While the Premier League houses some of the most exciting talents in the world, it also does house a number of erratic performers, who have gone season after season breaking hearts of millions of fans across the globe. While some are guilty of making the obvious mistakes of misplacing a pass or giving away free kicks in crucial areas on the pitch, there are a number of players who have developed a reputation for making the errors that are not obvious, yet cost their respective teams heavily.
With 2 rounds of the new season underway, we have already witnessed certain howlers, obvious or not and we believe the managers of the following 5 players have their task cut out in the season to come.
5) Artur Boruc
The Polish international has developed a reputation for himself over the years. He made the headlines for the wrong reason at Celtic, making a number of high-profile errors and has failed to shrug off the reputation so far. Currently plying his trade at Bournemouth, the keeper is a constant source of concern for the club’s faithful.
His recent performance against Everton, where he failed to read the flight of the cross put in by Tore and presented Michael Antonio with an open goal to head the ball in, represents the kind of errors the player has plagued his career so far.
He made 3 defensive errors last, all of which resulted in a goal and will need to up his game for Bournemouth to retain their status as a Premier League club, come the end of the season. Bournemouth conceded the second highest number of goals last season, having shipped them on 67 occasions and the reputation of Boruc does not add much confidence to the defence of the Eddie Howe managed side.
Boruc averaged 1.31 saves per goal conceded last season, which is not a healthy number and is poor with the ball at his feet, even disastrous at times and we fail to understand how Bournemouth seek to endure another relegation threatened season with him in between the sticks at the Dean Court.
4) Gareth Barry
The Evertonian has been one of their best performers ever since making the move from Aston Villa. However, he has also been the side’s most error-prone player, having made 5 defensive errors in the previous season. While some fans might argue that given his involvement in most games, the number of mistakes vis-a-vis involvement in the games is minimal, it does not deny the fact that age might be finally catching up with Barry.
Not the fastest player on the pitch, Barry has made a habit of arriving late into tackles, which have often resulted in free kicks being awarded to the opposition and that has become a major source of concern for an Everton midfield that has developed a fine balance with the youth and athleticism of Ross Barkley well complemented by the experience and vision of Barry. Additionally, with pace not being his best ally, his sense of adventure has often led to his defence being exposed to the opposition.
Barry has been hailed as one of the best players he has ever managed by the current Everton manager Ronald Koeman and given his work ethic and ability, he will prove critical to the Dutch manager’s plans at Goodison Park.
3) John Stones
When Manchester City acquired John Stones, they did assess his potential to become a world-class centre-back in years to come. However, the meeting between the scouting team and the hierarchy would have definitely raised an important question regarding Stones, “why should we pay £50 million for a defender who made 4 defensive errors, 3 of which led to a goal?”
Stones was sought by a number of clubs and justifiably so as he is unafraid to get into tackles, has a fine positional sense and is a tough man to get past. However, he takes unnecessary risks at the back of the line-up instead of keeping it simple and can often complicate simple situations for his team.
He has come under the scanner in the past with the likes of legendary English defender Sol Campbell claiming that Stones is too error prone to be the first choice centre-back for England at Euro 2016. Even his former managers Roberto Martinez and Roy Hodgson have publicly claimed that Stones is too error prone at the moment.
At Manchester City, the expectations will be sky high, especially with the kind of money involved, and Stones will need to “cut out the mistakes” to become a defensive force to reckon with.
2) Eliaquim Mangala
The performances of Eliaquim Mangala ever since his transfer from Porto have drawn the same question over and over, “How did Manchester City pay £42 million for Mangala?” He has been an inconsistent presence at the back for Manchester City and has failed to live up to his reputation and price tag during his 2 years in England.
While he does possess the pace and brute strength that make him a reputed name as showcased by him sporadically, he is too inconsistent to become a first choice centre-back at Manchester City, a club chasing the coveted title and we reckon he would find game time tough to come under Pep Guardiola.
He has a tendency to go missing in critical moments, is poor with his positional sense and looks very untidy with the ball at his feet, making him a constant source of worry for the Manchester City fans. It is not merely the unobvious mistakes that have hurt his reputation deeply, but also the obvious ones. He made 3 obvious mistakes during 23 league appearances last season, with 2 of them resulting in a goal, a statistic that does not make for good reading if you are a City fan.
He has been linked with a move away from England given his inconsistencies, it remains to be seen who would be willing to fork out a hefty sum for his services.
1) Simon Mignolet
Top of our list is current Liverpool number one Simon Mignolet. When the club signed Loris Karius in the ongoing transfer window, it looked like they had put the defensive miseries of the previous season behind them. The 23-year-old had impressed during his time at Mainz and looked a definite upgrade over Mignolet. However, an injury has ruled him out until September and Liverpool fans can’t wait to see the back of Mignolet.
While Alberto Moreno has been grabbing the headlines for the wrong reason, the performances of the Belgian have been ridiculous for some time. Yes, he did save a rather unimpressive penalty kick from Walcott in his side’s opening fixture against Arsenal. However, that has been the only shot that he has managed to stop so far this season, conceding the next 5 shots on target over the 2 games.
Mignolet was a good shot stopper at one point of time in his career. However, at the moment, he does not save enough, is a poor distributor of the ball and does not inspire the all important confidence of his defence. Jurgen Klopp knows that he cannot slip up in the pursuit of a Champions League spot and at least one piece of Silverware in the current season and will need to fix the problem that exists in between the sticks for the side at the moment.
