No Wirtz while one club makes up half of worst XI of Premier League weekend
The worst XI of the Premier League weekend features half a dozen players from one club but, somehow, no Florian Wirtz…
The Liverpool star has been getting pelters following the continuation of his poor form in the 3-0 defeat to Manchester City. But Wirtz padded his stats enough to escape inclusion here.
Instead, we have an XI with six from one club, supplemented by a Forest forward, Spurs sub, Leeds attacker and Villa defender.
Here is the worst XI, according to WhoScored ratings, from the weekend of matchday six.
GK: Djordie Petrovic (Bournemouth) – 5.23
A second appearance this season in the worst XI for the Bournemouth goalkeeper, despite being graded highly elsewhere. Conceding five from an xG of 1.10 while being beaten twice from outside the box by Jordan Hendiesta will do that.
RB: Adam Smith (Bournemouth) – 5.33
No tackles, no clearances, no crosses, no accurate long balls and no wins from the three duels he competed in at Chelsea. But he wasn’t the worst Bournemouth defender…
CB: Antonio Silva (Bournemouth) – 5.02
A wretched afternoon for Silva, who could have done more to prevent all the Chelsea goals not scored by Jordan Henderson. He may have deflected in Chelsea’s second; gifted them their third; and lost Joao Pedro for the fourth.
CB: Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa) – 5.48
The Villa defender gave away possession while trying to dribble out from the back before Brentford opened the scoring early on, though Villa had enough time to recover prior to Yehor Yarmoliuk’s finish. Mings’ mistake earns Virgil van Dijk and Pascal Struijk (both 5.9) a reprieve.
LB: Ryan Giles (Hull City) – 5.97
Very often there’s one player in the worst XI perhaps unfortunate to be included, but Giles was the lowest-scoring left-back or left wing-back after just over an hour against Everton in which he won no tackles or duels (he competed in only one of either) and found only a Toffees defender with all of his six attempted crosses.
CM: Rodrigo Bentancur (Tottenham Hotspur) – 4.96
Subbed on in the 66th minute; sent off in the 78th. Bentancur managed three touches while failing to find a team-mate before clashing with Luke Shaw. Which earned him a kiss off Roberto De Zerbi, so it’s not all bad.
CM: Tyler Adams (Bournemouth) – 5.45
The Cherries defensive midfielder didn’t attempt a tackle let alone win one and, even more damningly, lost all eight duels he entered.
RW: David Brooks (Bournemouth) – 5.84
Brooks was hooked at the break having lost possession with a third of his 15 touches with only two forward passes from or into the Chelsea half.
CM: Noah Okafor (Leeds United) – 5.77
If you came here looking for Florian Wirtz… 6.37. Instead, Okafor gets the nod despite having a hand in Leeds’ opener at Arsenal, but he did lose possession a dozen times while playing off Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s left shoulder.
LW: Marcus Tavernier (Bournemouth) – 5.58
The Bournemouth winger had an off day amid a positive start to the season, completing only one of eight attempted crosses while losing all but one of a dozen duels.
CF: Liam Delap (Nottingham Forest) – 5.87
Forest endured the sort of inexplicable and infuriating afternoon that quite literally every single fan on earth believes only ever befalls their own club, including an astonishing miss from Delap as one of two big chances squandered.
16 Conclusions: Liverpool 0-3 Man City | Man Utd 1-1 Spurs
