Latest / Let's Kick It Off! / Dan Khan of Sky Sports Provides LATEST Update on Michael Carrick | LKIO - Ep 62

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Dan Khan of Sky Sports Provides LATEST Update on Michael Carrick | LKIO - Ep 62 · Let's Kick It Off!

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I'm Steve, and I'm joined by Ash and Ron and Daniel Kahn from Sky
0:43
Sports. You're the Manchester United
0:45
reporter, Dan. So thank you very much for
0:47
coming on. Really appreciate it.
0:49
So I guess there's only one place to start in terms of where
0:52
United are at the moment. Michael Carrick with his
0:55
resurgence over the last 8 to 10 games.
0:59
I know we had the draw against Bournemouth in our most recent
1:01
game and now we've got a little break.
1:03
So you know, we're doing this podcast with no game to talk
1:06
about, but there's still lots to talk about.
1:08
So just give us your high level view of where Manchester United
1:12
are at at the moment and how you feel.
1:14
You know the Carrick rain is going.
1:17
Well, first of all, thank you for having me.
1:19
A pleasure to be here. I think it's really interesting
1:22
looking at Michael Carrick's rain so far because it obviously
1:26
started incredibly against Manchester City and Arsenal.
1:31
And you look at the Bournemouth game and even some of the games
1:33
before that. And I think it's very
1:35
interesting because I think there's a feeling if we don't
1:38
want a repeat of what happened and are they going to show Sky
1:40
now first caretaker period where the performances dropped off at
1:44
the end of that first season after he's given a permanent
1:46
contract? So I was getting into the
1:48
Bournemouth game, was that all Trafford pitch side?
1:50
And I was kind of thinking like, you know, off the back of maybe
1:54
last year results. I think Everton away and the
1:56
Palace game really it'd be good to see an improvement in
2:00
performances. You know, the results are great,
2:02
but we need to maybe see best performances.
2:04
But then I was at the Bournemouth game before the
2:06
match and I thought, does that matter though?
2:09
Because what team is playing well in the Premier League?
2:12
By what? Like am I asking something
2:15
that's impossible? Because actually figure out
2:17
Arsenal to get Manchester City together, Liverpool, even your
2:20
Brightons and Bournemouth who play quite attractive football
2:23
on a weekly basis, Like no one, no one is playing that well.
2:27
Really got this point this season.
2:29
And it's really interesting because you look at most games
2:31
this season and I was watching a lot of games that week and
2:33
especially players are shattered.
2:35
I mean, even teams who are winning, you look at the final
2:37
whistle, then you all go to games as well.
2:40
They're all on their knees. I mean, United staff, that
2:42
Bournemouth game on their knees, you know, hands, hands on their
2:45
knees, hunched over. So look, I think for Michael
2:48
Carrick, he's done a really good job.
2:50
I think he's had some easy wins as well, you know, off the back
2:54
of Ruben Amrim, you know, going to the Academy game, seeing then
2:57
the 20 ones. I mean, I was there for the
2:58
first game where he went to Lee, you know, and seeing his whole
3:02
backroom staff there was really positive.
3:05
So look, he he, he has made some really wise decisions as well.
3:10
But also the team are at the moment very clinical and that's
3:14
what we've not seen probably over the last two years.
3:17
Overall, I would say, you know, we're probably looking at an
3:20
8.59 out of 10, I'd probably say.
3:22
It's a good rating. I want to come to Ron because
3:25
Ron, you've not been on for a good few weeks.
3:27
I don't think you've been on even since Carrick has has taken
3:31
charge. And Ron, tell me how how you're
3:33
feeling about Carrick. Yeah, I mean similar to Dan
3:36
really. I think the turn around has just
3:39
been remarkable. And we were just talking off air
3:41
when we for a second in terms of ribbon Amor and then and all of
3:45
a sudden, wow, you know, what did we have?
3:46
And look at what we have now and you know, he should have
3:49
probably gone sooner. It's just been chalk and cheese
3:53
really, hasn't it, in terms of the actual turn around.
