Monkey-Hanger Hails Coloccini!

Last updated : 09 May 2012 By Footy Mad - Editor

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GOALKEEPER

There have been some fantastic goalkeeping performances this season - most noticeably from Tim Krul, Joe Hart and Michel Vorm - but Ali Al Habsi has been putting out fires at Premier League grounds throughout the season and has almost single-handedly kept Wigan up, so the Omani fireman gets my vote in this department.

DEFENDERS

We're not blessed for choice at right-back but I'm going for Ashley Williams, who has come from making his debut against Hartlepool for Stockport in 2004 to being a Premier League regular. He's been part of a terrific back four for Swansea. My other three players are a bit more predictable. Fabricio Coloccini has been a revelation this season, while for me Vincent Kompany is the best central defender in the division with Nemanja Vidic injured. I was torn between a choice of two at left-back. Although Ashley Cole has been brilliant in the last few weeks, Leighton Baines gets the nod for his consistency throughout the season and his dead-ball prowess

MIDFIELDERS

This was the most difficult area to select. I've gone for Chelsea's much- maligned Brazilian Ramires on the right-hand side. Down at Stamford Bridge they used to call him the Brazilian Kenyan because all he does is run and run and run but as the season progressed he proved that is simply not the case; his goal at the Nou Camp being a case in point. In my opinion, he's been Chelsea's most consistent player all season. David Silva is off the boil now but he's still had a fantastic season, while Clint Dempsey has scored all sorts of tremendous goals for Fulham this season so he gets in, too. The final spot goes to Gareth Bale, who at his best is absolutely unstoppable. Two players who didn't quite make the cut are West Brom's James Morrison, who has shown himself to be a fine footballer this season, and Newcastle's Jonas Gutierrez, who has been brilliant down the left-hand side - not just going forward but defensively as well.

STRIKERS

Robin van Persie is the obvious choice; he's won every award going this season and rightly so because his goals have been the difference between Arsenal being where they are in the table and where Liverpool are. For a bit of variety, I've chosen Grant Holt to play alongside him. When he was scoring goals in League Two we weren't sure he'd score them in League One; when he scored them in League One, we weren't sure if he'd score them in the Championship; and when he scored them in the Championship, we thought there was no way he'd score them in the Premier League. But he's done just that and I'm absolutely delighted for him because he's shown that you can work your way through the divisions and become a success. He may not have the skills of an Aguero or a Suarez, but he works his socks off and offers you something different.