EFT Player of the Month for December: Cristiano Ronaldo!
With a clean sweep of first choice nominations across the five man EFT panel Man Utd's flying Portugese winger Cristiano Ronaldo is the comprehensive winner of the EFT player of the month award for December.
He has been in an excellent form all season but in the last month he seems to have found an even higher gear to fly into attack and tear defences apart. Six goals and a couple of assists in three games around the Christmas period were decisive in seeing Man Utd open up a solid lead over Chelsea. His sheer individuality, sharp skills on the ball and dribbling at major speed are fantastic qualities and he is a great asset for Premiership football let alone Man Utd. Well done Ronaldo in claiming this month's EFT award.
posted by T at 1/03/2007 10:19:00 am
EFT match of the season for 2008/2009: Barcelona construct a masterclass footballing performance to defeat the reigning Champions League holders and current English champions, Manchester United, by a scoreline of 2-0 in the 2009 Champions League final in Rome
EFT player of the season for 2008/2009: Chelsea central midfielder, Frank Lampard
EFT player of the month for May 2009: Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea)
EFT player of the month for April 2009: Andrey Arshavin (Arsenal)
EFT player of the month for March 2009: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
EFT player of the month for February 2009: Phil Jagielka (Everton)
EFT player of the month for January 2009: Nemanja Vidic (Man Utd)
EFT player of the month for December 2008: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
EFT player of the month for November 2008: Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea)
EFT player of the month for October 2008: Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool)
EFT player of the month for September 2008: Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
EFT player of the month for August 2008: Amr Zaki (Wigan Athletic)
EFT match of Euro 2008: Turkey's amazing comeback from two goals down to beat Czech Republic 3-2 as captain Nihat Kahveci's two goals in the last three minutes sensationally put his country through to the quarter finals at the expense of their beaten opponents
EFT player of Euro 2008: Spain (anchor) central midfielder, Marcos Senna
EFT match of the season for 2007/2008: Liverpool win titanic Champions League quarter-final second leg 4-2 against Arsenal that also saw two of the best football moments of the season - Fernando Torres' top corner strike and Theo Walcott's thrilling run across the whole of Anfield.
EFT player of the season for 2007/2008: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
EFT player of the month for May 2008: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
EFT player of the month for April 2008: Ashley Young (Aston Villa)
EFT player of the month for March 2008: Fernando Torres (Liverpool)
EFT player of the month for February 2008: David James (Portsmouth)
EFT player of the month for January 2008: Ronaldo (Manchester United)
EFT player of the month for December 2007: Roque Santa Cruz (Blackburn Rovers)
EFT player of the month for November 2007: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
EFT player of the month for October 2007: Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)
EFT player of the month for September 2007: Francesc Fabregas (Arsenal)
EFT player of the month for August 2007: Fernando Torres (Liverpool)
EFT player of the month for May 2007: Carlos Tevez (West Ham Utd)
EFT player of the month for April 2007: Wayne Rooney (Manchester Utd)
EFT player of the month for March 2007: Carlos Tevez (West Ham Utd)
EFT player of the month for February 2007: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester Utd)
EFT player of the month for January 2007: Thierry Henry (Arsenal)
EFT player of the month for December 2006: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester Utd)
EFT player of the month for November 2006: Didier Drogba (Chelsea)
EFT player of the month for October 2006: Jussi Jaaskelainen (Bolton Wanderers)
EFT player of the month for September 2006: Andrew Johnson (Everton)
EFT player of the month for August 2006: Nwankwo Kanu (Portsmouth)
EFT match of World Cup 2006: Italy win a thrilling 'end-to-end' World Cup semi-final 2-0 against Germany courtesy of two late extra time goals from Fabio Grosso and Alessandro del Piero 
EFT player of World Cup 2006: Italy captain and centre-back, Fabio Cannavaro
EFT match of the season for 2005-2006: Liverpool win the FA Cup final 3-1 on penalties against West Ham after a Steven Gerrard-led fighback saw the Anfield side recover from 2-0 and 3-2 down to level the match in normal time
EFT player of the month for May 2006: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
EFT player of the month for April 2006: Jamie Carragher (Liverpool)
EFT player of the month for March 2006: Robbie Keane (Tottenham Hotspur)
EFT player of the month for February 2006: Aiyegbeni Yakubu (Middlesbrough)
EFT player of the month for January 2006: Jason Roberts (Wigan Athletic)
EFT player of the month for December 2005: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
EFT player of the month for November 2005: Robin van Persie (Arsenal)
EFT player of the month for October 2005: Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
EFT player of the month for September 2005: Danny Murphy (Charlton Athletic)
EFT player of the month for August 2005: Wayne Rooney (Manchester Utd)
EFT match of the season for 2004-2005: Liverpool win Champions League final 3-2 on penalties against AC Milan after sensationally recovering from 3-0 down to level the match in normal time
17 Comments:
Thanks T for this piece.