3:56
But for me, the biggest thing I think is just gone back to
3:58
basics. You know he's playing the four
3:59
at the back and you know he's playing players in the right
4:03
position. Kobe menu is back in the team,
4:06
deservedly so. Harry Maguire is playing well.
4:09
So all those sort of key components to the squad, you
4:12
know which in the summer you'd think, OK, well actually these
4:14
players aren't bad, they're good players.
4:16
They just need that confidence. You've got to play players in
4:18
the right position. Got Bruno Fernandez now playing
4:21
in his favourite position in the 10 and all of a sudden, you
4:23
know, things are looking up. So I don't think there's been a
4:26
magic formula to it. I just think it's about
4:28
simplicity, providing better confidence to the players and
4:32
ultimately it's about results. And as Dan, you mentioned there,
4:35
you know, seven wins out of 10. It's been phenomenal so long.
4:39
May it continue. I'll be interested to know.
4:41
We'll talk about it later around Carrick and the future.
4:44
But I'll be really interested, Dan, to hear from you in terms
4:47
of what you think around the future and you know, the
4:50
managerial position post summer. Yeah, we'll definitely come on
4:54
to that. Don't worry about that, Ash,
4:56
just in terms of Carrick, so like, you know, we've obviously
4:59
done the weekly pods, you know, since Carrick came in and, you
5:02
know, early part, obviously the performances, we were very happy
5:05
with the performances. That Man City game.
5:07
I think, you know, some of the goals, I think was it five
5:10
goals? We scored like 3 or 4
5:11
disallowed, right? So I know the narrative has kind
5:14
of switched a little bit in the last three to four games because
5:17
people are starting to question performances, but yeah, how are
5:19
you seeing that? Yeah, I think it was similar to
5:23
what the boys have said and also when we had Ian Irving last week
5:27
in that I think expectations have risen week by week.
5:31
You know, phenomenal performance against City, fantastic result
5:35
against Arsenal, so that belt that built the momentum.
5:38
Then you had the Fulham win and then it got to these games like
5:41
Crystal Palace, maybe even Bournemouth in terms of like,
5:45
oh, there's an expectation, especially Newcastle away and
5:49
everyone thought would break The Who do and get the five wins.
5:53
You know, forget about this haircut business and all the
5:56
rest of it. And that's obviously the first
5:59
defeat. I think though, we've learnt a
6:02
bit about Carrick as well in terms of a personality.
6:06
I liked the way he bit back at the reporter at Saint James's
6:10
Park after that defeat, protecting the team.
6:12
And I think the players appreciate that as, as Dan would
6:15
know, he was at the press conference every week, every
6:17
week. And Reuben would just say
6:19
something, which is just like whether it's about Reuben's
6:22
children, any acquaintance of the team mates and hating them
6:25
one minute, loving them. Yeah, Carrick's brought the
6:28
calm. I think that's the the main
6:31
thing. And in terms of performances,
6:33
like, yeah, we have struggled a little bit over the last like
6:37
few games. But like Dan said, it's like
6:40
who's actually playing well. Like you look at the Carling Cup
6:43
final last week, Arsenal, top of the table should win the league.
6:47
Their players look absolutely gassed as well as City played.
6:51
Like, you know, Declan Rice has been, you know, superb.
6:54
You know, he really struggled physically.
6:57
And yeah, I mean, it's it's going to be like a good end to
7:02
the season. Like we got a good race.
7:04
You know, we're in pole position, so hopefully we can
7:06
finish the job. But what about yourself, Steve?
7:09
How are you feeling last few weeks?
7:11
And you know the narrative around United and Carrick.
7:14
Yeah, I don't think anyone could have expected how well it went
7:16
initially, especially. And then obviously, you know,
7:19
it's dropped off a little bit. But I think if you, you know,
7:22
remain and have some perspective, you can look back
7:25
and like Ron said, you know, seven wins out of 10, like you
7:27
can't argue of that, especially where we were earlier this
7:30
season and last season. So I think the $1,000,000
7:33
question, right, Is Michael Carey going to get the perm job?
7:36
So, Dad, I'm not going to put you on the spot immediately.
7:38
But if you aren't I. Will, I Will, but I want to
7:40
bring up a story that your colleague wrote.
