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Survival may already be beyond Michael Carrick. A win against Bournemouth tomorrow is unlikely on the evidence before us. Manchester United are a team in distress, shorn of ideas and direction, led by a coach manifestly out of his depth.

Whoever gets the nod to replace Carrick must come with scalpel primed. So many in the squad have fallen below the level expected at one of the world’s great clubs.

Shredded is the notion that Ineos would introduce a new methodology and way of working. There is no obvious plan nor established style of play. The top-to-bottom reforms promised by Sir Jim Ratcliffe on his arrival in 2023 have delivered more of the mediocrity and incoherence that has seen United drift further from the centre of influence.

The nuclear flares fired by Lisandro Martinez and Bruno Fernandes in recent days were less insurrection, more cries for help. Let that start an honest appraisal of those wearing the shirt.

I’ll begin with a list of seven deadly sinners, players who act as a drag on performance and should be moved on at the earliest opportunity.

Bruno Fernandes

The skipper has had better weeks. Hooked in Como, burgled in Cheshire, mired in controversy.
Some would have Fernandes stripped of the captaincy for his public rejection of Carrick and his tactics after the Champions League defeat in Italy. Given the club’s longest winless run since 2015 – seven and counting – he is perhaps justified in speaking out.

What is indefensible is his form. Fernandes lasted 66 minutes in Como. Apart from an hour against Ipswich Town in the second game of the season, he has been a negative, fractious presence and arguably the greatest contributor to the alarming decline.

In the last year of his contract, the case for not extending is no longer controversial.

Harry Maguire

Increasingly slow and ponderous. The modern centre-back has pace, is decisive and looks to bring the ball out with authority. Maguire was never the quickest but always had good feet and was positionally sound, which got him out of trouble. No longer.

He slows everything down, doesn’t initiate from the back, seeks the easy option with a square pass – or back for keeper Senne Lammens to lump it long.

Mason Mount

In four seasons, Mount played 129 top-flight games for Chelsea, scoring 27 goals in midfield. This is his fourth season at United, all plagued by injury. His 56 appearances amount to £1m a match. He has five goals and no assists. At 27 he should be at his peak. Goodness knows United’s midfield could use the legs. The problem is, his don’t work.

Joshua Zirkzee

A cage baller who never left. Zirkzee plays entirely on instinct, which works in small spaces to wriggle out of contact and get a shot away. But he doesn’t see or intuit the space around him, overcomplicates possession and is often in the wrong place.

Patrick Dorgu

A player with no fixed abode, neither winger nor full-back. The odd spectacular goal is not enough to save a player who struggles to make any part of the pitch his own. His lack of game intelligence feeds a lack of confidence

Diogo Dalot

United’s full-back for the next ten years, said Jose Mourinho in 2018. We are eight years in, and still waiting for Dalot to string two good halves together. He has a good engine, a decent right foot and offers versatility but it’s his decision-making that fails him.

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Marcus Rashford

Here by default. If he’s not good enough for Barcelona and Aston Villa, what is he doing at United? He wouldn’t be there had he not priced himself out of the market. Rashford has always been a sensitive soul. Life has a way of complicating things in any workplace, let alone one scrutinised by billions.

His selection under Carrick knocked Matheus Cunha out of his stride, shutting down United’s left side.

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To claim the man with the worst win ratio of any Manchester United manager in the Premier League era was on to something is a bold start. But hear me out.

Ruben Amorim quickly worked Manchester United out. After his very first match as manager, the rookie coach – in a sign of things to come – told supporters some home truths and, inadvertently, gave fans a glimpse into their dark future.

“We must not forget about the new idea,” Amorim said. “That’s why I was brought here and we try to cope with the things they are used to doing. Next year, in the same stage, we will be here with the same problems, or we start now, we risk a little bit, we suffer a little bit and in the next year we will be better.”

