Premier League confirm nominees for Player & Manager of the Month for February 2024
The Premier League have unveiled the shortlists for the Player of the Month and Manager of the Month awards for February 2024.
Last month was dominated by Liverpool as Diogo Jota won the POTM prize and Jurgen Klopp took home the MOTM award, but neither have made it on to February's shortlist.
Here's a closer look at this month's nominees.
Premier League Player of the Month shortlist - February 2024
© Julian Finney/GettyImages
- Phil Foden (Man City)
- Joao Gomes (Wolves)
- Pascal Gross (Brighton)
- Rasmus Hojlund (Man Utd)
- Rodrigo Muniz (Fulham)
- Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
- Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa)
Phil Foden played every minute of Manchester City's five games in February and ended with a cool four goals to his name, while on the other side of the city, Manchester United's Rasmus Hojlund will be among the favourites to take home the prize after racking up five goals and an assist in four games.
Surprisingly, neither player was the top scorer across February. That honour goes to Bukayo Saka, who bagged six in four games in what was a perfect month for Arsenal.
Rodrigo Muniz netted four in just 329 minutes of action for Fulham, while Ollie Watkins' outrageous form continued with another four goals and two assists to add to his tally.
Wolves midfielder Joao Gomes makes the cut after shining in wins over both Chelsea and Tottenham and leading the league in tackles. Pascal Gross of Brighton is also up for the prize, with four assists and a goal to his name.
Premier League Manager of the Month shortlist - February 2024
© Marc Atkins/GettyImages
- Mikel Arteta (Arsenal)
- Erik ten Hag (Man Utd)
- Pep Guardiola (Man City)
Just three managers up for the award this month. We start with Mikel Arteta, whose Arsenal side were the only team with a perfect winning record in February. The Gunners beat Liverpool, West Ham United, Burnley and Newcastle United, scoring 18 times and conceding just twice.
Related video: Who Is The Premier League's Greatest Striker Ever? (FourFourTwo)
Erik ten Hag is up for his second award of the season. November's winner oversaw three wins from four games as Manchester United clawed their way back into the race for the top four, securing big wins over Aston Villa and West Ham United.
Rounding things out is Pep Guardiola. Manchester City won more points that any other side in February - they did play five games to pick up 13 points - with a 1-1 draw with Chelsea the only blot on an otherwise perfect record.
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This article was originally published on www.90min.com as Premier League confirm nominees for Player & Manager of the Month for February 2024.
Liverpool pip Man Utd in ranking of Premier League teams by academy minutes
Referring to Jurgen Klopp’s youngsters as his “kids” was deemed something of a misnomer by many after their Carabao Cup final win, given the average age of the Chelsea team was younger than daddy’s, but the subsequent win over Southampton in the FA Cup, and the three goals from academy graduates, had the masses legitimately swooning over the German’s offspring.
Klopp’s been forced to turn to his academy as a result of an injury crisis amid their quadruple charge, with six out of Melwood starting against Saints, and a further three coming off the bench. But how does Liverpool’s reliance on their youth compare to other Premier League teams?
We’ve ranked the English top flight sides by the number of minutes handed to academy graduates.
READ MORE: Full list of every Liverpool academy graduate Klopp has given debut to should embarrass Mourinho
20) Brentford: 120 minutes
Ellery Balcombe – 120 minutes
19) Wolves: 227
Nathan Fraser – 164
Harvey Griffiths – 36
Tawanda Chirewa – 17
Alfie Pond – 10
18) Everton: 241
Lewis Dobbin – 239
Tyler Onyango – 1
Thomas Cannon – 1
17) Fulham: 571
Marek Rodak – 480
Luc De Fougerolles – 90
Devan Tanton – 1
16) Bournemouth: 586
Mark Travers – 300
Jaidon Anthony – 242
Gavin Kilkenny – 34Related video: Jurgen Klopp compares Liverpool's kids' impact to 'darts sensation' Luke Littler (Daily Mail)Dominic Sadi – 8
Daniel Adu-Adjei – 2
15) Luton: 599
