
- The double Gameweek (DGW) in GW23 for Arsenal and West Ham
- African Cup of Nations
- Transfers that Premier League clubs will make in January
|
GW17 Value
|
GW20 Value
|
Difference
|
|
|
Robin Van Persie
|
13.8
|
14.0
|
+0.2
|
|
Demba Ba
|
8.2
|
8.3
|
+0.1
|
|
Juan Mata
|
9.5
|
9.8
|
+0.3
|
|
Michu
|
8.0
|
8.3
|
+0.3
|
|
Totals
|
39.5
|
40.4
|
+0.9
|
WILDCARD! YEAH! FREE TRANSFERS BABY!
Don’t be one of those people and you’ll be fine 🙂
Gameweek 21 preview: Juan to make Matas worse for QPR?
Like plenty of Fantasy managers, Queens Park Rangers can only hope that a new year brings a change in fortunes. It doesn’t look like starting off that way.
After three consecutive defeats at the tail end of 2012, QPR begin 2013 with a trip to a resurgent Chelsea on Wednesday night. It may be a short hop across west London, but the gap in quality in huge.
One man who represents that gap is Juan Mata (£9.8m), the Spanish ace who has slowly overtaken Eden Hazard (£9.5m) as Chelsea’s main creative force the longer the season has gone on, scoring seven goals and making eight assists during the campaign to overtake his Belgian teammate following Hazard’s stunning start to life in England.
Against QPR you’ve have to feel that Mata will be able to exploit the shortcomings of Harry Redknapp’s side in much the same way that Luis Suarez did for Liverpool on Sunday, and with Rafael Benitez also surely likely to stick with Frank Lampard (£8.4m) following his brace in the weekend win at Everton, the potential for another big Chelsea home win is there for all to see.
They beat Aston Villa 8-0 in their last game at Stamford Bridge, and if another huge scoreline is to be achieved then Mata is sure to be key to the home side’s efforts. He looks to be a solid captaincy choice.
The festive period was a time to trust ex-Southampton players with your armband, with Gareth Bale (£9.9m) and Theo Walcott (£8.8m) both hitting hat-tricks to thrill the managers who own them.
Bale would have been backed for more points had he not picked up a suspension which keeps him out of Tottenham’s home match with Reading on New Year’s Day, but Arsenal’s Walcott is sure to be raring to go as he heads back to the south coast to take on Southampton fresh from racking up this season’s highest individual points total in one fixture against Newcastle on Saturday.
His three goals and two assists have of course seen plenty of Fantasy bosses draft him into the team in the hope that he can repeat the trick, and whilst he might not manage to pull off that incredible feat again he certainly looks as though he’ll be in the points as he heads back to his old club ― who conceded six to the Gunners, and one to Walcott, back in September.
The Manchester clubs look set to spent 2013 battling with each other in the same way they did in 2012, and both will fancy New Year’s Day wins as champions City host Stoke and leaders United go to Wigan. Sergio Aguero (£11.0m) and Robin van Persie (£14.0m) will again be the main men, whilst City’s Yaya Toure (£8.0) will play his final Premier League match before heading off for the Africa Cup of Nations.
Suarez (£10.2m) and Liverpool will be looking to arrest their schizophrenic form as they welcome Sunderland to Anfield in a match which should see the Uruguayan forward impress, whilst Demba Ba (£8.4m) could be playing his final match for Newcastle as they host Everton. Logic dictates that he’ll be getting less chances to pick up points should he move to Chelsea as expected.
Logic also says that whoever faces Aston Villa should be in the points given recent form, and as Swansea welcome Paul Lambert’s men to South Wales perhaps a move for Nathan Dyer (£5.3m) could pay off.
Michu (£8.2m) is doubtful for the match, and whilst his fitness should be monitored all the way up to the deadline ― not the most exciting way to spend New Year’s Eve admittedly ― the likes of Dyer and Jonathan de Guzman (£5.7m) could be the men to watch.
* Remember, the January Wildcard kicks in after Gameweek 21’s fixtures. The earliest your Wildcard can become active is Gameweek 22.
Guest Post: “Team of the Year” from TKTG
Many thanks to Amin from www.ToKnowTheGame.com for submitting this guest post looking at their take on the “Team of the Year”
To Know The Game (TKTG) is a unique portal which combines the best football news & analysis from around the web with the insights & opinions of its panel of contributors: Omer, Amin, Asfand, Humaid & Salman.
The Fantasy Yirma team have been collaborating with TKTG for several months and rate the guys highly.
If you would like to submit a guest post to be featured on FantasyYIRMA.com email Ryan at FantasyYirma@hotmail.com
UEFA.com’s Team of the Year nominees have been finalized and voting is under way. We at TKTG have decided to cast our vote too by coming up with our own best XI. We first went through the list of nominees for each position, and then the opinion of each TKTG author on what formation to play, and the XI they would use. Finally, we combined it all to come up with a TKTG UEFA.com TOTY.
Here’s what we came up with..
The Nominees
Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas; Gianluigi Buffon; Petr Cech; Manuel Neuer
Defenders: Andrea Barzagli; Ashley Cole; Mats Hummels; Branislav Ivanovic; Jordi Alba; Vincent Kompany; Phillip Lahm; Javier Mascherano; Pepe; Gerard Pique; Sergio Ramos; Thiago Silva
Midfielders: Xabi Alonso; J Błaszczykowski; Eden Hazard; Andres Iniesta; Juan Mata; Claudio Marchisio; Mesut Ozil; Andrea Pirlo; Marco Reus; David Silva; Yaya Toure; Xavi
Forwards: Sergio Aguero; Burak Yilmaz; Edinson Cavani; Didier Drogba; Falcao; Mario Gomez; Huntelaar; Ibrahimovic; Lewandowski; Messi; Cristiano Ronaldo; Robin van Persie
Check out the entire list of nominee’s and their 2012 stats here.
