EPL 2016-17: Top 5 flops of the season so far

Emre Can hasn’t been able to live up to his billing

Football is a game where fortunes of players as well as sides could turn upside down in only a few weeks. One moment, you could be termed as a world beater and just a few moments later, you could be deemed excess to the requirement by the club faithful.

With the Premier League season entering its business end, teams and managers are keen to field their best units in order to ensure a strong end to the season. However, as has been the case over the years, some players flourish while some flounder in their efforts to add to their side, often infuriating the fans of their respective sides.

In this segment, we take a look at 5 players who have been in an underwhelming form thus far in the season.

#1 Emre Can (Liverpool)

The big burly German was expected to be the answer to Liverpool’s midfield woes. And with fellow German Jurgen Klopp at the helm of affairs at Anfield, it was largely believed that the former Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen player could finally prove himself as one of the best midfielders in the league.

However, 22 matches into the current season and many pundits and Liverpool fans would love to believe that Can is a rather ordinary player who will never prove to be good enough for the side. While 3 goals are an improvement over his last season’s tally, there are several aspects of his game that has exposed his shortcomings as a footballer and his decision making could be singled out as an aspect that has left a lot to be desired.

He is patchy with his passing, makes very few adventurous passes and has shown a tendency to slow down Liverpool’s fluid movement on and off the ball and that has not gone unnoticed with the pundits either. Jamie Carragher has been vocal of his opinion with regards to his former club and recently claimed that the player proved to be no match for top class oppositions.

In light of his underwhelming performances, it's time Klopp goes back to the drawing board and figure out if Can is actually the central midfielder this side needs.