This looks like the season where Ronaldo has come of age. He's put the hostility of opposing fans and the media to one side and his form has been nothing short of sensational.
T- Couldnt agree with you more in that Ronaldo is an asset not just for United, but for the Premiership as a whole. Its the skill and abilities of players like Ronaldo, Henry, Drogba etc who give the Premiership so much of its edge and excitement. This is something that the gutter press and media should remember when they next try and hound these kind of players from these shores.
I found it funny seeing Alan Shearer on Match of the Day recently, lamentable pundit that he is, eulogising over Ronaldo's skills and running out of superlatives for the United wingers contribution to United this season. This is the same pundit who after England's World Cup exit and Ronaldo's crime of protesting at his teammate being stamped on, encouraged Rooney to "stick one" on Ronaldo and joined in the chorus of those saying that Ronaldo had no future at United. What a joke.
1/04/2007 9:42 am
GunnerPete says.....Sorry Abdul, you have it wrong mate. Whereas 'T' is totally correct to praise Ronaldo for his performances this season, that does not mean he is still not a cheat.Because he patently is, and it is natural for him and a lot of his countrymen to contantly dive. Just remember Figo in two world cups and the 'diver for Europe' Deco!
Whilst I admire the pace & skill of the man, I hate the fact that he is only caught cheating when playing away from home. This suggests something most fans feel anyway, and that is Fergy has too much influence on officialdom.
1/04/2007 3:46 pm
GunnerPete, agree that Ronaldo does dive but I dont think I intimated in my comment above that he didn't?
Agree also that Portugese players seem to dive a lot, but why is diving so much more noticeable to "us" when its done by players who players who don't play for our club or country. When Scholes, Gerrard, Owen, Jeffers et al do it - its perceived as "not that bad" and " they do it "cos johnny foreigner does it, so its fair game".
The EFT contributors will tell you that I am Thierry Henry's biggest fan, but even TH is not adverse to the odd tumble and his attempt to get Carlos Puyol sent off in the World Cup was awful. I hope you don't disagree?
I also agree with you in that Fergie does seem to have too much of an overbearing attitute and influence over officials. But I saw a lot of sense in Fergie's view earlier this season that more attention needs to be paid to the terrible tackles we see each week than the endless debate and analysis of supposed diving.
I know Im rambling a little, and I hope I dont come across as condoning diving at all - cos I dont, but my point in this and my last comment is that its great to see talents like Drogba, Henry and Ronaldo etc in the EPL. Lets try to remember this the next time the tabloid media take a disliking to players like these and try and do their best to drive talented players from these shores.
Ps one last point, Ronaldo is only 21 years old. Dunno about you GP, but I have done a lot of growing up since I was that age. Maybe Ronaldo will too.
1/05/2007 10:02 am
Hi Guys,
Certain improvement in the boys play. He must have recovered psychologically from the fan onslaught earlier this season.
There is talk in Spain - not so flimpsey - that he & Real Madrid are making "operations" to have CR land in the club for next season.
