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John O'Shea
Chelsea, Newcastle United, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur - all often cited as big clubs - have something in common; they've won less English top flight league titles than John O'Shea. The Irishman was a Premier League champion in the red of Manchester United no less than 5 times, while also taking home a Champions League medal amongst countless other titles during his time at Old Trafford.
He was an underrated presence in Manchester, who collected trophies for fun. His winners' pedigree has been translated into the red and white of Sunderland, where his experience has been vital at the heart of defence. It his his leadership, quality and commanding presence that holds an often shaky looking back four together. Without it, an awful season just past could well have become the nightmare it threatened to be for so long.
O'Shea, with his 89 caps for Ireland, is one of the few likely to survive this summer's cull and he also deserves your vote. (CC)
Danny Rose
Danny Rose was a man whose career had stalled before he went on loan to Sunderland. Too far down the pecking order to make an impact at Spurs, it looked worryingly like he would go down in history as 'that man who scored that goal against Arsenal'. The fact that Rose is now wanted at Tottenham, and may well play an important role in next season's campaign, shows just how well the energetic left-back did in his one loan season, as he played himself out of obscurity.
For it looks increasingly unlikely that 'Broadway' Danny Rose will play in red and white stripes next season. Many will consider this a reason not to vote for him, but they'd be wrong to ignore his achievements during the last campaign. There was some matches last season where 'Broadway' was the clubs most impressive player both defensively and in attack. While other defenders floundered, including O'Shea, who had an patchy at best 2012-13, Rose stood up and refused to be beaten by opposition wingers.
While his chances up the other end of the pitch were often restricted under Martin O'Neill, when he was allowed to bomb forward he proved extremely dangerous. His pace and hard-work meant he could get himself into extremely good attacking positions. In the previous round I used the example of his superb goal at Villa Park, for which Rose was also its architect, as an example of just what he could do when allowed to charge into the opponents attacking third, and it's worth mentioning again just how wonderful that goal was.
Danny Rose may never play for Sunderland again, but don't hold that against him. Remember 'Broadway' for how great he was during his short time here, where he stood head and shoulders above the rest of the back four, including John O'Shea. (LB)
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Be sure to make your vote count and send one of these two through to the next round. Make your voice heard below, because you only have until 11pm (GMT) tonight to get your vote in...