By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
It was the most anticipated Manchester derby for many years
and it definitely lived up to the billing. An end-to-end contest which ended
with the blue half of the city celebrating once again at the Theatre of Dreams.
Manchester City’s 2-1 victory means Pep Guardiola has won this duel. We will
see come the end of the season how significant this victory is.
It is City’s fourth victory at Old Trafford in their last
six visits. Manchester United have only beaten them once on home soil since that
special Wayne Rooney bicycle kick in February 2011. Jose Mourinho will be
disappointed with his team’s overall performance, especially in the first 40
minutes as United dropped too deep and gave their neighbours too much time to
dictate the tempo.
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| Claudio Bravo had a shaky debut for Manchester City |
Despite all the glory that comes with a derby victory,
worries surely will be felt around City fans with the goalkeeping display of
Claudio Bravo (pictured). Chile’s no.1 goalkeeper made his PL debut on Saturday and it is
fair to say, it was a shaky beginning. His clanger gave the Red Devils a route
back into the match before half-time through Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
In the second half, Bravo’s distribution was poor and his
control in possession was rusty too, nearly being caught out at least twice by
an alert Rooney. Whilst Joe Hart’s debut for Torino on Sunday was far from
great either, it makes Guardiola’s decision to send the England goalkeeper out
of the door at Manchester City slightly more baffling.
Bravo is bound to improve but it wasn’t a bravo beginning
from the ex-Barcelona shot-stopper. He isn’t the only player who has had a bit
of a nightmare on his Premier League debut. Here are seven other examples from
down the years.
Garry
Flitcroft vs Everton (March 1996)
Defending champions Blackburn Rovers forked out £3m on
transfer deadline day in March 1996 to sign combative midfielder Garry
Flitcroft from relegation-threatened Manchester City. His debut against Everton
was to make the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
In the third minute, Flitcroft clashed with Duncan Ferguson
and was sent off. That means his debut fee was £1m for every minute he
featured! Blackburn lost the game 3-0 – the third time they’d lost to the
Toffees during the season.
His fortunes didn’t really improve after that. He was part
of the Blackburn squad that was relegated from the Premier League in 1999, just
four short seasons after they won the title. Not quite what he was hoping for
on the transfer.
Ali Dia vs
Leeds United (November 1996)
This is a name that probably still haunts Graeme Souness to
this day. In November 1996, Souness, then manager of Southampton, received a
phone call from someone who called himself George Weah. Believing it was the
actual Liberian footballer who had rang him, he received a tip to check out
this footballer who was his ‘cousin.’ The former Liverpool FC
midfielder fell for this embarrassing prank.
He was registered by the club on a one-month contract and
wore the no.33 shirt. He came off the bench during a home game with Leeds
United, replacing Saints icon Matt Le Tissier on 32 minutes. After 53 shambolic
minutes, he was replaced by Ken Monkou five minutes from the end. Le Tissier
later said: "He ran around the pitch like Bambi on ice; it was very
embarrassing to watch."
Southampton lost the game 2-0 and Dia was released 14 days
later. He would play only another eight more football matches and ended up
graduating with a business degree from Northumbria University. At least he had
some interesting stories to tell his study buddies!
Rio
Ferdinand vs Leicester City (December 2000)
In the early 2000s, Leeds United gambled to hit the big
time. It didn’t pay off. Rio Ferdinand joined the club in November 2000 from
West Ham United for £18m – becoming the most expensive defender in British
football at the time. His debut came a week later at Filbert Street against
Leicester City.
Leeds were struggling to juggle a Champions League and
Premier League tilt at the same time and it showed on a cold afternoon in
Leicestershire. Ferdinand received chants of ‘What a waste of money’ all
day and it looked like the Foxes’ fans were right. Leicester roared into a 3-0
lead inside 28 minutes and Rio looked lost and confused. It was an inconspicuous
start but fortunately, Ferdinand sparkled consistently afterwards and ended up
winning six Premier League titles in a glorious career but for Manchester
United, not Leeds.
At least he played well for the Yorkshire club after his
debut nightmare. Seth Johnson on the other hand…that’s another story.
Per Kroldrup
vs Aston Villa (December 2005)
Everton forked out £5m to Udinese in the summer of 2005 to
sign central defender Per Kroldrup. They sent Alan Stubbs packing to Sunderland
believing that Kroldrup was an upgrade on Stubbs, who was still a wily defender
even if he lacked outright pace.
Injury delayed Kroldrup’s debut until Boxing Day 2005. It
came at Aston Villa where Everton were desperate for a result after a 4-0 home
drubbing to Bolton Wanderers nine days earlier. Kroldrup had a stinker, looking
short of match fitness and was bullied all evening by Milan Baros.
Everton lost 4-0 for the second successive game and Kroldrup
disappeared into oblivion. He never played for the club again and Stubbs
arrived back at Goodison Park a month later. I think it is fair to say that Per
Kroldrup was a downgrade on Alan Stubbs!
Joe Cole
& Laurent Koscielny – Liverpool FC vs Arsenal (August 2010)
Liverpool FC and Arsenal met on the opening weekend of the
2010/2011 season and it wasn’t a debut day to remember for either Joe Cole or
Laurent Koscielny.
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| Martin Atkinson shows Joe Cole a red card on his LFC debut in 2010 |
Cole (pictured) received the first red card of his professional career
on the stroke of half-time for a dangerous lunge on the French defender. It was
not the start he hoped for at Anfield after leaving Chelsea that summer on a
free transfer.
Koscielny looked nervy all game too and he received two
cheap bookings which saw him head for an early shower just before the full-time
whistle. The second yellow came for a handball, stopping Fernando Torres from
breaking away on a Liverpool counter-attack in stoppage time. At least he has
shaken off those nerves to become one of the most accomplished central
defenders in the current Premier League crop.
For the record, the game ended 1-1 with David Ngog and Marouane
Chamakh scoring the goals.
Wayne
Bridge vs Arsenal (January 2011)
On his day, Wayne Bridge was among the best left-backs in
the country. Sadly, an off-field feud with former club teammate John Terry in
2010 is what he is often remembered for.
In January 2011, he had been frozen out by Roberto Mancini
at Manchester City and was sent out on-loan to West Ham United. Against
Arsenal, he looked anything like a world-class left-back on his Hammers’ debut.
He was easily skinned for the visitors’ first two goals and then conceded the
penalty for the third in Arsenal’s commanding 3-0 victory. Only Avram Grant’s
lack of job security probably kept Bridge away from serious criticism.
Things didn’t improve. West Ham were relegated and Wayne
Bridge would never play in the Premier League again after 2011.
Jan
Kirchhoff vs Tottenham Hotspur (January 2016)
Having joined from Bundesliga champions FC Bayern München,
Jan Kirchhoff was expected to impress straightaway at Sunderland. It is fair to
say his debut as a substitute at White Hart Lane in January 2016 was anything but
impressive.
Introduced in the 58th minute with the Black Cats
level in the game, he looked like a player who had not figured for Bayern
before his transfer. He didn’t have anything to do with Mousa Dembele’s goal
that put Tottenham infront but was culpable for the other two goals Sunderland
conceded.
First, his lazy leg deflected a Christian Eriksen shot past goalkeeper
Jordan Pickford, then a clumsy challenge on Danny Rose earned Tottenham a
spot-kick, which was converted by Harry Kane. It was a shocking debut for
Kirchhoff.
Fortunately, this was a one-off and he became an imperative
figure in Sam Allardyce’s side as Sunderland escaped relegation again last
season.
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