SBNation's Best XI of 2012

Best of the year lists are tedious. The lists themselves are fine, but the constant bitching about them - THIS GUY SHOULD NOT BE RANKED 10TH HE SHOULD BE RANKED 9TH HOW DARE YOU INSULT HIM THAT WAY YOU SUCK - are really annoying and get old really, really fast. So I tend to avoid making a lot of lists - they have their utility, like using year-end best of film or best of music lists to catch up on what you might have missed, but putting them in priority order is a largely pointless exercise in organization.

This is why I like SBN's list of their Best XI of 2012. No mere list, they decided to put some rules around the exercise, to wit: Only one player per league, and the list had to form an actual, playable team (the list didn't include nine forwards or four keepers, etc).

So there you have it - SBN's choice of their top 11 footballers of the year. If discussing lists is your thing, hey look! There's a comment section! Go nuts!