Luck-o-Meter 25-26 - Gameweek 30

 

 

In the middle of the European 'Round of 16' ties, we've inevitably seen a few surprising and inconvenient rotations this weekend; and, yet again, some up-and-down performances from the big teams.

These weekly 'summaries' have been getting a bit too involved - and excessively time-consuming for me! - so I've been aiming to keep them briefer recently. I made just about zero progress on that resolution for the first few weeks, but.... now I've hit upon a new 'format', which might help: a tabulation of the major types of 'lucky' incidents. 

I will try to resist any extended commentary (although I probably will still indulge in a few diatribes about any particularly egregious penalty or handball incidents).

Red cards awarded: Gabriel Gudmundsson's sending-off for a second yellow seemed a bit harsh, as the incident looked like an accidental coming-together rather than a rash challenge. And the referee, Thomas Bramall, who'd evidently forgotten he'd carded the player earlier, would surely have been likely to take a more lenient view if he'd realised it was a sending-off decision. (Leeds will also complain about a lack of consistency in the refereein, in that Brennan Johnson also committed a mild but bookable offence shortly afterwards, and was spared a second yellow card.)

Red cards not awarded: Yankuba Minteh was very fortunate not to get a second yellow card against Sunderland (and Hurseler immediately subbed him off, to avoid the near-certainty of his dismissal for any further infraction). His second foul was a fairly mild contact, and might have been seen as an 'accidental' coming-together - but it was the sort of contact we usually see cards given for. Hannibal was even luckier to get only a yellow card for his wild, overreaching lunge which cuaght Truffert above the ankle; the VAR team were again, unfathomably, sitting on their hands (it was a bad enough foul that the referee should at least have taken a second look at it).

Penalties awarded: 

Penalties not awarded: Michael Keane plainly clipped Havertz's heels not once but twice, bringing him down in the penalty area in the first-half at The Emirates; VAR's silence on the incident is utterly baffling. 

Cole Palmer was clipped on the edge of the foot by Woltemade's rash challenge: the contact was very slight, but it was clearly there - and it was enough for a penalty to be awarded. [Along with two good efforts on goal, one saved, one just wide, Palmer, despite looking still at only about 85% of his full capacity, was not far off a 20-point game, but came away with only 2 points. So it goes....]

Richarlison should have had a penalty at Anfield at the start of the second-half when Van Dijk was clearly holding him back; the referee didn't have a clear view of the offence, VAR did - but VAR didn't want to 'overrule' their on-pitch colleague. This is getting ridiculous.

Brentford surely should have had a penalty on Monday, when Andre wrestled Kevin Schade to the floor at a corner. It seems that adjudicating all this goalmouth grappling is becoming such an insuperable challenge for the officials that they're just throwing up their hands in despair and refusing to give any decision on these incidents now. Something's got to change, and soon.

Tight/dubious offsides: The offside against Brennan Johnson was very, very tight; the one against Dan Ndoye was just plain wrong.

Goals wrongly allowed/disallowed: Sunderland are unhappy about Brighton's goal, as Diarra had been shoved to the ground on the preceding corner-kick; but that contact might not have been violent enough for a foul, and Diarra appeared to be rolling around on the ground to try to perusade the referee to reconsider his decision on that, rather than because he was actually hurt; he certainly didn't have a head injury, so there was no reason to halt the play.

There was a bit of a question-mark over Ross Barkley's goal for Villa, as Onana, in an offside position, bad been standing directly on the line of the shot (and it might actually have touched him); he probably wasn't impeding Lammens' view of the ball, but the fact that it might have touched him was surely 'distraction' enough (again, perhaps the rule is not framed that way; but it should be!).

Dan Ndoye appeared to have scored a deserved winner for Forest against Fulham. To the naked eye, he had looked comfortably onside; but SAOT reckoned his heel had been 'off' by a matter of millimetres - a severely unconvincing contention; and the technology should not be attempting to adjudicate such unreasonably tiny margins anyway.

Surprise omissions/early substitutions/injuries:  Viktor Gyokeres was rested in favour of Kai Havertz (although anyone who'd been rash enough to include the Swedish striker were rewarded with a gaol from him when he came on from the bench). Jurrien Timber picked up an injury, and was subbed off just before half-time. Tarkowski and Branthwaite failed to appear for Everton (and there's no excuse of European football there, so presumably there are undisclosed injury issues of some sort?).

Alex Jimenez, who's been almost an ever-present for Bournemouth this season, was dropped in favour of Adam Smith - although he did get decent minutes off the bench.

Robert Sanchez got a somewhat surprising recall in the Chelsea goal, though apparently this was down to Jorgensen having picked up a slight groin-strain rather than Rosenior having had a change of heart about him.

Dean Henderson was missing in goal for Crystal Palace, because of an illness. Dominic Calvert-Lewin, however, was a surprise starter, despite missing most training over this past week with a niggly knee problem.

Benjamin Sesko, despite excellent recent form, was moved back to the United bench, with Mbeumo moving into the centre-forward role and Diallo returning on the right wing.

Perhaps with an eye on the challenging return leg against Galatasaray in the Champions League on Wednesday, Arne Slot rested both Mo Salah and Hugo Ekitike from the start against Spurs.