7:42
So Rob Dorset, I think it was last week, he put out a very
7:46
interesting story that Manchester United actually yet
7:48
to speak to any other permanent candidates.
7:51
So could you just tell us a little bit more?
7:52
I'm sure you know, you've spoken to Rob and stuff.
7:54
So yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
7:56
Yeah. I mean, I think it's kind of
7:58
correlates to everything I've been hearing on the ground at
8:00
the club and you know, also Rob's own contacts as well.
8:05
And I think that's what has been quite consistent really is
8:08
Manchester United's role is going to take that time in terms
8:11
of really navigating this process and see who is
8:15
available. I actually think they made the
8:17
right decision to do that because actually you move on,
8:20
you know, a few months. Thomas Tuku has essentially
8:23
ruled himself out with his contract extension.
8:25
Colin Schlotz, he looks like he's doing the same in Brazil.
8:29
And so actually, you know, and similarly as well, let's not
8:32
forget, you know, six months ago, everyone was talking about
8:34
some of that Oliver Glasner Crystal, which I never have gone
8:38
down that route anyway. And that's not just saying now
8:40
because of Crystal Palace's kind of roller coaster of a season,
8:43
but I never thought he would be the right fit for Manchester
8:46
United. And I think that's proven to be
8:48
the case at this moment in time anyway.
8:52
So I think it's kind of, I think the hierarchy made the right
8:55
decision because actually by just doing nothing in one, in
8:58
one way of thinking, the situation has evolved itself
9:01
really. You've seen what Michael Carrick
9:03
is capable of, but you've also seen actually what other options
9:06
are out of that. So like, I think it's still the
9:09
case that Manchester United haven't spoken to any other
9:11
candidates. I think they're very happy with
9:14
letting Martin Carrick see out the rest of the season before
9:17
they maybe canvas who else is out there and before they speak
9:20
to anyone else. And also, why would you?
9:22
I mean, they're now focused on this little training camp next
9:25
week in Dublin before they really focus on this last stage
9:28
of the season. So it gives Michael Carrick, his
9:31
backroom staff and players all that clarity.
9:33
I mean, I think they saw the repercussions of maybe the very
9:38
beginning of the in the arts era, you know, maybe, you know,
9:41
that Eric 10 hog free season before, you know, after the FA
9:46
Cup where they were seen to be canvassing Europe basically.
9:50
And that obviously didn't help. So maybe they're, you know, I'm
9:54
not here to say the hierarchy. You're doing a great job, but I
9:57
think clearly they're learning from previous lessons of the
10:00
park so. Just a couple of questions
10:02
actually. So you know, you mentioned too
10:05
cool and Angelotti. I think definitely those two
10:07
names were high up the list of a lot of fans.
10:09
Probably the third one in that bracket of like elite managers
10:13
is Louis Enrique. And I think over the last week
10:15
there's been a lot of talk tweets that, you know, he's
10:19
speaking to the PSG hierarchy. But you know, we've all seen
10:22
rumours about Manchester United looking at him.
10:24
So is there anything you can see happening there or do you think
10:28
it's unlikely? Look, I'll be as.
10:31
Honest as you know, I know, right?
10:33
I mean, I he's been a name that I think has been linked with the
10:36
club because of his contract situation rather than, you know,
10:40
Manchester United pursuing Luis Enrique.
10:43
And I think those two things are very different.
10:45
You know, there's one thing to say, oh, if it became available
10:48
in the summer, let's let's see what's possible.
10:50
But you know, like it looks very likely he's going to renew at
10:53
PSG. And I think with all of these
10:56
things, you know, especially from the media perspective and
10:59
when I'm trying to news gather and unravel kind of which
11:02
stories are true and which links might there might be gas in
11:06
right people names. They're linked because they want
11:12
to prove their current situation, like in any
11:14
workplace, right? And I think that might be, you
11:17
know, a Lunas Enrique type situation rather than United him
11:21
being very high. Fair enough.
11:23
I think with, you know, what you say about Manchester United, the
11:26
hierarchy waiting until the summer, that message is being
11:30
consistent. You know, whoever you listen to
11:31
is saying that. So it's clear the club are
11:33
taking that approach. Me personally, I've always
11:36
slightly questioned that approach because yes, I
11:38
understand it. Give Carrick time.
