Thanks to embarrassing lobbying from manager Sir Alex Ferguson and the triumph of sentimentality over objective analysis, Ryan Giggs has been named the PFA Player of the Year. No doubt, Giggs is one of the best players ever in the Premier League and his career performance is worthy of praise. But there is no way he has been the best player over the past year. In fact, he hasn't even been a regular starter for Manchester United. He's played in 24 of United's 32 league games, scoring only a single goal. When you compare the performances of Ryan Giggs and Chelsea's Frank Lampard, there is no possible way to conclude that Giggs has been the better player this year. Consider the following stats:

Goals
12 - Lampard
1 - Giggs

Assists
9 - Lampard
7 - Giggs

Shots on Target
54 - Lampard
8 - Giggs

Corners Won
40 - Lampard
12 - Giggs

Fouls Won
36 - Lampard
13 - Giggs

Tackles Won
40 - Lampard
22 - Giggs

Passes Intercepted
30 - Lampard
22 - Giggs

Shots Blocked
9 - Lampard
0 - Giggs

In every statistical category, Lampard leads Giggs, and by a considerable margin in most categories. Furthermore, Lampard has played in virtually all of Chelsea's games and has been their most important player. You could argue that Giggs isn't even the most valuable player on his own team. Cristiano Ronaldo, Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, and Wayne Rooney have all contributed more to United's success than Giggs.

Another indicator of a player's overall performance from a statistical point of view is the Actim Index Score. This stat provides the most complete statistical rating of a player. Frank Lampard leads all Premier League footballers with a score of 622. That's # 1 in the league. Ryan Giggs isn't even in the top 100. Giggs currently has fewer points than the 279 recorded by Jason Roberts, who is # 100 on the list. All of the other Manchester United players nominated for the award came in higher than Giggs.

Actim Index Score
622 - Lampard
452 - Gerrard
447 - Ronaldo
423 - Vidic
399 - van der Sar
330 - Rio Ferdinand

If you don't trust the Actim Index, then how about the point system my fantasy football league uses. Let's look at the points for each of the players:

467.00 - Lampard
144.50 - Giggs

What is truly unbelievable is that Frank Lampard not only did not win the PFA Player of the Year award, he didn't even make the Premier League team of the year:

Edwin Van der Sar (Manchester United), Glen Johnson (Portsmouth), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United), Patrice Evra (Manchester United), Ashley Young (Aston Villa), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Ryan Giggs (Manchester United), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea), Fernando Torres (Liverpool)

Look how many United players made the list. Yet they are only six points ahead of Chelsea in the league. And with so many players making the list, no one player has had to carry the load for them. For Chelsea however, Didier Drogba was nearly non-existent during the first half of the season when Scolari was manager; Joe Cole is out injured for the season, and Michael Essien is just now back from injury, meaning Chelsea has had to depend even more on Lampard throughout the year. And he has delivered big time, scoring crucial goals with regularity and contributing pin point passes, even long-range efforts, to set up his teammates.

For me, there is no doubt that Frank Lampard has been the player of the year. You could make an argument for Ronaldo or Gerrard or Vidic or Ferdinand, but there is absolutely no rational argument to be made in favor of Ryan Giggs. Yes, it's great that he's having a solid season late in his career, and yes he has played at a high level for more years than most. But the PFA award is not a lifetime achievement award. It's the award for the best player of the year. For me, that's Frank Lampard. Ryan Giggs should not even be in the conversation.

Giggs winning the award is like Paul Newman winning an Academy Award for Color of Money or Jack Palace winning for City Slickers. It's a sympathy vote. Yes, Giggs probably should have won the award at some time in his career, just like Palace and Newman probably should have won an Oscar at some time. But not this year. His performance simply does not rate as the best player of the year. It's not justice.

