Wally of the Week

The Premier League was back with a sky-blue bang on Saturday as Manchester City wiped the floor with Liverpool and Sadio Mane wiped his boot with Ederson’s face. It was arguably the talking point of the weekend’s action but it doesn’t feature in Wally of the Week, I just thought I’d mention it, sorry for those who have a strong opinion on it. It’s not been a great few days for the Crystal Palace players, manager, chairman or fans so they’ve almost exclusively made the Wally of the Week shortlist red and blue. The exception is a player who has continued his remarkable debut record but not in a positive way.

3. Lee Chung Yong

For a player who has barely been involved for his club over the last couple of seasons, it’s incredibly important to make a good impression on your manager and your teammates when your opportunity comes on the pitch. But I guess that doesn’t really matter anymore for Korean midfielder, Lee Chung Yong, who gifted Burnley a goal against his Crystal Palace side. Lee’s short backpass was intercepted by Chris Wood, who sent the ball into the back of the Palace net. That was the only goal of the game as the Eagles lost their 4th game in a row in the Premier League and as a result, Frank De Boer was sacked after just 77 days in charge. Lee might think he’s escaped the manager’s wrath after seeing him depart, but as punishment, he’s now playing under Roy Hodgson. More on that later.

2. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

It wasn’t the best of starts to his Liverpool career for the Ox, he came on at half time with his team 2-0 down and a man down after Sadio Mane’s red card. They went on to get thumped 5-0 by Manchester City and Oxlade-Chamberlain, playing in his favored central position, barely got a kick. If you were to treat his debuts for Arsenal and Liverpool as a two-legged tie, his side would have lost 13-2 on aggregate. For those of you wondering how this score line is so high even with the 5-0 defeat to City, it’s because the Ox make his Arsenal debut in that 8-2 drubbing by Manchester United back in 2011. Things can only get better from here, Alex. Look how it turned out at Arsenal.

1. Steve Parish and Crystal Palace

In case you were wondering, Steve Parish is the Crystal Palace chairman but you wouldn’t know it. His board appointed Frank De Boer in the summer because they wanted a more pleasing style of play. They didn’t give him enough backing to change the outlook of the squad so, by the time the window closed, he still had the vast majority of the players that either Sam Allardyce, Alan Pardew or Tony Pulis brought in. Not exactly what he expected. After Palace’s 4th loss in 4 games at Burnley on Sunday, Parish issued a statement on social media where he urged the club to ‘stick together.’ A day later they sack De Boer and replace him with a man who can’t pronounce his r’s. Roy Hodgson doesn’t speak of ambition at the age of 70. He speaks of a club pushing the panic button and bringing someone in who has experience at keeping teams in the Premier League. Ringing any bells Palace fans? (And I don’t mean the bells upstairs at the club).