Sports Card Blogs

Jordan Henderson makes his Team of the Week debut

A first for this feature – two strikers from the same team. Both had hit the list already this season, and both were easy choices. But otherwise it’s a remarkable five newbies, including all four midfielders in a 4-4-2 diamond:

Goalkeeper: Bernd Leno (Arsenal)
A very frustrating week at this position, and not only for Maurizio Sarri. Three keepers – Sergio Rico, Jonas Lössl, Ben Foster – all had good save collections but made serious errors. So the spot goes to Leno for two notable saves. The first came at the beginning of the match, where he came out big to block Nathan Redmond. The second came at the end, a brilliant leap high to his right to deny Matt Targett. He also stopped Targett in the first half with a low dive to his left, although perhaps he might have pushed the rebound wider. It’s enough this time around.

Right-back: Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea)
Quite an improvement on his last performance against City. Shut down Raheem Sterling by getting as close as possible as often as possible, forcing him to the other side of the pitch. Did reasonably well against Leroy Sané too. Struggled a bit with far-post crosses, and I’m sure was disappointed he didn’t contribute more in attack. But in a thin week, the clear choice. Elsewhere, James Milner seemed to spend all match steaming forward, unfortunately without end product.

Centre-half: Nathan Aké (Bournemouth)
With Steve Cook injured, Aké was partnered by youngster Chris Mepham, which as it turned out meant he was all by himself. He responded brilliantly, positioning himself perfectly time and again to clear, winning most of his aerial duels, coming out to mark Raúl Jiménez when necessary. He was bested once, when in the 92nd minute a fresh Adama Traoré forced him to foul in a dangerous position. But he responded with an excellent clearance on the free kick, and was then himself fouled while clearing the ensuing corner. A top performance by a quality defender.

Centre-half: Victor Lindelöf (Manchester United)
After an early giveaway, a very good match. Nothing dramatic, just fine defending against strong opponents. Plenty of clearances, a few key tackles, solid marking, and quite remarkable passing (94.4%!). Once or twice found himself slightly out of position, but recovered well. The sort of performance we expect from him now. Incidentally, the Manchester Evening News rated Chris Smalling higher than Lindelöf. Any United fans out there agree?

Read 16 Conclusions on that game, by the way.

Mamadou Sakho was a bit unlucky to miss out. He had a good all-around match against Leicester City, very secure on the ball, with several important blocks and clearances. In addition, a second-half run into the box overloaded the Foxes’ defence, freeing Wilfried Zaha for what proved to be the winning goal. Unfortunately had to leave 15 minutes early with an injury; had he played the full 90, might have given Lindelöf a run for the spot.

Left-back: Christian Fuchs (Leicester City)
Hello, old friend. A stalwart of the 5000-1 season, he’s now 32 and the job belongs to Ben Chilwell. This was only his second appearance of the season, but it was quite the show. He held off Andros Townsend without much difficulty and pushed forward on a regular basis, passing effectively and creating several chances. Take a look at Wilfried Zaha’s first goal and decide for yourself if he was at fault – I think he retreated well into a covering centre-half position, and although he was playing Zaha onside, so was Harry Maguire. But if you want to dock him, put Sead Kolasinač on instead.

As for Sead, he’s raised the bar pretty high the past couple of months, but seems to clear it without much effort. Against Southampton he had his typical barreling-forward match, and would have had two assists if Alexandre Lacazette had been clinical. His defence was characteristically inconsistent, but he still managed a key block in the second half. I’m starting to think of him as Gunnersaurus. Fuchs gets in on the newbie tiebreaker and a bit of sentimentality, but you could make an argument for the big Bosnian anyway.

Luke Shaw was ordinary for the first half hour, giving the ball away a couple of times and not always marking precisely enough. After that he was one of the best players on the pitch, keeping Mo Salah quiet and getting in the way of a number of attacks. Might have ranked higher had he not given away a free kick in a dangerous position toward the end. A bit unlucky not to make the list, but it was a very strong week at this spot.

Deep midfielder: Sean Longstaff (Newcastle United)
I thought hard about this one – after all, Huddersfield were down to ten men for most of the match, so he wasn’t under a lot of pressure. But there were no standouts otherwise, and he played so very well that he gets the spot anyway. Was the hub of the side, passed intelligently in all directions, even got forward and rattled the post. Gets more confident with each game, and has made himself undroppable in a relegation race, ahead of veterans like Mo Diamé and Jonjo Shelvey. A remarkable rise.

