Football England Premiership Team of the Season 2007-08

Manager: David Moyes (Everton)

Brad Friedel (Blackburn Rovers)
Friedel was not only consistent for Blackburn he was consistently excellent. There is nothing flashy about his goalkeeping unless the need arises at which times he is as capable of the spectacular as anybody else around.
His performance against Manchester United at Ewood was the best individual display by a keeper all season in the Premier League and we are prepared to overlook the remarkable blunder he made at Birmingham on the last day when we assume he was already mentally on a beach somewhere.

Bacary Sagna (Arsenal)
This guy proved himself an outstanding signing, adding strength to the Arsenal back four and more than capable of getting forward to join in the teams’ fluent attacking moves. The fact that The Gunners began to stutter after his untimely injury was not simply a coincidence.

Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United)
Rio still has his critics but the fact that he is not exactly in the traditional mould for a British centre half is basically to his advantage. His pace and reading of the game ensured United were the most difficult team in the Premier League to break down and his partnership with Nemanja Vidic was the strongest, and best balanced, anywhere.
Also demonstrated his ability on the ball on many occasions although you feel he could become even more authoritative in that area.

Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United)
Vidic remains a monster alongside the more refined Ferdinand at the heart of the United defence. Will put his head anywhere as long as there is a genuine danger of having it kicked off and loves a tackle. Basically a madman who’s good at football.

Joleon Lescott (Everton)
We think Joleon is happier, and better, at centre half than at left back but he was outstanding in both positions for Everton during the course of the season and therefore deserves his place in this team. Strong in the air, sharp tackling and quick he has all the attributes required in a defender but also proved himself dangerous going forward, and not just from set pieces.

Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
Liverpool’s talisman earns his place in our team of the season for the third year running after again showing himself to be his teams’ driving force, whether played out wide or through the middle which he prefers.
Really flourished when pushed in behind Fernando Torres who had his captain to thank for his prolific entry into English football. There were also promising signs that Gerrard might be about to really fulfil his potential at international level under Fabio Capello.

Michael Essien (Chelsea)
Another player who gets shunted around by his club simply because he is good enough to operate in a variety of positions leaving others the luxury of getting their own way all the time (not naming names, Frank). Essien is the real driving force behind Chelsea, however, and while he is a progressive and dynamic full back he should be left in the centre of midfield, the role his talents were designed for.

Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal)
Fabregas took the Premier League by storm in the first third of the season and backed up his slick approach play with a veritable avalanche of goals, many of them spectacular efforts. He was unable to maintain such a strike rate but remained one of the Premier League’s most influential individuals throughout.

Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Was basically allowed to do his own thing by Manchester United and repaid this faith in full with a remarkable goals haul. Free kicks, penalties, long range shots, tap ins, fancy flicks, headers. Just about everything he hit turned to goals during an inspired campaign.

Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)
Was criticised at times for not scoring heavily enough but nobody in the league worked harder for his team than Rooney and he ensured that life was a hell of a lot easier for his teammates with his strength, endeavour and pure ability.
A real team player who should certainly take part of the credit for Ronaldo’s incredible season.

Dimitar Berbatov (Tottenham Hotspur)
Other players scored more goals than this guy during the season but he also creates on a regular basis for his teammates so it is worth adding several more onto the 15 league goals he did bang in. Another who is always eager to use his outstanding individual ability for the good of the team and appears to be the complete centre forward.

Subs:
David James (Portsmouth)
Micah Richards (Manchester City)
Aleksandr Hleb (Arsenal)
Fernando Torres (Liverpool)
Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa)

Manager: David Moyes (Everton)
Everton are one of several clubs straining to shatter the dominance of the Premier Leagues’ “Big Four” but, on paper, they still appear to be miles behind. Therefore full credit must go to David Moyes for his efforts as Everton pushed hard on three fronts during the course of the season.
For most of the season they were challenging Liverpool strongly for the fourth Champions League spot, they made it to the League Cup semi finals before losing to Chelsea and were desperately unlucky to be knocked out of the UEFA Cup on penalties by Fiorentina having made it to the last sixteen.
Perhaps this emphasized that while Everton have come a long way under Moyes they still do not have the depth of talent at the disposal of the top four clubs.
While not all of Moysies’ signings have been unqualified successes the likes of Howard, Lescott, Jagielka, Cahill, Arteta and Yakubu highlight the improvements the fiercely determined Scot has already made at Goodison Park.
Moyes, despite his almost permanent expression of pure insanity, also showed more style under duress than most of his fellow managers as Everton suffered more than most at the hands of some dreadful refereeing displays. After the home game with Liverpool and the visit to Blackburn Rovers, especially, Moyes might have been forgiven for taking hostages but he managed to remain relatively sanguine.