Cauley Woodrow – 470
Joe Johnson – 129
14) Nottingham Forest: 832
Joe Worrall – 545
Brennan Johnson – 256
Joe Gardner – 31
13) Tottenham: 843
Oliver Skipp – 748
Dane Scarlett – 84
Jamie Donley – 11
12) Burnley: 953
Jay Rodriguez – 953
11) West Ham: 989
Ben Johnson – 698
Divin Mubama – 280
Callum Marshall – 11
10) Aston Villa: 1161
Jacob Ramsey – 1036
Filip Marshall – 90
Omari Kellyman – 13
Tommi O’Reilly – 12
Cameron Archer – 6
Jaden Philogene Bidace – 4
9) Sheffield United: 1942
William Osula – 835
Andre Brooks – 753
Rhys Norrington-Davies – 250
Louie Marsh – 45
Jili Buyabu – 28
Antwoine Hackford – 13
Sydie Peck – 10
Ryan One – 8
8) Crystal Palace: 2907
Tyrick Mitchell – 2500
Jesurun Rak Sakyi – 235
David Ozoh – 172
7) Brighton: 3545
Evan Ferguson – 1530
Jack Hinshelwood – 1214
Solly March – 764
Benicio Boaitey – 37
6) Manchester City: 4841
Phil Foden – 2911
Rico Lewis – 1106
Oscar Bobb – 565
Cole Palmer – 122
Micah Hamilton – 105
Jacob Wright – 16
Mohamadou Susoho – 15
James McAtee – 1
5) Newcastle: 4956
Sean Longstaff – 2583
Lewis Miley – 1694
Elliot Anderson – 462
Paul Dummett – 185
Ben Parkinson – 25
Alex Murphy – 4
Michael Ndiweni – 1
Amadou Diallo – 1
Joe White – 1
4) Arsenal: 5124
Bukayo Saka – 2752
Eddie Nketiah – 1357
Reiss Nelson – 566
Emile Smith Rowe – 368
Charles Sagoe Jr – 67
Ethan Nwaneri – 14
3) Chelsea: 7167
Conor Gallagher – 2755
Levi Colwill – 2355
Armando Broja – 728
Reece James – 448
Ian Maatsen – 416
Alfie Gilchrist – 248
Trevoh Chalobah – 118
Bashir Humphreys – 90
Leo Castledine – 6
Michael Golding – 2
Jimi Tauriainen – 1
2) Manchester United: 9320
Alejandro Garnacho – 2325
Marcus Rashford – 2317
Scott McTominay – 1864
Kobbie Mainoo – 1172
Jonny Evans – 1118
Hannibal Mejbri – 330
Willy Kambwala – 102
Omari Forson – 61
Daniel Gore – 31
1) Liverpool: 10574
Trent Alexander-Arnold – 2005
Harvey Elliott – 1868
Curtis Jones – 1684
Caoimhin Kelleher – 1560
Jarell Quansah – 1473
Conor Bradley – 866
Ben Doak – 245
James McConnell – 195
Bobby Clark – 192
Luke Chambers – 138
Kaide Gordon – 76
Stefan Bajcetic – 72
Jayden Danns – 64
Lewis Koumas – 62
Calum Scanlon – 53
Trey Nyoni – 13
Owen Beck – 8
Erik ten Hag’s bizarre Fulham row suggests one thing about Manchester United’s future
There are times when Manchester United managers have been embroiled in bitter public rows with rivals. Sir Alex Ferguson against Arsene Wenger, for instance. Or Ferguson versus Rafa Benitez. Or Erik ten Hag and Fulham’s social-media team.
And if the temptation was to suggest that, with a Manchester derby on Sunday, Ten Hag ought to devote more time to Pep Guardiola’s tactics than Fulham’s TikToks, perhaps that is conflating issues. Yet it was Ten Hag’s second spat of the week: accusing Jamie Carragher of being “very subjective” in his views on United may have played to the gallery among the Old Trafford faithful. Yet Carragher was analysing United’s high defensive line, open midfield and habit of allowing opponents plenty of shots. It was a footballing indictment rather than a partisan jibe from Merseyside. He had evidence to support his case.
Fulham’s offence was to post a video of Bruno Fernandes’ reaction to a Sasa Lukic challenge, when he was accused of feigning injury. Their message of “so glad he’s OK” was scarcely incendiary. “Totally out of order,” was Ten Hag’s verdict as he called for an apology. It felt an overreaction, made all the more needless as, until the intervention of the United manager at Nottingham Forest on Wednesday, the Fulham post would have stayed off the radar of many people.
Does any of it matter? Each can feel a harmless irrelevance when victory or defeat against City would say rather more. And such comments, misguided as they seem, only attract such attention because of the profile of United. And yet it is worth pondering if Ten Hag would have made them last season, when part of his appeal was that he seemed a serious man who got his priorities right. Ten Hag took on Cristiano Ronaldo, not whoever mans Fulham’s various social-media accounts. He won, too. He made tough calls: about David de Gea and Harry Maguire. His decision-making was not always perfect – Antony was merely expensive and underwhelming then, compared to disastrous now – but he was often correct.
