It’s official – Rafa was right. The PlayTheGame statistics prove it.

Rafael BenÍtez, the Liverpool manager, has spent a considerable part of the summer in pursuit of Gareth Barry, the England midfield player, but not everyone understands his admiration of the Aston Villa man. After all, Sven-Göran Eriksson was never fully convinced that Barry had the pace necessary to succeed at international level and he was not alone in that opinion.

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Is Barry truly that good, or has BenÍtez only been risking his place on Martin O’Neill’s Christmas card list at the urging of Steven Gerrard? Barry is one of the Liverpool captain’s closest friends, and Gerrard would unquestionably be happier with his mate around the place, just as he was when Barry joined him in the England midfield last season. Was that reason enough, though, for BenÍtez to offer to part with an eight-figure sum? We say that BenÍtez had simply done his homework and got his sums bang on.

When we prepared the official Times rankings for PlayTheGame and ran the numbers based on the scoring system we will be using during the 2008-09 system, Barry came out as the top man in our team of the 2007-08 season. And for very good reasons.

Consider the scoring categories for midfield players in PlayTheGame: minutes played, successful passes, assists, goals and team points. Barry started 37 of Aston Villa’s 38 Barclays Premier League matches last season – more than the other three members of our All-Star midfield: Gerrard (32), Cesc Fàbregas, of Arsenal (32), and Cristiano Ronaldo, of Manchester United (31).

That gave Barry more chances to make successful passes and, as one of the hubs of an increasingly attack-minded Villa side, he made the most of his opportunities, completing 1,438 passes. Thanks to the efforts of Gabriel Agbonlahor, Ashley Young and John Carew, those passes were converted into goals on ten occasions, putting him into double figures for assists. And he also found the net nine times, helped by being his side’s penalty taker.

So is Barry the man to get this sea-son? It depends. If he moves to Liverpool – or Arsenal – he stands to benefit from a greater number of league points if he plays as many games. But that may be a big “if” – those clubs are more inclined to rest key players before Champions League matches, which has not been an issue at Villa Park. Furthermore, will he take time to settle in and be as effective as he was with Villa? And will he take the penalties at either club?

If he stays at Villa, will there be a hangover from his falling out with O’Neill, the manager? Will his form suffer as the Villa Park faithful make clear their opinion of his lack of loyalty, as they did in a recent friendly match away to Walsall?

There are reasons to question whether Barry will be top man again.

Should he slip, Fàbregas and Gerrard are the men poised to take over as our No 1. Fàbregas led the field in assists (16) and successful passes (2,185 – almost 500 clear of the pack), while Gerrard’s all-round game makes him almost as valuable in fantasy as in reality. But we expect Ronaldo’s ratings to drop even if he stays in the Premier League. The surgery that means he will miss the opening month or so of the season may have made a move to Real Madrid less likely, but it has also guaranteed that he will not be racking up the goals, successful passes and assists any time soon.

Our top two forwards are Young, whose future lies on the left wing, and Emmanuel Adebayor, of Arsenal, whose future in the Premier League is less than assured, but both deserve their places based on last season’s performances. Young laid on 15 goals and when he played as a third striker late in the campaign he was able to raise his personal goal tally to eight. Adebayor’s 24 strikes were second only to Ronaldo’s 31.

Roque Santa Cruz, of Blackburn Rovers, arguably the bargain of the season at £3.8 million, more than earned his place on our substitutes’ bench with 19 goals.

Our defenders are all models of consistency, but special mention goes to Joleon Lescott, of Everton, who showed an uncanny knack of popping up in the right place to get on the end of free kicks and corner kicks, scoring eight league goals. His versatility, which meant that he qualifies as a centre back and left back, only adds to his value in PlayTheGame. He also played in a hard-working and effective defence, so both he and Tim Howard, the Everton goalkeeper, did well in clean sheets, defence and team points.

They are the players who won league titles for PlayTheGame managers last season. Will they do it again this time? That is for you to decide as you build your teams. Good luck.

PTG team of 2007-08

Tim Howard (Everton)
Vedran Corluka (Man City)
Danny Collins (Sunderland)
Joleon Lescott (Everton)
Gaël Clichy (Arsenal)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Man Utd)
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
Cesc Fàbregas (Arsenal)
Gareth Barry (Aston Villa)
Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal)
Ashley Young (Aston Villa)

Substitutes

Def/GK: Robert Green (West Ham)
Mid: David Bentley (Blackburn)
For: Roque Santa Cruz (Blackburn)

New for this season

Simpler team-building system – build a personalised wish list longer than Harry Redknapp’s. Offline player allocation option – pick your players face-to-face in real time. Choice of team formations – pick the system that suits your players. Simpler scoring categories – rewarding fair play and reliable contributors. More flexible transfer system – wheel and deal with the best of them. Bulletins will keep you up to speed

Need to stay up to date with your fantasy players? Every day until the end of the season, Times writers will monitor developments at every club to keep you informed about every player. Injuries, international call-ups, suspensions, possible transfer activity – anything we get wind of that could affect your fantasy team will be available in our player news bulletins, with a fantasy analysis to help you to act on it.

Bulletins about your players will be delivered to your inbox as part of a weekly e-mail, but if you cannot wait, the bulletins are available on TheGame’s website and a symbol next to a player’s name in any list will tell you that there is a news update, which you will be taken to with a single click.

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