View From the Perch: Kelly’s Sorry, Not Sorry Look at the EPL Week- American Scouser

Marco Silva may not be the only person unemployed after week 15. The wacky midweek schedule had me absolutely slacking at work so there is a very high chance that I may be joining the unemployed list. It would be worth it, keep reading to find out why!

Crystal Palace 1 vs Bournemouth 0

This game started off how every manager loves, with a red card. It only took twenty minutes for Crystal Palace to do something and that thing they did was get red carded. The card was given to Sakho after he slid right into the ankles of Smith. Maybe this should be a sign for CP because Sakho had just returned to their starting lineup.  Other than that it really wasn’t that exciting of a game, compared to all the others. Zaha had a great game and CP did not let the fact that they were a man down for pretty much the whole game really affect them. It took 76’ for Crystal Palace to give us something to talk about and that was Jeff Schlupp’s brilliant goal. It was an incredible shot to the back post. Ramsdale is absolutely furious and that is probably because he has had nothing to do this whole game and finally something happens and he can’t do anything about it. After that a couple more shots came Ramsdale’s way and he made up for the goal with some impressive saves. Minutes before the game ended the CP fans are celebrating like they won the league, clearly this was a needed three points for them. 

Manchester City 4 vs Burnley 1

After this game City had a whole 24 hours where they were back in the second spot on the table, that was soon spoiled by a Leicester City win.  Gabriel Jesus gives City the lead. It was a great goal but it was a goal that was hard to celebrate. As the goal goes in Kevin De Bruyne goes down. He stayed down for a while and it honestly was a scary because is KB got injured City would be in some hot water, luckily he kept playing. Both City and Burnley played a tough first half. Both teams were so good that the half ended 1-0 in favor of City.  In the first half Pope had enough decent saves to almost forget the near post disaster that happened last game. Gabriel Jesus starts the second half the same way he started the first by scoring early. The second goal was right from a football textbook. It started with passing that lead to Silva sending in beautiful ball that is perfectly placed on Jesus’s foot. I have felt that Ederson has had a few sloppy games so this was the first game in a while where I was actually impressed with some of the saves that he had. The next goal came in the 67’ from Rodri. It was a bullet at the tip of the box. It had unbelievable power. Pope gets a finger on it but it wasn’t enough to make the save. The game is slowly coming to and end for Burnley. Gabriel Jesus has come so close to a hat trick. Then Riyad Mahrez makes it an even more exciting game by sending one more bullet Pope’s way.  It was a great goal to wrap up how well City played in this game. Before the game ends Robby Brady takes advantage of a sloppy City defense and makes it a 4-1 game and all my praise I gave Ederson about not having a sloppy game is quickly taken back. 

Liverpool 5 vs Everton 2

There is so much to say for this game. The first being it was a Merseyside Derby game so we already know that it’s going to be a great game. These teams did not disappoint.  Klopp switches things up with his lineup, which was a smart move on his end. The Liverpool fans were overjoyed seeing Divock Origi getting that starting role, simply due to the part he played in last season’s derby game. It takes 6’ for Divock Origi to make sure Pickford remembers him. Everton’s defense didn’t even stand a chance and they let me walk right into the box and score a goal. I believe the announcer said it best when they immediately panned to Marco Silva saying, “dead man walking.” Liverpool didn’t even give Pickford a chance to lick their wounds when Shaqiri makes it a 2-0 in 17’ .  Sadio Mane not only had a crucial assist in the first goal but another satisfying assist with the Shaqiri’s goal. At this point I wanted to almost feel bad for Silva as we were all literally watching his become unemployed with every Liverpool goal. Silva did have two signs of hope in this game and the first sign came in the 21’ when Michael Keane puts one over Adrian’s head and into the net. Everton may have lost that game but Keane will forever get to say he not only scored a goal in a Merseyside Derby game but he also did it in front of the Kop. Right as the announcer was declaring Liverpool as a “long ball team” Lovren sends a long ball down the center of the field right to Origi’s foot and he shoots it over the head of Pickford making it an exciting 3-1 game thirty minutes in.  Just to make things worse for Everton and Silva, Sadio Mane decides it’s time for him to get one and makes it 4-1 at the 45’ mark. I mentioned that Silva had two signs of hope and the second sign came in the 45+3’ when Richarlison puts his head in the game and scores off it. At the end of the half I simply do not know who is having a worse game. Here are the options the whole Everton defense, Pickford or Silva. The answer is D: all the above. I can only assume that Silva used the half time to say his goodbyes. I wish I could say the second half was as exciting as the first. We saw some decent chances for Everton and even more chances for Liverpool. The most upsetting chance was when Sadio Mane has a wide-open net when I say wide open I mean the Everton defense was nowhere around and Pickford literally completely gave up and he decides to take five more touches and simply just fails to convert it. The game doesn’t end there. If Liverpool was going to be responsible for another manager to lose his job might as well really stick it to them. The last goal game in the 90’ from Georginio Wijnaldum. The goal is followed by clips of Silva’s very sad face and Everton fans leaving the stands. I would like to say they gave Silva another chance but he did end up getting sacked and Pickford is back to therapy because his Divock Origi nightmares have come back.  

