I'd say so.
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
We have the best set of wingers in the League anyway.
No
Let's not get carried away. He had a very good third or half season. How beautiful would it be if we had player with Nani's ability and Valencia's consistency?
We have the best set of wingers in the League anyway.
Malouda has been outsanding. But for me since hitting form, Bale has been the best winger in the country.
Nani will be interesting in the next year or two though.
He has so much potential, physically and technically he can be unmatched on his day.
It's a bit interesting, the only wingers that really showed anything in the second part of the season were all left wingers who had been relatively quiet before the new year - Malouda, Nani and Bale. They have all been great since January and extremely productive.
Malouda's been great all season. That's why he's scored over twice as many goals as any of the other wingers on that list.
In the first half of the season, the outstanding wingers in the league were Malouda, Lennon, Valencia (after a month or so settling in) and (for a few glorious games) Giggs.
Malouda kept up his form for over a year so I think Nani'd have to do likewise to claim that, and I don't think that's a certainty just yet.
What Nani's done over the last couple of months isn't anything better than Lennon showed in the first half-season before his injury, I don't think.
Still, I'm not really arsed. If he keeps playing the way he is for us and never gets called the best winger in the league it won't bother me because what he's doing now is more than enough.
Malouda has been twice the player in the second part compared to before January. He was far from outstanding in the first part - I think you're letting Brwned's post influence you.
If you want to talk stats...
Malouda in the PL before January:
3 goals, 2 assists.
Malouda in the PL after December:
12 goals, 7 assists.
I'll let that speak for itself.
Mind you, I reckon his "before January" figures are still pretty close to what Nani/Bale achieved after Christmas?
Nani has 2 goals and 8 assists since January where as Bale has 3 goals and 5 assists since January.
But that's just stats, which only tells a small part of the picture (unless the difference is as huge as it is with pre/after-January Malouda).
I have a small soft spot for Tottenham, and Bale in my opinion has been among their best players in the majority of their games since January. And as you know, that's also the case with Nani.
Malouda didn't play a whole lot before January either - I think he had about 9 starts - and I personally wasn't that impressed with him. I certainly wouldn't have classed him as outstanding before January.
So all in all, I stick by my original post
I don't think anyone would classify him as "oustanding" before January.
In the first half of the season, the outstanding wingers in the league were Malouda
In the first half of the season it was Malouda, Lennon, Valencia and Giggs that stood out for me. I stand by that.
[B]TEAM RESULT G A[/B]
A- Birmingham D 0 - 0 Started 0 0
A- West Ham United D 1 - 1 Off 45 min 0 0
H- Portsmouth W 2 - 1 On 63 0 0
H- Everton D 3 - 3 On 75 0 0
A- Manchester City L 2 - 1 On 87 0 0
A- Arsenal W 0 - 3 On 86 0 0
H- Wolverhampton W 4 - 0 Off 69 min 1 1
H- Manchester United W 1 - 0 Unused Sub
A- Bolton Wanderers W 0 - 4 Unused Sub
H- Blackburn Rovers W 5 - 0 Unused Sub
A- Aston Villa L 2 - 1 Off 84 min 0 0
H- Liverpool W 2 - 0 On 75 1 0
A- Wigan Athletic L 3 - 1 Off 51 min 0 1
H- Tottenham Hotspur W 3 - 0 Started 0 0
A- Stoke City W 1 - 2 Started 1 0
H- Burnley W 3 - 0 Unused Sub
A- Fulham W 0 - 2 Started 0 0
A- Sunderland W 1 - 3 On 75 0 0
H- Hull City W 2 - 1 Off 68 min 0 0
You don't really like Nani,do you?
Malouda has been twice the player in the second part compared to before January. He was far from outstanding in the first part - I think you're letting Brwned's post influence you.
You'll not find one United player I dislike.
By over a year I meant including the end of last season, which might confuse things. But in all comps before January he still had 4 goals and 6 assists, and that was despite being in and out of the team because of Ancelotti's initial choice of the diamond when essentially Lampard took his place in the withdrawn left-sided position.
But at the end of last season he got 5 goals and 4 assists between April and May, so while he's stepped his game up a further level in the latter half of this season I think he'd already stepped it up a level last year.
I must say that surprises me - I don't think anyone even had him in a top 50 before January.
He started on the bench in 10 out of 19 Premier League matches before January, and of the 9 games he started, he only stayed on the pitch the entire game 4 times.
I struggle to see how he could have managed to stand out during that. To me, he was no where near Lennon, who was among the best players in the league before his injury.
But I guess that's football, different eyes and all that.
Here is his Premier League game log before January by the way - according to ESPN:
Code:[B]TEAM RESULT G A[/B] A- Birmingham D 0 - 0 Started 0 0 A- West Ham United D 1 - 1 Off 45 min 0 0 H- Portsmouth W 2 - 1 On 63 0 0 H- Everton D 3 - 3 On 75 0 0 A- Manchester City L 2 - 1 On 87 0 0 A- Arsenal W 0 - 3 On 86 0 0 H- Wolverhampton W 4 - 0 Off 69 min 1 1 H- Manchester United W 1 - 0 Unused Sub A- Bolton Wanderers W 0 - 4 Unused Sub H- Blackburn Rovers W 5 - 0 Unused Sub A- Aston Villa L 2 - 1 Off 84 min 0 0 H- Liverpool W 2 - 0 On 75 1 0 A- Wigan Athletic L 3 - 1 Off 51 min 0 1 H- Tottenham Hotspur W 3 - 0 Started 0 0 A- Stoke City W 1 - 2 Started 1 0 H- Burnley W 3 - 0 Unused Sub A- Fulham W 0 - 2 Started 0 0 A- Sunderland W 1 - 3 On 75 0 0 H- Hull City W 2 - 1 Off 68 min 0 0
Nani has arguably put in the best individual performances I saw from a winger all season (Arsenal and Bayern) with Bale not far behind (Arsenal and Chelsea) but neither of them have been as consistently effective as Malouda, who's been a machine these last few months (yong and lernin an' all that)
Oh, I'm not arguing Bale and Nani have been better than Malouda this season, I just found it interesting that all 3 left wingers stepped up drastically in 2010.