Matchday 26 – Quick Round Up

Match Day 26 Round Up

Tuesday 10th February

Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Newcastle United

This match made it fully clear why Frank had to go and that, in fact, he had been there too long. If ever a manager has lost the dressing room, it was Frank at Spurs. There were many little moments of players niggling at each other and not following the coach’s directions, then niggling at each other more. Which made it the perfect match for Howe, who was also struggling. The worry for me would be, from a Newcastle perspective, that they struggled to a 2-1 win over a team that was fully intent on imploding in on itself. They were by far the better team, but they were not good enough to get the goals their performance deserved.

Starmen:
Gordon – I am not his biggest fan, he falls over in the slightest breeze while happy to lunge in recklessly on others, his play is average overall, with very little skill and he is wholly reliant on pace. He did have a good game though.
Thiaw – took advantage of Spurs floundering players to score.
Ramsey – the other Newcastle goalscorer.

Flops:
Spence – his attitude was stinking. He does seem prone to attitude issues.
van de Ven – no idea why he is so highly rated, he is a very average defender with his pace, when that goes he will be awful.
Bissouma – looks a shadow of the player he was prior to the Spurs move.
Solanke – terrible hold up play.

Everton 1-2 Bournemouth

Once more Moyes’ limitations are laid bare, he struggles to manage a team that is expected to win at home as his style is all about sitting back and soaking up pressure, then countering quickly. Though it must be said, he is really being hampered by his options up top. Neither Barry nor Beto are in anyway clinical. Iraola has shown that he can turn a struggling ship around multiple times now at Bournemouth. It is little wonder he has yet to accept a new contract though, as all he can ever do with Bournemouth is rebuild and hold station in the Prem, before losing his best players in the summer. Now looks a good time for him to make a step up to a bigger club, where he can show if he can compete at a European level.

Starmen:
Garner – has stepped up a level this season.
Ndiaye – Everton will struggle to hold onto the talented winger this summer.
Jimenez – always a threat going forward.
Adli – scored the winner.
Hill – an excellent defensive performance.

Flops:
Barry – it is hard to understand how he can be this bad when it comes to scoring goals.
George – showed some nice flashes but…