The suffering part of Amorim’s eloquent media bow was certainly a prophetic vision as United finished in their lowest top-flight position since being relegated in 1974. As promised, however, things were starting to head in the right direction again before he was sacked last January for telling Jason Wilcox and the rest of the United hierarchy some of those trademark truisms.

The state of paralysis supporters find themselves in now, as Ineos and the club’s senior figures continue to make a mess of their United revival, is something Amorim saw coming, called out and paid the price for.

In recent times, just before the first snow falls, United often slump into a familiar nadir. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer got closer than anyone to bringing back the glory years, but after a woeful start to the 2021-22 campaign, he became the latest to have tried and failed to restore his beloved club to its former glories.

Erik ten Hag won trophies but suffered the same fate as his predecessor, at roughly the same time of year. Amorim lasted a little longer before he was relieved of his duties, with his team just three points off fourth spot.

What separates Amorim from the others? He had an idea. It may not have paid off straight away, but he was trying something – instilling an identity at a football club who has forgotten what its own reflection looks like in the mirror.

Yes, he was too wedded to his system, but he was attempting to bring lasting change, behind the scenes and on the pitch. The style of play was about more than a back three; it centred on energy, intensity and, something skipper Bruno Fernandes rued the lack of in Wednesday’s Como disaster, a high press.

And who was most on board? The players. Other than those members of the “bomb squad” or the unfancied Kobbie Mainoo, there was never anyone speaking out of turn regarding their manager. Carrick has had two senior players publicly criticise him this week alone.

When sitting down with Harry Maguire on an England assignment a few months after Amorim’s acrimonious exit, under pressure to speak openly about a manager who had, on paper, flopped beyond all recognition, the stalwart defender had nothing but kind words.

“I really like Ruben,” he said “I think he’s got great ideas. The ideas just didn’t work at Manchester United. I do believe he’ll go on and have an amazing career.”

The sight of players lining up to warmly embrace their former manager as United faced Amorim’s AC Milan in a pre-season friendly this summer spoke of a group who feel an opportunity may have been missed.

Just as he said days into his United tenure, we are at the same stage of another year and the same problems have reared their ugly heads once more. United remain directionless, having sacked the only manager in recent times willing to guide them on the straight and narrow.

Last term was a free hit for Carrick. Moving players back into their best positions, restoring Mainoo to the side and ridding the club of that pesky three-at-the-back system enabled the quality of their players to pull them through until the end of the season.

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This is the microcosm of modern-day United. Solskjaer relied on individual brilliance to succeed. Once teams had worked out how to stop United, there was little other tactical idea. The same is happening now.

Amorim was raw and too honest. Yet, he was onto something. And he certainly had United’s card.

Replacing Carrick with another like-minded coach will see us here again next winter or the following one. United need to go for another Amorim, one willing to bring bright and bold ideas to the table. And, most pertinently, is given time to see them through.

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One of two things is happening. Either every player that Manchester United buy is a poor choice and every player already there was a poor choice. Or there is a culture within the club that causes players to regress sharply. I think it’s the second and I think that the culture is only ever suspended – temporarily – by the short-term buzz of a manager who quickly drowns in reality. Farewell, Michael Carrick. That was you.

Manchester United is a club with endemic problems; this much we know. The Glazers are vampiric leeches on the soul, mood and finances; always have been. Jim Ratcliffe is vaguely unfit for purpose but relatively harmless until he sharts bad PR every time he opens his mouth.

These things are not changing for now and their impacts lower the ceiling. Who would have thought an out-of-touch, culturally insensitive multibillionaire and leverage buyout ultra-capitalists would be bad individually and worse in combination? 

But there is also a dismal acceptance of mediocrity that has seeped into the football side of the operation. It may well be subliminal, but that makes it no better or worse nor any less true. Too many players have been allowed to use systemic problems above them as an excuse for their own incompetence, indolence and indifference. 

