Gunners Town Awards – Player of the Season; Place your vote here!

Welcome
to the inaugural Gunners Town Awards. Over the course of the next seven days,
you will get to find out what our team thought about the season, as they
selected their nominations for a number of different awards.

Each day will see a new category revealed and
explained, before our crew’s opinions and thoughts are plastered all over the
page. At the end of each article, we will open the voting up to you and you
will be able to place your picks as to who you believe deserves the respective
accolade in the form of a number of polls. The results of the fans polls will
then be revealed next week along with a number of your reasonings for your
votes.

Today’s award is an obvious one and the biggest
one; the Player of the Season award. After the sale of  Robin van Persie last summer, we went into
the campaign with no stand-out main man. Sure we had the likes of Jack
Wilshere, Thomas Vermaelen and Mikel Arteta on board, but we also witnessed the
emergence of Kieran Gibbs, Aaron Ramsey, Theo Walcott as well as the recruiting
of Lukas Podolski, Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla.

So without further ado, here is what the Gunners
Town team thought about who should pick up the trophy; if there was one that
is.

Dave Seager – Santi
Cazorla

I don’t like him as much out on
the left but wherever he plays, Santi Cazorla has been our most consistent and
influential performer. He has played more games than anyone else and generally
plays the game with a smile on his face. He and Christian Benteke are the two
most influential new additions to the league last summer whatever the Chavs
might think.

Batmandela – Laurent
Koscielny

There’s a Bergkampesque
Ic-Man-ishness to Koz.  He’s quick, tenacious, reliable and totally
committed. A dogged defender. Through an absurdly ill-considered captaincy
nomination, he was benched for most of the season. When Arsene Wenger finally
found his balls, and sidelined the under-achieving liability with the armband –
Koscielny was called upon. At a time of great crisis. And he delivered. Apart
from his lumbering lumberjacking of Edin Dzeko, he’s had a pretty startling
(half) season. Enough for him to pip Santi Cazorla to the Player of the Season post.
And let’s not forget the goal that saved our season. It typifies Koscielny’s
determination. 

Darren Wright – Per
Mertesacker

My player of the year is Per
Mertesacker. This beautiful giant has turned into a beautiful flower. Doubts
were raised over him but I’ve always believed. You don’t play 5323 times for
Germany if you are a mug. Always brings calm to the team. Been superb this
season.

Ryan Baker – Santi
Cazorla

My vote for Player of the Year
goes to Santi Cazorla. I had to deliberate between Santi and Laurent Koscienly
who I’m sure you’re all aware is a favourite of mine. Santi wins my vote as he
has been superb throughout the season and ended his first season in English
Football with 12 goals and 12assists across all competitions. His constant
probing of defences, pinpoint passes or tracking back have been a joy to watch
over the summer and reminded me personally of Cesc Fabregas. He did all that
with a smile on his face too.

Steve Wellman – Laurent
Koscielny

The
catalyst behind the change! Once the boss took of his blinkers and reinstated
Kos alongside the BFG, they formed a balanced partnership at centre back,
culminating in seven wins, two draws an only five goals conceded. Scoring the
winner against The Tsunami was a fitting end to the season.

Chris Moar – Per
Mertesacker

Per Mertesacker. I feel as though
he’s been a leader from the back. Without sounding blasphemous, he’s very
reminiscent of the legendary Tony Adams as his arm is always up in the air,
calling for the offside trap. He also commands his defence, reads the game
exceptionally well and is a great character on and off the field. 

Chris Mader- Santi
Cazorla

Santi Carzola as he brought back the spark we
lacked when Cesc left. He’s a match decider and a player who can’t be held
quiet over 90 minutes. Simply world class to me.

Michael Jeffares – Santi
Cazorla

We missed a playmaker after Cesc
departed but it’s been great having a player capable of scoring goals and
creating assists for others. All of this in his first season as well and he’s
played more first team games than any other outfield player for quite some
time. A truly remarkable effort and one that deserves the recognition of being
my Player of the Season. The challenge facing Santi is maintaining the
incredibly high standards.

Andy Wood – Kieran Gibbs

Probably the only one who will vote for this chap.
Kieran Gibbs. Quite simply he never gives less than 100%, marauds up and down
the entire left hand side for 90 mins. He has improved his defending immensely
and offers great pace going forward on overlaps. Never less than an 8/10
performance from Gibbs means he’s my Player of The Season.

Anushree Nande – Santi Cazorla

I find it hard to believe that
Santi’s been at Arsenal only for a season. The tiny magician was a steal buy
considering his quality and he has been instrumental in our creative, attacking
play this season. 12 goals, 11 assists, 1035 completed passes in the final
third (highest in the Premier League this season) and he has started all PL
matches for the entire 2012-2013 season. An absolutely joy to watch.

Have to give special mention to
our fantastic centre-back pairing of Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny.
They perfectly compliment each other’s attributes – Merte’s brilliant awareness
and reading of the game with Kos’ raw speed, power and athleticism. A large
part of the reason we kept so many clean sheets in the final third of the
season and conceded only 37 in 38 PL games (only Manchester City conceded less
with 34)

Abayomi Aje – Santi
Cazorla

12 goals 13 assists in all competition says it all.
Hands down our player of the year.

John
Woods – Santi Cazorla

Hmmmmmm,
this is tough. It could be Per for being the brain and calming influence behind
our new defensive strength. Or Koscielny for learning from Per and blossoming. Arteta
for being Arteta, or his partner Ramsey for digging his heels in and fighting. Or
even Theo; for all the crap he took, starting the season basically dropped, the
contract saga etc. but he’s just kept on going, scoring vital goals, providing
assist’s and working hard, trying to improve. He still annoys me but credit
where credit due. But without doubt, quality alone, for a man in his first
season, a proper world class footballer, for me, it had to be Santi Cazorla – a
joy to watch, hard worker, plays even when just off the plane from Costa Rica
with Spain. He can be massive for us next year with this year’s experience
under his belt.

Anna Lvova – Santi Cazorla

OOOOOOOOO
SANTI CAZOOOORLA.  No second thoughts about that one. Signing of the year,
player of the year. Apart from a little hiccup of inconsistency around Boxing
Day time, which was due to adaptation to that crazy period in English football
by a mile our most consistent player of the season. Creator, breathtaking
technical ability. He’s the driving force of our forward movement. 

Jeremy Lebor – Per Mertesacker

Certainly not the quickest defender in the Premier League by a long stretch, but it is no coincidence that the BFG’s presence and finally finding the form that Arsene Wenger knew he had, was a defining factor in the teams much improved defensive performances. His partnership with Laurent Koscielny has become solid, and no doubt, Steve Bould put a rocket up his Arse and told him to use the ‘German’ efficiency his countrymen are renowned for. All in all, Mertesacker has finally earned his stripes and thus worthy of my ‘Player of the Season’ vote!

Gunners Town Player of the Season: Santi
Cazorla

Do you
agree? Let us know by placing your vote below and then either leave us a
comment or Tweet us saying why that player deserves the award. The best answers
will be displayed in the reveal piece next week.

Happy
voting!

Gunners Town

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