Matchday 17 - Quick Round Up

Match Day 17 Round Up



Saturday 20th December


Newcastle United 2-2 Chelsea

A true game of two halves, in the first Newcastle dominated a very poor Chelsea team, but Chelsea came out for the second revitalised and were the better side in the second. With Maresca having recently changed agent to Jorge Mendes, usually a sign that they are looking for a new job (Man City maybe?), I did wonder if he might take his eye off the ball a little at Chelsea. The way they started the match did suggest that might possibly be true. The difference in the first half was that the Toon came out firing, full of energy and intensity. Chelsea struggled to get going at all in the first half and found themselves getting bullied. The question though really should be where is this intensity from Newcastle the rest of the time? This was clearly a reaction to getting beaten by Sunderland, where they let the fans down badly. Chelsea have disciplinary issues, that much is clear, and Maresca needs to get a handle on that if he is staying with the club.

Starmen:
Hall - clearly fired up to face his former team.
Gordon - I am not the biggest Clare Balding fan, but he did have his best game of the season, including an assist.
Woltemade - two goals and both in the right net this time!
Miley - looks very accomplished at right-back.
James - looked better after reverting to right-back following Gusto being taken off. Scored a decent free kick, though the offence it was awarded for was, at best, soft, if a foul at all.
Sanchez - better known for his ricks, but he has improved noticeably, particularly since being allowed to kick longer, rather than always having to pass around the back line.
Pedro - striker is not really his best position, but he had a good game, scoring a goal.

Flops:
Wissa - looks a massive step down in quality from Woltemade when he is brought on.
Gusto - far too busy pretending to be injured to actually play for large periods. It did bring Chelsea's disciplinary issues to the fore as the players lost the plot over the referee doing the correct thing and ignoring his playacting and allowing the game to continue.
Garnacho - gets in good positions, only to blaze high or wide or high and wide, no matter what options he has. Awful player with a me, me, me attitude.
Palmer - anonymous.
Fofana - as usual all over the place positionally.


Bournemouth 1-1 Burnley

A result that did neither team any favours, but at least stopped the run of defeats for Burnley, while allowing the Cherries to stay clear of the drop zone. A first half that was dominated by Bournemouth against a very cautious Claret side, which barely registered an attempt to get out of their own half, let alone shots on goal. The second half saw Bournemouth score and force Burnley to come out and play to a degree, though they still played with a large degree of caution. The big issue was a lack of quality, in the final third for Bournemouth, but all over the pitch for Burnley.

Starmen:
Semenyo - the only real quality in the game.

Flops:
Brooks - fluffed a number of decent chances.
Tavernier - works hard but lacks that little bit at the top end.
Flemming - lucky not to get sent off, he put himself about a lot and was on a final warning when taken off.


Manchester City 3-0 West Ham United

A very one sided game, with the scoreline underselling just how much of a gap there was between the two teams. Though the Hammers were not helped by their reluctance to try and attack even though they were losing. It was like they were sent out to keep the score down, rather than with any hope of getting a result.

Starmen:
Haaland - two goals and an assist, his numbers are incredible right now. He has raised his game to another level.
Cherki - was able to go out and just have fun, as West Ham let him have the ball time and time again.

Flops:
Bowen - barely got a sniff of the ball.
West Ham backline - made a mess of the game.


Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Brentford

A half-empty stadium tells its own story about where Wolves are right now. The change in executive chairman just feels like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic after it hit the iceberg. The team look an absolute mess, with no urgency or intensity and were well beaten by a very poor Brentford side. The Bees did not need to play well to stroll to victory.

Starmen:
Lewis-Potter - got the two goals.
Janelt - ran midfield.
Kelleher - saved a penalty.

Flops:
Larsen - looks like a player who has no desire to be there. Which is exactly what he is. Still sulking over a potential move to Newcastle being blocked in the summer. Even his penalty was pathetic.
Hee-Chan - runs around a lot but does little.


Brighton & Hove Albion 0-0 Sunderland

Another good result for Sunderland, made all the better by them being short of players due to them losing more players than anyone else in the Premier League to AFCON. Brighton are struggling to get a win right now, they look really lacking in quality this season in terms of attacking players. Added to that, they miss the drive of Baleba, who has been a shadow of himself this season.

Starmen:
Ballard - defended strongly.
Alderete - is having an excellent season so far.

Flops:
Rutter - failed to provide any kind of focal point up top.
Brobbey - has power and pace, but has yet to really use them.


Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Liverpool

A game which showed the weakness of both teams. Spurs lack any kind of discipline, particularly their idiot captain Romero, and their entire tactical approach is based on shithousery. It has left the crowd utterly unenthused by what they are watching and only a moment away from turning on their own team. Liverpool are being hamstrung by a tactical plan that mostly involves slowly passing the ball around the defence and having to rely heavily on opposition mistakes to get their goals. They are also not being helped by being incapable of defending this season. The fact that they were much the better side is a lot to do with just how poor Tottenham are under Frank. Even down to 9 men, as they were by the end, Spurs looked like they could score every time they attacked, but they just did not do enough of that as their tactics mostly involved late challenges and screaming at the referee. If Frank would just let them play, they would easily finish in the top half, but with him in charge, and the crowd ready to turn, they could well be in a relegation battle this season.

Starmen:
Ekitike - scored one of the goals and was one of the few bright lights in the match.
Wirtz - really starting to shine now.

