Guardian readers' Premier League team of the season so far | Paul Doyle

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<div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.22.4/96152?ns=guardian&pageName=Guardian+readers%27+Premier+League+team+of+the+season+so+far+%7C+Paul+Doyle%3AArticle%3A1682013&ch=Football&c3=GU.co.uk&c4=Premier+League+2011-12%2CPremier+League+%28Football%29%2CFootball%2CSport&c5=Unclassified%2CPremier+League&c6=Paul+Doyle&c7=11-Dec-29&c8=1682013&c9=Article&c10=Blogpost&c11=Football&c13=&c25=Sport+blog&c30=content&h2=GU%2FFootball%2FPremier+League+2011-12" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Our readers' player ratings make for a nifty first XI but also suggest that fans appreciate goalkeepers more than ever</p><p>Tis the season of goodwill … so we'll leave the caning till later and start with the acclaim. All seasoned readers of this here website have been availing of the high-tech dingus that accompanies our match reports and enables folk to rate the performance of every player. Thousands of virtual judges award scores on the basis of what they've observed and heard, and possibly also out of spite, giddiness and prejudice but hey, that's democracy, what do you want us to do about it?</p><p>Anyway, we've assigned our good ol' fashioned human eyes to pore over the scores cast through the dingus and some interesting trends have emerged. Firstly, the team of the year based on average ratings is undoubtedly a nifty outfit:</p><h2>Readers' XI (with average rating out of 10 in brackets)</h2><p><strong>Michel Vorm</strong> (Swansea – 7.37)</p><p><strong>Phil Jones</strong> (Manchester United – 7.10), <strong>Fabricio Coloccini</strong> (Newcastle – 7.24), <strong>Ledley King</strong> (Spurs – 7.14), <strong>José Enrique</strong> (Liverpool - 6.74)</p><p><strong>Scott Parker</strong> (Spurs - 7.15), <strong>Luka Modric</strong> (Spurs – 7.19)</p><p><strong>Juan Mata</strong> (Chelsea - 7.09), <strong>Wayne Rooney</strong> (Manchester United - 7.07), <strong>David Silva</strong> (Manchester City - 7.09)</p><p><strong>Robin Van Persie</strong> (Arsenal - 7.19)</p><p>There are some striking things about this line-up, most notably, of course, the endorsement of Michel Vorm as the most astute signing of last summer. Swansea have been lauded for their methodical interplay but without their £1.5m recruit from FC Utrecht, they'd be in trouble. On the other hand, if they had managed to also land someone such as Demba Ba – the other obvious candidate for signing of the season (average reader rating so far, 7.00, just behind Van Persie in the striker stakes), they could have been challenging for a place in Europe.</p><p>Obviously foisting a formation on this XI causes casualties: if, for example, we decided not to consider Phil Jones as a right-back, that position would be filled by the next highest-rated player who actually plays there regularly. Kyle Walker's inclusion would bring the number of Spurs players in our side of the season so far to four.</p><p>Another notable feature of the Readers' XI is the relatively low score of José Enrique, suggesting that there is a lack of outstanding left-backs in the Premier League, what with Ashley Cole's performances falling below the excellent standards he has consistently set over the last few years, Patrice Evra's form going in a similar direction, Benoît Assou-Ekotto mixing brilliant with iffy, and Gaël Clichy failing to justify the £7m fee that Manchester City paid for him – mind you, stats gurus Opta rate Clichy as the best left-back so far this season. On the other hand, some lesser known players appear to have upped their games: the second-best left-back so far this season, according to readers, has been Norwich City's Marc Tierney (6.59). If Norwich stay up, he will be a significant factor in their survival – will that be enough to earn him a call-up to the Republic of Ireland squad for Euro 2012? The same question could be asked of Wes Hoolahan, another key Norwich performer and, according to readers, just behind Modric in the midfield schemer ratings. If only Giovanni Trapattoni considered midfield schemers to be useful.</p><p>Looking at the list of the top performers by team is also interesting. What should we deduce, for instance, from the fact that readers think that for seven of the 20 Premier League teams, the player of the season so far has been the goalkeeper? Obviously that is a tribute to Vorm, Shay Given, Ali Al Habsi, Paddy Kenny, Tim Krul, Wayne Hennessey and the in-form-again Jussi Jaaskelainen, but in certain cases it must also be interpreted as a denouncement of the poverty of the outfield play (that means you, above all, Bolton).