Football is a game where fortunes of players as well as sides could turn upside down in only a few weeks. One moment, you could be termed as a world beater and just a few moments later, you could be deemed excess to the requirement by the club faithful.
With the Premier League season entering its business end, teams and managers are keen to field their best units in order to ensure a strong end to the season. However, as has been the case over the years, some players flourish while some flounder in their efforts to add to their side, often infuriating the fans of their respective sides.
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In this segment, we take a look at 5 players who have been in an underwhelming form thus far in the season.
#1 Emre Can (Liverpool)
The big burly German was expected to be the answer to Liverpool’s midfield woes. And with fellow German Jurgen Klopp at the helm of affairs at Anfield, it was largely believed that the former Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen player could finally prove himself as one of the best midfielders in the league.
However, 22 matches into the current season and many pundits and Liverpool fans would love to believe that Can is a rather ordinary player who will never prove to be good enough for the side. While 3 goals are an improvement over his last season’s tally, there are several aspects of his game that has exposed his shortcomings as a footballer and his decision making could be singled out as an aspect that has left a lot to be desired.
He is patchy with his passing, makes very few adventurous passes and has shown a tendency to slow down Liverpool’s fluid movement on and off the ball and that has not gone unnoticed with the pundits either. Jamie Carragher has been vocal of his opinion with regards to his former club and recently claimed that the player proved to be no match for top class oppositions.
In light of his underwhelming performances, it's time Klopp goes back to the drawing board and figure out if Can is actually the central midfielder this side needs.
#2 Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City)
After being crowned the champions last season, Leicester City have been brought back to the ground this season as they have found the going tough. The Foxes, who currently sit in the 15th spot (and more importantly just 5 points away from safety) have seen their attack underperform. And one man, in particular, has disappointed, after setting the league on fire last season, Algerian winger Riyad Mahrez.
Mahrez has had to rely on the penalty spot to get his 3 goals so far and has also done very little in terms of creating chances for his teammates as he has bagged just 2 assists thus far in the season. Having been the main man for Claudio Ranieri in the last season, these numbers are an indication of how poor a season the playmaker has been having.
Remarkably, even his numbers have dropped a few notches when compared to the last season. He is creating fewer chances per 90 minutes, has scored a lot less than he did at the current stage of the last season and has completed fewer take-ons per 90 minutes, making him less effective as the go-to man for Leicester City.
Away with the Algerian national team at the African Cup of Nations at the moment, Mahrez needs to up his game a few notches when he returns to the King Power Stadium to ensure his side are not involved in an extended relegation battle.
#3 Odion Ighalo (Watford)
Just a few months ago, it was believed that Watford had received a whopping $45 million offer from an unnamed Chinese club for the services of their star striker Odion Ighalo. The club let the offer pass expecting that this was just the beginning of better things to come from the Nigerian striker. With the ongoing season of the Premier League half way down, the club and its fans would love to go back to that moment in the past and take the money and reinvest it in other players and rightly so.
Ighalo, who scored an incredible 17 goals in 42 appearances after hitting the 20 goal benchmark in the season before has been in abysmal form this time around. He has found the back of the net just twice in 18 appearances across all competitions and with his strike partner Troy Deeney finding the going tough as well. And with their front two firing blanks, Watford have seen their credentials as a side that could break into the top half of the league go down the drain.
What has left the fans bewildered is that the partnership between Ighalo and Deeney that proved to be decisive in numerous games last season has been non-existent thus far. While the Watford captain continues to be his side’s leading creator in chief, Ighalo has created a mere 11 chances in 18 appearances and that has hurt his side’s chances going forward.
#4 Anthony Martial (Manchester United)
The Frenchman burst onto the scene with a wonderful goal against Manchester United’s arch-rivals Liverpool. Thereafter, he continued his great start with great performances that included goals at regular frequency and also proved to be a handful for defenders with his creative instincts kicking in frequently.
Cut to the present and Martial’s future at the club looks unsorted with various reports suggesting that the player could be on his way out of the club to ensure his growth as a footballer is not hampered. Perhaps, it could be pointed out that Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s arrival at the club and the appointment of Jose Mourinho might have cost him his place in the side.
However, his manager has claimed that he has not been too impressed with the player’s performances whenever he has been afforded a chance. Even former United player and current pundit Gary Neville has taken a swipe at the player by claiming that the player is either sensational or disinterested and he needs to improve going forward.
With just two goals and three assists to show for in the season thus far, their reservations about the player are not unwarranted and the Frenchman who took the league by storm last season needs to up the ante to ensure he does not face further troubled times at the Old Trafford.
#5 Fernandinho
The Brazilian, who had become an epitome of stability for Manchester City has become anything but that in the current season. The Fernandinho that the footballing world knew and so lovingly admired seems a thing of distant past at the moment and he is being deemed a liability for the club in the current season.
With his participation in the brawl against Chelsea and his sending off against Burnley being his biggest contribution to the side thus far, the player has become the subject of numerous memes over the last few months. The midfielder has been dismissed twice in the current season and is doing very little to help the cause of his side.
The Brazilian has been less successful in winning tackles and or winning aerial duels. He has also been guilty of affording the opposition time and space on the ball. His poor performances are one of the major factors that have resulted in Manchester City shipping the highest number of goals amongst the top eight sides in the Premier League at the moment.
And for the side to improve on their current showing as well as improve their position on the League table, Fernandinho, in particular, needs to be better at his game.
It’s time for the Brazilian to put behind an indifferent season thus far or risk facing the wrath of his manager Pep Guardiola come the end of the season.