The following players have had years similar to if not better than Giggs, and no one would even consider giving them the award this year:

Danny Murphy, Fulham
Dirk Kuyt, Liverpool
Jolean Lescott, Everton
Phil Jagielka, Everton
Kevin Davies, Bolton
John Pantsil, Fulham
Marouane Fellaini, Everton
Gabriel Agbonlahor, Aston Villa
Stephen Ireland, Man City
Tim Cahill, Everton
Matthew Taylor, Bolton
Glen Johnson, Portsmouth
Rory Delap, Stoke
Salomon Kalou, Chelsea
Emile Heskey, Wigan/Aston Villa
Ashley Young, Aston Villa
Chris Brunt, West Brom
Aaron Lennon, Spurs
Nicolas Anelka, Chelsea

And that's just to name a few. The PFA should be ashamed that they gave the award to Giggs. You could even argue that Titus Bramble has had a better season than Ryan Giggs. That says it all.

Let's look at that comparison a bit more:

Goals
1 - Bramble
1 - Giggs

Assists
7 - Giggs
1 - Bramble

Shots on Target
8 - Giggs
4 - Bramble

Corners Won
12 - Giggs
7 - Bramble

Fouls Won
18 - Bramble
13 - Giggs

Tackles Won
47 - Bramble
22 - Giggs

Passes Intercepted
59 - Bramble
22 - Giggs

Shots Blocked
25 - Bramble
0 - Giggs

Actim Score (rank)
300 - Bramble (85)
???? - Giggs (outside top 100)

Fantasy Points
165.0 - Bramble
144.5 - Giggs

So there you have it. Titus Bramble is more deserving of the PFA Player of the Year than Ryan Giggs. Anyone besides Sir Alex still willing to argue for Giggs?

9 comments

Comments:

Comment from: trish [Visitor]

i smell an embittered chelsea supporter.

27/04/09 @ 09:19

Comment from: star_bury [Visitor]

He forgot to include the "own goal" category and the "giveaway" category. Surely that would tip the Giggs/Bramble battle in Ryan's favour. Still, no way should Giggs have won....

27/04/09 @ 10:37

Comment from: Jeremy Granade [Member]

Chelsea fan, yes Trish, but not embittered. If Ronaldo or Vidic or Ferdinand or van der Sar had won, I would say fair play to them. They were all very instrumental to Man United's success. Giggs, however, didn't even start half of United's league games this season. How can he be the player of the year when he wasn't even one of his team's top five players?

27/04/09 @ 21:10

Comment from: lmfao [Visitor]

gigs won the player of the year 2009???? Muahahahahahaha....my goodness. Now i understand why Manchester Utd win so many games and trophies, even when they do not deserve to win them!!!!lol

You guys sure it's not an early april fool joke( fpr next year)???

28/04/09 @ 12:15

Comment from: oyesh [Visitor]

giggs truly deserves the award....... when u compare the bestplayer, u don't just look towards his statistics...its his commitment towards the club. when giggs enters the pitch the entire attaking style of united changes and leads to goals, goals and more goals.

29/04/09 @ 07:56

Comment from: Jeremy Granade [Member]

Interesting that the PFA Player of the Year starts on the bench for United in the Champions League semi-final against Arsenal. Best player in the league, but not good enough to make the starting XI for the most important game of the season so far?

29/04/09 @ 15:36

Comment from: Chileka taimolo [Visitor] · http://Visitor

Ryan is player of the year? No doubt he is a fantastic player, and even though am a stauch utd fan, i think he is still a few games short.

02/05/09 @ 11:35

Comment from: Graham Tillman [Visitor]

Giggs no way, I,m a staunch United fan but fair dues Lampard,Gerrard ,Torres, Ronaldo, Rooney or Vidic deserved it more .Lampard has played 60 times Giggs half the games, his was a sympathy vote for years of play they should have given him a lifetime acheivement award, not Player of the year

05/05/09 @ 14:36

Comment from: Matt [Visitor]

i was hoping for vidic. he was really solid in the backfield and scored a handful of goals. he also made a good contribution to the clean sheet streak (epl record).
gotta respect giggs, though. i think he should've received it earlier in his career. i don't think a lifetime achievement would've been appropriate because i think he's fixing to coach after his playing career.

05/05/09 @ 18:18

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