It is expressed in three ways: players thinking that when they have arrived at Manchester United they have made it and so don’t need to improve. Players thinking that performing well for a bit rather than all the time is worthy of praise. Players think that doing some elements of the game is a good enough reason to be lacking in other areas. 

This is demonstrated best in how few players actually improve over time at United after signing. Bruno Fernandes is pretty much the only long-term exception. That’s because he’s allowed to treat the pitch as his fiefdom (which is why his numbers are very good even though the team is bad) because you can see the pain on his face when it’s going badly. Which is just another symptom of the pitifully low bar.  

My most militant – and least popular – Manchester United opinion is that they should have appointed Gareth Southgate as their manager before Ruben Amorim. Not because Southgate is a wonderful tactician, but because the situation that all of the above reminds me of most is the England national team between 2007 and 2017. England didn’t need a coach, then. They needed a cultural resetter.

Southgate could never have got the job because a) supporters would have vehemently protested against his appointment because the England job warps people’s minds and b) he didn’t want it. But United missed out on the chance to reset the culture then. They went for the tactician (who promptly failed miserably) and then returned to their new-old ex-player vibe train for one more loop around the circus. 

I think Eddie Howe is the closest to Southgate, but also available and potentially willing. Howe evidently benefitted from the change of ownership a fortnight before his appointment at Newcastle United, but he also established a dressing room culture in which excuses were non-applicable and physicality and maximum effort were non-negotiable. He plays the statesman role (translation: he’s reassuringly boring to owners) but inspires players to be better than their previous best. And he’s done it in the Premier League.

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Is Howe the man to ride Manchester United back to glorious days of yore? No. But that is the wrong question. This club is afflicted by its own hardwired arrogance that being good 20 years ago is reason enough to be better than Bournemouth, Brentford and Brighton now. Newsflash: for all the talk of red cartels and established power, smart clubs will still beat thick clubs lots of the time.

But having six problems is not an excuse for getting another one wrong. Michael Carrick lacked anything other than history, which is roughly where Manchester United have been living for too long because it’s easier than even starting to clear the mess of the present.

They need the sensible option. They need a dressing room culture reset that comes without the fire, brimstone and scorched earth short-termism of Antonio Conte because that hasn’t worked here before. They need competence because you can only ever lay foundations for excellence upon competence. They need Eddie Howe.

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Manchester City are prepared to “exhaust every legal avenue” in their fight with the Premier League as the threat of a huge points deduction that would almost certainly land them in the Championship looms.

The i Paper has spoken to legal and financial experts – as well as Premier League executives at rival clubs – and there are creeping fears that there will be no definitive resolution before the end of the 2026-27 season.

The Premier League wants to have the saga concluded and a punishment applied before the end of the campaign but a “worst case scenario” of City lifting the Premier League trophy while the case rumbles on “cannot be ruled out”, according to one high level source.

City have no intention of accepting their fate, continuing to insist that they have “irrefutable” evidence that will reverse the independent panel’s original guilty verdict. And if they fail to overturn it? The prospect of the club going to the High Court to challenge the Premier League process is considered realistic by many observers.

Here’s where the biggest legal case in English sporting case goes next.

What happens next?

First what we know for certain: City have launched an appeal against the guilty verdicts delivered by the independent three-person panel. That will be heard by a new three-person panel and City claim they have troves of evidence that will disprove the verdict of the first panel.

Despite the guilty verdicts we don’t know the punishment yet. A sanctions hearing – heard by the first panel – will take place to decide that, with the Premier League putting across their proposed punishment and City arguing their own case (presumably for why punishment should be lenient).

Here’s what we don’t know for certain – when any of this is happening. Due to confidentiality rules around the process no timeline has been set out for either the appeal or the sanctions hearing.

James Severn, member of the London Solicitor Litigation Association (LSLA) and partner at Pennington Manches Cooper, says the sanctions hearing is likely to take place alongside the appeal given “the huge costs involved”.

