Luck-o-Meter 26-27 - Gameweek 2

I'll try to continue with this series of weekly reviews for a while (although they are rather irksomely time-consuming), using the simpler format I developed in the second half of last season: 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: 

Red cards not awarded:  

Penalties awarded: The penalty against Liverpool seemed slightly harsh: Alisson made very little contact with Neco Williams's foot - and his chip had already drifted wide of the goal, was very nearly out of play before he was brought down: one of those decisions that is technically 'correct', but is always going to feel otherwise to the side it goes against. We have sometimes seen these not given; and if Sam Barrott had not called it on the pitch, I doubt if VAR would have intervened to overrule that.

Penalties not awarded:  James Hill was perhaps slightly fortunate to be let off when Dewsbury-Hall crashed to the ground after colliding with him. The Everton player probably was knowingly initiating the contact, but Hill had stepped across the line of his run - albeit inadvertently - at the last-minute, making that a very 50/50 call.

Malick Thiaw definitely made contact with Omar Marmoush's ankle as they both stretched for a high ball in the penalty area early in the second-half. It was a very slight contact, it was perhaps 'an accidental collision' as both players tried to play the ball at the same moment - and Marmoush did roll around pretending to be injured for a full minute in a blatant attempt to sway the decision. So, VAR's dismissal of the incident didn't feel 'unjust'; but it did raise further questions about exactly how this sort of contact is being adjudicated - in the past, this kind of thing has almost always been deemed to be a penalty.

Tight/dubious offsides: Several Forest players looked offside when Sels first played the ball forward to set up Ndoye's opening goal, but had apparently all got back onside before anyone played the ball again (that must have been very tight...!); but there was another offside call later in the move which was apparently determined by a Liverpool defender having raised his lower leg to take a step backward at an inopportune moment. Similarly, I was happy to see Elanga's excellent opening goal allowed to stand; but the SAOT rendering of the offside call appeared to show a Spurs player playing Newcastle onside by the length of his shirt-sleeve - there is just no way that the system is accurate enough to reliably make judgements like these on margins that slim!! Liverpool may feel that nothing was going their way, as an excellent finish by Wirtz was ruled out - after a long VAR review - for Frimpong having been half a yard slow in getting back onside before providing the assist; again a very close call, and 'rough justice' - but this time clearly correct.

Goals wrongly allowed/disallowed: 

Surprise omissions/early substitutions/injuries: Mateta and Sarr failed to appear for Palace on Friday night, although Pierre Sage claimed that this was because of injury issues rather than the transfer interest around them.

It was a bit of a surprise that Iraola chose to start Macallister rather than Gravenberch in central midfield; and perhaps also that new arrival Victor Munoz was given his first start, in preference to the recently lively youngster Rio Ngumoha (one of those changes worked out much better than the other!). The least expected Liverpool selection, however, was probably Gakpo retaining his start (though being switched to the right-wing, to accommodate Munoz on the left), despite the speculation about his imminent departure from the club (he was largely invisible, although he did provide the assist for Isak's equaliser).

There was still no start for Senesi at Spurs, or, even more surprisingly, for Mateus Fernandes (though he did get on as a substitute); and the newly arrived Savinho has picked up a muscle injury already, in his short outing in the League Cup against Charlton on Wednesday night (although there was a debut for Marmoush). Maddison was missing again, after hurting his shoulder against Brentford last week; but at least Kudus and Solanke are finally fit again.

Near misses:  Hull's Canadian winger was released on a surging forward run late in the game by Ollie McBurnie, but his eventual low shot, through a defender's legs, from just outside the area had Rushworth well beaten but went inches wide of the post. (He was able to make amends for the miss with a clinical finish to a lone breakaway in behind a few minutes later.)

Big misses/big saves: Phil Foden was set up with an open goal in the first-half against Palace on Friday, but somehow sliced his effort high over the bar. Shortly afterwards, Cherki's cross from the right set him up for a headed chance only a few yards out, but he didn't get a proper contact on it (he did eventually provide an assists for 2 of the 4 goals [although I'm not sure he really deserves one for being the last person to touch the ball before Cherki scores a ridiculous solo goal!!], but overall it may have been a shaky enough performance to dissuade FPL managers from selecting him at the moment). Shortly afterwards, Tyrick Mitchell headed Wharton's perfect cross wide of the post - when he had the entire goal to aim at (and at that point, Palace were still only 0-1 down).