Now a different kind of combativity may be designed to breed a siege mentality. It was an old tactic of Ferguson’s, forever using outsiders to try and draw United closer together. Some of the Scot’s targets were undeserving, though he rarely seemed to worry about that. There was a time when the acronym ABU – Anyone But United – was used more often, perhaps because they were more successful. If, once again, it is ‘us against the world’, now the world is represented by Carragher and someone in Fulham’s press office.
It may be a sign Ten Hag is fighting for his club; alternatively, that he is fighting for his job, given the changing context of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s investment and an influx of new appointments. Negative perceptions could be particularly damaging for him.
But that, in turn, raises questions about Ten Hag’s own verdict. Too many of the Dutchman’s interpretations of events this season have lacked credibility. “We should have won this game,” he declared after losing to Fulham. That wasn’t the view of many another: “it is clear the better team won,” said Marco Silva and if he was not impartial either, many a neutral concurred. Ten Hag himself described defeat to Fulham as “unacceptable”.
A defence of Fernandes, meanwhile, was in part an attempt to get referees to afford the Portuguese more protection; he claimed opponents are targeting his captain. But it is notable that Ten Hag has been prepared to criticise others of his players this season; there are days when it feels even he has given up on Antony.
© Provided by The Independent
That Fernandes is prone to both dissent and histrionics can render him likelier to be mocked. He looked melodramatic in the video Fulham posted. Ten Hag had first branded Fernandes a doubt for Wednesday’s FA Cup tie at Nottingham Forest and then completed the 100 minutes, setting up Casemiro’s late winner.
Which, in turn, is a reason for Ten Hag’s support. In United’s injury-hit squad, Fernandes is the man who seemingly never misses games. Always fit, always trying, he is, even when on a lengthy goal drought, often their greatest chance of making something happen.
His shot had led to Maguire’s 89th-minute equaliser against Fulham. In the away fixture, he has an injury-time winner against Fulham to his name this season. His free kick led to Scott McTominay’s 97th-minute decider against Brentford. He inspired and completed the three-goal comeback against Forest in August.
At a point when Ten Hag needs all the help he can get, Fernandes is his most willing ally. But if that has long been the case, now he has an odd assortment of new enemies.
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It’s a bad time for a Liverpool, Chelsea and Man United target to win five games in 20
What if we told you there’s a manager whose team are on a run of five wins in 20 Premier League matches and yet not only is his job in absolutely no danger, there is absolutely nobody writing polemics or beard-stroking pieces about whether his club should sack him, everyone still agrees he’s an excellent manager doing an excellent job and that if he does leave his current employment it will be to join one of the very biggest clubs in the land.
At least one and very possibly two or three of the Big Six jobs are going to be up for grabs this summer, and our man is third favourite for the definite one, Liverpool, while also currently sitting fourth favourite for Chelsea and seventh favourite for Manchester United.
Nobody would bat an eyelid if he ends up getting any of those jobs. That’s… well, that’s just all a bit weird, isn’t it?
Five wins in 20 Premier League matches. That is very few Premier League wins. It’s the same number of wins in the last 20 Premier League matches as Luton, one more than Nottingham Forest and two fewer than Everton.
Our in-demand manager has also seen his team knocked out of the FA Cup by a team now only one point behind them in the league having started the season among the relegation favourites and with a manager nobody is touting for the biggest jobs in the land.Related video: 10 Amazing Strikers Who Flopped In The Premier League (FourFourTwo)
The manager is, obviously – because there’s a big old picture of his face right up there at the top of the story look – Roberto De Zerbi and his widely admired Brighton side.
It’s a surprising one, isn’t it? We’d love to know hand on heart honestly how many of you knew they were on a run of five wins in 20 Premier League games. We certainly didn’t and it’s kind of our job to know this sh*t. We had to look it up and then double-check and triple-check it because it sounds absolutely mental.
Five wins, Roberto? Five? In 20 games? That’s insane.
There is, of course, ample mitigation for De Zerbi and his team. It must be noted they did win five of their first six games before all this unpleasantness began with a 6-1 tonking off Aston Villa. It’s equally and undeniably true that they are still seventh in the league, and that’s really quite good when you are Brighton. Chelsea, for instance, or, say, Newcastle would very much like to be seventh in the league right now.
It’s also true that Brighton still don’t lose many games. They may have fewer wins than anyone else in the top half, but they’ve also suffered at least two fewer defeats than anyone outside the top five.
It’s also true, though, that the conspicuous underperformers this season are now closing in. They really could be in the bottom half pretty soon; 11th-placed Chelsea are now only four points behind with a home game against Tottenham in hand.
