Ten players lacking Premier League presence…

Ian Watson
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“You don’t have to be 6 foot 5” said Harry Winks and the man is absolutely right. It’s just that you do have to put your head above the parapet sometimes or, as Troy Deeney might say, show some “cojones”. Harsh as it may be, this lot could do better when it comes to stepping up to the plate.

 

10) Takumi Minamino
This very site has already picked up on Minamino’s inability to shine against the kids with teen spirit, but more worrying is that the midfielder just doesn’t appear in the right places. As Matt Stead said: ‘There is something about his style that does not suit Liverpool. He can be a little too cute when the approach needs to be more straightforward.’ Minamino is a quiet soul and that’s not a negative. Matip and Fabinho hardly say boo to a goose either but they are central to the plan. The Japanese will have to up his game on the pitch when given rare chances or face drifting on the periphery with the perennially injured Naby Keita.

 

9) Fraser Forster
Forster made a return in goal for the Saints in their 1-0 win over Liverpool last week only because Alex McCarthy had tested positive for Covid. The 6 foot 7 inch giant looked okay in a wobbly kind of way, but was hardly tested. One wonders why the man Lionel Messi called “not human” has faded from view. Celtic have been calling again and perhaps there’s the clue. “When you’re at Celtic there’s a real unique pressure on you,” Forster once said. “It’s a good pressure. Whether it’s a league game, cup or Europe you’re expected to win and dropping points isn’t really acceptable.” Southampton don’t have that problem. Yet.

 

8) Joelinton
Joelinton’s statistics make 18-rated viewing for a club-record £40m signing. He seems to be a striker who generally doesn’t like getting in the box, making a team that generally don’t commit too much in the pursuit of goals ever more sterile. After a 4-0 thrashing at the Emirates in February, Bruce said that those at the club “would all like him to have 12 or 15 goals” by now. Almost 12 months on, he’s now scored three. In the summer, he suffered the indignity of losing the number 9 shirt to Callum Wilson. Alan Shearer has had enough too: “It’s been really frustrating watching him. I actually feel sorry for him because when the ball goes to him, it’s bouncing off him and he’s offering nothing going the other way.”

 

7) Harry Winks
After scoring a flukey 56-yard goal against Ludogorets in the Europa League, Winks admitted he didn’t mean it. Jose Mourinho joked: ‘”He is too honest!. I am not happy with him! With a goal like that you have to say you meant it, but a good kid. He is honest.” There’s the thing. Jose doesn’t want honest endeavour. He wants biteback in the midfield. Harry is full of the simple things, 90 per cent safe and secure passes with lightweight armour. It is too insecure to really add the molten steel required. Mourinho doesn’t expect goals from Winks – he has said as much – but his comparison with his favourite dog of war is telling: “Pierre-Emile Hojberg is having an amazing season and didn’t score one single goal for us.”

 

6) Kelechi Iheanacho
With Leicester bossing the game, Iheanacho stepped up to the plate from the penalty spot against Crystal Palace last month and promptly spilt all the gravy down his shorts. “He just seemed a bit hesitant,” said Brendan Rodgers with suppressed irritation. “In practice the day before he scored five out of five, so he was confident.” Well on the driving range I hit it miles, Brendan.

Remember that miss against former club Manchester City in May 2019 which could have denied them the title? “He should score,” Rodgers said. “I said that to him afterwards. In the big games there are not many moments. We didn’t have many but the one that came you have to score that. He knows.” Iheanacho continues to be a bit-part rather than a big-game player.

 

5) Mat Ryan
Well that escalated quickly. The Australian has been a comfy regular in the Seagulls goal for what seems like an eternity. Suddenly, he’s a goner. He’s been there, done it, got the t-shirt but remains somewhat limited, not through sizeist issues but via a subtle downturn in form. Ryan’s save percentage this season is just below 45 per cent, 10 points worse off than Kepa. Stats can be bastards that lie a bit. It’s crept up on him. Very nice man Graham Potter has even said Ryan is free to go. “Sometimes you get a sense that for the team, a different attribute can help and I think Rob (Sanchez) has those attributes.”

 

4) Timo Werner

“I now play a completely different position than at RB Leipzig. I came through the middle, out of the attacking midfield. This is of course something completely different now, I have to find myself again here.”

Yes, Timo and we have to find you. Werner is not a player that hides but he does seem rather lost. Frank Lampard insists “he’s not worried” while looking very worried on the touchline. It seemed apt that during the 3-1 loss to a rejuvenated Manchester City, the German was captured on candid camera kicking the corner flag and ball in total disunion. The 24-year-old finally broke a 12-game run without a goal against Morecambe. However, it wouldn’t be wise (geddit?) to extrapolate that he is now going to burst forth against Fulham.

 

3) Sebastien Haller
He was the “bulldozer” at Eintracht Frankfurt but after Michail Antonio went down with injury in October, the Ivorian seemed unable to drum up the ground skills that man mountains need. He isn’t exactly Speedy Gonzalez either. When David Moyes told Haller to smile more, do more and score more, maybe it was in the wrong order. After Ajax came in with a £22million offer, West Ham took the money and the Big Friendly Giant will probably be right at home against more porous Dutch defences.

 

2) Aaron Ramsdale
Well, they finally won with a clean sheet. Dean Henderson secured 13 blanks in 2019/20 at Bramall Lane, and is the name that stalks and haunts poor Ramsdale. It’s unfair to put the former Cherries keeper in direct contrast to Henderson. Sheffield United are suffering second season syndrome in all corners of the pitch compared to last year. However, Ramsdale played 33 Premier League games in the whole of 2020 and did not keep a clean sheet in which he faced at least one shot on target. He’s a keeper with a lot of potential but that promise alone won’t keep the Blades up.

 

1) Victor Lindelof
After a 2-0 defeat against West Ham in September 2019, Lindelof’s former boss Jose Mourinho stuck the boot in with sugar-coated venom. “Lindelof is very, very good in some aspects of the game,” he said. “But he can be bullied in the one-one-one in the box, he’s not especially good in the air and Maguire has that kind of presence and physicality that is very, very important.” While Eric Bailly self-reverentially posted his heroic block in the last minute against Villa on Twitter, Lindelof’s woolly attempt at a clearance that led to City’s opener in the Carabao semi did not juxtapose well.

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