11:40
However, if you're going for the top managers around Europe, you
11:45
know better than us how the industry works, right?
11:48
Can you really get to July, August and then say who's
11:50
around? The top clubs surely are working
11:52
on the candidates early. So I think it's going to work
11:56
out for the club because Carrick has done well.
11:58
So, you know, the outcome should be OK, but, you know, switch it
12:02
and say Carrick hadn't have worked out the club now would be
12:05
in a bit of a sticky position, right?
12:06
So like, how'd you kind of see, you know that, I wonder?
12:10
Just before before I answer, if I asked each of you, who would
12:13
you want? If you had any manager, who
12:15
would you want? I let Ron go first.
12:18
I said it when Reuben left and obviously we had Carrick as the
12:22
interim. My number one was Thomas too
12:24
cool. And then obviously, you know,
12:27
him extended his contract with him, which actually came as a
12:29
surprise to me when the news broke because I thought I
12:31
thought some of the rumours were sort of building up with to call
12:33
in United. And then I think maybe that's
12:35
why England sort of jumped in, you know, to secure him.
12:38
So he would have been my my number one pick.
12:41
But beyond that, I mean, Angelotti, I think, you know,
12:44
was a bit of a pipe dream. I think, you know, he's in
12:46
Brazil now. Would he really want to come
12:47
back to Europe and never ticket this juncture?
12:50
I'm not quite sure. So I think it's just a lack of
12:52
options, to be honest out there. Enrique, I thought potentially
12:56
as well, but I think you've just confirmed that that's probably
12:58
unlikely at this stage. So too cool was #1.
13:02
But if it's not too cool, then, you know, with the way Carrot's
13:04
going at the moment, I just can't see anyone else.
13:06
You know, why would you, you know, look to repair something
13:09
that isn't, isn't broken. So I'll just continue on with
13:11
Michael for. Sure.
13:12
What about the you're wearing black and white stripes?
13:14
Ron, there's another man that you've you've mentioned before.
13:17
I have. I did mention, I did mention
13:19
Eddie. I did mention Eddie Howe.
13:21
Yeah, that is that is for sure. I don't know.
13:23
I feel like he needs maybe one more job until he sort of then
13:28
climbs up again to, you know, this is me being a United fan.
13:32
I'm going to call it United level.
13:34
I don't know, I just feel like there's probably another job in
13:36
between Newcastle and Man United in terms of, you know, going for
13:39
the absolute top job in the Premier League.
13:42
Yeah, fair. Just anecdotally, I'm very
13:44
surprised he hasn't been more linked with Manchester United to
13:48
purely just from a, you know, seeing every name, you know, get
13:53
like Andonian Areola and you know, Oliver Glasner.
13:57
Here's a name that I'm quite surprised hasn't there hasn't
14:00
been more kind of hype behind just because of what he's
14:03
accomplished in the Premier League?
14:05
Look, his transfer business is one question that we'll always
14:09
get posed to him. But you know, Manchester United
14:12
made it quite clear that it's going to be a club, club
14:14
strategy around signing. So to me that's not even a
14:16
consideration. But anyway, I agree with Ron
14:18
though I'm surprised I would have thought you know whether
14:21
he's ready now or in the future. Problem is he might not be
14:24
available in the future if he's an England manager.
14:26
Post people I know. That's true, Ash.
14:28
Remind me, who was your number one candidate?
14:31
I think it was Louis Enrique. Like as soon as Ruben was fired,
14:37
obviously Carrick's in the door and let's say even before the
14:39
city game, it's like the dream. I think that was the word I
14:42
said. Like the dream would be Louis
14:43
Enrique, obviously with what's happened and there's still kind
14:50
of like that doubt that people have got probably all of us
14:53
right. It's like next season, fingers
14:55
crossed we got Champions League football.
14:57
So that's two games a week. How does he handle squad
15:00
rotation? There's, you know, some question
15:03
marks about substitutions. Are they too late?
15:05
You know, that was a criticism that he faced at Middlesbrough.
15:10
So there's all these kind of like little nitpicking things
15:13
that, you know, fans are talking about.
