Man Utd: Pochettino ‘powerless’ in ‘nest of vipers’ after replacing Carrick

Manchester United, Michael Carrick and Mauricio Pochettino continue to be the only real story in town.

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Pochettino has his work cut out at Man Utd
We’re on the verge of Carrick getting sacked, probably has been by the time anyone reads this and it’s all but certain that Pochettino is the next guy. That it’s still not confirmed is a tragedy in itself. Leaking stories that you’re going to sack a member of your team before actually doing the deed is disgusting, protracting the process and making him wait on his sentence is abhorrent. These cowardly functionaries have none of the dignity or respect Carrick has displayed during his tenure, their impudence matched only by their incompetence.

Pochettino is certainly walking into a nest of vipers, the difficulties he’s faced with the ownerships of Spurs, PSG, and Chelsea will be mere warm-ups in comparison. It’s a ridiculously difficult job to take on even at the best of times and might just be impossible under the current circumstances. Pochettino though is a good manager.

I don’t really get the ‘fraud’ type rhetoric I’ve seen over the past few days. I’ve never really been a fan of Pochettino and I can understand the sentiment that times may have moved on from his particular brand of football but he is quite obviously good at his job.

His Southampton side were good and punched above their weight, his Spurs side were very good and almost very successful. I don’t watch Ligue 1 but he was there 18 months and won the league and both domestic cups whilst managing absolutely massive egos. At Chelsea all I really remember is bafflement at his departure because he’d got them playing really well.

United though is like trying scale Everest with Sherpas that punch you in the face and push you back down the slope a few times a day. If he does well, and that need only be making United stable and competent, his stock will sore and will be back in consideration for the desirable managerial jobs again.

I wish him luck, he really will need it.
Dave, Manchester

…Everything Daniel said is absolutely correct. The way this whole shambles is being handled shows exactly what kind of a s*** show the club has become. Sir Jim and his band of godshites have really descended the club into the mire. They are a total and utter embarrassment.

Sir Jim should be at Carrington this morning holding a press conference. It’s obvious that the manager was going to be changed. Michael Carrick has been treated in a shocking manner. Sir Jim should be announcing that Mutt and Jeff (Berrada and Wilcox) were being dismissed. These two former City employees have done nothing good at United.

Sir Jim should be talking to Gary Neville and other proper United and football people with a view to getting the right people in to the executive positions.

United need the right people in these positions otherwise the descent into oblivion will continue. Pochettino will be powerless to prevent it from happening. Anyway he isn’t going to do any good with the present regime in place in my opinion.

United fans worldwide need to continue the campaign of protest at every level and at every opportunity they get. This must continue until al the Glazers and the INEOS deadwood are gone forever.

Of course this won’t happen in a hurry but unless it happens United are dead. Imagine that only three men have managed United to the 20 top league titles. Will we see the 21st in our lifetime?
Gerard (Dublin)

Not everybody is convinced by Pochettino
With the appointment of MoPo, Man U are now officially boring. 1-2 years of top 10 mediocrity. In the cups a brief semi is probably all MoPo can muster these days. Although some United fans will ‘dream big’ for a Carabao Cup or Conference league victory as the pinnacle of the MoPo year/s. You can’t call this rinse and repeat. 3 post Fergie managers have won trophies. MoPo won’t. He’s master of mediocrity.
Ben Teacher

Not everybody is blaming Man Utd for Carrick farce
Can I just test this universal consensus that United have treated Carrick badly. What exactly did they do?

They said nothing and had the man keep doing his job for a couple of days during the international break while they agreed a deal with his successor… what are other clubs doing differently in that situation?

It’s a little bit preposterous for news outlets to aggressively track down leaks, break the story before the club has announced anything, set up rolling breaking news feeds, send people to try and get pictures of Carrick going to training and then double-dip with an article about how unseemly it is that the club have put him in that position.

The club haven’t put him in that position, the toxic press has!

This is the same press that has been steadfastly been churning out made up stories about it for weeks now – incidentally, is it still neck-and-neck between Howe and Nagelsmann for the job or what? Mauricio who..?

It’s not great that David Ornstein can so easily get someone in the club to break ranks and leak but, being honest, there must be lots of people who knew. But the coverage in the last couple of days has been ridiculous. Of course United were getting rid of Carrick in this international break – they’d have been mad not to. Why not have him keep running training for a couple of days – someone has to, and he is being paid for it…

I’m not arguing against there being bigger issues than Carrick with the ownership and bad decision making – the club are a shambles. But on this point specifically, he clearly had to go and now has. I’m sad for him personally, but not with the decision to let him go or the manner in which the club handled it.
Andy (MUFC)

When were Man Utd’s transfers reframed?
Something that is bugging me at the moment is why has the view of United’s recent transfer business changed so suddenly? Just saw Neville on Sky moaning about the summer signings.

