16 Conclusions from Manchester United 2-0 Spurs: Frank sack, Romero sale, Carrick appointed | OneFootball

Manchester United continue to find beauty in simplicity under Michael Carrick, but Thomas Frank and Cristian Romero surely cannot carry on at Spurs.

The Spurs hoodoo is over and Manchester United have a firm grip on Champions League qualification.

But what of Frank and Romero’s futures in north London? It’s not looking great.

1) Prepare yourselves for three days of the most wild and tiresome haircut discourse involving Manchester United since Garth Crooks conquered his Paul Pogba obsession.

2) That is testament to the impact of Michael Carrick, whose simplification of a seemingly maddening equation continues to impress.

There are no square pegs in round holes, no-one crowbarred in with the system given precedence to the players. They have a sturdy defence, a reliable midfield and a productive attack, all being asked to do relatively straightforward things in front of a competent keeper.

They have had the composite parts to do this all season, but a coach who specifically chose not to. And that will never not be funny.

Yet even then, Darren Fletcher struggled to make sense of it in his winless pair of games, so Carrick deserves the utmost credit. Unfortunately, so do the bumbling suits who appointed him.

3) It is the first time since February 2024 that Manchester United have won four consecutive Premier League games. The scorers in a run which saw Wolves, West Ham, Aston Villa and Luton all vanquished were Marcus Rashford, Rasmus Hojlund, Scott McTominay, Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo.

More of them play for Napoli two years later than for Manchester United.

If Ruben Amorim had seen out January then Barcelona and Chelsea would have possessed more of those players than the Red Devils too.

But the Portuguese had to be sacked as much to release Mainoo from his baffling prison as to rescue the club’s performances, results and dignity.

Mainoo was brilliant again, creating more chances than any player bar the absurd Bruno Fernandes, having more touches than any player aside from the Butt and Scholes-silencing Lisandro Martinez, and just generally patrolling midfield with a quiet authority.

It is difficult not to watch him excel in a midfield two without wondering what the f*** the previous manager was thinking.

4) It is even tougher to watch Cristian Romero without wondering what the f*** he is thinking – even when his latest case of avoidable and self-destructive head loss is so predictable.

5) But it is very Spurs for their captain to rant on social media about their ‘unbelievable but true and disgraceful’ lack of available players, before proceeding to get sent off not even half an hour into their next fixture when the game was in the balance and the visitors had acquitted themselves well at Old Trafford.

He might struggle blaming the Lewis family for his upcoming four-match suspension, including a potentially ruinous north London derby.

Romero has long since been a liability and as justifiable as he and many others may feel his pop at the board was for the lack of January reinforcements to a threadbare squad, his words are frequently undermined by his actions.

And they make him far from irreplaceable. Spurs are not blessed with many particularly saleable assets, or at least players who can command a worthwhile enough fee to cash in on without the entire team falling in on itself.

Romero’s cons far outweigh his positives at this point; there are cheaper players out there whose ceilings might be lower, but at least their floors aren’t made of infuriating lava.

Spurs need reliability at this stage and their captain guarantees the opposite.

6) Thomas Frank was never likely to enter his post-match media duties holding aloft a bloody captain’s band on the disembodied arm of Romero. But of course he basically absolved the Argentinean of blame and insisted there were “no regrets” about making giving someone so consistently reckless and daft a leadership role.

“He’s apologised to his team-mates in the changing room. I think he’s one of the most important players,” Frank said, adding that “Cuti clearly tried to go for the ball. Unfortunately, the way the rules is, it’s then a red”.

That argument might wash in ordinary circumstances, but not when discussing someone who has been sent off more times than any other Premier League player in all competitions since making his debut.

It had far less to do with “the way the rules is”, and far more to do with a player who routinely breaks them and faces barely any consequence for doing so.

Again, Frank’s hands are tied slightly in terms of how he handles it publicly, but it is tough to envisage him coming down much harder on Romero behind the scenes. The controversy earlier in the week was “dealt with internally” and this felt like a child testing the boundaries of a weak parent even further to see what they can get away with.

7) And this press conference exchange after the defeat is exceptional.

Journalist: “It’s Romero’s fourth suspension of the season, you’ll lose him for four games and he’s close to a fifth suspension for yellow cards, how do you take out the recklessness while keeping the aggression?”

Frank: “I think if you look at how many red cards he has had, it’s not like he had that many throughout his career. You know, you play with passion and you play with aggression. And there’s a fine line when you do that.”

Journalist: “He’s got the most red cards of all Premier League players since he arrived at the club.”

Frank: “At the club? Yeah, but not in the Premier League.”

Journalist: “Of all Premier League players, I think.”