15:16
So I thought, and I think Steve, you are similar in that you
15:19
didn't mind the strategy of like if Carlo was available and
15:23
Carrick would be OK to do maybe one to two years like as the
15:28
assistant, a bit like Louis Van Hout Gigs.
15:31
And that you know that it was supposed to be a progressive
15:34
thing where Gigs gets the job after Van Hout like with some
15:38
certainty with Angelotti and Carrick.
15:41
You know Carrick gets the job in two years time.
15:43
The obvious question is will Carrick want to do that?
15:47
Who knows which I? Remember at the time I said no,
15:50
he wouldn't. But then having a thought about
15:52
it, if if, if the club came to him and said, you know, we don't
15:55
quite think you're ready this summer, but let's say Carlo
15:59
Angelotti is coming in and you can have the number two
16:01
position. I can't see him turning that
16:03
down. So when?
16:04
I do, you know, The thing is Ian spoke about it last week about
16:08
characters of personality. Let's be honest, Dan, you're
16:10
there every week. He doesn't really, he doesn't
16:13
really like doing the press conferences.
16:15
Like he's just very level. But let's be honest, he he
16:18
wouldn't, we wouldn't want to be there.
16:19
He wants to be on the training pitch or going to see, you know,
16:22
the youth team. So if Carlo was there, that's
16:27
the personality, the charisma, maybe even the quotes that Dan
16:31
is dying for because, you know, Reuben's not there anymore.
16:34
And then Carrick does all of the training stuff, gets to learn
16:38
from a world class manager about how to deal with players, squad
16:43
rotation, all this stuff. That would be great.
16:46
But yeah, I think to be honest with you, that's a bit of a pipe
16:49
dream. So I think realistically for me,
16:52
Carrick's in the hot seat as providing, you know, it doesn't
16:56
tail off like Ollie, like when he went from temp to perm or you
17:03
know, like finished fifth and there's all of a sudden question
17:05
marks like yes, we got Champions League, but you know, we fell
17:08
over the line so. Carla was my man.
17:10
Do you remember Ash? I said, and to be honest, if you
17:14
offered me Carlo Ancelotti right now, I'd still take him over as
17:19
well as it's gone over the first couple of months.
17:21
I just think, you know, we saw it with Ollie as well.
17:24
I'm not saying it would work out the same, but being interim and
17:27
being the perm, the pressure is different.
17:29
I think as soon as you become permanent manager, the media,
17:32
the players. Even next season, the
17:34
expectations are going to, you know, what United fans are like.
17:37
They're going to be like, oh, who we sign in, We've got more
17:40
money because we've got champs and two games a week and it's,
17:43
you know, it's not Champions League.
17:45
Next season's different. Yeah, yeah.
17:47
The last time we were in the Champions League, like it was,
17:50
you know, the, you know, the, the mini groups.
17:52
Now it's this league format and all this stuff.
17:54
So there's a there's a lot of planning that United have got to
17:57
do. I just wonder, I mean,
18:01
interested to take Dan's take on this.
18:04
You know, we mentioned too cool. We've mentioned Carlo, you know,
18:06
Luis Enrique, high profile managers.
18:09
We're shopping at the top table lads, right?
18:12
And then you know this better than anyone, you know, the last
18:14
10 years in terms of, you know, we've had Jose, you know, we've
18:17
had Lee van Gaal. And I just, I just wonder, you
18:20
know, your take on this is actually having a manager now in
18:23
place that actually understands the club, you know, has been
18:28
around the Fergie era. Just knows what it takes, you
18:31
know, from day-to-day to try and get a tune out of the players,
18:36
to manage the media, work with the likes of yourselves and, you
18:40
know, ultimately just keep the club ticking.
18:42
And it's all about the results. And yes, the sample size is very
18:45
small. You know, he's been in charge
18:47
for the last, you know, 2 1/2 months or so, but actually, how
18:50
important is that to actually get, you know, the nucleus of
18:53
the cloud, which, you know, clearly character.
18:56
Yeah, I mean, there's quite a few bits to unpack this.
18:59
We'll start with your question, Ron.
