Premier League's WORST team of the season shared by Sofascore
REVEALED: The Premier League’s WORST team of the season is exposed by stats gurus Sofascore with FOUR Leeds players, a pair of Nottingham Forest midfielders and a Tottenham flop all included
- Sofascore has unveiled the worst team of the 2022/23 Premier League season
- Leicester players escape dubious honour, but Southampton and Leeds do not
- Two of the top-ten teams have representatives in the lowest-ranked line-ip
Just as there have been winners from this season’s Premier League campaign, there have invariably been losers, and the statisticians at Sofascore have been quick off the mark to draw up a starting XI that no player would want any part in.
Leeds, who finished 19th and are doomed to another season in the Championship, are the best represented in the line-up, with Leicester the only relegated side to avoid its players’ inclusion.
The Whites’ Brenden Aaronson was given the lowest average score of the season across the Premier League by the stats gurus, closely followed by Bournemouth’s Adam Smith, and his team-mate Junior Firpo.
Whilst the ersatz side is largely made up of teams lower down the standings, Tottenham’s Clement Lenglet and Fulham’s Bobby Decordova-Reid are two representatives from the top half of the table, which may yet give the London sides pause for thought.
Here, Mail Sport assesses the full breakdown of Sofascore’s lowest-rated team of the season, and their 4-2-3-1 formation.
Gavin Bazunu’s debut Premier League season proved challenging as Southampton faltered
Goalkeeper: Gavin Bazunu (Southampton) 6.58
The youngest goalkeeper in the Premier League by some margin, Bazunu has had a torrid time between the sticks during Southampton’s lacklustre season. Ranked 21st in the league for the number of clean sheets kept, the 21-year-old has only stopped his side from conceding four times. Of the regular starters, only Keylor Navas has fewer.
The goalkeeper was swapped for Alex McCarthy in the Saints’ last three Premier League matches by then-manager Ruben Selles as Southampton pulled out all the stops to stay up. But Bazunu’s rapid rise and relative inexperience will have played a large role in a difficult Premier League debut season, and a fresh start in the Championship under new manager Russell Martin should help the former Manchester City keeper rediscover form.
Defender: Adam Smith (Bournemouth) 6.53
Bournemouth’s longest-serving player has been a stalwart in Gary O’Neil’s side during their up-and-down 2022/23 season, but his inclusion has at times made the Cherries look vulnerable on right. During clashes in the latter-half of the season against Brighton and Fulham, Smith found himself overturned, a contributing factor in Bournemouth’s concessions.
Away from the league, Smith’s inadvertent header knocked his side out against Newcastle in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup in the team’s edgy 1-0 defeat. But Smith is a leader in the pack, and remains an important presence for the club.
Adam Smith (left) at times looked vulnerable at right back in a shaky season for the Cherries
Robin Koch was a valued presence in Leeds’ backline but at times the German looked muted
Defender: Robin Koch (Leeds) 6.63
Whilst fellow relegated club Leicester has no players in Sofascore’s Worst XI, Koch is the first of the three Leeds players singled out for inclusion. The Germany international is a likely fall guy for the Yorkshire club’s tattered defensive record, at its height in April when the club broke its own Premier League record for most goals conceded in a single month – 23.
A particularly sticky showing for the 26-year-old came during the side’s 6-0 drubbing by Liverpool, which saw Koch looking anonymous at best.
Defender: Clement Lenglet (Tottenham) 6.65
Lenglet was signed from Barcelona on a season-long loan that, at the time, failed to satiate the appetite of Tottenham fans for a root-and-branch rebuild of the squad under then-manager Antonio Conte. Whilst Lenglet hasn’t committed a string of howlers when fielded at cente-back, his failure to distinguish himself when the chips have been down for Spurs this season – as they have many times – hasn’t had Daniel Levy sprinting for his checkbook to make the signing permanent.
The 27-year-old played an unwanted role in throwing away Tottenham’s 2-0 lead against Manchester City when the sides faced at the Etihad in January, and was unable to help to Spurs from succumbing against Aston Villa, Bournemouth, and Brentford, in some of the team’s most disappointing performances this season.
The Barcelona loanee may not have done enough to force Tottenham’s hand this summer
Junior Firpo’s rashness against Newcastle saw him concede a penalty and pick up two yellows
Defender: Junior Firpo (Leeds) 6.55
The Dominican Republic defender has had an inconsistent season at Leeds, but almost certainly makes this most igniminous starting line-up after a calamitous turn in his team’s eventful 2-2 draw against Newcastle. Firpo’s haphazard performance saw him concede a penalty and commit a number of risky challenges before eventually being sent off for bulldozing Anthony Gordon inches from the box.
