Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana features twice, but one Brighton player had three absolute stinkers – earning him a hat-trick of shame in this ranking of the 10 worst performances in the Premier League this season.
Incredibly, there are no Southampton players – which says everything about the complete and utter shambles of that team. It’s not one poor soul dragging them down to Derby County levels of sh*t; it’s a collective collapse.
Match ratings are taken from the excellent WhoScored. It’s been a difficult year for the Goalkeepers Union.
10) Bart Verbruggen (Fulham 3-1 Brighton ) – 4.55An error led to a goal, no saves, no claims, and three goals conceded…the only thing Bart Verbruggen did at Craven Cottage this season was pick the ball out of the net.
It was Verbruggen’s awful pass that gifted Alex Iwobi the opening goal on a chilly Thursday night in December; Igor Julio’s pass back to the Dutchman was terrible, but Verbruggen still had plenty of time to play a risky – but much less risky – pass back to Igor or simply launch it up the pitch and out of harm’s way. Instead, he tried to be cute and failed to find Carlos Baleba – and even if he had, the Brighton midfielder was completely swarmed.
Every team wants to play out from the back these days, and that’s absolutely fine (and not woke), but come on – sometimes you just need to get the ball away from your goal. When in doubt, kick it out.
9) Bart Verbruggen (Chelsea 4-2 Brighton) – 4.54
Seriously…you again?
In one of only five 10/10s on WhoScored this season, Cole Palmer smashed four past the Netherlands No. 1 in the first half of Chelsea’s convincing win over Fabian Hurzeler’s Brighton.
If Robert Sanchez’s performance (4.86 rating) was shocking, then Verbruggen’s was…well, something far worse. Yes, Palmer was outstanding, but he’ll forever be thankful for the opposition goalkeeper’s generosity on the day he became the first Premier League player to score four times in the first half of a match.
8) Harry Clarke (Brentford 4-3 Ipswich ) – 4.50On his first ever Premier League start, no less, Harry Clarke put in a performance Jonathan Woodgate would have been proud of. The Arsenal academy graduate was given the nod at right-back up against Keane Lewis-Potter and ended up conceding a penalty four minutes into the second half, getting booked in the process, and then being sent off for a second yellow card in the 69th minute.
He started three more times between that October defeat and his January departure for Sheffield United. He’s only on loan at Bramall Lane, and the fact he has six appearances, just 473 minutes played, and three yellow cards for the third-best team in the Championship probably hammers home the fact that he’s not quite Premier League level.
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7) Will Hughes (Newcastle 5-0 Crystal Palace ) – 4.47Every time he plays, you know what to expect from Will Hughes – who very rarely produces a stinker, especially not to the extent he did at St James’ Park in April.
He committed an error leading to a goal, made four fouls, picked up a yellow card, conceded four goals, misplaced five passes, lost five of six duels, lost possession six times and won it only once, and made zero interceptions, clearances, or tackles. Newcastle were brilliant and ruthless, but Hughes and Palace were weirdly toothless.
6) Andre Onana (Manchester United 1-3 Brighton) – 4.41Amazingly, a Verbruggen c*ck-up cost Brighton a penalty that Bruno Fernandes more than happily converted to equalise. But the second half was all about Andre Onana and his disastrous attempts to keep the Seagulls at bay.
Well…we’re not entirely convinced that was even his objective. Brighton’s second came after Onana decided to retreat rather than deal with a cross he should’ve at least punched clear. And for the third, he rightly came out to collect a cross – only to spill it straight into the path of Georginio Rutter.
He’s made some stinking errors for United, and that one is right up there.
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**5) Andre Onana (Manchester United 2-3 Nottingham Forest) – 4.37**Just like Verbruggen, Onana goes back-to-back.
The Cameroonian made zero saves and conceded three goals against Forest, including an error leading to a goal after somehow getting wrong-footed by a Morgan Gibbs-White shot. We’re still not sure how. Chris Wood’s strike to make it 3-1 didn’t officially go down as an error, but it really should have. It was a collective mess at the back post with Matthijs de Ligt, Lisandro Martinez, and Onana all looking like deer caught in the headlights.
If Ruben Amorim had more money to spend this summer, replacing Onana would surely be part of the rebuild that might lift United from 16th in the Premier League up to, let’s say, 11th.
4) Bernd Leno (West Ham 3-2 Fulham ) – 4.36It’s been a rough ride for Premier League goalkeepers this season – a high-risk position, the last line of defence, and one where most errors result in goals.
Away to West Ham, Leno clearly had some sympathy for the opposition and did his best to give them their first win under Graham Potter. Carlos Soler’s opener came from a calamitous pass by Andreas Pereira, but we all know Leno shouldn’t have given him the ball under such a high press. Go long, man!
The German should’ve done better with Tomas Soucek’s goal to make it 2-0, and for the third… just wow. Caught lacking, Danny Ings’ press proved too much and his blocked pass fell straight to Lucas Paqueta. Leno knew he’d messed up, too. His half-hearted arm flap was more telling than his facial expression.
3) Casemiro (Man Utd 0-3 Liverpool) – 4.26Only three home players make this top (or bottom) 10 — and they all play for Manchester United. That is so Manchester United.
In the battle of the two bald Dutchmen, Liverpool boss Arne Slot comfortably beat Erik ten Hag, who would soon lose his job. Slot had some Casemiro mishaps to thank for the emphatic victory, with the Real Madrid legend earning the worst match rating for an outfielder this season.
Casemiro was hooked at half-time after surely receiving a few verbal hooks in the dressing room, having committed two errors leading to goals on a chastening afternoon (to put it lightly).
He attempted an eye-of-the-needle pass for Liverpool’s opener, only for Ryan Gravenberch to intercept and lay it off to Mohamed Salah, who found Luis Díiz at the back post. For the Reds’ second, Casemiro had his pocket picked by Diaz, and a quick transition ended with the Colombian sweeping home past Onana.
Clearly giving up, Casemiro sat on his knees and watched Liverpool storm forward for a solid three seconds before getting up and trotting back. He should’ve taken Jamie Carragher’s advice and just ‘left the football’.
READ MORE: 16 Conclusions on Man Utd 0-3 Liverpool: Ten Hag sack, great Gravenberch, Casemiro done, ‘unprofessional’ Szob
2) Bart Verbruggen (Nottingham Forest 7-0 Brighton ) – 3.95This surely marked the final straw for Fabian Hurzeler, who may well have dished out a Homer-style “Why you little…” strangle after the eldest Simpson child’s namesake turned in a third disastrous performance of the season – on his 22nd Premier League appearance of 2024/25.
Conceding seven will obviously obliterate a goalkeeper’s match rating, but the cherry was plopped on top of the cake of sh*t when Verbruggen passed the ball straight to Jota Silva and was promptly nutmegged by the shot to seal a tight and nervy 7-0 win for Nuno Espirito Santo’s men.
**1) Arijanet Muric (Man City 4-1 Ipswich) – 3.29**The worst rating ever dished out to a Premier League player – Arijanet Muric had an absolute mare against his former club on matchday two.
After finishing the previous season relatively well in goal for Burnley, Muric was snapped up by Ipswich to be their new No.1. He missed the opening match against Liverpool, but Kieran McKenna brought him in for the trip to the Etihad – and what followed was a complete disaster.
Two errors leading to goals, zero saves, four goals conceded, 10 misplaced passes, and 11 instances of lost possession…that’s apparently what it takes to earn the worst Premier League match rating of all time, if you were wondering.
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