Top 3 Unsung heroes: defenders who’ve made the difference for their clubs

Branislav Ivanovic

His header right at the death helped Chelsea to their second consecutive European trophy. The honour of Chelsea’s Player of the Year may have gone to Juan Mata but there is no doubt as to how pivotal Ivanovic’s contributions have been to the West London club. Apart from his first and only European goal of the season, Ivanovic scored 7 other times in the 2012-2013 season. And he made his presence felt in his defensive position as part of a back four that conceded only 39 goals all season. No other team apart from Arsenal and Manchester City conceded less.  

Ivanovic had a chance to add to his tally in the weekend  game against Everton but skied the ball from eight yards. Actually the Serb had a game to forget, on top of his glaring miss while Everton were still on terms, he almost gifted Nikica Jelavic a goal when a poor piece of ball control gifted the Merseysiders possession. Put that down to fatigue after a long season in which he made a staggering 55 appearances in all competitions.  

Pablo Zabaleta

The so-called ‘Noisy Neighbours’ were the most effective in keeping strikers quiet this past season. Of the English Premier League’s 20 teams, Manchester City conceded the least goals. And a key reason for the rock-solid defensive displays was the work put in by the tireless, yet unheralded Pablo Zabaleta, City’s right full-back. The Argentine has made this part of the defence his own, displacing Micah Richards who is three years his junior. With his no-frills, disciplined approach, Zabaleta helped ensure that the Sky Blues shipped the fewest goals in the EPL.

Perhaps the only blip on the 28 year-old’s amazing season is the sending off during the tepid FA Cup final match against a determined Wigan which effectively put paid to any hopes of a comeback.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Laurent Koscielny

Like Ivanovic, Laurent Koscielny scored an extremely crucial goal for his club; his acrobatic volley from barely a yard out earned Arsenal the fourth place ‘trophy’ that has suddenly taken on added significance. Locking London rivals Tottenham Hotspurs out of the Champions League by the slimmest of margins was perhaps the sweetest part of this season’s number four finish. And the Gunners had French defender Koscielny to thank for this auspicious end to the season. On top of his close-range scissor-kick goal, Koscielny denied Newcastle an equalizer when Papiss Cisse suddenly found himself alone in front of goal with only Wojsiech Szczesny to beat. But Koscielny had read the play and tracked the striker’s run, nicking the ball from the Senegal man before he could pull the trigger.

To show how good a job the Frenchman did with the help of German giant Per Mertesacker, Arsenal conceded the second-least number of goals this season. That’s right, terrible as we all believed Wenger’s defence was.