“It’s a matter for the parties involved and the Premier League but that is common sense for me,” he says.

When could all this be resolved?

First the good news. David Kogan, the chairman of the independent football regulator, says that the Premier League want to have the situation resolved before the end of the season.

The rulebook sets out the appeals process as spanning 12 weeks, with 30 days for a judgement. That would mean a hearing by 18 December and a verdict by the end of January.

But here’s the bad news: few across the case believe that is realistic.

“I think the uncertainty will go on for a very long time. Not just months but years,” football finance expert Kieran Maguire tells The i Paper.

Severn agrees. He says the end of January deadline is a “stretch – to put it mildly”.

“My instinct is that it will probably take longer given the complexity of the case,” Severn adds.

“When you look at the original decision, they are referencing a 150-page index and thousands of documents so I wouldn’t be expecting something super quick from the appeal board.”

With so many high-powered lawyers on either side, the independent panel will be meticulous about the language they used and the way the verdict is delivered.

“Everyone will be keen to deal with it as quickly as it can reasonably be achieved but they will all be desperate to make sure whatever is done is done thoroughly so it could take a very long time, to be frank,” Severn says.

“Panels don’t like to be appealed – and they especially don’t like appeals against them to be upheld – so they will be doing this extremely carefully, especially given how high-profile this case is. They will be leaving no stone unturned rather than rushing things through.”

What are Man City’s options?

City still have several routes to go down. They have already appealed the verdict but they can also appeal the sanctions when they are delivered. Then, if they believe they have a case, they could request arbitration if they feel the process is flawed.

If that doesn’t work there is the “nuclear” option of going outside of the Premier League’s official processes and taking the case to the High Court.

“Given the significance of the proceedings, Manchester City are likely to consider all legal options available as the case develops,” Carlos Hurtado, a sports lawyer at Baker McKenzie’s Madrid office, says.

“Depending on the outcome of the appeals process Manchester City may later consider legal options outside the ordinary Premier League appeal process. Seeking to challenge the outcome in the High Court could be among those many options, but this would not be a retrial of the case.

“Instead, the focus would be on legal or procedural elements, such as whether the process was fair or whether errors of law were made.”

City’s approach so far suggests they will fight the charges tooth and nail.

“A lawyer friend told me that City have already started the process of creating noise and mess around the process,” Maguire says.

“If you look at what’s happened already it appears they are gearing up for a very long and expensive fight over this.

“Is the aim to persuade the Premier League to go to its members and say ‘This could cost us as an organisation £25m-a-year to fight it, do you want us to negotiate a settlement?’

“For the clubs like Ipswich, Sunderland, Brentford, they might see that money as coming out of their bottom line and – potentially – this isn’t really their fight because they were never trying to be competitive with Manchester City.

“The pressure has really been applied by two or three clubs who lost out on trophies or Champions League places. If this approach splits the Premier League then things get complicated.”

Could ‘cooler heads’ prevail?

Several sources The i Paper spoke to feel a sizeable points deduction that consigns City to the Championship is “inevitable” if the verdicts are upheld. A staggered deduction – which punishes the club over multiple seasons – along with a big fine is favoured by some.

Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham are all considering compensation claims stretching into the millions for lost revenue.

But there has been a noticeable shift in tone from some sources in the last couple of weeks. There’s still a desire to see heavy punishments – and one executive reiterated “a force sale has to be on the table” this week – but there’s also a feeling that the club has to be left with a viable route back.

“No one is saying they shouldn’t be punished but they have to be able to rebuild,” one source said.

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Whether that is driven by benevolence or practical concerns is another matter. As Maguire points out, if the punishment is too draconian it could come with unintended consequences.

“There is a scenario where Sheikh Mansour decides this is doing nothing for Abu Dhabi and the positive PR that they had gained from their running of City is gone and they take a practical decision to withdraw, which is what happened with PIF and LIV Golf,” Maguire says.

