Things have moved on since and the talents of Gareth Bale and Jack Wilshere have come to amazing fruition with both players collecting PFA Awards last weekend.

Tottenham’s Welsh wing wizard Gareth Bale was recognised for his outstanding contribution to the club, being awarded the Player of the Year Award while Jack Wilshere picked up the Young Player of the Year Award for his excellent form at Arsenal.

Both players are likely to figure in tomorrow evenings game and Castrol Edge performance data compares the two playmakers and the effect that they have had on the Premier League so far this season.

In the Premier League this season, Bale has been a force to be reckoned with on the left flank, firing in seven goals and assisting one more. However, the Gunners midfielder Wilshere has assisted two more goals (3) and provided three more goalscoring chances (45) than the Welshman.

Wilshere has a superior passing accuracy; both overall (86% v 73%) and in the final third of the pitch (78% v 65%) and has also been more involved in matches than Bale on average, touching the ball 72 times a game compared to Bale’s average involvement of 62 touches a match.

Somewhat expectedly, Bale is much more of a threat in and around the box than the English midfielder though; attempting 23 more shots and having a superior shooting accuracy and conversion rate. More surprising is the fact that Bale has a better tackle success rate than Wilshere – 77% to the Englishman’s 74%.

And here are the stats:

Bale v Wilshere – 2010/11 Premier League

The Arsenal midfielder Sami Nasri has been in outstanding form for both club and country this season, he appears to be in the form of his life and is looking fitter than ever, he is the leading midfield candidate according to the Castrol data.

Gareth Bale is in with a shout, his performance at the San Siro against Inter Milan single handedly put Spurs back in a game that ten minutes previously looked well beyond them.

Bale does get himself into some fantastic positions but his shooting accuracy isn’t as good as Nasri, the Welsh international also misses out to the Frenchman on passing accuracy and dribble success rates.

When it comes to goal scoring, it is again Nasri who has scored the most Premier League goals this season with nine compared to Bale’s seven and outsider Charlie Adam of Blackpool weighing in with three.

Adam’s may not match the other two in front of goal but the Castrol data shows that he is more involved in the game than either Bale or Nasri, with more touches of the ball and total passes than either player.

The Blackpool player has assisted in four goals for his team this season while Nasri and Bale have surprisingly been involved in only one a piece.

The front runners for the Player of the Year awards in attack, have to be Manchester United’s Dimitar Berbatov and Manchester City’s Carlos Tevez, both players have scored fourteen Premier League goals and are joint leading scorers in that league.

Dimitar Berbatov has hit the target with a higher percentage of his shots and converted a higher percentage of chances than Carlos Tevez, but a five goal haul against Blackburn and a hat-trick versus Liverpool mean that eight of the Bulgarian’s tally came in just two matches. Berbatov’s impressive displays have seen him rise to 7^th in the current Castrol Rankings which measure performance over the whole of 2010.

Tevez has probably caused some regret at Old Trafford that they let him go as since his move across the city, no player has scored more goals in the Premier League. Tevez has also set up five goals compared to Berbatov’s two assists and has better statistics in all round play than Berbatov this season. The Argentinean is currently 14^th in the Castrol Rankings.

Tevez appears the more industrious of the two, but it is fair to say that Berbatov is far more involved than he has been in the past at United, he is covering more ground and creating more chances for himself than he has for a long time.

Of the three top candidates, Nasri, Berbatov and Tevez, I would prefer to have the Arsenal player in my team in his current form he looks unstoppable.

The candidates are based on Castrol Performance data and not personal sentiment although I would be hard pushed to make an argument against any of them.

The three shortlisted players for the award, all deserving for their performances during 2010 were made up of the current Barcelona midfield, Messi, Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez.

Despite English fans continually blabbing on about the quality of players in the Premier League, there is not a midfield in the UK that comes close to this excellent trio of players.

Having scored the goal that won the World Cup for Spain with his only shot of the match, Iniesta may have appeared in pole position to collect the award.

