Who really won El Sackicko?
Nuno Espirito Santo paid the price for Tottenham’s disastrous performance against Manchester United, a result which handed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer yet another reprieve. Yet days later, which club is flushed with renewed optimism and which is enjoying another of their endless sugar-highs, a temporary giddiness that will soon wear off exposing a cavity that still needs fixing?
Spurs, meanwhile, have welcomed one of the most successful managers in Europe, a five-time title winner, a former Premier League champion, and a coach who last week seemed the obvious candidate to take charge of Manchester United. Antonio Conte is back in England and Tottenham, who on Monday morning were the very picture of a club in crisis, looked like a formidable outfit once again by Tuesday afternoon.
Not so long ago, with the taunts of thousands of jubilant Liverpool fans still ringing around Old Trafford’s rafters, it looked as if Solskjaer had reached the point of no-return. Many did not believe he would still be in the dugout by the Spurs game – and i reported that while he was given a temporary stay of execution, another serious setback either in north London, or in the Champions League against Atalanta, would see him sacked.
United’s upcoming fixtures make daunting reading. First up, it is Serie A’s fifth-placed side, who took a shock 2-0 lead in their recent meeting before Cristiano Ronaldo completed the comeback. After that, the Red Devils host champions Manchester City. They then face two away games – at Watford and Chelsea – before playing a rejuvenated Arsenal at home.
It is by no means guaranteed then that their manager is in the clear – though he might be breathing a sigh of relief at the news of Conte’s appointment at Tottenham.
The former Juventus, Chelsea and Inter Milan boss had been the clear favourite for the United hotseat, but that is not to say there are no longer any standout candidates should the board decide to make a change.
Mauricio Pochettino
Mauricio Pochettino is now the most likely replacement, according to the bookmakers, as his PSG reign continues to stutter. For 73 minutes against Lille, it looked as if he would be under renewed pressure – particularly when he hauled off Lionel Messi again – but he will ultimately be judged on whether the Parisians win the Champions League. He has long had admirers at United, at any rate.
Zinedine Zidane
Zidane, the only manager to win the Champions League three years in a row, has been out of work since leaving Real Madrid for the second time in May.
In a relatively short managerial career, the 49-year-old has already won 11 major honours, though he has no experience of the Premier League as either a player or a coach and is not thought to be interested in a return to management overseas.
Brendan Rodgers
Rodgers has enough credit in the bank to withstand what has been an underwhelming start to the season from Leicester. Not only has he led them back into Europe (admittedly via the Europa League, rather than the Champions League) and won an FA Cup, his CV is brimming with silverware thanks to a hugely successful stint with Celtic.
That said, no former Liverpool manager has ever been given the United job.
Erik ten Hag
Ten Hag only signed a new deal with Ajax in the summer – that came after he was touted by Tottenham – but his reputation has continued to grow, not least because of three emphatic Champions League wins this season; best of all, a muscle-flexing 4-0 win over Borussia Dortmund that further silenced Sebastian Haller’s doubters (most of them found in east London) and neutralised Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham.
Roberto Martinez
The great paradox of Martinez’s Belgium tenure is that it has both elevated his standing after a fairly disastrous stint at Everton, but at the same time has seen fingers pointed over a Golden Generation which has ultimately fallen short, failing to win a major international tournament despite being ranked the No 1 side in the world for so long.
There is much to admire about his domestic career; his transformative work guiding Swansea from obscurity to the brink of promotion, his odds-defying FA Cup triumph with Wigan (though the Latics became the first side to win the competition and be relegated from the top tier the same season).
Next Man Utd manager odds
- Mauricio Pochettino 3-1
- Zinedine Zidane 3-1
- Brendan Rodgers 4-1
- Erik ten Hag 7-1
- Roberto Martinez 14-1
- Julian Nagelsmann 14-1
- Ralf Rangnick 14-1
- Cristiano Ronaldo 14-1
- Graham Potter 14-1
- Lucien Favre 14-1
- Laurent Blanc 33-1
- Massimiliano Allegri 33-1
- Eddie Howe 33-1
- Rafa Benitez 33-1
- Michael Carrick 33-1
- Gareth Southgate 33-1
- Darren Fletcher 33-1
Odds via Betfair and correct as of 2 November
It is the absence of a natural successor which has worked in Solskjaer’s favour in the past, and which could do so again.
There have been enough occasions when his players have brought the United boss back from the brink but as they ruthlessly brought the curtain down on Nuno’s time at Spurs, they may have unwittingly left their own board with one less solution.
Who do you think should be Manchester United’s next manager? Have your say over on the i sport Facebook page…
Imagine United after a year of Tuchel
By Daniel Storey, i‘s chief football writer
“Downing tools” is one of the great myths of modern football; it very rarely happens. What can happen is that excellent players can grow so frustrated by the lack of a coherent system that they become slightly demotivated, in exactly the same way as you might get sloppy in an office job if you didn’t believe the company’s strategies had any logic.
Look at those individuals: Jadon Sancho makes runs and tries to give-and-go but never gets it; Ronaldo acts as a target man but has too little movement around him; Bruno Fernandes looks frustrated at no longer being the dominant player in the team; Paul Pogba is asked to create from midfield but also babysit an immobile central midfield partner so ends up becoming an expensive jack of all trades.
The obvious response is to say that Manchester United simply need another central midfielder and that is the only way to realise their potential. But here’s the thing: managers improve players. If United had Trevoh Chalobah, Malang Sarr and Ruben Loftus-Cheek in their starting team, would they look as good as they do under Thomas Tuchel? Did Chelsea look like Champions League winners under Frank Lampard last season? And if those two clubs had reversed their decisions, with Tuchel replacing Solskjaer and Lampard remaining in place, are we expected to think the last 12 months at both would have been roughly the same?
Again we are told that Manchester United are backing Solskjaer to take them forward, banking on nostalgia and romance being as powerful a currency as tactical aptitude. They are a club that lacks a killer instinct who are sticking with a manager who lacks the same. Solskjaer has not been a disastrous appointment – far from it. He steadied the ship and helped to rebuild the connection between club and supporters.
But simply adding more and more players to the squad in the hope of finding a magic solution is like buying increasingly expensive furniture rather than fixing the hole in the roof and then wondering why everything gets wet when it rains. And it is so damn frustrating to witness.
This is an extract of The Score, Daniel Storey’s weekly verdict on all 20 Premier League teams’ performances. Sign up here to receive the newsletter on Monday mornings
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