Matchday 19 - Quick Round Up

Match Day 19 Round Up



Thursday 30th December


Burnley 1-3 Newcastle United

Newcastle got off to a flyer, which completely destroyed Scott Parker's 'defend, defend, defend' tactical plan with just over a minute gone. When Burnley were two down, they did get into the game, but they were still poor and were not helped by losing their best defender, Esteve. This is not a good Newcastle side right now, they have physicality and kick anything they feel they can get away with, but the quality in their play is very lacking, but they were head and shoulders better than the Clarets. Burnley were beaten physically and technically, which just tells you how bad they are.

Starmen:
Laurent - scored a cracker and came close to getting a second.
Joelinton - scored the opener with a lovely finish.
Guimaraes - is the beating heart of the Toon right now, worked hard and added the third goal to kill the game off in injury time.

Flops:
Walker - got turned inside out by Gordon for the first goal.
Dubravka - flapped at things and looked unsettled against his former club.
Tchaouna - offered little but lots of running around aimlessly.


Chelsea 2-2 Bournemouth

A game that will probably be better remembered for being the final match for the Blues under Maresca, who failed to even turn up for the post-match press conference, claiming to be ill. Chelsea looked flat and struggled to deal with Bournemouth's attacking play, in fact it could be said that both of their goals came against the run of play. Though a lot of the problems were created by themselves with poor defending, the first Sanchez parried straight back to Brooks, rather than pushing it to the side, the second was flicked on by a Chelsea head to Kluivert. With Caicedo picking up an early booking, and putting himself in danger of a second not long afterwards, the Chelsea midfield lost its bite. Fernandez, despite scoring a good goal, offered little help to Caicedo in breaking up play. The Cherries have been on a poor run and were missing their midfield battlers, but looked to have no lack of confidence and gave a really good account of themselves.

Starmen:
Estevao - looks a real future star and you have to wonder why he has not been given more time on the pitch this season.
Truffert - looks to be growing into the left-back role.

Flops:
Acheampong - found himself overrun at times but he is not really a full-back.
Fofana - no positional sense.
Garnacho - always the same, no intelligence to his play.
Scott/Tavernier - needed a more defensive minded partner or to understand each other better as they emptied midfield at times, with both looking to get forward at the same time.


Nottingham Forest 0-2 Everton

This defeat sadly has to be put at the feet of one man, Dyche. It is bizarre that he could have so recently been head coach at the Toffees, yet not come away realising that their strength at the back is in aerial prowess. It would be even more crazy if he did notice it, but decided to pump crosses into the box anyway. Both Everton centre-backs had a few inches in height on Jesus and just lapped up the balls in. Even the fact Dibling failed to help cover his full-back did nothing to help out Forest, as they just pumped the ball into the box to be headed clear. Moyes will probably never have an opponent that will play into his hands so completely as Forest did.

Starmen:
Williams - put in some excellent crosses, got forward well, but his good work was wasted against the Toffees.
Garner - best player on the pitch, the former Forest loanee came back to haunt his former club with an outstanding performance and a very good goal.
Tarkowski/O'Brien - had a day they will relish, bullying Jesus and heading clear the crosses.

Flops:
Zinchenko - he has never been a good full-back, but now he looks barely League Two level.
Gibbs-White - a shadow of the player he was last season.
Jesus - was badly bullied by Everton's two centre-halves.


West Ham United 2-2 Brighton & Hove Albion

A point that was worth a lot more to the Hammers than it was to the Seagulls. For the Hammers, it crept them closer to Forest to keep their hopes of survival alive. For Brighton, it leaves them still stuck in a run of poor form which has seen them slip down the table and put them in danger of being dragged into the relegation dogfight themselves. Brighton are a team that waste lots of chances and are struggling defensively, a very worrying combination. West Ham are being hindered by the bizarre team choices and tactical decisions by Nuno Espirito Santo, who regularly picks no striker, despite the desperate need for wins. For once, he decided to start with Wilson up top and it paid off by giving the Brighton defence questions to answer.

Starmen:
Paqueta - set Bowen free for the opener and converted their penalty.
Bowen - the class of the West Ham team.

Flops:
Kilman - error prone and always gives the opposition a chance.
Milner - cost BHA a goal with an error.


Manchester United 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Man Utd's decent run came to an end with a draw against Wolves, who will probably feel they could have got something from the game. It is a game that United fans will want to scrub from their memory quickly, as it was a very poor performance from their team against probably the worst Premier League team ever. Wolves are beginning to show signs of life, but there is little sign of them having the quality to save themselves from the drop.

Starmen:
Zirkzee - scored United's goal playing as one of the attacking midfielders and looked a lot more comfortable than he has done playing up top.
Gomes - missing his midfielder partner, he was the sole defensive minded player in there and he stepped up.

Flops:
Cunha - failed to show his quality.
Hee-Chan - has completely lost his way and makes the wrong decisions constantly on the ball.