Leicester City 2 vs Watford 0

My thoughts throughout this whole game was “why isn’t Leicester scoring more goals?” We have seen Leicester take full advantage of a week team, remember the Southampton game? I was kind of hoping this game would be something like that.  When you look at the statistics it was truly a great game for Leicester City. They won, had decent possession and received the clean sheet. The reason why LC didn’t get more than two goals was probably because Jamie Vardy was too busy working on his theatrical career. It took a scoreless first half and ten minutes into the second for Vardy to get his way. The foul was on Evans after he was slapped or hit in the face inside the box. Vardy takes the PK and makes it 1-0.  Ben Foster really had no chance in saving it. Leicester City really should have won the game 5-0. The reason they didn’t was because of Ben Foster. He was kind of like Watford’s airbag, there was still noticeable damage but he prevented it from being a lot worse than what it was. It would have been a 1-0 game but the pretty boy James Madison dribbles through the Watford defense and puts one in Ben Foster’s back door, as in the post! It was a much-needed goal for Madison who truly had a great game and this win puts LC back in that number two spot on the table. 

Manchester United 2 vs Tottenham 1

Two years later Jose Mourinhop is back at Old Trafford but for another team. It only felt right that Jose’s first lose was from United. To start the game Jose has had a perfect record with Tottenham and has also switched the lineup a little as well, if only that helped. All three of this games goals game from two talented young stars. The first goal was 6’ in from Marcus Rashford who has really been the only consistent United player.  Rashford send a bullet to the near post where it bounces over Gazzaniga’s hand and to the back of the net. It was honestly a one man show for United and the main attraction was Marcus Rashford. Jesse Lingard, another young star, also had a few attempts but nothing was working out. Dele Alli ties the game up in the 39’. He was a great goal to watch. His patience with the ball was good and because of that patience he was able to tap it in. VAR of course had to make sure there were no hands involved in this goal. I am almost positive that most of Dele’s goals have been checked by VAR. Right before the halftime whistle United gets a penalty in the Tottenham box. No one thought it was a penalty but VAR did so Rashford takes the PK and easily puts it in the back of the net. It was a 2-1 game going into the half. The United fans were ecstatic that they were not only winning but they scored on a penalty kick.  The second half was not as exciting as the first. Dele had a great extra time shot but the diving De Gea took that away by making a great save. Dele Alli has really been such an exciting player to watch under Mourinho’s management. We also knew this game would come when Tottenham lost and it just made it more enjoyable that it was United to give the loss to them.

Southampton 2 vs Norwich 1

Three important things happened this game Danny Ings scored, Pukki is on a two-game streak and Norwich’s two game winning streak ended.  Danny Ings does what he does best and scored early and then kind of just disappears the rest of the game. As annoying as that might be you can’t really be mad because at least he is scoring. His goal was assisted from James Ward-Prowse from a set piece and it perfectly lines up with Danny’s forehead and gets tapped into the back of the net.  During the whole first half Norwich did not seem to be promising. Southampton was pretty much taking over this game. Southampton wrapped up a good first half by another set piece goal in the 43’. Ryan Bertrand gets the perfect ball with zero coverage and tap it into the net. When the second half whistle was blown I was so curious to when Norwich was going to show up for this game. It wasn’t until the 65’ minute when I realized they were in this game. Pukki gives Norwich a chance with an incredible finish. It was  a nice shot in the near post, McCarthy really had no chance of saving. This was the goal Norwich needed to get back into this game. They had several promising chances. You could tell Southampton was fighting to be removed from the relegation zone. Which is why it being such a good game for them because at this moment they are sitting above that line while Everton makes themselves comfy in relegation zone. 

