As part of our preview of the North West Derby, we look at some of the worst players to represent both clubs in recent history. Enjoy
Massimo Taibi
He made his premier league debut in this fixture and was named man of the match despite a gaffe that caused the opening goal. Nicknamed ‘the blind Venetian’ by British press. He spent one ill fated season in Manchester United’s first team before moving back to Italy first on loan and then permanently.
Aly Cissokho
He rarely seemed to know what he was doing, and had very little knowledge of tactics and formation. Shocking when out of possession and lost the pace to cover up for his lapses. Liverpool suffered whenever he was selected.
Kolo toure
Was well past his prime when he joined Liverpool, but still gave us more than a few moments of top class comedy and for that we are very grateful.
Tyler Blackett
After waiting a few years and loan spells for his Man Utd opportunity, he failed to repay the faith LVG showed in him. A string of below par performances, he was eventually dropped and loaned out in the forth coming seasons.
El Hadji Diouf
“He has one of the worst strike rates of any forward in Liverpool history…. He was always the last one to get picked in training”
Jamie Carragher
Senegal’s World Cup hero Diouf is arguably one of the worst players ever to represent Liverpool. After his signing in 2002, he enjoyed a good start scoring 2 goals on his Anfield debut but failed to score in the league again until March 2003. Infamous for a spitting incident against Celtic in the Uefa Cup game. He went the entire 2003/2004 season without scoring. Called time on his Liverpool disaster having scored 3 goals in 55 league games and 6 in 80 overall.
Eric Djemba Djemba
The opposite of Jay Jay Okocha, so BAD they named him twice. Unnecessarily aggressive and lacking tactical awareness, he was out of his depth at Man Utd and made 20 league appearances in 2 years.
Tom Cleverly
Had a bright start to his United career but his stock in the eye of United fans fell very suddenly and he was vilified for anything that went wrong. He was the poster boy for United’s catastrophic fall from grace and in 2014 a petition was raised by fans of English football to exclude him from the three lions squad for the summer’s World Cup.
Mario Balotelli.
He had a terrible time at Liverpool and it was mostly his own doing. His work ethic and attitude were questionable at Liverpool, and the gamble they took when they signed him did not pay off in any way. He was shipped off on loan to Ac Milan after 4 goals in 28 appearances that season before leaving permanently to Nice in France.
Andy Carroll
Liverpool spent a huge chunk of their Torres money on Carroll who they saw as a natural replacement for their goal merchant as Carroll himself had a decent Return Of goals for Newcastle FC, but he never really fit into the structure in place at Liverpool and subsequently struggled first for goals and then even for playing time. 2 years and 6 league goals later he moved on loan to West Ham and made the deal permanent a year later.
Memphis Depay
Depay is a very selfish player for someone in a team sport, he lacks fundamental decision making and has ultimately been unable to replicate his Eredivisie form for United since his signing in 2015.
Honourable Mentions
- Alberto Aquilani
- Paddy Mc Nair
- Lazar Markovic
- Luis Alberto
- Iago Aspas
- Rickie Lambert
- Stewart Downing
- Bebe
- Gabriel Obertan
- Dong Fangzhou
- Roy Carroll
- Radamel Falcao
- Diego Forlan
- Alberto Moreno
- Mahmadou Sakho
Article By: Ayoola Kelechi, @ayoola_kelechi