19:00
Start with look, I think and it kind of goes to Ash was saying
19:04
about say news conferences and you know, do we want someone to
19:07
give us a sound bite every week? You know, I'll kind of counter
19:11
that 11 aspect I would say is I feel, you know, the Carrick in a
19:15
way because he was also being interviewed on the job, right.
19:19
So I think there are some subjects like when Sir Jim
19:22
Radcliffe came out with the comments to Sky News that he has
19:25
to be really careful how he answers that.
19:27
I mean, he's on a six month interview process where
19:31
everything he says and does is going to be analysed to a team.
19:34
So I think you have to give him a bit of kind of leeway, I think
19:38
a little bit in his news conferences.
19:39
But actually I find him fun, to be honest.
19:42
I mean, we can talk about Ruben Amber and how entertaining his
19:45
news conferences were, but let's not forget they were
19:47
entertaining in a positive way. I mean hearing him dig out a
19:52
different player every week and talk about how you know Patrick
19:55
Dorgu is extremely anxious in the ball when a euro has a
19:59
prices and confidence. Academy kids, he called out.
20:02
Right. Yeah, the Academy kid.
20:03
I mean, let's also like don't forget that sometimes it's not
20:07
bad to have just a really stable type of manager who or head
20:11
coach where, you know, and I've asked him, you know, questions
20:14
in the past, say about Kobe, man, who some of the players
20:17
about England, you know, rather than just saying, oh, it's not
20:19
my problem. You know, he he gave enough
20:21
where how often, yes, sometimes we we're all talking to
20:25
ourselves going it's the headline from that.
20:27
But sometimes he just gives you enough, which is fine.
20:30
So I think there's that part. But to go back to Ron's
20:32
question, the reason I asked you what kind of manager you want,
20:35
who you want is because I think while I've summarised that and I
20:39
think the feeling is there's not a lot of options out there.
20:42
And we're talking about Carlo Angelotti, you know, towards the
20:45
end of his managerial career, by the way, you know, quite similar
20:47
to Louis Van Gallon in a sense, right?
20:50
You know, they're on a lot of options.
20:53
And as Ron alluded to, you know, they've tried in the last two
20:56
appointments, you know, a younger up and coming European
20:59
manager and Ruben Amber and and Eric 10 Hog.
21:02
You know, with Ollie, there's always the caveat when you talk
21:05
about his kind of era that the last season was somewhat
21:07
sabotaged by the signings of Ronaldo and Sancho.
21:12
You know. So look, maybe again, Carrick
21:16
hasn't been appointed permanently yet.
21:17
So I absolutely agree the next season will be different.
21:21
I'm not comparing the Championship to Champions League
21:24
football and Premier League football.
21:25
Ball, I would say is he has experience playing three games a
21:28
week, obviously as a player at Manchester United, but also in
21:32
terms of a very congested fixture.
21:33
This and remember that first season in Middlesbrough, like
21:37
they were very good. I find it hilarious sometimes
21:40
when we talk about, well, I hear other people talk about some of
21:42
Middlesbrough. They sold his best player in
21:44
Chuba Akpom. There is a reason why they
21:48
didn't sustain success in the following seasons.
21:50
They didn't invest in that team. I mean lending anyone took them
21:54
to the promotion, you know, favourites in those next two
21:57
seasons. So I think the carrot what I
22:00
would say is again, you know, not to ask all of you again, but
22:04
I find the Ollie argument very interesting as well.
22:07
You know, if Ollie gonna show score was never the caretaker
22:10
and then head coach of Manchester United.
22:12
How would we and the media, by the way, be talking about
22:16
Michael Carrot wouldn't there would be no discussion.
22:18
I mean, there wouldn't be I I am convinced we wouldn't be saying
22:23
actually. That's a great point.
22:25
Yeah, That's a great point. Yeah, yeah.
22:27
You know, Dan, on that point quickly, do you think that's
22:30
because of then Ollie or the fact that Carrick was even
22:33
associated with Ollie's backroom stuff?
22:36
Do you think it's purely what happened with Ollie?
22:39
I thought about this a lot. Maybe I don't have anything
22:41
better to do in my life, but I thought about this a lot,
22:43
genuinely, because I find it. I do find it very fascinating.