Dan Ndoye ghosted in behind Frimpong early in the game to get a free header at the far post from a lovely cross by McAtee - but directed the effort right across the face of the goal and beyond the other post: a huge let-off for Liverpool, who were completely dominated in the first-half, and could easily have gone in at the interval 2 or 3 behind. Alisson kept Liverpool in the game on the stroke of half-time, when he pulled off a superb flying save to tip Igor Jesus's point-blank drive on to the underside of his crossbar.

Djordje Petrovic made possibly the 'Save of the Season', a flying reaction stop with his fingers somehow forcing Branthwaite's powerful glancing header from outside the near-post across the face of goal to safety, when it already seemed to be past him. Thierno Barry (suddenly the most coveted cheap forward in FPL - coveted, at least, by The Sheep - after scoring a hattrick in the Cup midweek... against Preston), squandered three excellent chances, blasting one close-range effort straight at Petrovic, then soon after lashing another into the side netting on the near-side, when he had lots to aim at on the other side of the goal, and again failing to get past Petrovic in a one-on-one in the second-half. (I wouldn't bet against him being replaced by Beto again soon, maybe even next week.) Late on, Vitaliy Mykolenko made two superb blocks in quick succession to keep Everton in the game.

Hull full-back Nobel Mendy unleashed a fierce drive from more than 30 yards out, but Rushworth was just able to claw it away from his post.

Spurs created a few moments of danger early on, with Hornicek making a good save from Tel, and Porro having an effort deflected over the bar by a block from Hall.

Outstanding goals: Rayan Cherki probably tied up 'Goal of the Month' - and maybe even 'Goal of the Season'!! - on Friday night when he received the ball from Foden on the edge of the box and proceeded to dribble around the entire Palace defence.

Anthony Elanga pulled off a very sharp turn to get his shot off for the opening goal at Spurs (although the offside call on the move was extremely tight!). Victor Munoz's late second equaliser for Liverpool was very similar - but perhaps even more emphatic a finish (although a slight deflection off Murillo's toe may have taken it away from Sels).

Outstanding performances: Cherki - outrageous!!! Everybody's going to be buying him this week!!!  Alex Scott was also superb for Bournemouth; and it's great news for them that he's saying he wants to stay at the club.

Big mistakes: 

Bad luck/good luck: Elliot Anderson had a flick at Pino going past him, but did not appear to make any contact. So, it was unjust that he received a yellow card for the non-existent foul, and even harsher that Pino then managed to convert the resulting free-kick from nearly 30 yards out. That was a terrific strike, but it was a big slice of good fortune that it crashed back off the underside of the crossbar and richocheted into the net off the back of the diving Donnarumma's shoulder!

FPL weirdness: It is unfortunate that there's no 'qualtitative' element to the BPS tallying; and you sometimes doubt if even its 'quantitative' aspect is entirely reliable. It seems more than a little unjust that Djordje Petrovic's outstanding performance in the Bournemouth goal - in a low-scoring game - somehow only elevated him to 6th place in the BPS ranking for that match. It is doubly galling for his owners that he was only credited with 5 saves (I thought it had been more!), one shy of earning him a second 'saves' point.

Unexpected results:  Liverpool are all over the place at the moment; but even so, Nottingham Forest, who'd had a pretty flakey opening game themselves last week, would not have been expected to cause them too many difficulties at Anfield.

With only half the gameweek gone, and most of the top teams still to play, the FPL 'Team of the Week' is likely to change a lot, but doesn't have many big surprises in it so far this time. And the global average, while not very high for the half-way point at 29 points, is at least a lot more encouraging than last week's dismally low total. Apart from 3 mildly contentious (but probably 'correct') penalty decisions and a few very close (but probably 'correct') offsides, the gameweek has also been remarkably free of error or controversy in the refereeing so far, making it perhaps only a token 1 out of 10 on the 'Luck-o-Meter'!! But things can change.....