That Michael Carrick is still Manchester United manager on Thursday morning is disgusting; nobody should be treated like that.
We also have thoughts on Liverpool, Arsenal and Danny Kelly. Send your mails on all subjects to theeditor@football365.com
Farewell Carrick, we never deserved you
As it appears increasingly like Carrick will be sacked today I feel compelled to put some thoughts to email.
First things first I think that Carrick needs to go. We are in a relegation battle and I think that Carrick is not the man to turn things around; I think he’s lost a squad and they don’t believe in his methods or Tactics or set up and that is an untenable position for a manager.
Whatever you think of these players no player or person is going to perform their best doing a task they don’t believe in for someone they don’t believe in. That is the role of a manager and at the moment Carrick is failing that.
With this said I don’t at all believe that this is entirely Carrick’s fault, Carrick has been dealt a bad hand that he’s played in the worst possible manner. The club itself is a clown show; the Glazers are parasites and Ineos are a brain disease. They keep on making terrible decisions and then it’s up to the next manager to try to pick up the pieces which has created a Frankenstein squad which is not geared to play in any one style so plays in whatever style adequately which is not good enough at this level.
A better board would have put in place a director or football who would have been able to keep some continuity despite the changes of management but that is not this club.
What is truly shocking to me is how the club has treated Michael Carrick and I really shouldn’t be surprised considering the way that they have treated many other members of staff from those that they did not stump up the money to pay for their travel to the FA Cup final while leadership took chauffeured cars, to those whose lunches they took away, to the infamous Bomb Squad which I don’t believe was entirely Amorim, to their shameful treatment of David De Gea.
There is a way to go about sacking someone and this is not it. Forget that Carrick will always be a club legend, any staff member deserves to find out they are being let go of first. Not through the media or from a mate but from the person that makes the decision. So as much as I felt like Carrick had to go, I wish it had been handled better because he deserved better.
If we are determined to be sh*te, can we at least not be a bunch of c*nts?
Daniel, Cambridge
READ: Carrick sack follows Van Gaal, Hughes, Gullit farces in Premier League
It’s Groundhog Day for Man Utd
It’s horrible to hear from the media that you are about to be sacked as manager and the club is already finalizing a deal with your replacement, but I doubt you’ll hear tabloids talking much about the plight of Pierre Sage. For Man United though, you’ll have ten articles before lunch.
This constant media barrage is a major reason behind our slump. Any new manager can’t lose a couple of games without the sky falling apart. Every new signing needs to hit the ground running or is deemed a failure. Nice stepover young academy lad, but did you see what Yamal is doing. The media never bothers to consider the pressure they put on players and the coaches, coz Fergie was so great we won every match 8-2. And I also include Goldbridge, Neville and all YouTube influencers in this nest of interwoven click hungry sycophants fighting to be the loudest and the angriest.
I mean City has just been found guilty of a billion dollar, decade long scam, impacting clubs up and down the chain who lost hundreds of millions in prize money but oh no United lost to Bournemouth in embarrassing fashion (happens every year btw). Let’s talk about the crisis in red Manchester then.
Carragher knew when he said that (even relegation threatened) Man United can’t lose to Barca 3-0 and let it be an afterthought like it is for Villa. The average fan also knows this and that is why you see Carrick getting applauded, and Ten Hag having support after the FA Cup final.
Sadly though with 427 million fans and 428 million haters, the Man United click titanic is too big a ship to turn around. And so forth we rush into every huge iceberg on the way. Today is Groundhog day.
Gaurav MUFC Amsterdam (City will get away with cheating because we were busy with the Monaco meeting)
Pochettino needs patience
As one who has followed the USMNT for more years than I care to count, I’ll always be grateful to Mauricio Pochettino for that performance against Paraguay in the most recent World Cup. To the rest of the world it may have looked like “hey, these guys are pretty good,” but to longtime USMNT fans it looked like the football of the gods. No one had ever seen anything remotely like it. I guess it was unrepeatable, and we all know how the team exited the tournament, but I’m glad I lived to see it.