“That has ramifications, though. If that happens City would surely go into administration and the clubs lining up for compensation will get nothing. So it is a balance and I’m sure that is in the back of some people’s minds.”

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Unai Emery is among Manchester United’s dream candidates to replace Michael Carrick, who is on the brink at Old Trafford after their Champions League humiliation at Como.

United face a huge decision on Carrick after their wretched winless stretched to seven games – with Wednesday nights 4-1 defeat in Italy the worst of the lot. Bruno Fernandes’ criticism of Carrick’s tactics in an interview with TNT revealed unrest in the dressing room and that could be the final straw for the ex-Middlesbrough boss.

Having got the last two appointments so wrong – Carrick followed the unmitigated disaster of Ruben Amorim – there would be huge pressure on the Ineos kingmakers if they decide to roll the dice on another mid-season change.

They will be faced with a dilemma. Go for an out-of-work candidate like Eddie Howe or Antonio Conte or try and lure one of their most coveted options like Emery or Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler.

The i Paper understands that Emery, who led Villa to the Europa League title and qualifying for the Champions League, has plenty of admirers among the Old Trafford hierarchy, who noted how he was forced to rip up and rebuild his squad in a summer spent wrangling with financial fair play regulations.

His superb record at Villa Park has seen him deliver two fourth-placed finishes and also a Champions League quarter-final – vastly superior to anything United have served up during the same period.

Whether Emery, who has been at Villa Park since 2022, would entertain a job offer from Manchester United remains to be seen. Sources close to him have suggested he is absolutely committed to Villa, where he enjoys huge power and influence, but there would undoubtedly be interest from the Old Trafford hierarchy in the Spaniard if Carrick leaves.

Which managers are available?

Among the other candidates are Conte, whose direct, authoritarian approach would be a direct contrast to Carrick’s more collegiate philosophy. The Italian is understood to be keen on the role, having been out-of-work since leaving Napoli at the end of last season.

His CV is one of the best in Europe, boasting multiple titles in Italy and England, but there are question marks over whether his abrasive, confrontational style would work at a club where the scrutiny is intense. Former United player Ashley Young, who has worked under Conte, said the appointment had the potential to be a “disaster” given concerns over the work rate of the current squad.

Howe is another out-of-work boss whose track record would demand attention and he is the current bookmakers’ favourite and, perhaps, the most sensible choice.

He left Newcastle in the summer having ended the Magpies long trophy drought and led them in two Champions League campaigns. He built one of the strongest sides in the country but departed this summer with the club in the middle of an extensive rebuild and having sensed impatience among the St James’ Park crowd.

He is not understood to be desperate to return to management and sources close to Howe are adamant that he would only take a job that feels the right “fit”. He is understandably demanding about having the right structure around him and would want influence in recruitment decisions so any discussions with Ineos would likely revolve around the role of Jason Wilcox, whose own job has come under scrutiny of late.

He wanted a lengthy break from football after a relentless few years at Newcastle but would Howe really be prepared to pass on Manchester United if they came knocking?

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Former Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna is also understood to be interested, having been linked with the job when Carrick was appointed. Back then United decided to delay in the belief that this summer would have seen world class coaching options available – only for Carrick’s record in charge to make him the most compelling candidate.

McKenna’s influence is understood to show up well across data metrics and he was Brighton’s first choice to replace Roberto De Zerbi before they opted for Hurzeler. He is also a former Manchester United coach, having been promoted from the academy by Jose Mourinho.

Hurzeler is also on United’s radar, although with Brighton performing so well in the Premier League that is another sales pitch that may fall on deaf ears.

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Et tu, Bruno? Keeping the headphones in and his phone switched off might not be enough to save Michael Carrick now.

If Lisandro Martinez drew the blade after last week’s supine retreat in Madrid, pointing it upstairs, his captain went straight for the jugular, plunging it into Carrick after another lame defeat in Como.

