Bergkamp's Debt To Dutch Legend
| Danny Kelly's Premiership All-Stars |
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TEAM OF THE SEASON
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Just one Manchester United player included. Dion Dublin at the back rather than Tony Adams. Alex Manninger the best goalkeeper of the season. Has Danny Kelly lost his mind? Or is the big man the visionary that Glenn Hoddle should be calling on instead of ‘Come On' Eileen Drewery? Read on and make up your own mind…
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MIDFIELD Dennis Wise (Chelsea) He must have really upset Hoddle… Captain of a team that won two trophies; the best midfielder in a team including Zola, Poyet and Di Matteo; no red cards and no taxi drivers bashed; it's been a brilliant season for the little rotter. Not everyone's cup of cheeky chirpy Cockney rosey lee, but this season the results speak for themselves. Ray Parlour (Arsenal) He must have really, really upset Hoddle… The most improved player in the Premiership; simple as that. Parlour's performance in the FA Cup Final was typical of his contribution this season and made Hoddle favourite Rob Lee (admittedly Newcastle's best player on the day) look like a donkey who'd been left outdoors all winter. Patrick Vieira (Arsenal) His midfield partner Emmanuel Petit was a decisive force in the latter third of the season, but Vieira did it all term. Athletic, competitive, uncompromising (as they used to say), and leather-lunged, the only thing that robbed Vieira of having the perfect season was the lack of opportunity for a shuddering battle with the dry-docked Roy Keane. Maybe next season, but for now, an obvious choice. Marc Overmars (Arsenal) After a slow start, when the physicality of the Premiership and the obsession with Ian Wright and his scoring record seemed to intimidate him, Overmars accelerated (operative word) through the tape to assure Arsenal of the title. As speed becomes the decisive factor in breaking down modern defences, Overmars is blessed with an embarrassment of the right stuff. His frailty is more than compensated for by the fact that he's far too nippy for the average clogger to get a stud on him. David Ginola (Tottenham Hotspur) A romantic choice from a Spurs fan, perhaps, but when a man who simply doesn't defend gets fulsome praise from Alan Hansen, you know you're onto something special. Once he realised that he was in danger of being relegated, Ginola picked Tottenham up by the scruff of the neck and pulled them to safety. He was just fabulous, and, boy, didn't he want you to know it, often celebrating the goals he made on his own, as if the scorer were just a cymbal player in the symphony that he, The Great Ginola, had just composed. And, hell, he was often right. We'll play him in the hole between the front two and the other midfielders. They also excelled: Emmanuel Petit (Arsenal), David Beckham (Manchester United), Ryan Giggs (Manchester United), Eyal Berkovic (West Ham), Harry Kewell (Leeds), George Boateng (Coventry), Neil Redfearn (Barnsley), Francesco Baiano (Derby) STRIKERS Dennis Bergkamp (Arsenal) Footballer Of The Year… Player Of The Year… Goal Of The Season… This is a no-brainer really. Bergkamp had one of those seasons - like the one ones enjoyed by Liam Brady and Glenn Hoddle in the Seventies - when everything he touched turned to goal. Nearly all his multitude of strikes were spectacular, but he also pulled the strings for the best attack in the Premiership. If he plays like that in France, and Holland's multitude of talent doesn't self-destruct, he can carry the Dutch very close to the bauble itself. Michael Owen (Liverpool) Frightening, isn't he? There was a moment in Liverpool's home match with Spurs when Owen, confronted by Sol Campbell (the quickest defender England will take to the World Cup, and himself only 24), clearly thought ah, an old bloke , turned on the afterburners and just ran past. It was simply awesome, and, yet, for Owen, it's an everyday occurrence. Add to that the kind of voracious finishing he's inherited from Ian Rush and Robbie Fowler, and technique like that which saw him spin-volley past Manninger in the recent match with the champions and you're talking about a striker who may well force Glenn Hoddle, if he's as open-minded as he insists everyone else must be, to play 4-4-2 before the World Cup campaign is out. They also excelled: Chris Sutton (Blackburn), John Hartson (West Ham), Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (Leeds), Paulo Di Canio (Sheff Wed), Darren Huckerby (Coventry), Kevin Davies (Southampton), Paolo Wanchope (Derby) So what do you think of Danny's Football365 dream team? Is he bang on or bonkers? Send your own views - and all-star XIs - to poll@football365.co.uk |
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