Will be interesting to keep the pulse of this ongoing story.
Cheers
1/05/2007 11:37 am
Striker, I too think Ronaldo will end up at Real Madrid at some point. Dunno about next season, but definitely soon - because for most continental players the dream is to play for Real. I hope its not too soon though!
1/05/2007 4:40 pm
I dislike it when any player dives, be it Gerrard or any other, particularly if it is one of my own Reds, however credit where credit is due and it is due to Ronaldo. He has been in excellent form. I hadnt picked up on any discrepancy in that respect by Ronaldo was only picked up away from home and I would endorse the officials to stamp on it regardless of where ever it occurs by whoever.
That too goes for Fergie, shouldnt have any influence at OT during match days, that in itself is the officials practically being as good as 'paid off'. I hope that such form by any player will show how it is better to earn the respect than to drop for it.
RedsMan.
1/05/2007 5:04 pm
who was/is the better/more exciting player, ronaldo or ginola?
1/05/2007 8:29 pm
Gunnerspete...so you dont like Henry as well after his cheating and playacting skills in the world cup or are you another wenger and a hypocrit?
1/06/2007 3:39 am
GunnerPete says....well anon,when I saw Henry (the cleanest and greatest of football ambasadors we have ever seen in the uk) hit the ground and hold his face ( which was the only part of his body that had not been illegally hit that day) I knew that the sad defenders of all the real cheats in our game would use his ONE mistake against him forever.
That apart it will never be acceptable in my eyes for ANy kind of cheating to win games. If I had the time I would be able to list a lot of games that Ive seen this year in which the cheats have prospered, and Man U have been one of the biggest culprits. The shame of it is that some 'supporters' could not care less how their team wins, as long as they do. Well mate, all the gunners I know would hate us to drop down to that level.
1/06/2007 11:54 am
GunnerPete says......
'T' any chance you could send me your email address please. My PC crashed taking with it all mine.
Regards
1/06/2007 11:57 am
This is a good one. Henry? "the cleanest and greatest of football ambasadors we have ever seen in the uk"??!?! Someone smoking too much of the old drugs methinks. He may have been bumped about in the world cup by Puyol but that is part of the game and he is meant to be big enough to take it and dish it back or get over it. Gary Lineker did and didnt get booked once in his career. So what does Henry do? He dives and its one mistake and we cant talk about it. If Henry is such a ambassador then he shouldnt have dived, end of. Cant he beat Puyol then? Tried it all game and couldnt do it so he dived. OK we wont talk about Henry, what about Fabregas, Van Persie, Rosicky, Diaby, and one of the biggest divers at Arsenal Eboue? One of the biggest cheaters in the game is Arsenal, no different from the other teams, so you can stuff that and lay off Ronaldo. He is class that you do not have at Arsenal and not even Henry can hack it against our defence because you got lucky at Old Trafford. You must have a bible given by Father Henry beside the bed for comfort. Stick to sucking your thumb.
1/06/2007 12:31 pm
Well, the only player at Liverpool currently for diving has been Gerrard and it has been rare. Owen is not a LFC player and we could talk about past players until our tongues drop off. Be it the once or several, it stains, but when a player like Ronaldo, Henry or even Gerrard play and do it so well, then the credit is due regardless. Only thing is Ronaldo is known for diving much more and it is up to the officials and administration to clamp down on it, only thing is it is so prevalent now that the powers that be seem to consider the issue of any administration too much to deal with against fan outrage, just leaving it easily to the officials' discretions and letting them take the heat. Some incidents simply should not warrant replays, they are that blatant, others require replays and if missed by the officials should be considered by the FA, IF they are that determined about it.
Anyhoo, this is not a diving article so I don't wish to digress from the original point of appraising Rnaldo for being EFT POTM for December. I hold no animosity against Utd, even as a LFC fan, and yet there has been one commenter who had nonetheless pursued in calling my judgements in question where Man Utd are concerned, bizarrely and extremely enough. Still yet to get an apology for it, given the point raised by the commenter was severely not proven.
