Carrick sack deserved after red flag Man Utd comments in pre-season | OneFootball

Manchester United players are just standing around and look ‘bang average’. Things are getting no better under Michael Carrick.

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com

Sack Carrick for this Man Utd mess I’ve maintained my sanity over the last few years as a United fan by simply not paying for the sports channels. It just didn’t make sense to pay money to watch something that I knew was going to p*** me off.

I ordered them last month. I wasn’t jumping for joy with Carrick’s appointment but he did very well last season. He beat all the big teams and his players scored goals. I thought it might not work out but at least I’ll enjoy watching them because it won’t be for the want of trying if they don’t hit the same heights.

I feel hoodwinked. If it wasn’t for the 12 month contract, I’d get rid of the channels again tomorrow. Tielemans did an interview just before the season started and talked about the focus on ball work and lack of fitness training. You can see it. Literally standing still in every game. What the f***?

I’d sack Carrick just for that Sesko situation against Brighton during the week. Clean through on goal and practically stops dead to look around. He didn’t know what to do. Not sure I’ve seen anything like that before and it was clearly down to terrible coaching as far as I’m concerned. That was a man trying to remember and process unclear or convoluted instructions. A 70mill striker in a well coached team keeps going till he hears the whistle.

I can’t get over the lack of running. Does Carrick think he’s the next Pep? And I can see what the Boro fans were talking about with the late subs. Nearly 15 minutes between conceding on the hour mark and making a change. Did he not have a plan in place for going behind, no?

Ineos, please stop worrying about losing face again and just do the right thing please. This is legit the worst it’s been since Ferguson. Eamonn, Dublin

…The Man United vs Fulham game was very entertaining in a lower table clash kind of way. Two equal teams are having a go at each other and its anybody’s guess who will win on the day.

That is the problem. Man United plays and looks like a mid-table team. Watching a midfield pair of Mason Mount and Tielemans try get us back into the game left we feeling hopelessness.

We are not winning anything this season and anybody who thinks we will is delusional. We are bang average and our coach is also bang average. I get why JJ Gabriel left. Why would a player like him want to play for a bang average mid table team!

Hopefully we still make Champions League places so that we can court Fabregas as our long-term coach. Keep Kobbie, Cunha, Mbeumo, Sesko, Baleba, Dorgu, Lammens, Yoro and sell everybody else. Manc In SA (Still don’t get the point of Tielemans)

What’s changed at Man Utd? Really what excuse Carrick has for this poor form? I saw some United journalist said something like United had a poor start to the season for a past couple of years and therefore it’s alright! But I don’t think that’s really a good excuse. Last year we could chuck it up to Amorim trying to implement his system and it did get actually better. The year before that… well anyone could see Ten Hag should have been sacked that summer except for some of these United journalists.

Anyway, United finished last season on a high and they did make some strong additions so why again it’s a downward trajectory instead of an upward one? What has changed?

Casemiro’s left, sure but he was 34 and really not that good. I mean he shouldn’t be missed so much; he wasn’t exactly the star of the league. There are 3 new midfielders.

Maybe Rashford being back? It does look like he and Cunha step on each other’s toes all the time and are like a pair of step-siblings. Doesn’t Rashford look like a portrait of failure? Teen star who made such big deal of being in Great Barcelona, only to being burned and back where he started and was not wanted? Optics do not look good; maybe that alone can bring down the mood. Rashford’s way of trying to just show up and do a bare minimum [we’ve all been on that kinda job] certainly won’t help.

My point is there are really no excuses for being this pants. Maybe Baleba will fix some things. Probably not; he can’t add much when almost everyone is acting like they prefer to be anywhere else but on the pitch.

Maybe this will make United rethink their transfer strategy? Why can’t they sign Chema Anders or Mamadou Sangare? all these great sporting directors and what not just for signing names I know too? Isn’t unearthing good talents part of their job.

Maybe there’s no need to worry for the United poor form when you consider past seasons; but you know how it got better last year? that’s right. By sacking the manager! Karen Asad

Tielemans is not Casemiro I’m writing this at half time in the Fulham v United game. United’s performance has been as dire as I expected at the start of the game. I know that a lot of people are already baying for Carrick’s head. But I want to point towards something else.

Last season the thing that Carrick was praised for when he took over Amorim’s muddle, was the simple act of round pegs in round holes. Just sorting out the team and putting people in their right positions got them playing 50% better. And yet, through a combination of chance and transfer strategy, we’re back to blatantly square pegs in those round holes.

I was as excited as everybody else when Tielemans joined, but I honestly thought he was going to be an option for Bruno – brought on in the last 20 mins and used in cup games. I absolutely did not think he would be partnering Mainoo at the base of the defence. He has vision and technique but absolutely not the fitness and athleticism for that role. If you think about the back 6 at United, we are essentially playing the same team as last season except that Casemiro has been replaced by Tielemans. In what world would that work? It’s no wonder we’re back to conceding the most number of shots on goal. Fulham must have had half a dozen good chances already.

I also thought Rashford’s staying could be a good thing. But equally, I thought he would be a good player to bring on against tired defences and to exploit the spaces when the opposition was chasing the game, and not our default starting option. Rashford’s performance is more complex to analyse – he ‘looks’ good on the ball, and is not shying away from the defensive work. But his chemistry with his team mates – even Bruno – is weak at best. And his positioning when the opposition has the ball still shows the signs of a player who isn’t quite switched on in the game.

So what should Carrick and co do?

I suspect, for all his shortcomings, United should try to bed in Andrey Santos rather than persist with the Tielemans-Mainoo model. Santos has had 2 rough games, but we now know that both Hull and Brighton are better than they were given credit for. And let’s hope Baleba is fit soon, and that he recovers his 24-25 form. Playing without a proper DM makes us as robust as wet newspaper. Until then, perhaps Bruno should play deeper – he has the legs to cover the ground and make ball recoveries. In fact, until we have Baleba bedded in, United should switch to playing in a compact shape and hitting teams on the break.