The TKTG UEFA.COM TEAM of the Year
With all the talent present in the list of nominees, the selection process was almost entirely controversy-free. Of the 40 nominees, only 21 received votes from our panel of 5, and 8 of our final XI received at least 4 votes (with 5 being unanimous).
Keeping in mind that UEFA.COM has only 5-3-2, 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 3-4-3 and 3-5-2 as possible formations, and that the team selected would be the best players voted in each line (def, mid, fwd) as opposed to a starting XI, the final TKTG XI is a balanced one and, we feel, one that accurately represents 11 of the best players of 2012 (in Europe anyway).
Goalkeeper
Iker Casillas (4 votes)
Sometimes the numbers don’t do justice to a player’s contribution to a team. Take Casillas for example. He is not statistically the best of the nominees in any category above, bar games played. However it is impossible to look past his contribution as a leader and as a last line of defence for both club and country. Captaining Real to La Liga, and then sitting down with Puyol and Xavi to ensure that La Roja were united, before captaining them to a second consecutive European Championship. – Humaid
Defenders
Sergio Ramos (5 votes – unanimous)
Over the last 12 months, Ramos has cemented his place in the Real Madrid back-line and its easy to see why. He’s patched up his differences with club manager, Mourinho, and his performances last year displayed his true potential and talent. Not only was he brilliant for Madrid in their title-winning campaign, he also played a massive role for Spain in their success at the Euros last year. He is on the verge of completing 100 caps for Spain, which is a phenomenal achievement for the 27-year old. – Amin
Vincent Kompany (4 votes)
Kompany was the rock at the heart of the Man City defense that led to them pipping Man Utd to the Premier League title (not to mention he scored the sole goal in second clash of Manchester last season to help City get ahead of United with two games to spare). – Salman
Mats Hummels (3 votes)
Mats Hummels rounds up my defence. Strong in the air, on the ground and with the ball at his feet, Hummels has been key to Dortmund’s recent success, both domestically and in Europe. He also played every single minute of Germany’s games at Euro 2012, helping them reach the semi-finals. – Humaid
Midfielders
Yaya Toure (5 votes – unanimous)
Another relentless midfielder, Yaya Toure, has been chosen for his box-to-box prowess. This year, the Ivorian’s strength on and off the ball is what has allowed him to succeed in both a deeper and advanced role, depending on the what the situation requires. It is scary to think of how much more the Manchester City talisman can improve in 2013. – Asfand
Andres Iniesta (4 votes)
No midfield can be complete without Andres Iniesta, one of the most gifted and composed dribbling midfielders of the modern game. The Spaniard contributed immensely towards his national side’s victory in Euro 2012 in addition to Barcelona’s triumph in the Spanish Cup. Clearly, it is no surprise that Iniesta is a finalist for the Ballon d’Or for the second time in three years. – Asfand
Andrea Pirlo (4 votes)
What were Milan thinking when they let him go? Not only was Pirlo the lynchpin of the Juventus midfield, as they won the Scudetto, he single-handedly led Italy to the finals of the Euros last summer. Probably one of the most complete midfielders in Europe right now, Pirlo has been absolutely sensational this year. – Amin
Mesut Ozil (2 votes – selected in vote-off)
Joining Iniesta in the middle of the park is the player with more assists than any other nominee and one who plays in a style reminiscent of the great Zidane. Mesut Ozil has created goals galore for both club and country, and has been key to unlocking the tightest of defences. – Humaid
Forwards
Radamel Falcao (2 votes – selected in vote-off)
Behind only Messi in chance conversion rates, Falcao is the reason Atletico Madrid are Europa League champions and the reason Chelsea were dismantled in the European Super Cup. His goal scoring has also ensured that Atletico end 2012 in 2nd place in La Liga, ahead of Real Madrid. He is, quite simply, the best number 9 in the world. – Humaid
Cristiano Ronaldo (5 votes – unanimous)
Ronaldo’s tally of 46 league goals and 60 in all competitions helped Real Madrid win the La Liga ahead of arch-rivals Barcelona. He became the only player to have scored against every La Liga team in a single season. All in all, as an individual Ronaldo probably had the best season of any player in Europe. – Salman
Lionel Messi (5 votes – unanimous)
91 goals in a calendar year. This calendar year. In the final 3 for the Ballon d’Or. Leo Messi is a no-brainer. Forget about the fact that he averages over a goal and a quarter a game. That he has the best conversion rate. That he has more assists than any nominee bar Ozil. He is just a joy to watch. That alone would get him on my team. The numbers should make sure he gets on each and every one else’s. – Humaid
So here we have it. The TKTG UEFA.COM Team of the Year:
Casillas
Ramos – Hummels – Kompany
Ozil – Pirlo – Toure – Iniesta
Messi – Falcao – Ronaldo
To check out the final vote count in our TKTG TOTY author poll, click here.
You can also view all our authors’ picks for their respective XIs and their thoughts behind each selection (bar Omer who is on vacation but who took the time to share his XI with us).
What do you think? Did we select the best XI? Who would you have selected? Please share your comments with us via Twitter and on the TKTG Facebook Page.
You can vote for your own team of the year at the following link en.toty.uefa.com
FantasyYIRMA - Fantasy Football FPL 