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Super Saturday: Three Points from the Opening Day of Premier League Action!

By on August 13, 2016

The 2016/17 Premier League season has arrived, with fixtures set to come as thick and fast as medals for Team GB on another type of Super Saturday. A new campaign has already thrown up a few talking points and left a tale of two Cities topping the table after the first day of matches. Richard Lewis analyzes three points (which is what every new manager desires!) from the first day of English top-flight games:

Pep leaves Joe with a Broken Hart!

Pep Guardiola has won even more than Sir Bradley Wiggins in his career, but the Spaniard Super coach showed no Hart on his dugout debut at the Etihad. Manchester City started life under the former Bayern Munich manager with a tricky test against Sunderland with David Moyes returning to Manchester as the Blacks Cats’ boss. The most shocking story to come from Eastlands arrived before kickoff, as the team-sheets revealed England number one Joe Hart had been dropped by the tiki-taka tactician. Guardiola selected thirty-four-year-old goalkeeper Willy Caballero for the encounter with the Mackems, as it is perceived the Argentine is better with his feet than twenty-nine-year-old Hart. It is essential for a number one to be confident to play out from the back in any Guardiola side, while Hart hardly had an endearing Euros for his country two months ago.

It seems Hart-less to axe a player who has been part of the first team for so long, but Guardiola has already proved not to carry any extra weight, with pizzas banned and Samir Nasri made to train with the reserves because he represented a body double of ‘Robel the Whale’ at his pre-season training return. Players will be picked on form and not loyalty, which is why Guardiola is the best and other managers are not as decorated as Michael Phelps at the top of a Selfridges Christmas Tree.

During a pre-season penalty shoot-out victory over Borussia Dortmund, youngster Angus Gunn played for City and made the all-important saves from twelve yards. Gunn is a twenty-year-old, who claimed earlier in the summer he wants to remain with the Sky Blues and fight for his place in the first team, with the number 88 being the son of legendary Norwich shot-stopper Bryan Gunn. The young Gunn could depart on loan, but showed his quality to the new man in charge during pre-season in China.

However, it may not be Caballero, Gunn or Hart whom Guardiola truly wants between the sticks, with Barcelona’s German goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen linked with a move to the blue half of Manchester. Ter Stegen is the closest City will get to Manuel Neuer, who would not be for sale by Bayern at any price, but Barca does have the highly capable Claudio Bravo to come in. Hart has a lot to prove to his two new managers, as since England stopped beating Iceland, he has been benched for the opening game of the season.

There was some good news for Guardiola, as his luck was in for City’s opening game, with a penalty and own goal sealing the three points against Sunderland. Sergio Agüero scored from the spot after four minutes to set the Sky Blues on their way after England winger Raheem Sterling was fouled by Dutch full-back Patrick Van Aanholt. However, David Moyes saw his Sunderland squad get back into the game when English striker Jermain Defoe equalized on seventy-one minutes. But, the win was City’s when Paddy McNair had to face up to the fact he scored an own goal on his debut. McNair only joined from Manchester United during the week and the Northern Irish international turned into his own net in the eighty-seventh minute from a Jesus Navas cross, after coming on as a substitute.

Donald Love and Adnan Januzaj also had their first taste of action in the Red and White stripes, but it was just not quite enough against a team giving debuts to Nolito and £47.5 million defender John Stones. The twenty-year-old £37 million German signing Leroy Sane missed the match with an injury. If Sunderland play like they did in the City defeat, they should avoid relegation trouble this season, but Man City need to add more punch to compete with the big boys, as they can not always rely on lucky own goals and the form of Fernandinho.

Hull are Phelan good!

Who would have predicted a team with only eleven fit outfield players would become the first side ever to beat the defending league champions in the opening round of fixtures? After a difficult summer of players and the manager departing, Hull were the favorites for relegation at the start of this campaign, but the Tigers were Phelan good when the caretaker boss sent them soaring to the top of the league. Former Man Utd assistant Mike Phelan is in temporary charge of the Yorkshire club, with Steve Bruce departing last month and no significant summer signings coming in. However, anything can happen in the Premier League, as goals from Adama Diomande and Robert Snodgrass gave the team who finished fourth in the second tier in May victory over the team who topped the best division in the world in the same month.

Leicester only lost three league games in the whole of the last campaign but have already suffered defeat to Man Utd in the Community Shield and now to the unfancied Tigers. Rumoured Arsenal target Riyad Mahrez scored a consolation penalty for Claudio Ranieri’s men, but the Foxes were missing Robert Huth through suspension and have lost N’Golo Kante during the off-season. Hull are currently joint top with Man City, with there being about £150 million in difference in terms of transfer outlay between the two sides this summer. Leicester will have a difficult task defending their title if they can not overcome a team with several youngsters propping up the bench. The good Phelan of a first win may not last long for the Tigers, who could still become an endangered species in the top flight if they do not get some more bodies in soon.

Foxes’ captain Wes Morgan called this game a ‘reality check’ for the players, as they have now become a scalp for sides like Hull. Austria defender Christian Fuchs picked up the first yellow card of the 2016/17 season – which is one stat to note down for those end of year football quizzes. Tigers midfielder Tom Huddlestone may not be going out with Taylor Swift, but will be hoping he gets The Right Manager in the KCOM Stadium soon, as there were still banners from the fans about the way the club is being run by owner Assam Allam.

Gary gets his Kit Off!

The new Premier League season kicked off as a certain Leicester fan got his kit off, with Gary Lineker dressed like bronzed medallist Tom Daley at the end of an Olympic diving board on the first Match of the Day of the 2016/17 campaign. The former England striker donned only a pair of Foxes boxer shorts for the first part of the BBC football highlights show, as a fully dressed Alan Shearer and Ian Wright were his synchronized pundit partners. Gary Lineker was not quite as tightly fitted as Tom Daley, but there is about 30 years age difference between the British diver in Rio and the crisp loving presenter in Salford.

The famous Foxes fan got his kit back on during the highlights of Man City versus Sunderland, but he would still have received his first ever booking for taking his shirt off. Former fist throwing politician John Prescott tweeted Lineker about Leicester’s defeat to newly promoted Hull before he stripped off for the opening of MOTD. On the day of the athletics heating up at the Olympics, Lineker will be hoping Claudio Ranieri’s men can get back on Track with better performances on the football Field when his clothes are permanently returned to his body.

Homepage photo credit: Football.ua [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

About Richard Lewis

Richard Lewis can relate almost anything to football and quite often does! You may have seen Richard's previous ideas and work in the BBC Match of the Day Magazine, from 2011 to present. He is a Manchester United and England fan, but has gone to see Leyton Orient play with his O's season ticket in the 2013/14 campaign. Aside from football, Richard has written articles on Doctor Who and studies English Language and Linguistics at the University of Westminster. Aspiring sports journalist.