We absolutely need Amad back because Mbuemo is wasted on the right wing. He is at this point the most potent goal threat. I’d rather see Lacey on the right, with Mbuemo down the middle. Which would have Cunha and Rashford competing for the left wing role, which is absolutely fine, may the best man win. In fact I’d rather see Rashford as a 9 with Cunha on the left, rather than the other way around.

All of this doesn’t mean things will miraculously be perfect, but I believe that we’d get a massive improvement on the shapeless mess that we seem to have now. Ved Sen (MUFC)

The Glazers are great? Really? Interesting that Stephen from Gibraltar suggests the Glazers have been amazing owners, as Utd have spent comparable levels of money on transfers as City. Does the fact that City have been much more successful than us over that period not suggest something is amiss regarding the decisions of the owners Stephen? I wonder would you be happy if they saddled your club with massive debt to have a crack at running Liverpool.

The best analogy I can give you is as follows: I buy one of the world’s most successful race cars with someone else’s money. I have absolutely no idea how to drive it. I hire numerous mechanics over the years who all have different ideas about what the car needs to win races again. I keep taking parts off for my own personal use, even though I barely put any of my own money in to buy or fix the car. Now even the roof is leaking, but I don’t care as long as I get my parts and the car does the bare minimum to finish races.

Finally, if you take away the trophies of any team’s most successful managers then, unsurprisingly, they’ll not look as successful. Take away the Paisley and Shankley era’s and things start to average out a little for your team. Ernest Mangnall, for instance, won more trophies for Utd than “King” Kenny did for Liverpool. Such a stupid thing to suggest. Garey Vance, MUFC

What’s going on with Liverpool? Liverpool my goodness. A bit crap going forward but properly resolute in defence and somehow found a way to win at a tough away ground when not at our best.

Who the f**k are these guys and can they turn up every week please?

Wirtz is such an odd player to watch. All Liverpool fans I know agree; he looks like an amazing player but nothing actually seems to work or come off. Does he not have a good understanding still or is the game too fast for him? Personally I feel he needs to play left like he did for Leverkusen. The centre of a Premier League pitch is a proper pressure cooker and it’s coming at you from every direction. Not everyone can handle that and there’s no shame in that.

Jacquet gets a lot of plaudits again but it’s wild how many young players are suddenly in and around this team; he, Kerkez, Ngumoha, Koumas, Nyoni, Wirtz, Barcola, Munoz and Gravenberch all featured today and all are under 25. Throw Ekitike, Bradley and Leoni into that and you’ve got a real pool of young talent to feel positive about. Minty, LFC

…I am no fan of Will Ford and his often hilarious takes when it comes to Liverpool. However, his latest article on Florian Wirtz achieved something I thought impossible..it was 100% on the money.

It was as if Will had crawled into the dark recesses of the Liverpool hive mind and revealed the obvious; it’s hasn’t worked, it isn’t working and it won’t work.

I wish this wasn’t the case but after over a year playing in the Premier League I still don’t know what Wirtz does well. He’s neither a creator or a goal scorer. He can neither dribble or sprint past players. He can’t dictate the tempo of the game nor does he have a wide range of passes.

nd my god does he lose the ball and not in a “wow he’s tried an elaborate defence splitting pass” kind of way but more “the ball has somehow turned to concrete under his feet” kind of way.

The painful truth as Will points out is that Liverpool would be significantly better having a workman like no8 in the starting line up over our stupidly expensive star signing Dan (It is better to have Wirtzed and lost to have never Wirtzed at all)

…I couldn’t agree more with Will Ford’s article…That has to be the end of Wirtz starting…he really just isnt going to turn this around.

He actually doesnt have a single element of his game that makes you think he can single handedly impact a match. He has no burst of pace. no long range shot power or pass. no ball through the eye of a needle. nothing.

Liverpool need to take their medicine and admit they got it wrong. Wirtz makes them considerably worse. Pool have actually assembled a reasonable back line again with Jacquet and Araujo. 3 clean sheets in a row in the league and 2 goals conceded in the last 5 games in total. If the attack clicks it is absolutely game on for a top 2 or 3 finish (city cant defend so will fall away from top).

Get gakpo as the 10 and stick Rio or Munoz on the wing. Cup game for Wirtz. Patricio Del Toro

Calm thy t*ts everyone Just saw the league table and realised that ManU are 2 points behind Chelsea.

Reading the columns till GW5(!) without taking a look at the points would make the reader feel that ManU are heading for relegation while Chelsea are flying with Xabi ball and Man City have won the league.

I would refer to Pep’s famous words he always whipped out just before December, “The league’s won in May”

So, ranking fan moods amongst the highlight-focus clubs.

Elated: Brighton. They’re doing a Leicester aren’t they?

Feeling good: Man City. Their aversions to clean sheets may not help their case in May.

Feeling positive: Liverpool. Clean sheets and a clinical striker just getting up to speed. (Was expecting the third B to complete the job after watching Arsenal and Chelsea getting pantsed)

Feeling grumpy: Arsenal and Chelsea. The media darlings didn’t expect to get spanked by the 2 B’s

Feeling lost: ManU. Hear Gary Neville and you’d feel that they are 17th. But it’s fun to go watch social media comments of ManU fans on the club’s handle. Good chuckle material.

Feeling ‘Delete the Club’: Spurs. Can we have more Spurs fans POVs here?

It’s just gameweek 5 lads. M. Nair. Mumbai. LFC. (3 weeks of this international nonsense, will be following Klopp’s revolution in German Football)