</p><p>The biggest gap between one player and his team-mates was at Fulham, where Moussa Dembélé's average rating (6.81) is way ahead of anyone else. The Belgian's skill and vision has been one of the few constants this season for Fulham, whose inconsistency during Martin Jol's revamp has been personified by Clint Dempsey: he has turned in some terrific displays this term, and chipped in with six league goals already, but he has also produced some pungent performances: his rating of 2.3 against both Sunderland and Swansea were among the lowest scores for any individual from any club all season. But more on that in a minute.</p><p>Speaking of Sunderland, their fans appear happy with the signing of Nicklas Bendtner, or at least happier with him than they have been with any of their other players so far. Meanwhile at Liverpool, where there is much suggestion that the loss of Luis Suárez to suspension could scuttle their bid for a top-four finish, it is worth remembering that the bid has alas been damaged by the loss of Lucas Leiva (6.76), who readers rate as the club's best performer so far this season.</p><p>The best performances by any player this season apparently came from Wayne Rooney, who twice earned an average rating of 9.1 out of 10 (after the wins against Arsenal and Bolton). Only Spaniards have come close to that figure in a single match: David Silva (8.9 against Wigan and Manchester United) and Juan Mata (8.9 against Everton).</p><p>And so to the worst performers. In many cases readers' appraisals seem to have been all the harsher because of the high expectations invested in players: so, for example, Arsenal's worst player so far this season has apparently been Theo Walcott, while Liverpool's has been Jordan Henderson. Neither judgment seems fair: both players have delivered fine performances, not as regularly as hoped but certainly more than some of their team-mates (has Walcott really been less useful this season than Andrey Arshavin, for example?). Indeed, Henderson, employing a keep-it-simple approach as he seeks to embed himself in his new team, has steadily improved and the criticism of him may soon seem as misguided as the abuse that used to be aimed at Lucas, the player for whom Henderson is slowly emerging as an effective replacement. What's more, Henderson's displays for England Under-21s, whom he captains, show that once he is confident in his environment he can also be a powerful force going forward.</p><p>Similarly, Charles N'Zogbia, apparently Aston Villa's worst player of the season so far (after Emile Heskey, somewhat inevitably) may yet rise to the expectations placed on him. You could say the same about Wolves' Richard Stearman, if you were feeling extremely generous, and if Wolves' fans actually had high expectations of him.</p><p>There have been some memorably rotten displays this term. Johan Djourou seems fortunate to have been assigned 2.3 out of 10 after his misadventure at Ewood Park in September, although his score was perhaps embellished by grateful Blackburn fans (Laurent Koscielny also was panned after that game but other than that his displays have been deemed so accomplished that he is rated the third-best centre-back in the country so far).</p><p>Angel Rangel – whom the Opta index fingers as the best right-back so far this season – seems to have had a shocker at Carrow Road in October, where he was given a rating by readers of just 2.0 following Swansea's 3-1 defeat. But the most wretched displays of the season, according to readers, came in a Swansea victory: in only one Premier League match this season has a player's rating sunk below 2.0 and that came when Bolton were beaten 3-1 at the Liberty Stadium … and no fewer than six Bolton players were awarded marks of less than 2.0, with Darren Pratley seemingly setting a new benchmark for haplessness, readers awarding him a pitiful 1.4 out of 10.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/premier-league-2011-12">Premier League 2011-12</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/premierleague">Premier League</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/pauldoyle">Paul Doyle</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. 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