Good day to you all, it’s team of the weekend time which means I’m here to find the best and worst of the Premier League games just gone. It wasn’t a vintage weekend really but as it’s our last Premier League action for two weeks, let’s make the most of it. Who made the cut this week?
Goalkeeper
Martin Dubravka – There was a lack of goalkeeping incidents this weekend. Hugo Lloris did his best to gift Palace a goal with some erratic decision making and kicking but fundamentally made some top stops at the end to balance that out. Nobody saved a penalty to make my life easy and there were no horrendous clangers, so I’m giving Newcastle goalkeeper Dubravka the gloves for a series of saves against Bournemouth. The best of which may have gone unnoticed, as the rebound was tapped in from an offside position but whilst everybody else is looking at the line to see who was beyond it, notice how Dubravka claws the initial effort out which would have stood. The best £4m ever spent. Probably.
Defenders
Sol Bamba – It is one of life’s great mysteries how Sol Bamba is a Premier League centre half. However, there were so many things wrong with his goal I feel it necessary to take you through it. Having made an error for Brighton’s opener, Bamba found himself in the opposition penalty area in the final minute. Firstly, he was offside. Secondly, Sol decided this was the time to try an overhead kick which hit the post. A follow up shot was deflected onto the bar and that is where Bamba got the headlines by slamming the shot in off the bar. Off came the shirt and the yellow card stayed in the ref’s pocket to round off a thoroughly ludicrous day.
Juan Foyth – Last week Foyth made his Premier League debut and gave away two penalties. His reward was a place in Team of the Weekend. To prove I’m not a bad person, Foyth’s retained his place for scoring his first career goal and giving Spurs the grittiest of 1-0 wins at Crystal Palace.
Andy Robertson – Liverpool’s victory over Fulham can best be described as routine and at worst rather dull but one highlight was Andrew Robertson’s swashbuckling bursts down the left hand side. A constant thorn in Fulham’s side, Scotland’s captain picked up an assist for Shaqiri’s goal and man of the match from Steve McManaman. One of those things is worth more than the other.
Antonio Rudiger – Not quite a dive but certainly over reaction of the day goes to Mr Rudiger. Going head to head with a man half your size shouldn’t end with you rolling around on the floor claiming to have been brutally attacked.
Midfielders
Dale Stephens – What an absolute horror tackle. Fully deserved red card and a three game ban. As there’s two weeks without a game now he won’t play again for a month or so which is still not long enough. Call me a boring old man but there should be a similar system to rugby where a player can be picked up for a particularly bad tackle and banned for a few extra weeks on top of his three game ban.
Bernardo Silva – There are two Silva’s at Man City and they are both extraordinary. The term cultured left foot was coined for these two as they ran the Manchester derby on Sunday. I’ve plumped for Bernardo with his 2 assists rather than David for his goal just because of how good the ball was for Gundogan but frankly either were worthy of their place. To score a goal from 44 passes is sublime but the 44th and final pass was an absolute stonker. Good luck stopping Man City.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan – Arsenal have had a strange few weeks after winning so many in a row. They were second best for long periods against Wolves and were thankful for a cross from Mkhitaryan going straight in to salvage a point. Poor old Henrikh is destined to be a substitute for his entire career in England so for that reason I’ve given him a start.
Forwards
Salomon Rondon – What a performance. Every now and again you get a striker who is just on the absolute top of his game and everything comes together. His second goal was a particular delight for fans of the old fashioned centre forward header but the main thing is that his two goals took Newcastle to the dizzy heights of 14th. Nosebleed time. I’d say he’s like a new signing but he was a new signing in the summer, he’s just barely been fit.
Charlie Austin – All this was missing was the glass shattering and it would have been worthy of his name sake Steve. Stone Cold Charlie went in two footed on the officials post match after they disallowed his goal and frankly I would have been as annoyed as he was. Obviously his mood wasn’t helped by Watford then equalising but what an absolutely garbage decision. On the plus side it did bring us the Charlie Austin Parklife remix which is what Twitter is all about.
Sergio Aguero – What is that hair? I mean it hasn’t affected his ability to shoot as he managed to hit a shot that went through David De Gea but quite why he feels the need to go blonde or silver, whatever they are calling it, I don’t know. You’re a grown man for goodness sakes.
Manager
Slavisa Jokanovic – Fulham find themselves rock bottom of the table after Sunday’s defeat at Anfield. It’s a sure fire sign that you are struggling when you get a goal adjudged offside and 11 seconds later the ball is in your own net courtesy of Mo Salah and I just wonder if Jokanovic will ride out this storm. They had such a large outlay on players in the summer it seems to me like he doesn’t know his best team. Just in case he gets the old tin tack over the International break I’m giving him a seat in our dugout as it’d be a long time to stand otherwise.
That’s all from me this week but I’ll be back after the International break. Stay strong, it’s the last one until March. Toodles for now.
