The Dutchman will seek to bring warmth and coherence to an ailing celebrity club – it would be hard work for any managerWelcome to Manchester, Erik. We’ve been expecting you. Here it comes at last, the latest rummage, the latest mystery gift from the Manchester United managerial lucky dip.There is a game you can play with the managerial appointments of the post-Ferguson years. This is an appointment process so refined it has, to date, dished up five random, ill-fitting, hilariously oscillating selections in the course of the past decade. Continue reading...
We look at five significant matters the new manager must tackle, including the areas where signings are most urgentThe big and loaded question: can the manager actually wield enough influence over the beast that is Manchester United to do it his way? This is a chicken-egg conundrum because winning games and trophies convinces players and the executive but conviction is required from players and the executive for the manager to have his decisions backed and to be a winning No 1. Then there is the club’s particular byzantine brew of politics and peccadilloes. At United Richard Arnold is the chief executive but the real finger on the button is across the Atlantic. And there are six: one for each of...
While his fellow No 6 Paul Pogba limped off, the Spain international left Anfield drooling with his midfield masterclassAn aggregate score of 9‑0 this season is a fair representation of Liverpool’s superiority over Manchester United and the highest number of goals they have scored against their old rivals in a single campaign since 1895‑96, when United were known as Newton Heath. The tale of the two No 6s on display at Anfield encapsulated why such a chasm exists.In the United No 6 was Paul Pogba, an expensive, richly rewarded asset who lasted 10 minutes before limping off injured, perhaps never to be seen playing for the club again before leaving on a free transfer this summer. Continue reading...
As they travel to Anfield with another managerial appointment imminent, United have much to do to compete at the very top againIt is a mark of what a sorrowful environment Manchester United has become, a place of mournful noises, clanking chains, shouts through the wall, that the only idea to have met with near-unanimous approval in the past few months was the prospect of bulldozing Old Trafford into the ground and starting over.There are at least some notes of comfort before the Premier League meeting with Liverpool on Tuesday night. First, the game is at Anfield, where United players being jeered by the crowd represents a return to everyday normality. And second, there has been something comforting of late in...
Liverpool are getting recruitment right, Newcastle have a new hero in Bruno Guimarães and Christian Eriksen can get betterIn the summer of 2020, Liverpool were big favourites to sign Timo Werner from RB Leipzig before the move fell through when Jürgen Klopp could not assure his fellow German of regular first-team football. Liverpool fans have spent the last couple of seasons relieved that the striker chose Chelsea instead, his numbers way down on what they were in the Bundesliga. Werner remains a maddening but intriguing presence. Watch the denouement of the FA Cup semi-final. In the final 10 minutes, he overruns the ball to ruin a fast break, has the energy to get back and halt a Palace counterattack, is...