Why beating Roma is bad news for Carrick and playing cr*p in Prague shows Arteta genius

There’s an eerie omen and spooky similarity that spells trouble for Michael Carrick, while Arsenal playing badly is now ‘genius’ and headline housery has returned.

We feel a lot better about that last bit especially. It was disconcerting to see such an open goal missed yesterday.

Don’t call it a comeback
Even the good nights are bad news for Michael Carrick these days. The Sun bring grim tidings.

CARN’T BELIEVE IT How Man Utd’s 3-2 comeback win over Roma could be BAD news for Michael Carrick as eerie omen emerges

Hit us with it.

DESPITE the jubilation of Manchester United’s 3-2 comeback win against Roma on Tuesday night, it could be the worst thing to happen to Michael Carrick.

Two previous Old Trafford managers were given the sack shortly after spookily similar European fightbacks.

We’re still going to go ahead and say the nine games that United didn’t win are worse than the one they did, but what have you got?

Firstly, cast your mind back to October 2018 when Jose Mourinho was at the helm.

With pressure mounting, his side fought back from 2-0 down against Newcastle to win 3-2 and save the Special One’s skin.

However, just 12 days later it was judgement day for Mourinho, who was dismissed after two-and-a-half years following a defeat to Liverpool.

Not sure how a Premier League game against Newcastle qualifies as a ‘spookily similar European’ fightback, but that’s nit-picking.

What’s the other one, like we don’t already know?

Fast forward to October 2021 when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was at the wheel.

Solskjaer’s United trailed 2-0 to Atalanta before an inspired turnaround temporarily rescued the manager.

The United legend’s side were hammered 5-0 by Liverpool days later, and he limped on for another month before getting the boot.

Seems to us that the good news for Carrick is that the next game isn’t against Liverpool.

And call Mediawatch a churlish old spoilsport if you must, but we’d argue that the eerie omen is less the ‘coming back from 2-0 down to win 3-2’ than the fact Mourinho’s Newcastle win was his only one in seven games that included going out of the League Cup at home to Derby, while Solskjaer’s actual European comeback win against Atalanta was in the midst of a six-match Premier League run that included 4-2 and 5-0 defeats to Leicester and Liverpool and a solitary win in El Sackico against Nuno’s Spurs.

It’s almost – almost – like it’s all the games all three United sides keep losing around the heroic 3-2 wins that are the more significant factor in United managers getting binned at some time after said heroic 3-2 wins.

The eerie omen and spooky similarity linking all three of those United teams just before the manager paid the inevitable price is that they were, to use a technical term, complete f*cking sh*t.

Tell-tale signs
Some top-tier noticing of things from the Daily Mirror’s man in Prague on Wednesday night.

GYOK AND ROLL! Arteta’s telling reaction as Madueke and Gyokeres score before Arsenal hang on to secure Slavia Prague victory.

And what was that telling reaction in full?

Arteta was jumping for joy when he saw Gyokeres double the Arsenal lead, with his faith in his striker unwavering. The Arsenal boss has continued to public back the former Sporting Lisbon, and rarely has he celebrated a second goal in a relatively routine game with such excitement.

Ah yes, if there’s one thing Arteta is famous for other than having no hair and despising the idea of playing silly little tricks on his players for stupid mind-game reasons, it’s almost always remaining calm and stationary and safely tucked away in his technical area during Arsenal’s games.

Half measures
Arsenal’s excellence in the first half in Prague was not matched by the second, and they ended up having to cling on for the points against a much-improved Slavia after the break.

Mikel Arteta himself had this to say:

“First half we played really, really well. We created a lot of chances and could have scored more but the second half was completely different.

“They stepped up a gear and made it difficult for us and we have to learn from it. Delighted with the win but a lot of things to improve going forward.

“Maybe they started pressing a bit higher with more intensity. We had too many giveaways especially in the final third. There was too much running from box to box and we have to manage those reactions and go for the third and fourth goal.”

So he might be a touch surprised to discover that his and Arsenal’s second-half were in fact ‘genius’ according to the big brains at the Daily Star.

…what Mikel Arteta did at half-time speaks volumes for how he is looking to manage the season.

Certainly far more important volumes than the actual speaking he did about the second half being crap, that’s for sure.

And with his side cruising 2-0 at the break, Arteta changed tactics – the goal now seemed to be conserve energy for upcoming matches, and it could prove to be pivotal come May.

Arsenal, along with just about every other major club, have a packed schedule this season – and when you add that to the World Cup players can became overworked very easily.

Arteta, using this chance to almost move away from high octane football was a stroke of genius. It wasn’t entertaining – but it didn’t need to be, Arteta just wanted his players fresh.

It wasn’t entertaining or a stroke of genius – but it didn’t need to be.

And ‘move away from high octane football’? Rather begs the question, when did Arsenal move towards it?

Sometimes teams just don’t play brilliantly all the time. Sometimes they just play a bit crap for a bit during a game, or – heaven forbid – the other team plays a bit better for a while. Sometimes – and we really can’t believe we’re telling the Daily Star this – it really isn’t that deep.

United front
You’ll recall from yesterday’s Mediawatch how we damn near fell off our chair when The Sun didn’t accept the easiest of tap-ins presented by INEOS-owned Lausanne sacking their manager a few months after giving him the job.

We’re delighted to report that just a few hours later the Daily Express came along and absolutely smashed it home.

Man Utd owners INEOS sack manager as official statement released

And across the Reach housery desk, the Daily Star went one better.

Man Utd owners INEOS sack manager as Sir Jim Ratcliffe ‘looks to sell club’

Nature is healing.

Double-and-triple-check headline of the day
From The Sun:

TOP CUN: Man Utd maverick Matheus Cunha is natural heir to Bruno Fernandes’ throne – he should replace him sooner than later

Maybe not everyone else has quite the same muscle memory as Mediawatch after typing CUN but it still seems a big gamble.

In other news, good to see an old Samuel Luckhurst favourite in his reasoning for why Cunha should be United’s TOP CUN (now we’re gambling unnecessarily).

Don’t be fooled by Cunha claiming he was ‘anxious’ during his CBS post-match interview. He is a dream of a talker and rivals Bruno Fernandes for the most quotable in the United dressing room.

Mediawatch will never, ever tire of chuckling at how much journalists think this kind of thing matters in any assessment of any player. Luckhurst, for instance, has put it in the second paragraph, above any reference to Cunha’s actual football ability. The ultimate Spoke Well, I Thought commendation.