Weekly Feature: Premier League's under-performing XI

18 Yard Box brings you its weekly dose of the 'Underperforming XI' of the week.

As we complete week three and the Premier League table starts to take the semblance of a shape it’s time look back at the past week and analyze the worst players who were on the pitch for their teams. The list that no player wants to be on but gets his name in it if plays miserably. 

18 Yard Box's Apratim has a look at the worst team possible of the week.

Premier League's worst XI of the week

Goalkeeper: Pepe Reina (Liverpool) 

The usually solid custodian has made a shaky start to the season and the goals he conceded against Arsenal will not bring up his confidence by an ounce whatsoever. Despite the pace in Podolski’s strike he really should have done better covering up the angle. And the less said about Cazorla’s goal which saw the ball squirming under him into the back of the net, the better.

Left Back: Assaou Ekotto (Tottenham)

An uncharacteristically poor game from the usually reliable Spurs left back. Gave the ball away to often, and offered little going forward. Snodgrass got the better of him time and time again as the Spurs full back tried hard to turn the outing into a complete nightmare for himself as he tugged ardently away at Morrison’s shirt in the penalty box. An overall poor performance.

Right Back: Figueroa (Wigan)

Not exactly a conventional right-back, but then Wigan hardly ever play a conventional back four. Every single person in England knows what they are going to be up against when playing Stoke City. If a defender cannot handle headers and aerial threats after one week of planning on how to play Stoke City, then he should have even lesser complaints on appearing on this list than when Pepe gets carded for Real Madrid.

Centre Back: Anton Ferdinand (QPR)

Often a shining light in QPR’s struggling defence last season, all the glow seems to be dimming out. Was exposed time and again by the ferocity of Carlos Tevez, Ferdinand did his best to ensure that the Argentinian and his Bosnian co-striker did not have to fight too hard to find space in between the defensive midfield and back four line of QPR.

Centre Back: Ryan Nelsen (QPR)

Ensuring that his central defensive partner did not make the list all on his own Ryan Nelsen storms into the list on the back of a terrible performance against, to be fair to him, the champions of England and the team which looks the strongest to retain the title while United try to make sense of their back four and Chelsea try to wake up from the nightmare that was Radamel Falcao. Nelsen isn’t a bad player on his day and is an excellent headerer of the ball but he simply cannot deal with any pace and guile around him.

Left Mid/Right Mid: Fabio Borini (Liverpool)

The less said the better. Borini has not been the striker Liverpool manger Brendan Rodgers was claiming to be. Weak with his dribbling so far and unable to open up the defence, Borini has been less than impressive. He has not been able to adjust to the pace of the Premier League so far and has to do better if has to keep his spot in the starting 11 fixed. His poor performance against Arsenal sees him making the teamsheet of the 11 worst players of the League.

Left Mid/Right Mid: Ji Sung Park (QPR)

We all know Park’s strengths. He can do a bit of everything. A bit of tackling, a bit of creative passing, and even occasionally a bit of goal poaching. But that’s also his biggest weakness sometimes since he ends up not knowing what exactly his role is in the midfield. And it certainly seemed that way last weekend against the champions as he ran around and hounded for the ball but received very little of it and did it even lesser on the rare occasions he did get the ball.

Centre Mid: Steven Gerard (Liverpool)

No one likes to be on this list for even one week. But when it’s been two weeks running, there is a bigger problem. And the problem here lies in constrasting philosophies. Kevin Yap summed it up perfectly when he said “Gerard is all gung-ho, box to box dynamism whereas Brendan Rodgers is all about ball retention and short, safe, intricate passing”. Gave away the ball which lead to Arsenal’s first goal and played so poorly during the second half that Diaby began calling himself Arsenal’s Yaya Toure.

Left Forward: Rodallega (Fulham)

The former Wigan man must be wishing he hadn’t left his former club now given the impressive displays that Wigan have put in after their first week disaster against Chelsea. His own display last week can hardly be considered even close to impressive as he spent most of the time picking out wrong balls to play into areas where Petric had not thought of running into or taking tame shots at Jaaskeleinen.

Centre Forward: Pappis Cisse (Newcastle)

Another man, along with Gerard, who was probably at the start of the season expecting to see his name twice in two weeks on the top-11 players list but has the misfortune of finding it on this one instead. The man who defined Newtonian physics last year with a goal only he knows how he managed to score at the Bridge is trying hard to prove that he was a one season wonder by shooting straight into the keepers hands from six yards out. One of the main reasons that Newcastle’s attack has been looking so toothless recently. Alan Pardew must be thanking the Toon Gods that a certain mercurial Frenchman by the name of Ben Arfa is smashing goals in from all areas of the pitch.

Right Forward: Luis Suarez (Liverpool) 

The usually brilliant Suarez had an off day on Sunday. In front of his own crowd he did little to weave magic which he usually does. Couldnt get past Vermaelen and Gibbs on the right and did little to get shots on target. He neither provided nor scored and missed costly free kicks from the edge of the box. He cut himself a lonely figure up front. A huge dip in performance from last week’s performance against Manchester City sees him making the cut for Underperforming 11 of the week.

The other players to have just missed out on the list are Brett Holman and Gareth Bale both of whom had a terrible night.

Written By,

Apratim Mukherjee

Apratim is an Editor and writer for 18 Yard Box