Arsenal 4-1 Aston Villa

Even without their best player, Rice, the Gunners had far too much for Villa, who made the same mistakes as they did against Villa, by trying to take the game to Arsenal. Though, to be fair to them, they were doing fine until losing Onana at half time, with Watkins missing what was almost a sitter. Their midfield was just wide open without him and Kamara in it. He has been Villa's best player in the first half and Arsenal were able to cut through their midfield at will in the second half. This could be the moment that gives Arsenal the belief to finally get over the line and clinch the league title, it was very much a statement win over the Premier League's in form team. It could have all been so different, as in the early minutes of the first half Onana was running through the Gooner midfield at will, leaving a lot of questions over Zubimendi's ability to deal with the defensive aspects of the game.

Starmen:
Trossard - a goal and an assist for the Belgian.
Odegaard - looking close to his best.
Onana - was absolutely outstanding in the first half, but injury ended his game early.

Flops:
Gyokeres - he still is not quite meshing well with this Arsenal team.
Sancho - utterly useless.
Rogers - has been almost singlehandedly driving Villa on at times this season, but he was very poor against Arsenal.
Villa's defence and Martinez - were completely overrun at times, particularly in the second half.



Thursday 1st January

Crystal Palace 1-1 Fulham

A game that screamed midtable mediocrity, with little to excite the fans at all. Neither team impressed, nor looked like a team capable of climbing the table to challenge for European football. There was a lot of huff and puff, but very little of real quality, even from the much vaunted Wharton. It was mostly a game of poor decisions in the final third.

Starmen:
No one really did enough to deserve to be considered a starman in this match.

Flops:
No one was really bad enough to deserve this label either, it was all round mediocrity.


Brentford 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur

I would say that this was more midtable mediocrity, but that would be overrating Spurs this season. Brentford will be very disappointed not to get a win against this Tottenham side, who clearly lack any kind of confidence. Having Romero at the back always leaves Spurs at risk of going down to ten men or him throwing away a goal and he was lucky not to pick up a red once again. Brentford do not look a good side, but Spurs look an absolute mess all over the pitch and are very lucky to not be in danger of the drop.

Starmen:
Janelt - held the Brentford midfield together.
Porro - looks out of place in this team under Frank, a decent ball player is not really a good fit.

Flops:
Thiago - apart from being brought down when he would have been clean through by Romero, which the referee and VAR decided in their very finite wisdom was not even worthy of a foul, had a poor game and should have done more.
Gray - lots of potential, but not suited to a game like this.
Odobert - needs to do more.


Liverpool 0-0 Leeds United

A bore draw for neutrals and Liverpool fans, with Leeds easily shutting out Liverpool, as Slot once again got his tactics wrong against a side playing a low block. An injection of pace against Wolves produced goals, but Slot took most of that out of the side to face Leeds and it resulted in a dreadful performance bereft of any real threat. In fact, the only real chances came from a couple of moments when pace was injected by a player running at Leeds, mainly Frimpong, though his final ball found a box lacking in bodies, and Ekitike, who probably should have had a penalty after having his shirt pulled so blatantly. But the fact that was all Liverpool created, in terms of proper attacking threat, shows just how well Leeds dealt with Liverpool. Their keeper will probably not have an easier night all season. Unfortunately for Leeds, their well organised defensive performance has been overshadowed by how poorly Liverpool dealt with it and the panic-stricken substitutions they employed to try and beat it.

Starmen:
Bijol - defended well.
Gruev - not usually a starter, but he stepped up and played well.

Flops:
Slot - terrible tactics and panicked, thoughtless subs. Bringing on Gakpo and Kerkez together, when Gakpo refuses to ever pass to Kerkez, was just stupid. It just seemed a case of bringing on as many attacking players as possible, with no thought of how they would work together.
Liverpool - the team as a whole were far too slow and lacked the fitness to take the game to Leeds with pace and intensity.


Sunderland 0-0 Manchester City

This may have been a nil nil, but it was far from a bore draw. Despite the game ending without a goal, there was no shortage of entertainment nor effort. Both teams were trying to win, both teams got in and about each other and both teams played with a high intensity. Sunderland under Le Bris have not succumbed to the temptation to join everyone else in playing negative, defensive football with the sole aim of getting set pieces to score from. Due to them actually going out to win games in open play, with hard work to the fore, they are getting their just rewards. It is just a shame more teams are not looking at it and using them as an example, instead of copying the Arteta/Frank blueprint for lulling the opposition to sleep with negative, boring football. City are still a bit off their best from recent years, but they were just beginning to get into their stride and piling the pressure on at the top. This draw has given Arsenal a bit of breathing space, which might just be all it takes to cede the title for a second season in a row.

Starmen:
Alderete - has been outstanding all season.
Mukiele - moved inside as a centre-back, but played really well.
Xhaka - once again was a key figure for the Mackems.
Le Fee - is really growing into the Premier League and adding more to his game than just hard graft.
Nunes - dealt with Adingra very well.

Flops:
Adingra - shut out of the game by Nunes.
Brobbey - looks a long way off Premier League quality.

Written by Tris Burke January 03 2026 16:21:56