22:47
And to be honest, it's something I want to ask Michael Carrick in
22:50
the next few weeks because he does seem to get quite not
22:54
disrespected, but it's like he shouldn't get this job because
22:58
he was part of all these staff. But also they tried it with
23:02
Ollie to be a caretaker and take the club on site.
23:04
To answer your question, I think it's a double pronged thing
23:07
really that it's easy. You know, we we have former
23:10
players on Sky Sports News who say he shouldn't get the job.
23:13
Yeah, no. And look, everyone's entitled to
23:15
their own opinion, but I see former players come on and say
23:18
he shouldn't get the job because we're only going to show score.
23:20
Well, why? Like what?
23:22
What is what is, you know, the should Javi not have got the job
23:26
because Pep Guardiola was a manager of Barcelona?
23:29
You know, like, I know it's very different, but I just, yeah, I
23:32
find the two arguments very strange because if we take where
23:37
Manchester United were in January and how many points they
23:39
were behind the lights of Aston Villa, OK, some teams have
23:43
combusted a little bit, but this team weren't taking their
23:47
chances. They were defensively extremely
23:49
fragile. They weren't defending their
23:51
box, you know, character. His backroom staff have fixed
23:54
all of that. And again, the difference I
23:56
would say in scholars there of that first period you were
23:58
talking about, you know, before he became permanent, Well, there
24:02
weren't many performances. I don't think that I remember,
24:04
you know, even PSG, as iconic as those games were all that, that
24:08
not in Paris. You know, I sort of hanging on
24:10
in those games, you know, quite often.
24:12
And you know that they were great performances, defensive
24:15
Red Guard, but they weren't playing great attacking
24:17
football, dominating games or you could see patterns of play.
24:21
We're seeing that a little bit with this character.
24:24
I agree. Yeah, you know that that that's
24:26
the only caveat that I see are points of difference.
24:29
So I think they are very different.
24:31
And I think you also mentioned Ash's substitutes, by the way.
24:34
I want to just touch on that really quick.
24:37
I think what we've learned from Ruben Amran Fuller's faults,
24:40
balsa Michael Carrick is there's not a lot of trust on that
24:43
bench. You know, Manuel Egotte,
24:45
Joshua's actually don't come on and they're fully fledged
24:48
international. There's a reason why, you know,
24:50
Steve Holland and that it's not just character decision, that
24:53
whole backroom staff for deciding some of these players
24:56
on the bench on warranting more than 10 minutes off the bench.
25:00
So I think, again, there's a reason I think he's not using a
25:03
lot of those Subs. Do you know what on that point
25:06
is? I didn't understand the, I guess
25:09
like the, the noise around Chesko about a month ago, you
25:13
know, when he was coming off the bench and scoring because the
25:15
way I saw it was and boom, he was like wearing the opposition
25:19
defence down. You bring on a fresh #9 and to
25:23
be fair, AT Carrick, you know, the amount of points that Cesco
25:28
has won for him, you know, with a substitute.
25:31
I didn't really like understand the hostility, like probably
25:35
more on social media about that. You know, why, why is Cesco not
25:38
starting that? And to your point, it's like he
25:40
has, he has a game plan. It's like wearing teams down and
25:44
then things open up in the last 20 to 30 minutes of games.
25:48
Yeah, absolutely. And also I think there's a lot
25:50
we don't know as well. I mean, I think it was quite
25:52
interesting Shashka was pulled out international due to
25:55
Slovenia because Manchester United even admits themselves
25:58
he'd be managing a bit of a niggling injury.
26:01
So we also don't know whether he was on percent match there.
26:04
You know, that might be something, you know, as one
26:07
thing I've learned in this job is something sometimes there's a
26:09
lot more to the story and maybe they decided to three weeks ago,
26:12
look, we're just going to get you to the international break
26:15
and you're going to have three weeks off.
26:16
Get your body absolutely fit because this last stretch of the
26:19
season you're going to be hugely important.
26:22
So we also don't know how much that injury was hampering in
26:25
starting matches too. But actually I agree.
