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Player of the season


Andicis

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I saw a thread by Ryan Conway on Twitter discussing player of the season, and it looked interesting.

Duane Holmes has had a pretty good season, but he's had a few injuries and been out a while.

Lawrence has had his best season in a Derby shirt.

Rooney, well he's Rooney, and our season has been significantly better since he's joined.

But for me, it's Max Bird. He started playing regularly as we improved towards the end of December, and has been consistently excellent ever since. The way he's been dictating games from the middle has been pivotal to our revival. 

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Until new year? No real strong contenders, since new year lots of shouts.

I'm thinking perhaps even Chris Martin, but I think Tom Lawrence deserves a lot of credit for turning around a difficult season (in terms of his own performance and "issues"), Conway makes a case for Waghorn, but I can't forgive his screw ups (in terms of POTY) no matter how much heart he has, but it's really really hard to be pushing for Max Bird, absolutely for YPOTY and probably POTY as well.

I think if he'd not been injured, Duane would've had a good shout. It's not fair, but it's not a fair game.

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Cant be Holmes he didn’t turn up till Rooney joined. Bird has been brilliant but only since Rooney arrived. 
 

So Rooney for me, he’s changed everything 

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It’s still Matt Clarke for me. I wrongly criticised him a lot at the start of the season, which I realise now was overly harsh of me. I guess I just wasn’t sure what to make of him at first - was he a ball playing defender, or an old fashioned head it and clear it merchant? He’s a bit of an enigma, but you only have to look at how badly we collapsed when he was injured (and how our recovery began immediately upon his return) to see how vital he is to this side. The lack of quality we have had in defence this season since Keoghs demise has been well documented, so for helping keep some semblance of organisation within that absolute mess of a backline, Clarke deserves real recognition. It’s for that reason that he gets my vote for POTY as things stand.

Honourable mentions:

Lawrence - I’ve been a critic, like most of this forum, but he’s really turned things around these last couple of months. The form he’s shown has been nothing short of spectacular at this level. It really looks like he’s finally starting to reach the potential he’s shown glimpses of previously on a more consistent basis. I can’t have him at the top of my POTY list right now because he had too many poor spells earlier in the season, but if he can keep this run of form going until the end of the campaign when play resumes, then he may well jump ahead of Clarke in my view. 

Rooney - He's been exactly what we all hoped for from a former world class player. Best player in the division and he’s absolutely transformed the team, as our turnaround in results and performances alike have evidenced since his arrival. Personally I don’t think we can award the player of the season award to someone who’s only been here since the January window, but there can be no doubting the immense influence he’s had on the team as a whole since his arrival. He is still an incredible player, with a footballing mind far too good for this level, and his importance within this side is undeniable.

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Holmes I think for me.

And although I try to say I don't rate Waghorn he has been big for us this season. No matter what goes wrong for him he just gets right back to it. 

Rooney seems a poor choice. He's obviously the best footballer. Picking him is an eye roll emoji choice. But he has transformed us and maybe it's just coincidence but several players have upped their game as soon as he got on the pitch. Just want to see players who don't have that world class ability to call upon win our recognition. I'm sure Rooney would appreciate it but he's really only doing what is expected of a player of his class. 

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31 minutes ago, Millenniumram said:

I can’t have him at the top of my POTY list right now because he had too many poor spells earlier in the season

But you have Matt Clarke at the top? Would you not say he's had quite a few poor spells? Is conceding stupid penalties and corners not our biggest problem? I don't think any of our defense has covered themselves in glory this season, and wouldn't really have any of the back 5 in consideration, Clarke has been the best of a bad bunch of defenders. 

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4 minutes ago, Andicis said:

But you have Matt Clarke at the top? Would you not say he's had quite a few poor spells? Is conceding stupid penalties and corners not our biggest problem? I don't think any of our defense has covered themselves in glory this season, and wouldn't really have any of the back 5 in consideration, Clarke has been the best of a bad bunch of defenders. 

I think Wisdom has mainly  been pretty solid when called upon. Not quite POTY solid but he's performed well and  I can only remember one iffy performance which for a defender at this level is admirable. 

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11 minutes ago, Steve How Hard? said:

I think Wisdom has mainly  been pretty solid when called upon. Not quite POTY solid but he's performed well and  I can only remember one iffy performance which for a defender at this level is admirable. 

Yeah good shout. I still have his performance vs Luton burned into the back of my mind, but he's generally been pretty decent this season. 

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48 minutes ago, Andicis said:

But you have Matt Clarke at the top? Would you not say he's had quite a few poor spells? Is conceding stupid penalties and corners not our biggest problem? I don't think any of our defense has covered themselves in glory this season, and wouldn't really have any of the back 5 in consideration, Clarke has been the best of a bad bunch of defenders. 

He’s had quite a few poor games imo - bit of a difference. I wouldn’t say he’s had a prolonged spell of poor form since Keoghs injury - after a shaky start, it’s only been the odd stupid mistake here and there. Obviously to truly be one of the best players at this level he needs to cut those mistakes out - he’s certainly not at Brighton’s level yet for instance. But as I say, the individual quality in defence has been so poor this season that Clarke deserves credit for holding it together and making sure our goals conceded tally wasn’t too embarrassing. 

FWIW, you can make a similar argument to not give the award to any of our forward players. We were completely impotent before Christmas. It’s not been a year of many truly deserving POTY candidates.

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I think people overstate the impact Rooney and Bird have had individually - not to belittle either, but I mean that I think that they come somewhat as pair. Both are responsible for our improvement. Bird provides the brains and keeps the ball rolling and Rooney pings it into space. Hard to imagine Cocuball working without it (and before they arrived, it didn't). You don't always need heaps of pace in the side if you have players who can find the right white shirt at the right moment.

I'd go with Clarke. He looked partially looked shaky to begin with because he was so clunky on the ball. He made huge strides with his distribution over the season, and looked like a rock once he was confident. It became apparent how good he was when he got that injury and lettuce hands in goal went even flappier than before.

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Max Lowe.

I tell you why

He’s been overlooked by many, yet most of the time consistent.

He’s covered in right back on several occasions too, and to say he was out on loan last season he’s come back and made the left back position his own. Criminally underrated player in my opinion

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