Something is seriously wrong.

He’s the best in the PL and it isn’t close

Rebecca Lowe was the guest on Men in Blazers - so it was worth watching this week.

They each had their favorite for POY. Silva, Salah and Kane

I'm not saying that they are right by any stretch. In fact, I'm inclined to agree that it's KDB. But that discussion sort of reinforces my point. City's All-Star lineup makes it difficult to pinpoint who actually makes it all click.

In my mind, he’s pretty clearly the league’s best player. And that is made more clear by the fact that there isn’t any player in the league for whom I’d trade KDB straight up.

But MVP-type awards are often stats driven, and you can certainly make a legitimate stats-based argument for Mo Salah so far this season.

But he's more dynamic on one end of the field. De Bruyne scores but is also very good at defending and is all over the place.



De Bruyne Stats



Salah Stats




Salah is an amazing player, but the things that De Bruyne does all over the pitch aren't being matched by anyone.

There is a reason why N'Golo Kante won the PotY last year without scoring many goals.

But Salah is responsible for 17 goals, De Bruyne is responsible for 14. Given all of the other stuff De Bruyne does, including defense, etc, it's much more important than the 3 goal difference between the two.



PS - there is a lot of angst and wanting to throw darts this picture as I typed this post. Glad TSO thought it a good idea to run both of these guys off.

And it's really not close. He's been amazing. I don't think Salah is as critical to LFC as KDB is to City. He's been great this year, but I think he could be replaced at Liverpool far easier than KDB.

The guy who is really overrated is Harry Kane. Look at the total # of shots taken, and it's easy to see why he stays high in the goal leaders. Nobody even comes close to his shot volume. Yeah, the guy can score, but he takes way more shots than anyone else by far.

1.Harry Kane
Tottenham Hotspur
England
100

2.Mohamed Salah
Liverpool
Egypt
67

3.Richarlison
Watford
Brazil
58

3.Romelu Lukaku
Manchester United
Belgium
58

DeBruyne is and has been an amazing player. But think of the space a player can play in when he is surrounded by that kind of talent. And the manager is one of the best. There is a reason they are all putting up big numbers.

Also, there is a reason that KDB cannot be easily replaced. Because the second best creative midfielder in the EPL is probably already on the team! Silva!

And no, Salah cannot be easily replaced. Jurgen rotates a lot. And when Salah does not play, the likes of Mane, Ox, Sturridge, Firmino, Solanke, and Ings do not generate anything like what Salah does when he's on the pitch.

Look, I'm not saying that Salah is better. He's not. But saying that it's not even close is pretty silly. Salah is directly attributable (G/A) to 45% of Liverpool goals. KDB is 30%. With several guys on his team the same or close.

Coutinho is 26% and Firmino is 23%.

DeBruyne actually plays very good defense, unlike Salah.

Again, no one is saying Salah sucks, but no, he's not nearly as complete as DeBruyne, and given he's only responsible for 3 additional goals, that's not enough to bridge the chasm that exists for the other aspects of the game between the 2.

I guess the ref thought 3 nil was enough punishment and ignored the rules of play.

They will be wiping away tears of disappointment again.

When momentum is against them, they play and act like petulant children. Both should have been sent off.

This is classic Tottenham implosion bullshit.