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There has been a lot of speculation about who the Leeds United player of the year would be this year. With the way the season has played out, there really hasn’t been very many players that have covered themselves in glory. However, the club has announced that they will be opening up the “Player of the Year” award to be voted on by the fans.
Under previous head coach Thomas Christiansen, Leeds were a brilliant, attacking side... for at least a few months. And while the bubble burst away to Millwall and Cardiff City, the team still put out a few good performances, including a win over Premier League club Burnley and a famous win over Middlesbrough at Elland Road. However, since Boxing Day, the team has trotted out one awful performance after another. Even when plug was pulled on TC in early February, the results didn’t seem to change.
Paul Heckingbottom hasn’t been able to get decent performances out of this team either, so it is kind of bordering on the absurd to vote on a “player of the year.”
️ | Gjanni Alioski, Pablo Hernandez, Kemar Roofe, Samu Saiz or Toby Nye, who's your 2017/18 #LUFC Player of the Year?
— Leeds United (@LUFC) April 16, 2018
Vote now ➡️ https://t.co/RR3oFRWh5x pic.twitter.com/bzBN9Qg2Fs
Samu Saiz was absolutely the star of the first half of the season, with his opening hat trick against Port Vale in the League Cup. However, he spat at a Newport County player in the FA Cup, got suspended for six games of the season, all of which Leeds failed to win, and hasn’t looked the same since coming back.
Kemar Roofe has had two hat tricks this season, one against Newport County in the League Cup and one against Queens Park Rangers. However, he’s surrounded those performances with a lot of mediocre efforts as well.
Gjanni Alioski scored gobs of goals in November and December, but has been largely invisible during the second half of the season. And while he has almost always put in a shift, his scoring touch seems to have vanished, just in time for the club’s fortunes to go south.
Last Monday Toby had some Tests to see if treatment is working as it should. We have recieved some fantastic news today. Tobys ultrasound is normal & shows no signs of regrowth of his tumour & his Bone Marrow Aspirates have shown that his bone marrow is now clear of disease pic.twitter.com/B3ohENwF8r
— Toby Nye (@TobyNye4) March 27, 2018
Toby Nye is a brave five year-old who has been battling cancer, and has been the subject of fundraising efforts from the club and the community. His treatments have been successful so far and he’s an inspiration, but he’s not really a player.
Pablo Hernandez is the obvious choice for Player of the Year, as he’s been the heart and soul of the club since opening day against Bolton Wanderers. Without his assists and goals, the club would honestly be in relegation trouble right now. As painful as this season has been, Hernandez has been one of the few bright spots.
So go and Vote for Pablo everyone.