Goalkeeper:

Brad Freidel.



He's been outstanding all decade. I'm a Blackburn fan so I followed his progress closely, he was great there and he's great at Villa too. The greatest American player ever imo. Managed to make premier league team of the year while at Blackburn ffs. Very close between Friedel and Given, those would be my top choices.

Left Back:

Ashley Cole.



There's two choices here, Cole or Evra. Both are excellent, but Cole's been performing in the premier league for longer than Evra, so he gets the nod.

Bonus pic of Ashley Cole's wife:



Right Back:

Gary Neville



Easy to forget since he's been injured the past couple of seasons, and he's not that glamorous, but Neville was consistently the Manchester United starting right back, and that's for a reason. While he might not dazzle you, how many times can you imagine Neville getting owned? He knew what his job was, and he did it very well.

Centre Backs:

Rio Ferdinand and John Terry.



Tough to avoid going with the obvious here. They've been excellent season after season, and played most of the decade. If we went back a couple of years I'd strongly consider sticking Sol Campbell in there, but the timeline for this question captures the final couple of years he had with Portsmouth (when he was still very good), and misses his final couple of years with Tottenham (when he was excellent).

Holding Midfielder:

Patrick Vieira



Including 99/00, played 6 premier league seasons. Made the PFA team of the year six times. Needed a holding midfielder given the proclivity of the rest of my midfielders/strikers to get forward. Was very close between him and Keano, but over the years in questions he was slightly better imo (Keane would take it careerwise). A great worker, strong tackler, didn't give the ball away, and would add some height for set piece situations. Great player to have in your team.

Centre Midfielder:

Steven Gerrard



Has played in Premier League all season, and been one of the best the whole time. If he was on a better team he'd have multiple medals.

Centre Midfielder:

Frank Lampard



This might be controversial, but I struggled to think of people I'd put ahead of him. Averages about one goal every three games, from midfield. Has started in the premier league the entire decade. Made the Fifpro world XI in 2004-05. Overall I think he's done more than any other contender to get in the team, although there are players like Roy Keane whose peak was 'better' imo.

Left striker:

Wayne Rooney



He's only 24, but he's been in the premier league 7 years already. A complete player, there's no area of the game he doesn't excel at. He'll also run around all match, track back and help the defence, which is useful because

Right striker:

Christiano Ronaldo



Played 6 premier league seasons, was good at the start of them, then had a couple of really great seasons. His 07/08 seasons is surely the best season of any player in the history of the premier league.

Striker:

Thierry Henry



Including 99/00, played 8 premier league seasons. Won the Golden Boot (award for Premier League's top scorer) in 4 of these years. The clear stand out striker of the decade, I'd find a place for Shearer if this was over the history of the premier league, but the time period for this thought experiment leaves out his peak peak years, Torres is showing promise of achieving Henry like status, but he's too new to the premier league to merit inclusion.

GJ, you should post more often. I only count 8 players though, I think you're missing RB and 2 more midfielders?

Personally speaking my team would include players who have played in 5+ seasons in the premiership this decade so a quick look at my team would be:

Given (So consistent in some poor teams with Newcastle)

G Neville (RB is so weak when I think about it)
Rio (Top class defender who is also comfortable with ball at his feet)
J Terry (Out and out defender who i fully respect)
A Cole (As much as i hate him with a passion no other LB competes with him)

Other candidates - Carragher, Hyppia, Campbell

C Ronaldo (Guy is a goal machine and creates for others.)
C Fabregas (Unbeliveable talent from a young age and has progressed on)
S Gerrard (Box to Box midfielder, in my eyes 1 of the best although i hate him)
J Cole (When fit hes a great talent, amazing skill that can rip open any defence)

Other Candidates - Lampard, Scholes, Giggs, Xabi Alonso

T Henry (Scores and creates, a nightmare for defenders just top class all around)
W Rooney (Born winner, passion for the game and just wants to play football)

Other Candidates - Defoe, R Keane, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Drogba

Did you mean to put that as midfield alternate, or are you really referring to Robbie Keane?

Robbie Keane

Ah, just saw your avatar. Makes sense now.

level right?

5+ seasons who has scored goals consistently. You know this is my opinion and there is no right or wrong, right?

Nothing to do with me being Irish. Think about it, + hes only another candidate

this thread lacks a gunner

I'd go:

----------------------------Brad Friedal---------------------------------

Gary Neville---------Sol Campbell---------John Terry-----------Ashley Cole

-------------------Roy Keane (C)-------Patrick Vieira--------------------

Cristiano Ronaldo---------------Steven Gerrard---------------Ryan Giggs

-----------------------------Thierry Henry-----------------------------


These things always have huge recency bias, but people do realise that Roy Keane was one of the very best players in the world (any position) from 2000 - 2002, and top three at what he did in the Premiership from 2002 - 2004?

