2008/09 Player of the season countdown

#15. Justin Said

Apps: 5; Assists: 3; Goals: 2

Euro Boy has managed just 5 games this season due to Uni commitments (commitments is the wrong word, and judging by his late night essay writing he’s going to fail anyway), but his stats still speak for themselves. 2 goals and 3 assists in 5 games just highlights that however much we hate to believe it; we missed Euro’s contribution this year. Banter played 22 games in 07/08 and Euro played in all of them, finishing top goalscorer.

His first game came in the Surrey Cup and with Banter short on midfielders, Euro stepped in to play through the centre and did so in an accomplished and no-nonsense manner. He got in to score an equaliser, bursting through from deep, as well as play the ball around and defend well throughout. This earnt him Banter’s man of the match vote. He single-handedly took apart Carlton in early December, when he gave the United right-back a complete roasting, resulting in 2 assists and a 3-2 Banter win. His second goal of the season was in the final league game, with Banter 3-2 down to Real Madras, the Boy nicked away the ball from a defender, ran through and lobbed the goalkeeper on the half volley.

He was involved in one of the season's more humorous moments too when running late for the Carlton away clash in January. He was phoned by your friend and mine, Chris Davis, and told to "get a riggle on, mate, it's started." He'd failed to tell Euro that we'd started with 10 men without him and as the 21 year-old strolled up casually to take his place on the bench, he was bombarded with abuse to get a fucking move on by his team-mates.

It's hard to find a fault apart from just his general behaviour off the pitch and whilst arguably his finishing can leave a lot to be desired, it often doesn’t matter because he’ll go and create another chance for himself 30 seconds later anyway. Assuming he can curb his enthusiasm, it will be nice to have him return full time in 2009/10 and play every week again, whether that be as a striker or on the wing, where he is equally adept.