Right midfielder: Jordan Henderson (Liverpool)
I seem to have been the only person within range of a keyboard who had him as Liverpool’s man of the match, but after review of the video I stand by the selection. For much of the time he helped to hold Paul Pogba at bay, and was excellent on the press. Grabbed every loose ball in sight and was always looking to move the attack. Not quite creative enough to create good quality chances, but that’s not his fault. Did everything you could ask. His first time ever on this list!

I didn’t rate N’Golo Kanté as highly as some (like Matt Stead in 16 Conclusions). Although he got better as Chelsea got better, I felt he struggled more than usual in the early part of the match. He also missed the big chance to win it. Still a god, though.

Left midfielder: Robert Snodgrass (West Ham United)
Okay, hands up all those who thought he’d be a major player for the Hammers this year. Right – all four of you are lying. He’s old, he’s slow, and it’s been five seasons since he had more than eight starts for a Premier League side that wasn’t relegated. But he’s delivered several good performances this season, and this against Fulham was the best. Led the attack from start to finish, was excellent in passing combinations and superb in set-piece deliveries, and played some real live defence as well. Notched a corner-kick assist for Issa Diop and lost an open play assist when Sergio Rico robbed Marko Arnautovic. Manuel Pellegrini knows attacking football, and deserves great credit for playing him on a regular basis.

Attacking midfielder: Ayoze Pérez (Newcastle United)
With his movement, creativity and technique, he looks like he should be playing at a higher level – say at Wolves – but he only looks that way two or three times a season. This was one of them, a man of the match performance as Newcastle flayed Huddersfield’s ten men. He played alongside Miguel Almirón in a 3-4-2-1, and was involved in almost all the side’s good attacking moves. Crucial in the build-up to the first goal, and took the second beautifully himself. Should have done better on two more scoring chances in the final half hour, but since he rarely gets a call here, let’s overlook it. Is it possible he’s only 25?

Almirón also wowed the fans with pace and technique, and might have made the list himself had he not hit the post when put through early in the match. Just got here and he’s a fixture already. Tom Cairney continues his improved play in a hopeless cause, and produced the weekend’s most memorable moment when he dribbled Declan Rice and Mark Noble in a re-enactment of that famous fable, The Tortoise And A Couple Of Other Tortoises.

Going with the diamond meant that Alex Iwobi missed out, unjustly. He was Arsenal’s best player, driving by defenders, combining with Kolasinač, sending in dangerous crosses. His assist was a bit lucky, but neither goal would have been scored without him. Wasn’t quite as involved in the second half, but had there been another strong winger performance, would probably have made the list in a 4-4-2.

Closest in the winger stakes were 1) Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who got a fortunate assist and scored an excellent goal, then faded somewhat, and 2) Michail Antonio, who was a serious nuisance to Fulham’s left side in the first half, then scored a late goal after he’d been moved to the middle.

Striker: Gerard Deulofeu (Watford)
After an impressive stretch over the holidays, in recent weeks he’s been on the margins, and you wondered if it had been a fluke. Nope. The first goal was a perfectly placed finish from the top of the area; the second and third were killer pace plus killer precision. He was in good position for a fourth, but took a heavy touch – so at the last second he flicked it to Troy Deeney and picked up an assist. I think he looks like a young Eric Idle.

Striker: Troy Deeney (Watford)
Every year at some point I think ‘Watford need an upgrade on Troy Deeney.’ You’d think I’d learn. This was a fantastic all-around performance: the target work and hold-up play would have earned him honourable mention even without the brace. His hard graft to set up Deulofeu’s first goal was classic Deeney, and the two late finishes were lovely. In the first half he was also denied on an excellent save by Neil Etheridge. Keep on truckin’, my man.

Wilfried Zaha always looks like he’s playing well, so it’s surprising this was his first brace of the season. Did you know he has yet to hit double figures in the Premier League? Michy Batshuayi also impressed with excellent movement and an opportunistic deflection, and a potential second that was stopped at full stretch by Kasper Schmeichel. Talk about upgrades – he makes the Palace attack much more fluid, in effect doubling their goal threat. They should breeze into mid-table now. Finally, Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes continue their fabulous form: a combined 11 goals in the last eight matches, compared to only four for the season to that point

Peter Goldstein