A survey of 12 of the country’s top journalists was done last week, with the question being who’s the best defender in the Premier League?
Maybe unsurprisingly the top four answers were made up of defenders from the top four teams in the Premier League: Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham and Chelsea. But where did Newcastle United’s top defender and captain Fabricio Coloccini come I hear you ask. Well, as the title suggests, he slotted in at number five.
Fabricio Coloccini has been as solid as a rock for Newcastle this season. City’s leader at the back is Vincent Kompany, while Ledley King is a key performer for Spurs, but Coloccini is as integral to the Newcastle back line. Injury problems have undrlined just how important he is to this side, and he’ll be badly missed if Newcastle can’t tie him down to a new contract so that he stays on Tyneside for the long-term.
The survey was carried out by Belgium’s number 1 Football magazine Sport/Voetbalmagazine, so maybe they had a bit of influence and it’s perhaps not a surprise that Kompany was voted in first place. Here’s the list in full…
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Vincent Kompany (Man City) 55 points
Nemanja Vidic (Man United) 38
Ledley King (Tottenham) 19
Ashley Cole (Chelsea) 13
Fabricio Coloccini (Newcastle) 8
Phil Jones (Man United) 8
Micah Richards (Man City) 6
Daniel Agger (Liverpool) 6
Thomas Vermaelen (Arsenal) 5
Leighton Baines (Everton) 4
Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal) 4
José Enrique (Liverpool) 3
Brede Hangeland Fulham) 3
Phil Jagielka (Everton) 2
Steven Taylor (Newcastle) 2
Rio Ferdinand (Man United) 2
John Terry (Chelsea) 1
Glen Johnson (Liverpool) 1
It’s nice to see Steven Taylor getting a bit of recognition, too, and it’s a real shame that Tayls is going to miss the rest of the season as he was forming a partnership to be reckoned with alongside Colo. Let’s hope that James Perch and co. can step up to the plate and keep Newcastle solid at the back until reinforcements can be brought in during January.
Overall, what do you think of the results. Would you rate Coloccini as the fifth best defender in the Premier League?
Written by Tom Jones for NothingButNewcastle.com
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Coloccini is definitelt at least 5th, if not higher.
Surprised that Taylor is not higher than 15th.
Also suprised that Everton’s Jagielka is only 14th, because I think he has been excellent this season. Interesting that he is rated higher than Terry and Ferdinand, because in my opinion Jagielka should be in the England team ahead of those two has beens.