Iniesta is more prolific in his delivery higher up the pitch, where it matters: in fact, this season no player has completed as many passes in the final third as Iniesta in the Champions League, ahead of Xavi and Messi.

However Xavi also made a good case for himself being the best passer of a ball in the top five European leagues – and by some margin. He completed no less than 2,704 successful passes in 33 La Liga games for Barcelona, a staggering 92% finding their target.

He was also untouchable in the Champions League with 1,025 successful passes – the equivalent of over 100 successful passes per game.

It is however Messi’s incredible goal scoring ability that is unbeatable, he racked up 42 La Liga goals in 36 appearances in 2010 as well as being the top scorer in the Champions League with 12 goals in as many games. His 60 goals for club and country during 2010 are testament to this extraordinary players capabilities and probably deserving of  the win.

Current Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho picked up the Coach of the Year Award for his outstanding achievement in leading Inter Milan to the treble in 2010 before departing for a new challenge in Spain.

In an exceptional year for both club and country Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta have achieved more in terms of winning trophies than a lot of players will have the opportunity to do in a life time.

Interestingly the three nominees to make the shortlist have all come through the excellent youth academy at Barcelona and these days it is hard to imagine any of them lining up for any other team than Barcelona.

But only one player can claim the title and my money is on the Messi who I consider to be the best player in the world today and in this months FHM magazine the little wizard talks exclusively about his training programme and what it takes to become one of the best players of his generation.

You will also find out what a typical Barcelona training session involves and what skill exercises Messi undertakes to ensure he’s always at the top of his game.

England Fly Half Toby Flood also reveals the secrets required to increase speed and strength and the ultimate technique to drop goal.

Gold medal winning Heptathlete Jessica Ennis offers her services as your personal trainer with nine steps on how to build a champions mentality, while Britain’s best MMA fighter Michael (The Count) Bisping reveals the rules required to mix it with the big boys.

Now you can save money on the ultimate mens magazine by buying online and getting £1 off FHM while still enjoying the best read (and Pics) that money can buy!

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Carling One-All Awards 2009

Carling is set to honour the heroes of amateur football as they launch the Carling One-All Awards 2009. They are looking for teams, players, managers, referees, and fans up and down the country to nominate those they deem to be worthy winners of this year’s One-All Awards.

The Carling One-All Awards (previously named the Carling Pub Football Awards), now in their third year, will celebrate the all-too-often overlooked sporting triumphs taking place every weekend on pitches across the UK.

The judging panel this year will consist of BBC Radio Five Live’s Mark ‘Clem’ Clemmit and Carling’s Simon Pick as well as a John Nagle from The Football League.

They will once again pick out the very best nominations, and put their heads together to find a winner for each award.

The nomination process is open until Friday 7th August, so get your votes in for as many categories as you like, and help us celebrate all things from the world of amateur football.

Voters can nominate in the following 11 categories:

• Player of the Year
• Manager of the Year
• 11-a-side Team of the Year
• 5-a-side Team of the Year
• Administrator of the Year
• Referee of the Year
• Supporter of the Year
• One-All Website of the Year
• Dodgiest Kit Award
• Team Spirit Award
• One-All Legend Award

One–All is the online community for players, managers, coaches and fans of the beautiful game. Over 5300 teams have already signed up, and the One-All community provides registered users with a free website for their team or league, profile pages, competitions to win top prizes, and a chance to join the Carling Big Debate.

Rob Salmon, Marketing Communications Partner at Carling, said: “There are a number of high profile awards for the professional game – but the One-All Awards look to recognise the unsung heroes of the grassroots game.

If your team has had a great season or if you know a player, supporter, referee or manager that deserves to be recognised, then please log-on to Carling.com/oneall and tell us all about them. You’ve got to be in it to win it!”

A range of Carling prizes are on offer for the winners.

To nominate anyone for the aforementioned awards, go to www.carling.com/oneall

Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard was the other name on the short-list.

Along with Vidic, Van Der Sar and Gerrard, I would say that Chelsea’s Frank Lampard has had another outstanding season. Manchester United set a new record for the most games without conceding a goal.

