23/11/2024

Here's what happened to the 8 players who lost their Team of the Year place

Miercoles 18 de Abril del 2018

Here's what happened to the 8 players who lost their Team of the Year place

The Premier League PFA Team of the Year for 2018 features no less than five Manchester City players

The Premier League PFA Team of the Year for 2018 features no less than five Manchester City players

The PFA Team of the Year for 2018 has been announced, and it's a pretty strong line-up of Premier League all-stars.

Manchester City are represented no less than five times, as Kyle Walker, Nicolas Otamendi, Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva, and Sergio Aguero make the cut.

Three Tottenham players in Jan Vertonghen, Christian Eriksen and Harry Kane have also been selected, while Liverpool, Chelsea, and Manchester United are all represented once in Mohamed Salah, Marcos Alonso, and David De Gea respectively.

Interestingly the 2018 team features just three players who made the cut last year: Walker (who then played for Tottenham), De Gea, and Kane. Here we look at the lost eight and consider what went wrong this season.

The PFA Team of the Year for 2018 has been announced

David Luiz

Everyone laughed when Antonio Conte re-signed the centre-back - often considered to be unreliable - at the start of last season.

But in Chelsea's title-winning campaign the Brazilian proved himself to be more than capable of following instructions and remaining organised in a back-three.

David Luiz has struggled for football this season

This season the Blues have failed to get anywhere near the level they reached last year domestically, and Luiz has endured an awful campaign.

After falling out with Conte the Brazilian has found himself surplus to requirements at Stamford Bridge, and his last appearance was back in February - nearly three months ago. He will almost certainly leave at the end of the season.

Gary Cahill

Like Luiz, who operated in the middle of Chelsea's back-three last season, Cahill was instrumental to his side's success.

Cahill played on the left of the back-three and was a safe pair of hands as Eden Hazard and Diego Costa and co. caused problems at the other end.

Gary Cahill hasn't played as much as in the last campaign

This season the Englishman has been showing his age, and has been utilised more sporadically by his Italian manager.

He started the season poorly, being sent off in a shock defeat to Burnley, and today generally plays second fiddle to the younger Andreas Christensen.

Danny Rose

Rose was easily one of the Premier League's best players last season before he made it clear he wanted to leave the club for a bigger challenge.

He didn't get the move he was looking for, and seemingly went a long way down in his manager Mauricio Pochettino's estimations.

Danny Rose has suffered with injuries this season

This, coupled with injury problems, has seen Rose's first time football dramatically decline this season, as Ben Davies has made the left-back position his own.

Like Luiz above, Rose will likely leave Spurs at the end of the season.

N'Golo Kante

Kante won the PFA Player of the Year award in 2017, after a sensational season in which he lifted his second Premier League trophy in two years.

The Frenchman was heralded for his hard work and ball-winning abilities in the engine room for an incredible athletic Chelsea team.

N'Golo Kante's Chelsea have seriously dipped in form

It would be unfair to say Kante has gone off the boil as an individual this season, but he has suffered as Chelsea's quality has dipped.

Kante is no longer partnered with the equally industrious Nemanja Matic, and has been overlooked as the likes of Fernandinho at Manchester City and Mousa Dembele at Tottenahm - who play in a similar position to the midfielder - have pulled up trees this campaign.

Dele Alli

Last season Alli really started to turn it on over the Christmas period, and netted a staggering eight goals in six Premier League fixtures in this time.

Later in the year he went on another great run of form where he scored eight in 11 games, and looked set to take this current campaign by storm.

Dele Alli hasn't been as prolific in front of goal this season

Alli started the season with a goal in Spurs's away win against Newcastle, before netting in a 1-1 draw with Burnley.

But since then he has struggled to regularly score goals, and has recorded just 12 over the course of the entire season. He did net two important braces against Chelsea and Real Madrid, however.

Sadio Mane

Unlike most of the above, who have gone off the boil a bit this season, Mane has enjoyed another great season in Liverpool red.

His moment of the campaign so far was arguably scoring a sensational strike in Liverpool's 4-3 win over Premier League champions Manchester City.

Sadio Mane has been overshadowed by Mohamed Salah

But the sheer amount of attacking talent this season has made it harder for Mane to regularly catch the eye and stand out among the pack.

What's more, the sudden and meteoric rise of Mohamed Salah has inadvertently cast a shadow on Mane's personal achievements.

Eden Hazard

The final Chelsea star to suffer from this season's dip in form is Hazard.

Last year the Belgian had support from the industrious Costa, who bullied defenders, carved openings, and assisted Hazard going forward.

Eden Hazard has been played out of position at times for Chelsea

This year Chelsea have struggled up front. Alvaro Morata hasn't lived up to the billing, and Conte appears reluctantly to play Olivier Giroud at times.

As a result Hazard has found himself playing in an unnatural false nine position, which has ultimately hindered his development.

Romelu Lukaku

Lukaku was a stand-out player for Everton last year and earned himself a £75million move to Manchester United in the summer.

He started the season brilliantly, netting goals for fun as United set about attempting to win the title for the first time since 2013.

Romelu Lukaku has struggled for form this season

But he suffered a huge dip in form around the Christmas period, prompting Jose Mourinho to sign Alexis Sanchez in January.

Lukaku has arguably recovered from this lull, but he has only scored 15 times this season - half of what Salah has managed playing on the wing for Liverpool.

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