The Pies 10: Best Premier League midfielder

BEST MIDFIELDER
On Monday we announced The Pies 10, a series of awards celebrating the last decade in the Premier League. We have 10 categories for you to vote on, with 10 nominees in each category.
So far we have done Best Goalkeeper and Best Defender (both of which you can still vote on – until the 30th Nov. deadline).
Today we’re asking – who is the best Prem midfielder of the last decade?
NOTE: the player must have played in the Prem for at least half of the last decade (i.e. five seasons or more). This means the likes of Roy Keane, Patrick Vieira and Michael Essien don’t quite qualify. Sorry, rules is rules. And for the purposes of these awards, Cristiano Ronaldo is listed as a forward.
Below is a gallery of our 10 nominees (in alphabetical order). After you’ve checked it out, you can vote at the bottom of this post:
As with yesterday’s defenders, this is a very, VERY tough call.
Before you make your selection, please note – you can only vote ONCE. Voting results will be hidden until the results are revealed in a couple of weeks’ time.
Vote now:

















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Mr. Tom says: “Steven Gerrard is the best !”
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by ollieirish: The Pies 10: Vote for the best Prem midfielder of the last decade: http://tinyurl.com/yl5yo9f Giggs, Scholes, Lampard, Gerrard etc. Tough…
Patrick Vieria?
Roy Keane?
Michael Essien, Xabi Alonso and James Milner are all better choices than Gary Speed.
No Vieria? Madness
Of the list you’ve given, I’ll say Gerrard. It has to be said though, where is Keane and Vieira. Gigantic omissions. Gigantic. They were playing for 5 years in the noughties. Keane from jan 00′ to jan 05′. Vieira jan 00′ to jul 05′.
If you can’t be bothered to read it, I may as well cut and paste:
“NOTE: the player must have played in the Prem for at least half of the last decade (i.e. five seasons or more). This means the likes of Roy Keane, Patrick Vieira and Michael Essien don’t quite qualify. Sorry, rules is rules. And for the purposes of these awards, Cristiano Ronaldo is listed as a forward.”
Really tough call. Especially since the likes of Giggs and Scholes were considered world class well before 10 years ago (1999), but technically we should only be taking the last ten years into account.
Lampard’s consistency over the last 5 years is practically unmatched, while Gerrard has been doing the business for even longer than that. For me though, being the stand-out player in a often-poor Liverpool team counts against Gerrard. Scholesy has been the most important player in a United midfield for arguably this entire decade – whether playing next to Roy Keane or Eric Djemba-Djemba. He gets my vote.
Before I opened this my answer was big Paddy Vieria….
Also – has Joe Cole done that much over ten years?
@ HP: Neither Keane or Vieira has played five full seasons in the Noughties. Of course, if both were eligible, both would be at the top of the list – indeed, I imagine Vieira would be voted 1st, with Keane 2nd.
Mr. Tom says “The 1st ground rule is: ‘there are no ground rules’, so you can still choose Roy Beane or Pfatrick Vieira. But I vote for Gerrard”.
Gerrard.
fair enough Ollie – don’t mean to be a c u next tuesday….
Stevieeeeeee
Steven Gerrard gets my vote for his consistency over the past 8-9 years. Fabregas could be the best if he stays in the Prem for a couple more seasons
The ginger ninja! Best English player of his generation, not to mention an inspiration for all us “allergic to sunlight” types.
Frank Lampard.
One question Pies – why have you posted Joey Cole’s and Lampard’s pics where they’re wearing WestHam shirts? Lampard’s been playing for CFC for 8 years now, much MUCH longer than he ever played for West Ham… *smirks*
Gerrard!!!
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gerrard. swear.
current form goes to cesc.
Paul Scholes is the greatest no doubting. but as he isn’t there and not the same player he used to be, would be Steve Gerrard, Gerrard who likes to kick people fucking hard.
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