Raul Jimenez surprisingly did start for Fulham, despite having lost his father just a few days prior. Harry Wilson was also able to play despite having been suffering with an ankle problem all week, but Emile Smith Rowe unexpectedly gave way to young Josh King, after reporting an issue in training shortly before the game.

Near misses:  Everton nearly embarrassed title-chasing Arsenal when McNeil's long-range curler had Raya well-beaten, but slammed against the post - and Ndiaye got to the rebound first, but put it wide. Only moments before, a close-range drive from McNeil had been somewhat fortuitously blocked by Calafiori's hopefully flailing leg, as he lay sprawled on the ground. Reece James's 30-yard free-kick late in the game clipped the outside of the foot of the post, with Ramsdale struggling to get across to it.

Ola Aina, played in by a delightful through-ball from Murillo, smashed a half-volley against the bar from just outside the box. Taiwo Awoniyi, breaking clear one-on-one with Leno late on, but dragged his shot wide (though it looked as though he might have been 'offside' by a toecap...).

On Monday night, Igor Thiago looped a header past Sa on to the angle of crossbar and upright - very, very close to putting Brentford into an unassailable 3-goal lead. Adam Armstrong also hit the post for Wolves at the end of a quick breakaway early in the second-half. Then, near the end of the game, Arokodare smashed a header against the crossbar. In the dying moments, Brentford then had another chance to take the win, with substitute Reiss Nelson ghosting in behind for a free header, but taking his eye off the ball and having it come off his shoulder - and go just wide of the post.

Big misses/big saves: Erling Haaland had a pretty quiet game, but did square the ball to set up Semenyo for what should have been a decsive opportunity - but the usually impeccable forward side-footed the shot just wide of the post. It wasn't a terrible mis, but it's looking very much as if might be a decisive one in the title race. Palmer had a great early chance against Newcastle, but lashed the shot just wide. Robert Sanchez pulled off a very good flying save from Gordon's fierce long-range curler. A little later, Liam Delap blazed the best chance of the game way over the bar. Ellborg's reaction save with his foot to deny Hinshelwood's point-blank shot will probably be the 'save of the weekend'. Evanilson rounded the keeper early on, but his effort was blocked at the near-post by Bashir Humphreys. Jadon Anthony absolutely smashed one against the underside of the crossbar; the best chance of a fairly dour game against Bournemouth. A little later, Marcus Tavernier's crisp left-foot shot clipped the outside of the post.

Calvert-Lewin produced one of the best penalty misses we've seen this season. Most of them have been tame efforts, scuffed straight at the keeper; but Domnic hit his cleanly, with power, just.... a bit outside the post!

Spurs looked much improved against Liverpool (who didn't...), and Alisson was forced to make a good save from a long-range shot from their new teenage Brazilian left-back Souza. Vicario might have been a little at fault for letting Szoboszlai's free-kick go in despite apparently getting a good hand on it, but a little later he redeemed himself by fingertipping Gakpo's fierce low shot from the edge of the box on to the foot of his post.

Outstanding goals: 

Outstanding performances: 

Big mistakes: Jose Sa was allowed to pick up a back-pass without punishment from referee Stuart Attwell. That would have been a good scoring chance for Brentford - that might have put the game completely out of Wolves's reach. Not only that, but Wolves immediately broke down the other end to get a goal back; so, the home side might feel doubly aggrieved: that one decision almost certainly cost them the win.

Bad luck/good luck: Bernardo Silva's inch-perfect chip was... pretty obviously a mishit cross. Mineth's goal from a tight angle against Sunderland was also a fortuitous mishit, as he lost he feet and sliced his shot.

FPL weirdness: 

Unexpected results: Although denied an obvious penalty, Arsenal were fairly lucky to come away with a win, as Everton looked much the better side for most of the match. City then failing to get a win against battling West Ham has probably cost them the title. Newcastle managed to get a win away from home, against an oddly lacklustre Chelsea. In a battle of the under-performers at Anfield on Sunday, Spurs showed much greater improvement than Liverpool, and were very unlucky not to come away with a win. And... credit to Wolves for a spirited performance, but Brentford were so on top of them in the first-half, they really should have won by a landslide.

The FPL 'Team of the Week' includes almost no-one that anyone owns - apart William Saliba (and even he's a much less popular choice from the Arsenal defence than Gabriel or Timber; or, recently, Hincapie!), Bruno Fernandes and Dominik Szoboszlai. Once more, we've seen a bunch of low-scoring games, and no hauls from any of the week's more fancied prospects: Semenyo, Haaland, Mbeumo, Joao Pedro, Palmer, Ekitike, Wirtz all giving no joy. The global average is a miserable 43 points (driven mostly by clean sheets). With a few surprise last-minute omissions and some unexpected results, two or three missed red cards (and one rather harshly given), a couple of goals denied for ridiculously tight offside calls, and three pretty clearcut penalties not given, and a missed award of an indirect free-kick on the edge of the six-yard box for Brentford on Monday night that might have decided the course of the game, this is lookiing like at least a 7 out of 10 on the 'Luck-o-Meter'.