“That’s on the manager and staff to see, not me. Sometimes you have to be more brave under pressure, take the risk of pressing high and making them uncomfortable,” Fernandes said.

“As you saw with them, the centre-back was coming to mark me in my own half. We need to do that as a team but we were unable to. A team that plays through the middle with small connections, if you give them too much time and space, then they can hurt you out wide.”

That is not a minor quibble about positioning, arguing the toss about strategy, that is the Manchester United talisman and captain, last season’s Premier League Player of the Year, questioning your credentials. There is no way back from that.

The argument for ending Carrick’s reign was initially about competence. Now it’s for his own good.

Manchester United shakes you down, strips you bare, leaving you without the capacity to think straight or act rationally.

The performance in Como was so bad it rendered criticism unnecessary. What more is there to say that has not already been said? If the players were looking to the touchline for answers, some guidance or direction, they were met by a tall bloke, stroking his chin.

It was a strong look when United were ripping it up in the temporary period of Carrick’s reign. Here, he was a coach without a semblance of purpose or pattern. It felt like we were watching an ensemble from the Eccles Sunday League masquerading as Manchester United. Out-run, out-thought, out-fought.

Some might bristle at the gall of Fernandes, who has morphed into a kind of Bruno imposter, his alarming decline its own bellwether for this desperate season. If Carrick got one thing right last night it was hooking Fernandes just past the hour.

United were already three down by then, the skipper unrecognisable from the figure who dragged them into third last term, the flicks aimless, passing erratic, engagement wholly negative.

The fear must be that this spiral is not done yet. Have you heard the one about next season’s Manchester derby taking place in the Championship? Gallows humour is all there is left.

The first half was particularly damning. Bryan Mbeumo was isolated, emphasising absence of connection in the team. United were not only poor in duels, they surrendered possession too easily.

Como were organised and urgent, or, put another way, well coached and fit, qualities with which United are unfamiliar. The ball was a bar of soap for the first 20 minutes for United, bouncing off shins and ankles. At throw-ins the team shaped like the under-12s.

The mighty Nico Paz killed United not only with skill but his capacity to run harder and faster. The introduction of Carlos Baleba gave United a degree of shape and control after the break but even he coughed possession for the third.

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Carrick was clearly angry and took responsibility. Was he saying sorry or waving goodbye when he walked over to what remained of the travelling cohort behind a goal? “I have to apologise to the supporters. I care about this football club as much as anyone, if not more, with the position that I’m in and what I value this football club. For us to play in that way is not acceptable.”

Correct. This is Carrick’s team, the one he prepares and picks. He is responsible for method and tactics, if indeed they are applicable terms. The candidates to replace him filled the ether as he spoke. Eddie Howe, Julian Nagelsmann, Fabian Hürzeler and even that old Italian crooner Antonio Conte gets a mention.

The arguments continue about the failings of ownership and the leadership of the executive class. Carrick cannot escape what’s coming, however. He is not the root cause. But he is a part of the problem, lacking both the experience and charisma to ringfence the players and protect them from the idiots above.

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It was a moment to set red and white alarm bells ringing.

Nordi Mukiele’s claim that Sunderland have become “arrogant” after defeat to Bournemouth felt significant, as did dropping to the bottom of the Premier League table – although there is mitigation for that.

So what has gone wrong on Wearside? And what are the club doing to put it right?

Recruitment drive stalled

After a brilliant first summer the jury is out on Florent Ghisolfi’s work in the 2026 transfer window.

Among the priorities the Black Cats wanted to make the squad taller and more experienced for Europe, which explains the signings of Dayann Methalie and Kevin Danso. They also wanted versatility in wide areas.

But the market proved more difficult than the club expected, with little movement across Europe in the £20-30m price bracket Sunderland were working in.

That slowed the progress of their recruitment drive, meant bringing in another striker was impossible, and left them scrambling for key additions in the final days of the transfer window.

