Jamie Carragher, former Liverpool defender, turned football pundit extraordinaire. In the most recent edition of Monday Night Football, he revealed his Premier League team of the season to date. Carragher used a traditional 4-2-3-1 alignment. He methodically picked players coming off of the performances through this point in the season.
Of all those deep-field decisions, perhaps the most surprising choices were his two midfielders, Granit Xhaka and Declan Rice. Unlike Saka, it was less of a surprise to see Carragher make a special mention of Rice as one of the top performers this season. In fact, he’s expected to battle for the Player of the year with Manchester City’s Erling Haaland.
“Haaland and Rice would be certainly the two that would stand out right away,” Carragher stated. And I think Rogers is kind of just hanging on their coattails. If you’re talking about a player of the year or something like that, or the player of the year so far at the halfway point, it’d be a toss-up between Rice or Haaland.”
Carragher’s accolades did not stop there. From then on, he made the choice of letting Bruno Fernandes take the lead role as the main attacking midfielder. Ever since arriving as the Manchester United captain, he’s shown his ability to impact games with his creativity, vision and ingenuity.
On Haaland, I think Carragher is largely right – Haaland is a Player of the Year near-certainty. His high-quality outings for the Citizens have left an undeniable mark. The prolific striker’s scoring ability has made a significant impact on his team’s success this season.
Despite being the odds-on favourite to make Carragher’s team, Moises Caicedo missed out on selection. For all that though, Carragher had nothing but praise for Caicedo’s ability and impact on Brighton’s midfield.
On the defensive front, Carragher is particularly impressed with new signing Daniel Munoz. He has three goals and two assists on the year to date. Munoz’s form has only further bolstered the Red Bulls’ attacking depth, giving his team a chip to play in their surprising success this season.
Mark Guehi The selection of Guehi in Carragher’s team ahead of Maxence Lacroix is a testament to his remarkable form with Crystal Palace. Carragher cited Guehi’s defensive talent and consistency for making him the most obvious choice.
Reece James featured in Carragher’s XI, although he spent the majority of his minutes this season operating in central midfield. Whether it’s as a defensive player or offensive wing player, the ability to change roles and still be impactful, James has been an impressive asset.
Carragher further praised new Bristol City signing Antoine Semenyo as a name to watch. Even with challenges in recent weeks, Semenyo’s talent is hard to miss. Carragher was adamant that Semenyo had not been firing on all cylinders of late. His previous outings showed it was in there.
Carragher had high praise for Jeremy Doku for being “really good” this season. The winger’s ability to take on defenders and create opportunities has not gone unnoticed, making him a valuable part of his team’s attacking strategy.
Phil Foden was used brilliantly by Gareth Southgate. It was largely his performance that went a long way to explain why he’s considered one of England’s brightest young prospects. His contributions have been instrumental for Manchester City as they continue to ward off the ever-growing competition of the English Premier League.
French defender William Saliba had gotten within inches of receiving praise from Carragher. He was an unfortunate miss out as he had been dropped for a couple of games. His lack of absence might have worked against his chances, but his aforementioned performances carved out an ethos for him, a young promising defender.
As Carragher went through his list, he saw himself going deeper and deeper in rankings, including Caicedo and all the top players. Even with the remarkable depth of talent throughout the Premier League this season, it has proven difficult to pronounce them as such.
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