At Blurrt, we collect all the social media conversation surrounding Premier League players and have found a number of stories you may have missed from another weekend of top class action. The best part is that all of these stories can be found within 5 minutes using our incredible Sports Hub!
Captain Fantastic
Newcastle United won their third game in a row on Saturday, overcoming Stoke 2-1 at St James’ Park. Magpies skipper Jamaal Lascelles was the hero once again, scoring the winner for the second time in two weeks and putting in another fantastic defensive display to really lead by example. Understandably the emotional reaction to Lascelles performance was overwhelmingly positive: 40% reacted with love, whilst 26% were happy with his performance and 14% were thankful for their captain’s impressive form. That means 80% of the emotional reaction on Saturday was positive – I’d guess that the rest came from Stoke fans!
Ibe To The Rescue
You wouldn’t be alone in thinking that Jordan Ibe’s career had stalled somewhat. Signed by Bournemouth over a year ago from Liverpool after he found his first team chances limited there, Ibe has failed to really settle on the South Coast and has had little success as a Cherry. The winger hadn’t registered an assist during the entire 2016/17 season, so fans were understandably expecting very little when he was subbed on just after the hour mark of Bournemouth’s clash with Brighton on Friday night. 10 minutes and 2 assists later, they were singing his praises! The overall sentiment reflects that change: 10% of posts about him were negative, wondering why he came on, and 31% were positive, enjoying the fact that he’d assisted two goals and helped his side to victory.
Lemina Lauded
Southampton acquired Mario Lemina from Juventus in the summer transfer window and the central midfielder is already starting to look at home in the red and white stripes of the Saints. An impressive performance against Crystal Palace on Saturday lunchtime underlined his growing importance in the Southampton engine room alongside Oriol Romeu, with Saints fans and neutrals alike quick to praise the new signing:
Saints recruitment looking spot on once again. Hoedt and Lemina have been excellent. Both cost less than £20m.
— Joel Rabinowitz (@joel_archie) September 16, 2017
Lemina is some signing and at £18 million a complete bargain in this window. #saintsfc
— Chris Rann (@crstig) September 16, 2017
Reactions to him were overwhelmingly positive, as you can see below. Fans were already reacting positively to him, but his performance on Saturday increased that by 19%!
Klavan Catastrophe
Ragnar Klavan was probably signed as an able backup at centre back for Liverpool, but even that role might be too much for him at Anfield after his mistake on Saturday cost his side dearly in their 1-1 draw with Burnley. Klavan was on the receiving end of a lot of anger and negativity, with an incredibly high 48% negative sentiment. Combine this with the emotional reactions, which shows 68% anger, and it’s clear to see that fans were not happy with the Estonian centre-back.
We looked at Lovren on Thursday when we reviewed the Champions League and showed how Liverpool fans were frustrated with him too. Well, maybe this tweet sums the whole situation up:
Between Klavan and Lovren I don't know who's worse tbh
— 🇵🇹 (@ronaldoscored) September 16, 2017
Pope Saves Burnley
Backup goalkeeper Nick Pope was thrust into the limelight at Anfield on Saturday, with first choice stopper Tom Heaton ruled out with an injury sustained against Crystal Palace last weekend. Pope put in a fantastic display, denying Liverpool at every turn and helping his side to a hard earned point. Liverpool fans were understandably frustrated at the backup stopper’s performance…
Nick Pope turning into Manuel Neuer for 90 minutes. Standard. #LIVBUR pic.twitter.com/hUYhRbckSB
— Empire of the Kop (@empireofthekop) September 16, 2017
Manchester United legend Peter Schmeichel knows a thing or two about goalkeeping and lavished praise on the 25 year old, claiming one save was a candidate for “Save of the Season”.
Best save of the season by Nick Pope just now to deny Liverpool. Fantastic.
— Peter Schmeichel (@Pschmeichel1) September 16, 2017
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