26:27
And also I again, I think you have to look at the context
26:32
around the conversations. Would we be talking about
26:34
Sheshika like that or would there be a debate around him?
26:37
If he wasn't worth £65 million last summer, Probably not.
26:40
You know, if he was signed for, you know, Sonny Larman's time
26:43
money, we'd be going, oh, he's had a great season.
26:45
He's one of the signing you know so, but actually his goal return
26:49
is probably one of the best of the last however many strikers
26:53
United have signed and the last five 6-7 years, you know, was
26:57
still quite a big upside and potential, which is why United
27:00
signed them so as. I'm going to say.
27:02
But if? Ruben was there.
27:04
I'm sorry. He wouldn't have done what he's
27:05
done. So again, credit to Carrick for
27:07
that reason. Kobe mano run.
27:09
You know he's been sensational. Right, Sensational, yeah.
27:12
I think credit as well to to Carrick in terms of the
27:15
learning, like we saw it with Hoyland and the pressure that
27:18
they they placed on a #9 for Man United being a very young
27:21
striker. I mean, you know, they've
27:23
learned from that, right? Cesco, they haven't started him
27:25
every single game down a Nash to your point, right?
27:27
They've sort of phased him in and then allowed him to come in
27:30
for, you know, 30 minutes, you know, 35 minutes or so at the
27:32
end of the matches and, you know, finish the game off if you
27:35
like. That pressure hasn't been there
27:37
a little bit different, of course, because we've got one
27:39
game a week and it'll be no doubt different next season,
27:41
hopefully back in the Champions League.
27:42
But again, there's a learning there.
27:44
I think that Carrick's taken to say that we're not going to put
27:46
the pressure on Cesco in his first season.
27:49
We're going to allow him and integrate him and phase him into
27:51
the games slowly. Yeah, definitely.
27:55
And I just want to like wrap this character section just by
27:58
talking about, you know, realistically.
28:00
So, you know, Dan, you've quite fairly asked us, you know, ideal
28:03
world, who would we pick as manager?
28:05
We've given you the elite names, right?
28:07
But realistically, you know, too cool is out of the picture, you
28:11
would think, although if England have a bad World Cup, you never
28:14
know. But you know, let's let's assume
28:16
he's out of the picture And Schlossy, you know, I read 3-4
28:19
weeks ago he was close to signing.
28:21
I've not seen it inked yet, but it feels like that's close.
28:24
And then, you know, Enrique, like you said, that might be
28:26
more smoke and mirrors. So if you kind of take out that
28:29
elite category, if you like, you've obviously got that next
28:32
tier of manager. And there's a lot of names in
28:34
that mix. You know, Narglesman, Parch
28:36
deserving, maybe not because it looks like he's going Spurs, but
28:39
you know, there's that lower bracket of manager.
28:41
So I guess the question is, as Manchester United supporters,
28:44
would we take Carrick over that next set of managers?
28:48
So Ron, I'll come to you on that.
28:49
If you know those 3 elite managers are out of the
28:51
question, are you taking Carrick over the you know the next bunch
28:54
of managers? Yeah, 100%.
28:57
As I say, you know, I wouldn't try to fix something that's not
29:00
broken. I also look at it from any of
29:02
his point of view as well. I mean, Can you imagine, you
29:04
know, if they went in and they replaced Carrick and we come to
29:08
October time next season and all of a sudden, you know, roles of
29:12
reverse and we're mid table or we're struggling again.
29:15
Can you imagine the pressure it would put on them?
29:17
I just can't see them making a decision anything.
29:20
But if you like, then then Michael Carrick.
29:23
And I think I'm a firm believer I alluded to earlier.
29:25
I think, you know, when you're in a company or you're in a
29:29
business and you understand the ways of working, you get the
29:32
culture of the club, you understand the fan base, you
29:35
know, you know what it's like day in, day out because you've
29:37
seen the success over many years under Fergie.
29:40
I just think we've got a huge advantage with with Carrick
29:43
being there. I really do.
29:44
I believe in that. So I wouldn't go for anyone
29:47
else. I mean to call was probably my
29:48
number one pick, but having seen what I've seen from Carrick, I
29:52
just wouldn't change. Not at all.