Wolves 2 vs West Ham 0

The mighty Wolves are slowly taking down one PL one team at a time.  What I was excited about was seeing David Martin making another West Ham start, unfortunately this game didn’t go as good as the first. The Wolves score early in a corner set piece. It was a quick touch from Dendoncker that was deflected to the back of the net. The only thing the Wolves did not succeed at was the possession percentage.  Despite the scoreline David Martin had a great game. He made some impressive one on one saves and to be honest so did Patricio. Patricio took away the one chance for West Ham had by coming off his line and slide tackling the ball away. West Ham really tried but the Wolves were just better. My neck hurt after this game for how often the ball was going back and forth from one side to another. All out confusion happens in the 85’. The Wolves come down the field they had some quick passes in the box and it confuses Martin he goes down early and the fresh legged Patrick Cutrone makes it a 2-0 game and seals the win for the Wolves. 

Sheffield United 0 vs Newcastle 2

I was really hoping for not only a Sheffield win but a Henderson clean sheet. It would have been his 50th career clean sheet, but there is always next game.  This game we also got to see Andy Carroll make his first Newcastle start. Another game with two teams from the middle of the table. it has been exciting to watch the middle of the table teams more than the top of the table teams. One thing we can all agree on is that there is nothing exciting about the bottom of the table teams. Sheffield started off strong in the first ten so it was shocking to me that Newcastle was the first team to score. It as an early 15’ goal. It was Allan Saint-Maximin first Premier League goal and it was absolutely a memorable one. I think he job four feet in the hair to score that one off his head. Sheffield was all over Newcastle Newcastle was getting scrappy because of it.  The part that I remember most from this game is when Dubravka seems to be injured. He goes down and a really bad time. He slowly gets up and then makes a stunning diving save to keep the game 1-0. Once again Sheffield is all over Newcastle. They are taking advantage of every missed step from the defense. Every time they seem to get a chance they happen to be offsides. In the 70’ minute Newcastle finally gets away from their end of the field. Jonjo Shelvey gets played a long ball and takes it down the field and into the back of the net. Everybody thought it was off-sides

. Henderson stopped playing because he thought it was offside and he saw the flag go up. If we learned anything from this season it is that we play until the whistle not the flag. You have to give credit to Jonjo for taking full advantage of that.  To me, Sheffield should of extended their seven game run but Newcastle made it count when they had the chance. 

Arsenal 1 vs Brighton 2

This was the first time Brighton has come to Arsenal and won.  As we know that Arsenal has a new manager. Freddie is not technically the final option but the guy who is holding the place and to be honest after this game I would not want the job. I would ask to be moved back to the assistant as soon as possible. Before the first goal even goes in it was a lot of Brighton shots and a lot of confusion in the Arsenal defense. The goal is scored on a Brighton corner.  VAR was immediately stepped in to make sure that Webster didn’t use his hand before scoring. I personally thought they were checking VAR to find to see if any of the Arsenal players knew what was going on. It was a difficult half for Arsenal. Something must of been said because they started the second half on a positive note. It was another set piece goal. The ball came into the box and comes off the back of Lacazette’s head and into the net, and yes VAR was involved to make sure it was a goal. It was now a 1-1 game and it was hard to say who was going to come out the winner. Both teams really have picked up the pace and we actually had a decent game on our hands.   A lot of great chances for both teams so it was only a matter of time. Then something unbelievable happens. David Luiz scores a goal!!! VAR couldn’t believe it either because they disallowed it on the terms of offsides and the fact that they physically couldn’t give David Luiz the pleasure of scoring a goal. The game just continues to get scrappy. The ref was probably sore from all the yellow cards that were given. Brighton finally makes a difference in the scoreline. Neal Maupay takes a cross to the center and perfectly heads it into the back of the net. After that goal it was all Brighton and the better team absolutely won this game.