After the pre-seaon friendlies in the States I was worried about out new keeper, Flekken, as he could have done much better with four of the goals he let in. Nevertheless, I gave him the benefit of the doubt and hoped he would flourish in the PL. Unfortunately, today he cost us the game. We started well and were the better team in the first 25 minutes but couldn’t get the opener. In the second half they had more possession but we still looked a threat on the break. Then Flekken flapped at a cross that was going out for a goal kick - he could have caught it or let it go out but he decided to punch it. Then in the 58th minute there was a goalmouth scramble and he completely missed his punch and they scored only for VAR to rule it out for foul on him. Personally, it was his mistake and the goal should have stood. Then in the 64th minute after some very poor defending he bundled over one of their players in the penalty area (although I thought it was a very soft penalty and probably should not have been given) but he had no need to be anywhere near that player. They scored from the pen and we ended up losing 1-0. They did have another penalty given in the 81st minute for a Mbeumo handball but sensibly it was overruled by VAR. There was one incidence of Flekken being completely in the wrong position when he received a back pass, as though he was on a different planet and not concentrating on the game.
