Premier League clubs' best players of the decade

[Ivo Stas]

Article in today's Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/dec/24/premier-league-clubs-best-players-of-the-decade

Worth reading for the (better informed) below the line comments than for some of the laughable choices. You'll never guess who they picked as Villa's best player of the last decade..!

Personally I would go for Benteke, he scored 49 goals in 101 games for the worst Villa side I've ever seen. If we do stay up this season, then I'd swap in Jack instead.

[cdbearsfan]

It's Benteke, by a million miles. Ludicrous choice by the Graun.

[Dave]

Reckon I'd have gone through about four dozen players before I stumbled over him. Solid though he was.

I'd barely even have considered him as a "this decade" player.

[Damo70]

Ramsey was a good shout for Arsenal.
Friedel deserves a mention but Milner and Young more so.
I don't really know enough about Bournemouth's Steve Cook and who may have been better.
Same with Brighton and Lewis Dunk. Glenn Murray would have been the name that came to my mind.
I would have gone for Michael Keane for Burnley
I agree with Hazard for Chelsea
I agree with Zaha at Palace
I would have gone for Lukaku for Everton
Vardy for Leicester and Suarez at Liverpool are hard to argue with
I would have gone for Kompany and Aguerro instead of Silva
De Gea at United I agree with
I would have Cabaye  over Tiote
I can't think of anyone who may have been better than Hoolahan at Norwich and Sharp at Sheff U
Van Dijk should surely have beaten Lambert
Bale should have won over Kane
I agree with Deeney at Watford
I would have gone for Mark Noble for his influence instead of Payet
Despite their delusion that they are an established PL team Wolves haven't been in the top flight long enough for me to judge

[Olof's Beard]

Milner only played one game this decade Damo. We weren't that bad.

[hilts_coolerking]

Friedel?  Someone's taking the piss there.

[LukeJames]

Frifel? "" not reven slifghtly

[SoccerHQ]

Brad wasn't great at all in 2010-11, by far the weakest of his three seasons here.

Benteke by a landslide.

[PeterWithesShin]

McInally did his Villa team of the decade, seemed a tad bizarre that he chose Carew over Benteke based on Benteke's current form for Palace.

Heaton
L. Young, Dunne, Collins, Bertrand
Milner, Petrov, McGinn, A. Young
Grealish, Carew.

It's early days but Tom Heaton will prove to be better than the likes of Brad Friedel and Brad Guzan at Villa. I like Heaton, I really do, so he's in there for me.

At right-back I've gone for Luke Young. He wasn't the best football player in the world, but he was a 7.5 out of 10 every time he played, and he never let Villa down. Modern-day defenders neglect the art of defending but he could actually defend.

Richard Dunne has to go in at centre-back because I like big power in the air - and that counts both for and against Villa! Next to him I'll go for big James Collins, who was a real nuisance in the opposition box.

Then there's Ryan Bertrand, who did well when he came in on loan from Chelsea - I had him in my fantasy team, and he did well for me as well.

James Milner was terrific when he was at Villa Park, he was so consistent. John McGinn is a terrific player, he's in purely for his goal threat. Stiliyan Petrov goes straight into midfield, there's no debate about that, though Idrissa Gueye ran him close. And then on the left it has to be Ashley Young.

I'm going to go with Mr Aston Villa Jack Grealish in behind the big front man John Carew. If Christian Benteke was still the Christian Benteke we saw during his time at Villa, he'd have got the nod, but his reputation has been tarnished by his decline since leaving the club.

[Damo70]

I thought Dunne and Collins were excellent in their first season for us. Fast forward two years and both of them were just shadows of their former selves.

[cdbearsfan]

Dunne wasn't so much a shadow as an eclipse.

[dave.woodhall]

I'm mildly impressed.

[KevinGage]

He looked promising at Chelsea and went on to have a good few seasons with Soton, but Plastic Bertrand wasn't much cop for us for the three>four months he was here.

He was playing for a complete numpty of a manager, true.  But so was Benteke.

Highlights how poxy that position has been for us for at least the last decade, mind.

If we're selecting loan players in a team of the decade (a very B-lose thing to do, BTW)  I'd have Kyle Walker over Luke Young.  Defensively ropey, but you could see he would go far.  Made the England squad during his time with us and seemed to be keen to stay at one point.  One of many missed opportunities during that era.