Firpo, who is now in his second season at the club, has often been criticised for his hotheadeness, which has seen him pick up five yellow cards alongside his red against Eddie Howe’s side.
Midfielder: Orel Mangala (Nottingham Forest) 6.67
Signed from Stuttgart as part of Forest’s mammoth player influx after climbing up from the Championship last summer, Mangala was quickly sidelined by a muscle injury that kept him out until October. His struggle to recapture form after his injury, coupled with the fast-paced adjustment to the Premier League, didn’t allow for much headline-grabbing, and his opening spell in the top-flight was brought to an abrupt halt after he picked up two yellow cards against Tottenham.
But since the winter break, Mangala has gradually rediscovered form, delivering one particularly standout performance against Southampton, and helping Cooper’s side avoid the drop with a handful of games to spare.
Orel Mangala struggled with the transition to the Premier League during Forest’s openers
Remo Freuler (centre) is another of Forest’s mammoth influx of summer signings that has found it harder to crack the Premier League
Midfielder: Remo Freuler (Nottingham Forest) 6.67
Like Mangala, Freuler’s inclusion in this starting XI speaks more to Forest’s inconsistent start to life in the Premier League than to an individual’s lack of quality, but there is a slightly bigger question mark over some of the Switzerland international’s performances.
Freuler went missing at Anfield, loosing sight of Mohamed Salah en route to scoring Liverpool’s third during his side’s 3-2 victory against Cooper’s players, and he has looked more composed in the midfield alongside Ryan Yates, who missed much of the latter half of the campaign due to a string of injuries.
Attacking midfielder: Bobby Decordova-Reid (Fulham) 6.65
The Fulham forward has had a strong season with Marco Silva’s pacey, threatening side, his contributions helping to spur the Cottagers to just one point off their best-ever Premier League points total and a respectable 10th place finish. But there just haven’t been enough of them.
Bobby Decordova-Reid has been a strong team player but missed out on adding to his own contributions tally
Silva has made full use of his versatility this season, but Decordova-Reid was unable to rise to the occasion during the absence of goal machine Aleksandar Mitrovic, which all but ended their hopes of a dreamt-of future in Europe. The 30-year-old provided four goals and just one assist during his 36 league appearances, missing a pivotal sharpness that at times Fulham badly needed.
Attacking midfielder: Brenden Aaronson (Leeds) 6.51
The first signing made by then-manager Jesse March, Aaronson arrived from Red Bull Salzburg was encouraging numbers – 28 goals and assists in 66 appearances in Austria. But whilst he has often looked close to the finished article for Leeds this season, his performances almost tell the story of the team’s season: strength in attack, but very little threat indeed.
Aaronson has scored just one in white, and contributed three more assists, despite being a consistent feature in the sides of Marsch, Javi Gracia, and Sam Allardyce.
Leeds could lose Brenden Aaronson this summer, due to the relegation release clause in the player’s contract
Mohamed Elyounoussi was a frequent starter for Southampton with little pay-off for the team
Patrick Bamford’s missed penalty against Newcastle will loom large in Leeds’ imagination
Attacking midfielder: Mohamed Elyounoussi (Southampton) 6.64
Like his team-mate Bazunu, Elyounoussi has regularly featured for the Saints throughout their chaotic season, under a string of different managers, but by and large, the winger has failed to make the grade.
The Norway international broke his Premier League scoring drought – 434 days – too late by some margin, waiting until Southampton were already relegated before scoring the Saints’ consolation against Brighton in their penultimate game of the season. Elyounoussi has long felt off pace, and deficient in a position that low-scoring Southampton could ill-afford.
Striker: Patrick Bamford (Leeds) 6.60
After struggling with injury for much of last season, the first half of Bamford’s campaign was patch at best as he battled to return to full fitness. The striker’s return was long hoped-for as Leeds looked increasingly blunted in attack, but when he did gradually start to feature in more than just cameo appearances, it never really looked like Bamford would be able to save the day.
His confidence likely at rock-bottom as Leeds’ relegation fears worsened, Bamford looked flustered and clumsy in front of goal, pressure mounting at the last. A crucial missed penalty against Newcastle during the side’s 2-2 draw will loom large in the memory of fans preparing for life back in the Championship.
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