DECEMBER was a truly outstanding month of football in the Scottish Premiership with each team having their stand-out performers. Looking at the data, here are the best players from each position:
Goalkeeper
Thomas Cerny (Partick Thistle)
When it comes to goalkeeping the only real stats that one can be judged upon are the shots that are kept out of the net. When the figures on each shot-stopper in the Premiership are broken down based on the amount of reflex saves they made over the month, there is a clear winner. With 19 saves over the course of eight games, Tomas Cerny was not only the busiest goalkeeper in the
division but clearly one of Alan Archibald’s top performers as the Glasgow side battled to move out of bottom spot.
Defender
James Tavernier (Rangers)
With wins over Aberdeen and Hearts and an impressive draw at Celtic Park, Rangers can confidently say they had a good
December. And in defence much of that success came through full-back James Tavernier.With 73 defensive duels (interceptions, tackles, headers, etc) over the month, the English right-back was undoubtedly the most involved defender in the Premiership and by quite a margin. His nearest competitor was Dundee’s Cammy Kerr, who managed just 62 duels in the same period.
Arguably Rangers’ best player against Celtic just a week ago, there is no denying that when Tavernier is on his game Rangers look significantly better and tend to have good results.
Midfielder
James Forrest (Celtic)
Midfielders, particularly attacking midfielders, are a dime a dozen in the Premiership this season and it was another month which showcased just how many exciting players there are to pick from.
When it came down to which one offered the best service and goal-scoring opportun-ities for his team-mates, the obvious answer was Rangers’ winger Daniel Candeias. No Premiership player had more key passes than the former Benfica player and he also had two assists.
However, in the modern game attacking midfielders are expected to chip in with goals too and that’s where Forrest came ahead of his Rangers counterpart. Few would deny that the Celtic wide-man is
rejuvenated this season and to add so many goals and assists to his game is a mark of the fantastic work he is doing at Celtic Park.
Forward
Kris Boyd (Kilmarnock)
When it comes to strikers and natural goal-scorers the Premiership is also blessed with a number of young, attacking talents that have so much potential. Moussa Dembele and Alfredo Morelos are the most obvious examples, but there are others such as Oliver Shaw, Craig Tanner and Blair Spittal. However, December saw the old guard claw back some control with Boyd regaining the kind of goal-scoring form that made him such a star throughout the SPL era.
Kilmarnock went the whole of December without a single defeat and a huge part of that was the six goals the towering striker managed to convert in six games. Not only that, but the Killie captain also helped beat his former club with a 2-1 win at Rangers, as well as crucial goals to earn draws at Dingwall and Easter Road.
PLAYER OF THE MONTH: Kris Boyd
Despite a really high standard of performances in December, there is no denying that few of the Premiership’s in-form players played as vital a role in their team’s results as Boyd. Tavernier, Forrest and even Cerny are replaceable for their respective teams, yet finding another source of the goals Boyd scored for Steve Clarke’s side would have been a mammoth task.
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