Malick Fofana is yet to make an impact – Regis Le Bris thinks he needs time to “adapt” – while Danso, a supposed plug-in-and-play option, has been error-prone. Jules Ahoka clearly has something but is young and will take time.

Of the players who departed Eliezer Mayenda and Lutsharel Geertruida would probably be getting plenty of minutes. The former’s absence has been felt with injuries to Brian Brobbey and Wilson Isidor.

These issues are ironic given Sunderland are now seen by many in the game as the blueprint for newly-promoted Premier League clubs.

Their boldness in totally overhauling their play-off winning squad – aided by a PSR “blank cheque” after some shrewd player-trading – won them admirers in boardrooms across the game. But success, and qualifying for Europe, has proved a double-edged sword.

Sunderland’s room for manoeuvre in the transfer market has been squeezed considerably by making it into the Europa League, which means they can only spend 70 per cent of their revenue on wages, transfer costs and agent fees. There is probably room to spend in January if needed – but it might mean a summer sale.

Dressing room ‘united’ – but displays dipping

Mukiele’s interview after Bournemouth was a remarkable intervention. To question the mentality of his teammates as he did felt like a fork in the road in a season beginning to spiral.

But this was not a Lisandro Martinez moment. There was no punishment from the club hierarchy or clear-the-air talks required to put it in context. Instead senior sources saw it as a good thing that he spoke out.

Granit Xhaka did the same last season but it largely remained behind closed doors.

“It’s actually a very honest dressing room. These guys aren’t hiding away from the fact things need to improve,” one insider tells The i Paper. It has been stressed that there is unity among the players and the club remains “united”.

Now the performances and displays need to match the rhetoric. Sunderland are not without talent in their squad but last season’s performance came on the back of hard work, humility and a willingness to shelve personal ambition for the greater good. Do those values still apply?

The opening-day defeat to Ipswich was a worry. Some observers felt they turned up with the swagger of a team that had finished seventh last season rather than the point-to-prove attitude they had 12 months before.

One insider has a more prosaic view – too many of their key men are suffering a dip in form simultaneously. Robin Roefs, brilliant last season, has the third lowest xG prevented of all 20 Premier League goalkeepers this term and is not playing well.

Xhaka is also struggling to replicate last season’s performances while the less said about Omar Alderete’s displays the better.

Backing for Le Bris amid fan scrutiny

The i Paper understands the Sunderland boss retains “plenty of credit in the bank” and there is no panic at the club about the position they find themselves in. To put it succinctly – the plan is to back Le Bris.

Given we are seven games into the Premier League season – and the club have made a winning start in Europe – it feels slightly surreal to even ask the question of the manager who has taken the team from 16th in the Championship into the Europa League in little over two seasons.

Kyril Louis-Dreyfus has proved himself ruthless in the past, but Le Bris is safe despite the early-season slump.

“Business as usual” is how sources describe the feeling at the Stadium of Light, but Le Bris is facing scrutiny from supporters, especially over team selections. Overlooking Chemsdine Talbi feels especially curious given he made an impact against Hull in the Carabao Cup.

He deserves time and patience to turn things round. This is a big week but he has shown before that he has the acumen and ability to lead this Black Cats side through rough periods.

Fixture pile-up – but ‘no excuses’

Playing Thursday-Sunday is a new experience for Sunderland and undoubtedly puts the pressure on. Injuries have already left them stretched and Le Bris’ attempt at rotation last week was only salvaged when senior men came off the bench to beat Torreense.

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The Black Cats are experimenting with ways to mitigate the impact of Europe. They stayed in Portugal an extra 48 hours to preserve sleep patterns – although the team then served up a stinker on the south coast. There are likely to be changes to the team again this week.

Some of this is unavoidable. They have progressed quicker than anticipated and it throws up issues. But as one senior source said this week: “It’s what we wanted – it can’t be used as an excuse.”

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