More than any other Man Utd player, that record was down to Van Der Sar and Vidic.

The only other players that have had such a controlling influence on the result of so many games this season has been Lampard and Gerrard.  In nearly every game I have seen them play this season, they have been consistently among the best players on the pitch, dictating the play as well as scoring a hatful of goals from midfield.

But maybe this year’s Players’ Player of the Year award is more a sentimental reward for Ryan Giggs, considering he has never won the award before and who may make his 800th appearance for Manchester United this Wednesday against Arsenal in the semi-final first-leg of the UEFA Champions League.

His club have scored 13 goals against Real Madrid, Manchester United and Aston Villa in their last three outings, with Steven Gerrard himself playing the pivotal part. He currently sits as the Premier League’s second highest scorer with 13 goals thus far.

Former world player of the year Zinedine Zidane has publicly stated that he believes there is no better footballer in the world right now, and on current form I would have to agree.

The key switch that has taken Gerrard from being a world-class midfielder to the best footballer on earth has been his move further upfield this season. There were those that believed Steven Gerrard could get no better, with his immense range of passing, tackling prowess and eye for goal, yet Rafa Benitez has taken that to a whole new level.

By unleashing him in a free role behind Fernando Torres, or any other striker he might play, the Liverpool manager has given Gerrard further influence over games. With Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano sitting in central midfield, Gerrard is free to prowl the whole of an opponent’s half of the pitch- to devastating effect.

Yet the man himself, modest as he is, has played down recent hype over his performances. However, there is little doubt that the 28 year-old is fast approaching a peak in his career.

Although Steven Gerrard’s performances for his country have vastly improved over recent qualifiers, every England fan is still desperate to see him influencing games on an international level as he does on a domestic and European level. It is down to England supremo Fabio Capello to play Gerrard where he can affect play the most.

So long as Liverpool’s ‘engine’ doesn’t stall, Manchester United and Chelsea will be pushed right to the wire in this Premiership season’s climax, and England should have the firepower to win their world cup qualifier against a skilful Ukraine, 14th in the FIFA world rankings.

Beating off the challenge of footballs new young upstarts, Lionel Messi (2nd) and Christiano Ronaldo (3rd), Kaka added the award to his European Player of the year trophy from earlier this month.

Previous winner of the award in 2004 and 2005 Ronaldhino could only make 5th place just behind Didier Drogba, surprisingly, although the Chelsea striker did have an excellent season.

Former Brazil favourite Pele was given the FIFA presidential award for his lifetime contribution to football.

On Sunday Bobby Robson was presented with the Lifetime Achievment Award as part of the BBC Sportsman of the Year programme. One of those meaningless awards and meaningless programmes, which in reality offers nothing more than a good review of the sporting year.

But as the England team are amidst another crisis, it’s a good time to consider just how good and how close Bobby Robson came to taking England to two World Cup finals.

In 1986 England was beaten in the quarter finals, not on penalties, but by one man and the ‘hand of God’. Maradonna’s second goal in that game proved why Peter Reid was not an international class player, while Maradonna was quite possibly the best individual footballer of all time, as he single-handedly lead a poor Argentina to become World Champions.

In 1990, the England team was possibly the most talented group of players post 1966. Chris Waddle, Gary Lineker, Stuart Pearce, Peter Shilton and of course, Paul ‘Gazza’ Gascoigne. Unfortunately, it was the start of England losing by dreaded penalty shoot-outs. England reached the semi-finals that year and was only beaten by arch rivals Germany when Pearce and Waddle missed the target.

Leaving aside his fantastic achievements in club football with the likes of Ipswich, PSV Eindhoven, Sporting Lisbon and Barcelona, his record as England manager was second only to Sir Alf Ramsey. And like with Ramsey before him, the FA treated him pretty badly when they decided it was time for a change.

On Sunday a group of past players circled the stage as Sir Alex Ferguson presented Bobby Robson with his award. The last great English England manager? we shall see.

Some amusing quotes from Bobby Robson