Dimitar Berbatov has topped a fans poll for player of the month for January over at manutd.com. More than 50,000 votes were cast in total including over 30,000 for the Bulgarian; 56% of the total vote.
Four other players were shortlisted for the award; Nemanja Vidic (finished second with 29%), Michael Carrick (finished third with 7%), Edwin van der Sar (fourth with 6%) and Ryan Giggs (fifth with 3%).
January was a tough month for any player to contest the award with the Red’s losing just once whilst conceding only four times in a busy month which saw them play 9 games in 27 days.
Edwin van der Sar set a new Premier League record by playing 1,122 minutes without conceding a goal and deserved his nomination. Whilst Van der Sar has broken records with his performances, his performances have hardly been record breaking. In those 12 games without conceding a goal, Van der Sar has dealt with only 20 shots on target. An average of less than 2 a game. Don’t get me wrong, Van der Sar is a fantastic keeper but his record is far more to do with our defence than it is our keeper.
Nemanja Vidic is the only defender to have played in all twelve of United’s last Premier League fixtures. He has also played 1,122 minutes in the league without conceding a goal and his performances recently have been immense. There is very little left to say about this guy, last season he became one of the world’s finest defenders and this season his is doing nothing to damage that reputation.
Dimitar Berbatov scored four times in January including the match winner against his recently departed club Tottenham in the FA Cup. Berbatov has definitely started to show his qualities over the last month and in time could become a great player for the club, however right now there is a long way to go and a lot of hard work ahead. Too many times Berbatov has been a virtual spectator in games and often disappears for long spells. It happens when teams put everyone behind the ball and hope not to concede. Unfortunately, United come up against this scenario fairly frequently so Berba better adapt.
Michael Carrick received just 7% of the vote which I found surprising as I had him down as my player of the month. Carrick played in 8 of United’s 9 January fixtures and barely put a foot wrong all month. In a time when United have sometimes struggled to break down stubborn defences, it has been Carrick’s ability to pick and execute a pass which has often lead to a slender 1 – 0 victory rather than a bore draw. Ferguson described Carrick as “an excellent player” and likened him to former Red Dennis Irwin. Fergie claimed that whilst Irwin’s performances were always top quality, he never received the accolades he deserved because of other players in the team such as David Beckham and Eric Cantona. I think he’s right.
My top picks for January: 1. Michael Carrick 2. Nemanja Vidic 3. Dimitar Berbatov. What do you think?