I found center half and goalkeeper the two toughest positions to fill. And obviously, you are leaving a ton of talent out in every position.

Ultimately, aside from goalkeeper and central defense, I am confident that the above team represents the player at every position who had the most impactful consecutive stretch of seasons in the premiership this decade.


*Also, because people always make of an issue of it over this stuff, I'm a Liverpool fan who sees them live a few times a year.

You have him as one of the top 10 strikers in the premier league this decade. You also have Defoe is which is equally lol imo.

Here are some players of the top of my head that you didn't mention that had better past 10 years than Robbie Keane.

Michael Owen
Nicolas Anelka
Alan Shearer
Denis Bergkamp
Fernando Torres

Strikers on a similar level to Robbie Keane

Emmanuel Adebayor
Peter Crouch
Gianfranco Zola
Teddy Sheringham
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink

I am likely forgetting a few.

That's an excellent team that I can't really agree with. I went with Ferdinand over Campbell and Lampard over Keane since I valued longevity a bit higher than you, but your team is hard to argue with. For some reason I've never liked Giggs that much, but he's probably been the best left winger over the past ten years so hard to argue with either.

Partygirl see i think your missing my point but if you go read my opening line in my first post of my team you might figure it out.

Anelka yes, Owen meh, Shearer for this decade meh, Torres (if hes been in the league 5+ seasons then ive obv missed something) Bergkamp for this decade meh.

Partygirl, why don't you post in the epl season thread? We could use another Rovers fan.

Shearer scored 107 in 225 v 121 in 319 for Keane v 109 in 222 for Owen v 48 in 67 for Torres. This is 99/00 season on, premier league goals only. So Owen and Shearer have much better strike records and scored almost as many goals, and Torres has a much, much better strikerate and has been perhaps the premier league's best striker for 2.5 seasons, v someone who has probably been a top 10 premier league striker for very, very little of the past 10 years, and top 5 premier league striker for 0 of it.

Friedel

The Neviller
Ferdinand
Campbell
Cole

Gerrard
Viera
Scholes
Ronaldo

Drogba
Henry

Also rans: Given, Carvalho, Keane, Giggs, Gerrard, Owen, Shearer.

Agree, but it is definitely the weakest position during the history of the Premiership, and Giggs stands alone in it.

Count me as a massive, massive Robbie Keane fan (he grew up around the corner from me). But he shouldn't really be getting near the conversation for "EPL Team of the decade". Keane has probably averaged out at being the 8th - 12th forward in the Premiership during this decade. And when you think about it, that's a hell of an achievement and speaks for his professionalism. Keane also brings a lot of good things to the table outside of his pure strikerate, he can play football outside the box and link play between attackers. But for the purposes of this thing:

Henry
Torres
Drogba
Shearer
Rooney
Owen
Anelka

are 100% indisputably more valuable than him. Remember, these teams are going to have the most dynamic midfields imaginable. As such, there is no logical reason to sacrifice the clinical nature of any of the above players for Keane's more rounded skillset. These teams are going to link up really well as it is, so you're looking for someone up top who bangs them in first and foremost (and Henry and Rooney can do a lot of what Keane does anyway).

- - - - - - - - VDS - - - - - - - -
- Sagna - Campbell - Ferdinand - Cashley -
- - - - - - - Vieira - - - - - Cesc - - - - - - -
- Ronaldo - - - - - Bergkamp - - - - Pires - -
- - - - - - - Henry - - - - - - - - - - - - -

okay, who didn't see that one coming

Honestly I've never seen your before, what odds would you give that I can guess who you support?

Robben imo, if Overmars isn't eligible that is. Bogarde is very good choice tho.

imo: Henry, Ronaldo, Terry, Neville, and Giggs should be pretty much auto on any team. Even Ashley Cole but I can see a case for Evra so I won't put him there.

I'm amazed Jeroen Boere didn't get a mention in the Dutch side.

Im amazed everbody prefers Gerrard to Bergkamp in the hole

Schmeichel

Neville
Ferdinand
Campbell
Cole

Ronaldo
Keane
Scholes
Giggs

Henry
Drogba

honourable mentions: VDS, Terry, Stam, Vieira, Bergkamp, Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham, S. Pearce, Shearer and probably loads more i've forgotten about

edit: such as Cantona lol