I think he’s a decent shout for Manchester United, assuming they’re patient with him (no snickering in the back). He knows how to develop young players, and offers a good balance of tactical nous and man management. I don’t know what he’s got left in the tank as a club manager, but he has a high ceiling, and that’s all you can ask for at this point. I wish him success at United, as long as the Glazers and Jim Ratcliffe are gone by the time it happens.
In any case, his delirious “Thank you, football!” after Spurs beat Ajax remains one of the great moments in sports history. (Unfortunately only the later, calmer version seems preserved on the Web.)
Peter G, Pennsylvania, USA
READ: How Man Utd spent over £100m on hiring and firing managers between Ferguson and Pochettino
Not convinced by Iraola’s Liverpool
Ten games in, Andoni Iraola has exactly as many points as Arne Slot did. We changed the manager, spent a fortune and ended up in the same place.
Then there’s Selhurst Park. Crystal Palace, bottom of the league, spent the afternoon using Alisson for shooting practice. We escaped because of Isak’s purple patch. If he ever cools off, Iraola might have to open his 1-page tactics folder.
What’s our game-plan? Winger runs very fast, crosses. Defender forgets how to defend. Isak taps it in. Where are the quick combinations? The reverse runs? The pass that takes three defenders out of the game? The only people we regularly catch by surprise are our own midfielders.
We’ve handed Iraola Isak, Barcola and Wirtz. Where was this chequebook when Klopp was here? I wonder if he’d have stayed if we’d backed him like this. Man gets Arthur fecking Melo.
Iraola – not for me. His two season contract sounds very sensible now. He is an Oliver Glasner-level manager.
But things are looking up. If the Bezos and Amit Bhatia whispers are true, the next five years we could have a squad to rival Real Madrid or PSG.
Up the Reds.
Vinnie Pee
An Arsenal fan spends a lot of time saying Rice is pretty good
It’s International break.
So let’s compare Declan Rice’s league goals to some of the other all time great CMFs
Nedved: 7,2,5,6,9,4 – consistently good, but never double digits.
Seedorf: never scored more than 7 league goals for Real, Inter, AC (avg 4 per season)
Davids: In his peak/prime never scored more than 2 league goals.
Vidal: 8,3,6,4,4,7 (2 pens),11 (2 pens),10 (5 pens) – v.good GS incl pens.
Pirlo: best 9 league goals in 02-03. (avg 3.5 G ps since 01)
Casemiro: 9 goals for man u best season. (prev 10yr avg 3 GS ps)
Essien: Avg 3 GS per season
Xavi: Avg 3.75 GS per season.
Alonso: Avg 2 GS per season.
Kroos: 2.5 GS per season (Bayern and Real)
Gerrard: 9,13,10,5,4,9,16,11,7 – incredible
Lampard: 10 straight years of 10+ goals – insane
Virera: Avg 3.3 GS per season in his best 10 years for Ars and Juve.
and finally
Rice: 4,4,7 for Arsenal (avg 5 per full season in league)
Lamps and Gerrard are two of the best MF in EPL ever, and Both (specially Lampard) were played in much more attacking role consistently. Along with Modric, Iniesta, Kaka, Zidane, Scholes etc Didn’t bother comparing records of more classic DMs like Keane, Makelele, Kante, Busquets etc.
The point is that Rice’s GS record is better than most of the CMF greats. And his impact on the defensive is equally as good as the best DMs and a huge part of Arsenals defensive structure. Could he score more? yeah. Is he ever gonna give you Lampard numbers? No of course not.
Also lets not forget Rice also has 20 league assists in his first 3 full years at Arsenal too.
Conclusion: Maybe not half price as the chant goes, but worth every penny.
Hats
RIP Danny Kelly
Two things to mention. Firstly, RIP Danny. You were a magnificent broadcaster (regardless of your preferred team!) and without you, I’d likely not be submitting this email.
Secondly, although I am no fan of RHT/TS x and his constant Arsenal baiting, I was moved by his message. My mother died of esophageal cancer, so I can appreciate the situation a little.
My sympathy goes to all suffering from this illness or to those who have lost a loved one because of it.
We’ll always have football and opinions though, eh? Much of that is thanks to Danny.
Stu – Gooner in France
…Other than my family, Football365 has been the only constant in my life over the past 20+ years. Thank you Danny Kelly. RIP
Zdravko
