If nothing else, Manchester United might find succour in the setting and the weather, which was suitably wet on the eve of their visit to Villarreal, a rather grey industrial outpost north of Valencia that has the feel of Manchester’s perimeter mill towns.
Following the anomie of the preceding 72 hours, United will take any performance that protects against further unravelling and provides the pretext for a conversation shift. The waffle count coming out of OId Trafford in the wake of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s departure has been excruciatingly high, and taken at face value hardly inspires confidence.
Caretaker Michael Carrick’s linking of his coaching beliefs to Solskjaer’s is just what the fans and players wanted to hear after the horror of Vicarage Road. Skipper Harry Maguire was all over the place in his attempts to arrive at a salient point that would allow us to discern what we might expect from a match United can ill afford to lose.
Maguire, at least in the United context, has looked in shock for weeks. Since the defeat to Leicester, the fixture five weeks ago for which he was rushed back from injury, Maguire has been at the centre of a vicious spiral that none has been able to control. The 5-0 defeat at home to Liverpool was so shocking it became the point of no return for Solskjaer. The only observers who failed to recognise it were the United hierarchy seemingly locked into some weird loyalty culture.
Bizarrely the cohort of former United players that feed the news agenda from sundry broadcast posts were caught in the same trap, incapable of speaking the truth for fear of breaking a club code that never existed anywhere but in their imaginations. There is nothing in the book of friendship that says you cannot speak honestly about another especially when the individual concerned is failing so painfully in a high profile post.
Solskjaer needed putting out of his misery not propping up. Instead of a tearful farewell speech in which the fallen coach blubbed regret for a failure to stop the rot, United could have had a proven master of his craft talking about how he had hit the reset button with some success. Unfortunately for all associated with United, Antonio Conte is flogging that line in the service of Tottenham Hotspur, and United are left looking for any old caretakers or busting out of contracts candidates in work.
How to watch Villarreal vs Man Utd
- Date: Tuesday 23 November
- Kick-off time: 5.45pm
- Venue: Estadio de la Ceramica, Spain
- TV channel: BT Sport 3, coverage begins at 5pm
- Stream: Watch on the BT Sport website or app
Unai Emery thought he’d used up his good fortune swerving the Newcastle job. Now here he is sharpening his tools for the visit of a team that couldn’t keep Watford out. Villarreal have genuine trouble asserting themselves in La Liga this term. Only three wins in 13 matches and seven draws leaves them floundering in 12th. Not only do they start favourites in their final home match of the group stage, they will be drawing on the memory of the match at Old Trafford, which they might have won by half-time had they converted their chances.
The narrative around Solskjaer assumed the quality of the players was sufficient. That the problem was him. What if it was both? United’s midfield was schooled on Saturday by a player the club jettisoned six years ago, Tom Cleverley. Does anyone think Scott McTominay is a step up from Cleverley? Yet this is the player around whom Solskjaer sought to build the midfield.
McTominay, Fred, Victor Lindelof, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Nemanja Matic, not to mention Paul Pogba, all played too many games under Solskjaer. Carrick simply has to be bold, but with what? Even if he does give Donny van de Beek a crack and start with Jadon Sancho, as surely he must, there are still midfield holes that can’t be filled.
The last 72 hours did not happen by accident. They were the necessary consequence of the erosion of standards over time. Carrick, a novice coach, is part of that process, a brilliant player with nil experience of building and leading a team. Kieran McKenna, plucked from under 18s world, the same.
Any stability must come from the senior players. This is on Maguire, Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, Luke Shaw et al to put in a shift, and to stop talking. The fans know it’s not good enough. They know it has to be better. They don’t want to hear it anymore.
Man Utd team news
By Oliver Young-Myles
Michael Carrick will be without a few first-team regulars for the trip to Villarreal.
Raphael Varane (hamstring), Paul Pogba (thigh) and Mason Greenwood (Covid) are all definitely out, while Luke Shaw is also set to miss the game after suffering a suspected concussion during the loss to Watford.
Alex Telles or Diogo Dalot will compete for the left-back slot, while Donny van de Beek will hope to make a rare start following his goalscoring contribution off the bench at the weekend.
Harry Maguire is available as his one-game suspension following his sending off at Vicarage Road only applies to domestic matches. He will sit out Sunday’s Premier League meeting with Chelsea instead.
Predicted 4-2-3-1 line-up: De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Telles; McTominay, Van de Beek; Sancho, Fernandes, Rashford; Ronaldo
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3HCKlka
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