Fulham's Dimitar Berbatov tops the poll so far with the Queens Park Rangers striker Djibril Cissé bottom of the pile
Dimitar Berbatov belies the belief that no player improves after being ditched by Manchester United. That, at least, is the verdict of the thousands of readers who have rated player performances on the Guardian website following every Premier League match this season. After tallying every mark for every player from every game in the first half of the campaign, Berbatov has emerged as the league's outstanding player with an average rating of 7.73 out of 10.
His elegance, his creativity, his seemingly effortless cool: everyone loves Berbatov. Or rather, no one actively dislikes him. When it comes to topping polls, that is perhaps the biggest advantage of leaving United, since Fulham do not inspire the same antipathy that may distort assessments of players from United and other big clubs.
The next highest-rated forward is Luis Suárez (6.98), who likely pays a premium for playing for Liverpool – as well as for his antagonistic behaviour. Factor that in and it is impressive that the Uruguayan managed to rank so highly.
Having said all that, one of the most notable conclusions is that, contrary to impressions given by Twitter stormtroopers and phone-in cranks, football fans are mostly fair and level-headed. Across-the-board ratings are moderate, with few players scoring an average below five and only an elite band exceeding seven. Restricting judgment to players who have featured in at least half of their club's games, the worst player – the anti-Berbatov – has been the Queens Park Rangers' striker Djibril Cissé, with an average rating of 4.58. That seems quite high for a universal low, furthering the suspicion that fans are not the extreme malcontents they are often portrayed as.
Even André Santos, author of what might be assumed the worst individual performance, was awarded an average of 3.7 for his hapless display in Arsenal's defeat at Old Trafford in November. Although we cannot rule out the possibility that it was inflated by grateful Manchester United fans.
The lowest average rating for any single performance was the 1.7 for Darren Bent during Aston Villa's 4-1 loss to Southampton. We will refrain from venturing a guess as to whether that says anything about Paul Lambert's use of the internet. Let us swiftly return to positive appraisals.
Stoke City's defence has been Scrooge-tight and readers reckon that Asmir Begovic is a big part of the explanation for that, rating him the best goalkeeper in the league (7.2). Sir Alex Ferguson, meanwhile, may be interested to learn that readers have no doubt who is the best goalkeeper at Old Trafford, with David de Gea (6.96) deemed to have performed better than Anders Lindegaard (5.85). The same people, intriguingly, think Wayne Rooney (6.94) has been better than Robin van Persie (6.82).
One player who, like Van Persie, has been loudly trumpeted as the signing of the season is Swansea City's Michu, but again the readers' ratings offer an interesting perspective. For most of the campaign watchers of Swansea rated his South Korean team-mate, Ki, higher than the Spaniard, right up until the 2-0 defeat at White Hart Lane, in which Ki performed so badly (4.7) that his average (6.77) dropped below Michu's (6.93)
Leighton Baines' rating as the best defender (6.97) comes as no surprise, but the widespread acclaim for Per Mertesacker (6.76) may raise eyebrows. Watchers of Arsenal have been impressed and agree with Arsène Wenger's decision to regularly deploy the German ahead of Laurent Koscielny (6.28). Norwich's solidity is reflected in Sébastien Bassong's (6.74) appearance in the team of the season, and watchers of Liverpool agree with Roy Hodgson that Glen Johnson (6.58) is the best right-back in England.
With Alex Song and Nigel De Jong gone from the Premier League, Lucas Leiva and Scott Parker injured for most of the season, and Cheik Tioté and Mikel John Obi out of form, midfield ball-winners have been rated even lower than defenders, with West Bromwich Albion's Claudio Yacob (6.28) deemed the best. The midfielder who has stood head and shoulders above the rest, literally as well as in the ratings, is Marouane Fellaini (7.65), comfortably ahead of the scheming trio of Juan Mata (7.28), Eden Hazard (7.25) and Wes Hoolahan (7.16).
While all the players who made it into the team of the season were considered models of consistency, the player with the highest rating for a single game embodies his own team's erratic displays. Wigan's Jordi Gómez was awarded 9.5 after striking a hat-trick in the victory over Reading in November, but none of his other performances scored above 4. Manchester City's Mario Balotelli is often accused of fluctuating wildly between highs and lows but readers' votes suggest that this season he has been the epitome of blandness, his grade seldom deviating from a moderate 5.
Premier League
Paul Doyle
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