Matchday 33 - Quick Round Up

Match Day 33 Round Up



Saturday 18th April


Brentford 0-0 Fulham

A complete non-entity of a game, lacking quality and much in the way of excitement. A true bore draw.

Starmen:
The fans for bothering to sit through it all.

Flops:
The teams for failing to produce anything worth while watching.


Leeds United 3-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers

A stroll for Leeds, who completely outmatched a Wolves side that looks to have given up completely. It is almost certainly enough to ensure both that Leeds retain their Premier League place for next season and that Wolves do not. As a contest, it was a non-entity.

Starmen:
Calvert-Lewin - Wolves could not cope with him.
Okafor - a goal and an assist.
Justin - he is looking an incredibly astute signing, nice overhead kick goal as well.

Flops:
Bentley - not good enough at this level.
Armstrong - runs around a lot but to little, if any, effect. Clearly nowhere near a Premier League level player, he was poor in the Championship.
Gomes - all three of them were terrible, that started, the one they brought on was no better, but Angel Gomes stood out as the worst player on the pitch.
Tchatchoua - he looks a very poor player every time I see him.


Newcastle United 1-2 Bournemouth

It seems clear that Howe's inability to organise a defence leaves his team completely incapable of coping with Iraola's style of fast, attacking, high-intensity football. Newcastle did improve massively when Bruno Guimaraes came on after an hour, but it was not enough to get them a result. Bournemouth are simply a better managed team and fully deserved the win after a good win away from home. With Iraola leaving them in the summer, he is sure to have a whole slew of jobs on offer to him.

Starmen:
Hill - he is not at the level of the central defensive pair they lost in the summer, but he is a very good, solid centre-half with a decent throw on him as well.
Rayan - a very exciting young winger.
Truffert - the one player from the current back four that can stand comparison with last season's quartet.
Iraola - to have this team challenging for Europe is an incredible achievement. But to do so while playing entertaining football is even better.

Flops:
Ramsdale - still has concentration issues.
Ramsey - struggled to cope with the Cherries movement in midfield.
Kroupi - lots of talent but struggles with the inconsistency of youth.


Tottenham Hotspur 2-2 Brighton & Hove Albion

An awful Spurs side did finally show signs of life and improvement, but they were still outplayed for large periods by a Brighton side that still struggles to put the ball into the back of the net often enough. Despite the improvement, Spurs did not look to have enough to escape the drop and still have the same mentality that has held them back so long. The 77th minute goal and ridiculous celebrations that followed it looked so familiar, you could feel Richarlison on the sidelines getting that sinking feeling as Simons threw off his shirt and went crazy. It was almost inevitable then that the Seagulls would get an injury time equaliser to drop Spurs deeper into the mire.

Starmen:
Simons - not because he played well, despite his goal and assist he is an awful player and was very poor but, and this is a big but, his over the top celebration after scoring were so entertaining as you knew what would happen next.
Gross - he may be a veteran, but he is still an outstanding player and his return has really lifted BHA.

Flops:
Spurs - as a whole, the team is utter dog muck and not one of the players showed enough to deserve a Premier League place next season.
Verbruggen - his error was horrible to gift Spurs a goal.
Wieffer - he looked like what he is, a midfielder playing out of position at full-back.


Chelsea 0-1 Manchester United

Chelsea on a horrendous run of form under Rosenior and really under pressure faced a Man Utd team looking to bounce back after a defeat at home against bitter rivals Leeds. Chelsea had lost three in a row but must have fancied their chances against a makeshift backline, as the Red Devils were without most of their centre-backs for the game. Added to that, it has been a long time since Man Utd had beaten Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Despite all of that, it was a fairly comfortable 1-0 win for the Manchester side, with Chelsea awful pretty much throughout the 90 minutes. They are going backwards badly at the moment and should probably be grateful for not having Rosenior in place much earlier in the season!

Starmen:
Fernandes - he is a truly top class player under all the histrionics.
Mainoo - made Amorim's decision to ignore him look stupid.
Heaven - the 19-year-old was the only fit first team centre-back and played extremely well.

Flops:
Gusto - dreadful player.
Caicedo - his form has fallen off a cliff lately and still seems to be dropping.
Palmer - does not seem close to full fitness.
Neto - looks a shadow of the player he was at Wolves.
Delap - they seem to have no idea how to utilise him to get the most from him.
Garnacho - a truly terrible footballer, I have no idea how he even gets into the squad.
Rosenior - he is the archetypal rabbit in the headlights. Absolutely clueless at "man ageing".



