Speaking earlier this week, Kolo Toure has declared Liverpool’s Player of the Season award to be a two-horse race between teammates Philippe Coutinho and Jordan Henderson, who have both had excellent campaigns thus far.
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Toure, who was quoted by our official website, said: “They have both been really consistent and have played really well. Jordan has been really strong. Philippe has been great.”
Former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler went one step further and told the official website that the award is as good as Coutinho’s already. He said: “I’d be surprised if he didn’t win it. I loved playing with players like that.”
So is the candidacy for the award as black and white as it looks? We’ve drawn up a list of five candidates below…
Philippe Coutinho
We thought we’d start with the Brazilian because we can’t deny the fact that he’s comfortably the leading candidate, as demonstrated by his selection in the PFA team of the year and his nominations for the Premier League’s player and young player of the year awards.
Since Luis Suarez left at the end of last season, Coutinho has taken over the mantle of being our team’s go-to man, the one that keeps us ticking. He may have only scored eight goals and provided eight assists in all competitions – not a total that would make many people raise an eyebrow – but he offers so much more to the team as a whole.
He thrived since the introduction of the 3-4-2-1 formation, playing in that space between midfield and attack, and has done just as well since we reverted to a back-four. To the surprise of several critics, he’s also done much better there than teammate Raheem Sterling, who has received a lot closer attention from opposition defenders following the success he enjoyed alongside the ‘SAS’ last season.
Emre Can
The German definitely wins the award for ‘most improved’. The youngster has been a revelation this season, especially when you consider that he played just eight times in the Premier League before the turn of the year – not due to injury, just because Brendan Rodgers didn’t consider the 21-year-old ready for a bigger role.
However, since he was pressed into duty as an emergency defender in mid-December, following the switch to a back three, he’s been outstanding. His form has kept £20m summer signing Dejan Lovren on the sidelines and he’s arguably become one of the least ‘droppable’ players in the Liverpool team.
He’s dealt astonishingly well with being constantly moved around and having his position shifted, often several times within the same game. He’s played as a centre-back in a back three and a back four, he’s played at right back, at right wing-back and in a variety of different central midfield roles – both defensive and more attacking.
Martin Skrtel
The onus was on the Slovakian to perform this season, following the departures of Jamie Carragher (in 2013) and Daniel Agger (in 2014), which left him as comfortably our most senior defender. He’s often found himself playing alongside comparative youngsters in Emre Can and Mamadou Sakho and he’s helped them develop as well.
The Premier League table speaks volumes here. Last season we conceded 50 goals in our 38 games, this season we’ve conceded just 38, with only three games remaining. It’s much needed progress from a defensive unit that essentially cost us the title last season, back when scoring goals was incredibly easy for Luis Suarez and co.
Skrtel’s no-nonsense style is integral to the way we play at the back and that fact was thoroughly underlined by our heavy defeat at the hands of Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium last month – when the 30-year-old was suspended. There’s no way we would have conceded the goals that we did if we’d have had Skrtel in the team that day.
Jordan Henderson
He might not be the next Steven Gerrard but our soon-to-be captain will definitely run his heart out for the team in the same way that our iconic No. 8 has been doing for the last 17 years. Henderson has been excellent so far this season and thoroughly deserved his new long-term contract which we were all pleased to see him sign last month.
He’s barely missed a minute of the action, playing 51 times in all competitions and scoring seven goals. The fact that he’s started to add goals to his game as well is another welcome improvement from the 24-year-old. He’s scored a couple of absolute worldies as well – most notably against Manchester City and Burnley back in March.
In the absence of Gerrard at the start of the year, Henderson did an excellent job of standing in as captain and enjoyed a fine start to life with the armband. His passionate performances in the midfield engine room were a joy to behold and he proved that he can always be counted on to turn in solid six and seven out of ten performances.
Simon Mignolet
Who would have thought back in December that the Belgian would be on the verge of winning the Premier League’s ‘Golden Glove’ award come the end of the season. However, that’s exactly where he’s at – having kept 14 clean-sheets in the top flight, one more than Southampton’s Fraser Forster, who’s out for the rest of the year.
It’s been a remarkable turnaround from a player whose Liverpool career look dead and buried back in December. When he was ‘dropped indefinitely’ in favour of Brad Jones (via BBC Sport) his future certainly looked bleak. But he was given an unexpected reprieve when the Australian limped off against Burnley on Boxing Day and he hasn’t looked back since.
He’s made some truly outstanding saves, playing a decisive role in our wonderful start to the calendar year, which was only ended by defeat to Manchester United at the end of March. He looks back to his best, like the keeper we brought from Sunderland almost two years ago. Whatever the cause, it makes you wonder what could have happened if we’d had this Mignolet during 2014 as well.
