5 stars who have had a poor start to the 2016/17 season
The 2016/17 season is about two months old and teams across Europe are knee-deep in their campaigns across various competitions. Most teams have new managers, new players and renewed expectations to go with them and the season has not disappointed so far.
However, a select few who have not exactly had the best of starts this season. Some lit up their respective leagues last season but are yet to impress in this campaign. Here are five players that need to step up big time.
1) Riyad Mahrez – Leicester City
Cut back to the 2015/16 season and Riyad Mahrez was bamboozling Premier League defences at will. A silky touch here, a quick dribble there a stepover and a curling left-footed effort that always managed to catch the goalkeeper off guard thanks to the minimum back-lift.
It was no wonder then that he was voted the PFA Player of the Year as Leicester City raced to a maiden league title and won it with two games to spare. By the end of the season, the Algerian winger’s stats were the stuff of every manager’s dream: 17 goals and 11 assists in 36 starts in the league.
However, the new season has seen the Foxes pulled back down to earth in spectacular fashion. After an opening day loss to Hull City, they have only beaten Swansea and Burnley, losing to Manchester United and Liverpool by similar 4-1 scorelines. And a lot of it has been down to Mahrez’s poor form.
He has only managed to score one goal in six games and has zero assists. His failure from the penalty spot has also frustrated fans. The last game against United was one of his worst, failing to take a shot, failing to complete a take-on and also failed to send in a single accurate cross.