Flops:
Romero - what an absolute moron. Seemed to spend the entire game trying to get himself sent off by abusing the referee continuously as well as the constant wild moments. Picked up a second yellow, but could have easily been sent off long before for the way he constantly tried to get at the ref. It was his error that set up one of the Liverpool goals.
van der Ven - a poor defender who can often just get away with his lack of reading of the game by virtue of being incredibly quick.
Bergvall - anonymous.
Simons - rightly sent off for a stupid challenge. He was nowhere near the ball and made a deliberate movement to rake his studs down van Dijk's ankle. No idea what he was thinking, there was nothing to be gained from it.
Muani - missed a really good chance with his head.
Richarlison - scored but then could easily have got himself sent off immediately by grabbing Ekitike by the neck and slamming his head into the ground. Utterly bizarre, but not out of character for him.
Bentancur - could well have also been sent off for a ridiculous challenge.
Konate - once again played poorly, picking up a needless yellow after stupidly getting caught up ball watching. Also had to be rescued by Alisson after giving the ball away.
Mac Allister - Liverpool did not need to have anyone sent off to only play with ten men as they had Mac Allister on the pitch. I nearly typed playing for them, but that would be a major exaggeration of what he did. At times he is a liability, the rest of the time you forget he is on the pitch. The worst player of the match.


Leeds United 4-1 Crystal Palace

A very convincing and well-deserved win for Leeds, who were the better team and were also denied a clear penalty before they opened the scoring. They look really strong at home, with the Elland Road crowd helping to drive the players forward. Palace look on the verge of a major slump, their solid defending of the early part of the season is beginning to dissolve and their attacking play is disjointed. The whole team looks tired as well. Add to that having a manager who has made it clear he will leave in the summer and it is clear things are not all roses in the South London garden.

Starmen:
Stach - another strong performance and goal.
Delap, er I mean Ampadu - his long throws caused mayhem all game. He also got a goal too.
Rodon - got forward well from centre-back, reminiscent of Wilder's Sheffield United with their overlapping centre-backs.
Calvert-Lewin - currently in a rich vein of goalscoring form, two more goals in this game.

Flops:
Pino - offered little.
Richards - his error cost Palace a goal.
Henderson - not at his best at all.


Everton 0-1 Arsenal

This was a really frustrating game to watch. Everton look lacking in any kind of threat without Ndiaye, but Arsenal are still so cautious, when they looked to have more than enough to win this game comfortably. The Toffees did defend well, but Arsenal did not commit to the attack fully, which allowed Everton to always have spare bodies to help. There is just so much more that the Gunners are capable of, but they are being held back. They were by far the better side and should really have scored more. Despite his goal from the penalty spot, Gyokeres has not yet slotted in properly to the team but there are some promising signs at times. Everton lack squad depth, they had nothing to bring off the bench to change the game.

Starmen:
Mykolenko - defended well.
Keane - also had a good game.
Tarkowski - the game suited his style of play, with Everton sitting deep and throwing bodies in the way.
Saka - some lovely moments from him.
Rice - the driving force of this Gooners' side.
Hincapie - slotting in well so far.

Flops:
Pickford - looked edgy all game. He seems to save his worst performances for the big games.
O'Brien - not a full-back and it showed.
Grealish - his form has fallen off a cliff and returned to his City level.
McNeil - just not good enough for the Premier League.
Barry - he looks completely and utterly out of his depth.



Sunday 21st December

Aston Villa 2-1 Manchester United

Two moments of brilliance from Rogers got Villa a result in a game that they were otherwise struggling to make any headway in. It was reminiscent of Steven Gerrard at his peak with Liverpool, when he would pop up to score vital goals to win a match that would otherwise have been a defeat. Villa look a little short of what is needed to win the league, but while they have Rogers in this form, they have a chance. The longer they continue to grind out results, the more chance they have of being in the title mix up at the end of the season. Man Utd really missed Mbeumo's ability to run in behind, this game showed they have a real lack of depth to their squad. They are inconsistent, mainly due to a lack of legs in midfield. They desperately need to address that as soon as possible.

Starmen:
Martinez - made some saves to keep United out.
Rogers - his brilliance was the difference between the two sides. Two goals for the England midfielder.
Cunha - always a threat, he scored Man Utd's goal.
Heaven - the youngster did very well in the centre of defence.

Flops:
Cash - United consistently attacked down his side and he struggled badly, his mistake leading to their goal.



Monday 22nd December

Fulham 1-0 Nottingham Forest

A poor game, with two sides who did not play well, just that Forest played worse than Fulham. Surprisingly, Forest looked low in confidence, despite coming into the game in fairly good form, with 4 wins in their last 6 games. I think it was more about tiredness though, as the European campaign starts to take a toll. Fulham were not much better, also looking a bit leggy, but they had a livewire in Kevin, who caused Forest no end of issues, but just let himself down with his end product. It was not a good watch for the neutral, taking a penalty to separate the two sides and there being little in the way of chances throughout.

Starmen:
Kevin - ran Forest ragged at times. However he did lack any kind of end product and is only really a starman in the context of this match, where pretty much every player had an entirely forgettable game.
Jimenez - made it 10 out of 10 penalties scored in a row.

Flops:
Traore - came on and did his usual - get the ball and run very fast in a straight line until he got near the goal line, at which point he booted it into the stands.
Gibbs-White - his season has been rammed full of abysmal performances and this was just another to add to the list.
Luiz - has so far been very impressive in a Forest shirt, but was awful against Fulham.

Written by Tris Burke December 24 2025 06:18:03