Last year the main signings were Lammens, Cunha, Mbuemo and Sesko. Obviously Sesko is more difficult to judge because injuries but he seemed to be coming good at the end of last season and I think the others have been largely solid and successful. Some might say we should be signing the best in Europe but that absolutely isn’t where we’re at currently so I think that window was a solid tick for me.

For this season main signings were Baleba, Tielemens and Santos. Baleba I think has looked great when he has played, Tielemens was seen as a real coup from Villa and although he has been poor I think there’s an argument there to say he hasn’t been used properly by Carrick so will hopefully come good and Santos I view as a squad player in the mould of your Phil Neville. Baleba is undoubtedly a good signing in a real problem position for us of late so again I would say pretty solid.

Of course we needed defenders and this is a massive oversight (how on Earth is Luke Shaw still first choice when fit?!?!) but my point is I think the players signed in the last 2 windows have been decent?
Mike Bean

It’s not all Wilcox’s fault, surely
I read Will Ford’s article headlined ‘Carrick asked Man Utd to sign £374m quartet this summer and none were delivered by Jason Wilcox’ which essentially lays the inability to recruit the players Carrick requested at Wilcox’s door and is basically just a f**king great big repost of something Henry Winter poster on Twitter.

Essentially, Winter says that one day ‘Sir Jim Ratcliffe will one day have to explain why Manchester United didn’t follow Michael Carrick’s recommendation’ to sign Elliot Anderson, Lewis Hall, Morgan Rogers & Mateus Fernades. He continues to imply that Wilcox wasted a load of money on other signings instead of signing the players Carrick wanted, because they would have been too expensive

What he doesn’t mention (because he probable doesn’t know and is speculating) is whether Wilcox tried sign them but they told him f*** off because Man Utd are a shambles and not attractive to ambitious players at present. This is of course not really Wilcox’s fault – it is his job to try and improve the situation but whether he is qualified to do so or not,again is not strictly his fault, as he didn’t employ himself! But Wilcox is clearly not the root of the problem.

Also, when did Henry Winter get demoted? Just a few weeks ago (I couldn’t be bothered finding the article) you were calling him an ‘insider’ but in today’s article he is just a ‘journalist’. Given that ‘insider’ implies someone in the employ of the organisation, perhaps he has never been an insider and F365 just use this term incorrectly – you use it for other people involved in speculation about transfers etc. (Romano and his ilk) who are not insiders in any real sense.

Anyway the whole Man Utd situation is hysterical as far as I am concerned!
A, LFC, Montreal

Better with Freddos
With the money United have spent on hiring and firing managers in the last 13 years, they could’ve bought every fan inside Old Trafford 3458 Cadburys Freddos. Probably less if you count the fans after the 80th minute. Just sayin’.
Si, LFC

Let’s stop kicking them now
I know it’s a tribal sport and with Man United currently in shambles, rival fans are falling over each other to scream “long may it continue”.

But wait a minute, when did it become acceptable to kick a man when he’s down. It used to be fun laughing at United and then it became pitiful. But now we’ve reached the point where a mob is cheering on as the Glazers strangle a Man (UTD) to death.

Come on now, don’t be like the poor whites in America who were fooled by Trump and told the People of Color and migrants are the problem. Meanwhile, the Billionaire Boyz Club slowly bleeds the country to death…long may it continue…
Muthama Gitonga, Nairobi Kenya

Arsenal spending a little uncomfortable
On October 7th, Arsenal announce a new deal for Mikel Arteta at £17m per year, making him the highest paid manager in the Premier League.

On October 14th, Arsenal made about 60 people redundant from their jobs. These people were largely administrative and catering, so let’s assume an average annual wage per person of £30k, so that’s £1.8m Arsenal have saved per year. Maybe £2m tops.

Today, news is circulating that Arsenal are confident of agreeing new contracts for Odegaard, Rice and Timber – three of the best players in the world in their position, and presumably with wages to reflect that.

It’s also looking likely that Arsenal are going to sign Antonio Nusa, one of the best young wingers in the world, for about £50m, with his wages on top. This is on top of having the biggest, deepest, most impressive squad the club has ever had. One that currently has two World Cup winners happy enough to be sat on the bench, picking up their impressive wages.

I don’t know. I’m a huge Arsenal fan, and I’m happy we’re the league champions, and I’m in awe at our brilliant squad, and Arteta absolutely deserves his wages. They all do. Being an Arsenal fan is fabulous at the moment, and will probably continue for the next five years. I think we can expect two or three more league titles before losing Arteta to Barcelona.

It just doesn’t sit well with me, the 60 redundancies, and the likelihood that there will be further redundancies in the future.
Dale May, Swindon Wengerite