In our regular Monday afternoon article of the new season, we take a look at the top-rated XI from Europe’s top five leagues over the previous weekend. Some team performances really stood out and contribute to our line-up; Montpellier’s shock 1-0 win at Ligue 1 champions Lille sees two of their defensive unit in our XI for brilliant defensive displays. Schalke 04’s hammering of Cologne in the Bundesliga promotes a couple of their players to our the team, while, in the Premier League, two Bolton Wanderers players make an appearance after their 4-0 rout of newly-promoted QPR.
Here’s a look at the outstanding players over the past weekend, as we rundown our first WhoScored.com All Star Euro XI for the 2011/12 season:
Defence
Michal Kadlec - Bayer Leverkusen
WhoScored Rating - 9.2
The Bayer Leverkusen left-back grabbed the only goal in his side’s 1-0 home win over Werder Bremen. Kadlec’s raids down the left flank is crucial to Leverkusen’s 4-2-3-1, with his attack-minded game producing 9 crosses from out wide. In distribution, Kadlec also made 47 passes and played 3 long balls. Going forward, his eye for goal saw him take 3 shots –join-top for the hosts- and impressively, all 3 were on target, with the aforementioned goal the game’s decisive moment.
Kadlec is confident and tricky on the ball- he made 3 successful dribbles and he also played his part in keeping Bremen at bay, with 1 tackle, 4 interceptions, 3 clearances and –crucially- a six yard block to help Leverkusen chalk up a clean sheet and grab their first three points of the Bundesliga season.
Gary Cahill - Bolton Wanderers
WhoScored Rating - 9.2
Bolton’s centre-half showed just why he’s been linked with the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool recently. At the back, his defiant performance helped Owen Coyle’s side pick up a clean sheet in the 4-0 win at QPR. Cahill made 2 tackles, 5 interceptions and an incredible 12 clearances against the promoted side, in addition to blocking 3 shots.
His aerial dominance was supreme too, as Cahill won 7 aerial duels and -as if his defensive display wasn’t enough- he also had 2 shots at goal, scoring a screamer from outside the box to cap a disastrous day for Neil Warnock. Cahill earned himself a 9.17 rating from WhoScored.com for an outstanding day’s work. Owen Coyle will be praying he can hold onto Cahill for the rest of the season but, on the back of this display, the big boys may be persuaded to splash the cash before the August transfer window slams shut.
Midfield
Paulo Machado - Toulouse
WhoScored Rating - 8.7
A man of the match performance from the winger shot Toulouse to the top of Ligue 1. Playing left in his side’s 4-2-3-1, Machado wreaked havoc from start to finish in the 2-0 home win over Dijon. Going forward, he had 3 shots on goal, all on target, and capped that off with the 84th minute penalty that put the game out of the visitor’s reach.
Machado made 3 key passes, 5 crosses and 9 long balls, as well as 1 successful dribble, as his trickery took the match to Dijon. He put in a fair defensive shift too, with 2 tackles and 2 interceptions indicating an all-action display full of energy and verve. For a great all-round performance, Machado was awarded 8.73 by WhoScored.com.
Ryad Boudebouz - Sochaux
WhoScored Rating - 8.7
Boudebouz didn’t deserve to finish on the losing side last weekend. His performances on the right of Sochaux’s 4-5-1 was creatively outstanding but, try as he might, Sochaux could not convert the chances Boudebouz made and were beaten 2-1 at home by Caen. The winger had more touches (95) and made more passes (60) than any other player on the pitch and was at the heart of everything good about Sochaux’s play.
He made 12 crosses, played 9 long balls and had a brilliant 6 key passes to his name but failed to pick up an assist. The 21-year-old had 5 successful dribbles on the flank and managed 2 shots, with both on target. His 90th minute goal was not enough to salvage even a point but Boudebouz was not overlooked by WhoScored.com, awarding him a match rating of 8.7.
Attack
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar - Schalke
WhoScored Rating - 9.7
The Schalke 04 forward stole the show in his side’s 5-1 home thrashing of FC Cologne. Huntelaar only had 53 touches –the second-lowest of any outfield player in the Schalke side, but his contribution when in possession was clinical. Playing as the lone front man in his side’s 4-2-3-1, the Dutchman had an incredible game, managing 9 shots over the 90 minutes, as he helped himself to a hat-trick. Huntelaar also made 2 key passes and 1 successful dribble in the rout and picked up a WhoScored.com match rating of 9.67, the best of any player in the weekend gone by.