Nonetheless Ronaldo has been superb recently why he received practically all of the votes here at EFT. Something I have noticed is that, aside from Gerrard twice and Carragher once last season, the EFT POTM awards have happened to individuals from different sides. Currently Kanu, Andy Johnson, Jaaskelainen, Drogba and Ronaldo stand. It is as if the norm finds a player in a particular side excels, probaly to coincide with that respective side's progress along the season.
RedsMan.
1/06/2007 1:47 pm
well anon,when I saw Henry (the cleanest and greatest of football ambasadors we have ever seen in the uk) hit the ground and hold his face ( which was the only part of his body that had not been illegally hit that day) I knew that the sad defenders of all the real cheats in our game would use his ONE mistake against him forever!
LOL! that comment just showed how hypocrital 1 can be. Henry has on more than 1 occasion dived and by putting on a bias arsene wenger style “I didn’t see it” comment only makes you sound more hypocrital. It’s clear that you then turned your attention to man utd, which shows how bitter and jealous you are towards man utd current league position.
For me there are a few different types of cheaters. The first types of cheaters are like Ronaldo, Diouf, etc who on occasion dive and don’t go to the press denying or preaching againt them. Then you have the Vieira, Henry, etc who go to the press and preach about fair play and end up cheating. Those are the hypocrites.
I strongly fill that Gunnerspete should focus more energy then cleaning up arsenals divers like eboue, van persie, henry, etc before talking about how man utd should do with theirs. On top of that if he should also write a letter to arsenal and the English FA to get arsenal to relinquish a couple of trophies they won (including the the season they went unbeaten) after a series of dive’s from pires and Vieira among others. He should also support that with the fact that Arsenal had to most yellow and reds cards (which are given for violent tackles used to break up play and spoil the other teams chances of scoring and can also be considered a part of cheating) before he starts preaching about fair play. He will have the full support of everyone from different clubs as well if does this.
1/07/2007 5:41 pm
GP, the email address is eftmail@yahoo.co.uk.
Anon 5:41 and Anon 12:31, with due respect to both of you, you are over the top in your accusations against Arsenal in your counter-argument to accusations against Ronaldo. It would seem that at the Emirates we are seeing synchronised diving every week given the tone of your comments! ;)
Back to Ronaldo, my emphasis is on the guy being an exceptional talent who has been producitng excellent performances in the month of December. I'm not sure about him ending up at Real Madrid anytime soon- he is looking happy at OT while Madrid are in a major transition phase and have a manager in Capaello is not committed to the type of attacking football philospohy that Ronaldo thrives in.
1/07/2007 8:12 pm
great to see some lively debate stem from an unusually unimaginative article from t. I don't believe i've seen one team this season which doesn't possess at least one cheating player. No one is in a position to claim heckling rights surely?
anyway, chelski are gonna win th e league again so manu better enjoy themselves while it lasts.
ps i'm not a blue.
1/07/2007 9:05 pm
"Anon 5:41 and Anon 12:31, with due respect to both of you, you are over the top in your accusations against Arsenal in your counter-argument to accusations against Ronaldo"
What??? Please, the point was raied by the Arsenal fan above and he started it. Arsenal have had boring 1-0 wins and more divers than Thames Valley, Pires is one main diver and Vieira, and thats just two. You cant take it, dont dish it. Yeah ronaldo dives bnut dont go like you lot are holier than everyone else. That fan above was being hypocritical when Arsenal do it its alright but when Utd or the pool or chelsea do it you dont like it.
1/09/2007 3:50 am
Oh yeah, if Chilski are winning the title, why are they not on top and six points ahead? WE lost Ruud van nistelrooy to Real Madrid our top scorer and Chilski got Shevy who is heavy, brilliant in Italy but cant thread a handful of goals for love or money. Moany is worried that we will walk away with it like he will at the end of the season when they win nothing because they can only win the title. And you are a blue.
1/09/2007 3:53 am
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