This is really bad timing for De Zerbi, if he is indeed eyeing one of English football’s loftier perches. He’s going to be going up against serial trophy winners or guys with significant club DNA advantage for all those potential jobs this summer, and – through no fault of his own – must also overcome the memory that still lingers of what happened to the last impressive, progressive Brighton coach who jumped to the Big Six. The glow-up was incredible, sure, but the results were dire.
But it does also show the other thing De Zerbi has to consider when deciding if he wants to move should the chance arise this summer. In its own way, facing close to zero scrutiny for a run of five wins in 20 games shows just what a good thing he’s got going at the Amex. Sure, that’s down to his own brilliant work over the previous year, but it wouldn’t matter what credit he had in the bank if he was at a club where the spotlight shines inevitably brighter but also harsher.
Imagine the conversations we’d be having now if Erik Ten Hag had won five of his last 20 league games. Eddie Howe is finally coming under some kind of pressure, but even he has eight wins in the last 20.
At Brighton, no matter how good or bad things get, the wider football consciousness will detect only the wins and memory-hole the losses. It is a gift no Big Six/Seven/Whatever manager can enjoy for long. It is undoubtedly something for him to ponder.
But it also raises a related question for Brighton fans. What constitutes a good end to the Premier League season here? Some uptick in form would clearly be welcome, but is a return to that early-season form really a good idea if it bumps De Zerbi up the lists for those big beasts? Is coasting to a seventh or eighth-placed finish that keeps progress ticking along and De Zerbi where he is for another year actually a better long-term outcome.
Not straightforward, is it? We’re really not sure what the answer is. Really, we just couldn’t get our heads round that whole ‘five wins in 20’ thing and thus had to inflict it on everyone else.
READ: Who will be the next manager to be sacked?
Man Utd news: Erik ten Hag demands apology after Bruno Fernandes clip as Glazers criticised
Manchester United landed themselves a spot in the last eight of the FA Cup on Wednesday night thanks to a late win over Nottingham Forest.
It means their hopes of winning silverware this term remain alive, albeit they've got the unenviable task of trying to knock off Liverpool in the next round. Erik ten Hag will have been pleased with his side's response following their surprise loss at home to Fulham.
The Dutchman's future remains unclear with Sir Jim Ratcliffe now in the building. The Ineos chief will cast an eye over their football operations before some cut-throat decisions in the summer, which could yet see Ten Hag axed after two seasons at Old Trafford. Here's the latest from Manchester.
Ten Hag hammers Fulham for Fernandes video
Ten Hag has stated that Fulham are “out of order” and demanded an apology after they mocked Bruno Fernandes on social media.
Fulham posted a video on their official TikTok account which clearly took aim at Fernandes for his perceived play-acting last weekend. The clip shows Fernandes going to ground, waving his arm in the air to plead for a free-kick. When his protests are ignored, Fernandes gets back to his feet and asks for the ball, appearing to have made an swift recovery from the challenge.
The clip of Fernandes is accompanied by the caption "So glad he's ok" and an eye-rolling emoji with comical music also included. Ten Hag has said: “It is absolutely not right that a club makes such a statement, because it is totally out of order and wrong and they should apologise for this."
Glazers responsible for 'smelly' facilities
It seems as though Old Trafford is not the only facility the Glazers neglect with a report from the NFL Players Association revealing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have 'smelly' facilities and the Glazers charge players' families to use a daycare room on gamedays.
The American family have owned the Tampa Bay Buccaneers since 1995 but a report published by the NFPLA this week has laid bare their flaws when it comes to keeping the NFL franchise's infrastructure up to scratch. The NFPLA is the labour union representing NFL players and they produce a yearly survey to highlight their member's thoughts on how their teams operate.
The results are published as a scorecard for each franchise and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' report has revealed they have 'unclean' and 'smelly' facilities.
© AFP via Getty Images
Nev's 'heart sank' after Ten Hag press conference
Gary Neville has criticised Ten Hag after he used a press conference to hit back at Jamie Carragher, who was critical of his team's defending on Sky Sports.
Carragher highlighted United's issues after their loss to Fulham, suggesting they look like they'd never played together. Ten Hag was unhappy with such comments and chose to respond in front of the press, but Neville was saddened by such a response.
“I must admit that when I saw it appear, my heart sank a little, from a Manchester United perspective, that he was getting involved in that. He might be secretly or privately annoyed and think there are some points you made that are wrong," he told the Stick to Football podcast.
"But [he has to think], 'We have conceded a lot of chances, I’m not going to win this one, we’ve just lost a game, got a big game against Nottingham Forest, let’s not look like I’m even interested in that'. That was my thinking.”
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