Frank: “Of Premier League players? OK, I didn’t know that.”

He does himself precisely no favours.

8) It changed the game. The shot count was seven to five in favour of the hosts by that point, with possession roughly equal and no clear better team emerging.

Spurs did not have another effort on goal until Xavi Simons whistled one just wide in the 57th minute – from a poor Luke Shaw pass with no team-mate within 20 yards of the Dutchman – and were a goal down soon after.

Yet only a clever set-piece routine broke down that Spurs low block before they felt compelled to open up and try to nick one on the counter in the final ten minutes.

Bruno Fernandes’ short corner found an intelligent Mainoo run parallel to the front post, with his pass around the shoulder seeking out Bryan Mbeumo on the edge of the area. The placed finish perfectly matched the two balls which preceded it.

It wasn’t Arsenal scoring from a header so there need be no crisis declared about the state of the sport. But it was wonderful, and further proof that the most effective way of breaching a defence lies in those moves which can be devised and perfected to mimic actual in-game situations most accurately on the training ground, and are almost certain to happen a handful of times across any match.

It is a damning indictment on any team which chooses not to try and maximise them.

9) There is some sympathy for Frank, who was let down so thoroughly by his captain after half an hour, then made a triple substitution to bring on two forwards and a Yves Bissouma for the final ten minutes, before conceding a second almost instantly.

Mathys Tel even ranked joint-second for dribbles behind Simons, while conjuring up only Spurs’ second shot with ten men in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

They had a man advantage for an hour and were playing at home to relegation fodder but Manchester United seeing that result out so smoothly felt deeply unsettling. It is only 75 days since they lost in similar conditions.

10) Frank might even try and spin some vindication from this, considering known transfer target and former Brentford favourite Mbeumo has scored against Spurs home and away while thriving on a bigger stage.

Antoine Semenyo is another who got away – having never felt particularly close. They are flourishing but have also been given the platform and framework in which to do so; Spurs have neither that attacking structure nor individual quality currently.

11) The game state was obviously skewed but this was Carrick’s first win as a Premier League manager with more than 50 per cent possession. He has overseen two bouts of late drama against Arsenal and Fulham, a deserved rope-a-dope victory over Manchester City and now a consummately professional dispatching of Spurs.

12) Souza seemed bright on his Premier League debut, despite the slightly sub-optimal circumstances. He will have to be, considering Destiny Udogie succumbed to injury and joined Djed Spence on the sidelines to further deplete Spurs’ stock of left-backs.

He should do well in the Championship anyway.

13) Frank has not reached for the ‘Spurs finished 17th last season’ button for some time, perhaps realising the futility when he has them in 14th and can hardly recycle domestic failure into European glory the same way Ange Postecoglou did.

But this is a relegation battle. Spurs are level on points with Crystal Palace and Leeds, three clear of Nottingham Forest and only six above West Ham. They cannot win at home, have not won in the league this year, and neither their manager nor the players seem to possess the mentality or skillset necessary for what lies ahead.

Even in keeping Brentford up – a remarkable achievement, to be sure – Frank never really had them in a position of genuine danger. The Bees never ended a single Premier League matchday in a position lower than 16th under him; Spurs are spiralling that far down and very possibly further.

14) Fernandes is an interesting case study to consider when it comes to Romero.

There have been at least a couple of calls for the Portuguese to be stripped of the Manchester United captaincy over the years. His petulance can be enraging and his demeanour exasperating.

Fernandes became a burden last season with three red cards, including in a defeat to Spurs.

Yet he has been phenomenal for months and, really, with a handful of exceptions, years. He will still self-sabotage at times – although that tendency has certainly been less prevalent of late – but what he brings to the team far outstrips what he is capable of taking away.

His finish to make it 2-0 and end the game as a contest was glorious improvisation from a player at his peak. Fernandes has six goals and 13 assists this season, and tore Spurs to shreds with eight shots and six key passes here – the most by a player in a single Premier League game since October 2024.

15) As far as rallying cries go, “We can’t run away from [the fact] we haven’t won enough in the Premier League. But there is no other alternative than keep going, which we will do, of course,” is a generational effort from Frank.

They host Newcastle on Tuesday, a team almost as awful away as Spurs are at home in a true meeting of resistible force and moveable object.

Then after that it’s Arsenal, and the prospect of the Gunners celebrating another victory en route to the Premier League title with a 90-minute chant of “Arsenal boys, we’re on a bender, Thomas Frank is a silver member”.

Sacking him before then won’t stop that, but it might be the kindest thing to do.

16) Manchester United have lost one of their last 13 Premier League games and are three points off title challengers Aston Villa. What an absurd season they have had.