Sunday 19th April

Aston Villa 4-3 Sunderland

What had looked like a comfortable 3-1 win for Villa was made distinctly uncomfortable as the Mackems were able to get at Villa following McGinn's substitution. It required a late finish by the sub Tammy Abraham to rescue the three points. Overall, it was a good reminder of just how reliant Villa are on their midfield trio of McGinn, Tielemans and Onana, which saw their form slide alarmingly while they were out injured this season. It is also a reminder of the great attitude of Sunderland, which has given them such a marvellous season. Even when looking down and out, they never gave up.

Starmen:
McGinn - he was key to Villa's win. Without him, they lost control in midfield.
Watkins - seems to be back to his best and picked up two goals and an assist.
le Fee - very good on the ball and gives his all off it as well.

Flops:
Sancho - his arrival as the replacement for McGinn almost gave the points away.
Mandava - a bad error cost a goal.
Roefs - not looking back to his best since returning from injury.


Nottingham Forest 4-1 Burnley

A dreadful first half performance saw Forest go in at half-time losing to a very very poor Burnley side. The second half was a completely different game, no doubt Pereira had put a rocket up some backsides as Forest showed what they could do and tore the Clarets apart to run out convincing winners.

Starmen:
Anderson - after losing his mother, the England midfielder played and played well.
Gibbs-White - a hat-trick for the midfielder, who finally made the impact that he is capable of.
Jesus - just by simply not being Bakwa, he was enough to change the game by replacing him at half-time.

Flops:
Ward-Prowse - lacks mobility and quality at this level.
Walker - he is fast turning into a liability.


Everton 1-2 Liverpool

The Toffees have never had a better chance to beat Liverpool, but once again Moyes' cautious approach cost them badly, though he was not helped by the loss of Beto to injury in the second half. It was a poor performance by both teams, but Liverpool fans can at least be happy with the result. The lack of quality from two teams fighting for European football next season was astonishing. Also hard to be happy to see two teams looking happy to take a draw when it was a local derby match. This game will only be memorable for being Hill-Dickinson's first time to host a Merseyside derby, Salah's final goal in a Merseyside derby and van Dijk's late, late winner. The latest winner Liverpool have ever scored in the derby.

Starmen:
No one - there was not one player or manager who covered themselves in glory in terms of performance.

Flops:
Everyone - a genuinely poor derby overseen by two negative managers.


Manchester City 2-1 Arsenal

These kind of things are usually a massive disappointment as the two teams cancel each other out and produce a bore draw. This one was anything but boring, though in part due to being littered with mistakes, particularly from both keepers. Once again though, when the chips are down City step up and Arsenal fold. Surely they have not bottled it once again? Have they? It is ironic that this was one of their best performances in the Prem this season, but the Gunners still ended up losing. They have been looking poor in recent weeks, but this was a better performance, they might be able to take some comfort from that, even if the result was potentially disastrous for them. Citeh are now in the driving seat and just need to keep winning, which they tend to do at this time of year.

Starmen:
Cherki - great goal but he does have a tendency to give possession away dwelling on the ball, sometimes in dangerous areas. Fantastic player to watch, nice to see a modern day footballer with a personality who actually displays it on the pitch.
Silva - he was just about everywhere for City.
Haaland - his running battle with Gabriel was a real highlight of the game.
O'Reilly - looks to be the player that the press built up Foden as.

Flops:
Donnarumma - he really does not look comfortable with the ball at his feet and cost a goal by dithering.
Madueke - a very strange buy, not sure what he offers to be honest.
Gabriel - very lucky not to get himself sent off. For some reason he is morphing into Konate and forgetting his job is to keep the ball out of the net, not stop the player at all costs while forgetting about the ball.
Raya - looked uncharacteristically unhappy on the ball.



Monday 20th April

Crystal Palace 0-0 West Ham United

A dull bore draw with neither club really going for the win. Palace have little to play for in mid-table, but the Hammers are held back by Nuno, who is a naturally cautious manager. It was a game that saw defences on top, but mainly because there was little real desire to go and attack by either team.

Starmen:
Canvot - filling the shoes of Guehi fairly well.
Lacroix - I am sure there will be bigger clubs sniffing around him in the summer.
Mavropanos - looking a really solid defender in recent weeks.
Disasi - very well suited to Nuno's tactical set up.

Flops:
Larsen - really does not look like a Premier League player right now.
Johnson - offers nothing other than weakness.
Bowen - so rare he has an off day, but he was poor, especially in the first half.

Written by Tris Burke April 22 2026 17:05:19