• Dear Guest, Please note that adult content is not permitted on this forum. We have had our Google ads disabled at times due to some posts that were found from some time ago. Please do not post adult content and if you see any already on the forum, please report the post so that we can deal with it. Adult content is allowed in the glory hole - you will have to request permission to access it. Thanks, scara

Circus ManUnitus - Erik's At The Wheel

Let this be the game that the players turn up for. They beat Liverpool and the press start beating the Ole's turned it around drum, leading to more of the same.
 
Amazing that Man Utd's wage bill has skyrocketed in the last 3 years.
Who have they bought on such huuuuge money?
 
POCH IS ON LINE ONE, ED
Even Solskjaer knows Pochettino is Manchester Utd’s next manager… so what is Woodward waiting for?
COMMENT
  • Dave Kidd
WHEN the call comes at his Barcelona home, as it surely will before long, Mauricio Pochettino’s ego will probably get the better of him.

Pochettino is Manchester United’s manager-in-waiting.

He knows it. Old Trafford’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward knows it. Deep down, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer probably knows it too.

The Argentine was the man Woodward wanted to replace Jose Mourinho in December 2018.

He is the man Sir Alex Ferguson would favour to drag the club back towards its glory days.

And he is a manager who’d command respect and dedication from players who have not shown enough of either quality towards Solskjaer.


BULLIED THEN EMBARRASSED
It is only a matter of time now because nobody with any footballing knowledge believes the Norwegian has either the tactical expertise or the strength of personality to cure United’s long-term malaise.

The year is only nine days old and United have already been bullied by Arsenal, embarrassed by Emirates Marketing Project and failed to muster a single shot on target in an FA Cup stalemate at Wolves.

On Sunday week, they head to Liverpool, currently as dominant a force as English football has ever known.

Liverpool away did for Mourinho last season. Solskjaer may suffer the same fate.


United would still have to pay compensation to Spurs, as Pochettino is effectively on gardening leave.

But the process would be far less painful than when Solskjaer’s extraordinary caretaker spell persuaded United to back out of a fight with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy.

Since his sacking by Spurs in November, Poch has been enjoying his first break from football in seven years.

United captain on the night Marcus Rashford admitted they just could not come to terms with what City were doing.
But soon this obsessive workaholic will be desperate to get back.

Yet if Pochettino allowed his head to rule his heart would he take the United job?

This is a club with the highest wage bill in Premier League history — around £330million a year — and yet it somehow lacks experience, defensive nous, midfield creativity and a genuine centre-forward.

Where does a new manager even begin to get to grips with that?

Knowing Pochettino, it would start with sweatshop training, extreme team bonding (those hot coals burn your bare soles, boys) and a zero-tolerance approach to dressing-room malcontents.

Paul Pogba would either shape up or slope off. There would be no chance of the Frenchman continuing to brood and agitate.

And recruitment would become laser-focused on improving United’s actual team, rather than their social-media reach and shirt sales.

Poch loves promoting and improving youngsters — and United have many promising ones.

But he will realise the need to buy proven players at their peak — in defence, central midfield and at centre-forward.

The first half of Tuesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg loss to City was a new low in the post-Ferguson era. United were laugh-out-loud bad.

They can continue to drift this season, speaking vainly about a ‘long-term process’ under Solskjaer.

Or they could take the sensible option and call for Pochettino. He would crave the challenge, even if he really shouldn’t.

So what are United waiting for?

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/10701159/dave-kidd-solskjaer-pochettino-man-utd-woodward/
 
Hang on, didn't the club sack Poch to appoint the new manager? they'd have to pay compensation? you can't have your cake and eat it now
 
He has to be smart enough to see United as a poisoned chalice.

I'd like to see him do well elsewhere, although obviously that means not at a PL rival. He did a lot for us and the combination of his personal intensity and intense team requirements, without refreshment, added up to the team losing it's edge. I think the sacking was the best for both parties.

I'd like to see what he could do at a non-PL club in a position to back him better, but this could undermine his best abilities. His record at bring young players forward is exceptional
 
talkSPORT journalist Phil Brown claims that United have held secret discussions with Pochettino about taking over at the end of the season. Furthermore, it’s claimed the Argentine has given United a certain guarantee he’ll take charge – but not until the end of the season.

“What I’ve been told is United have been talking with Pochettino for a few weeks now,” Brown said. “But he doesn’t want the job until the end of the season.”

Solskjaer appears to have overcome a rocky autumn to get back on track with United, though much of his future in the role will depend on how the rest of the season pans out and despite claims senior United stars had pleaded with the club’s owners not to show the Norwegian the door.

However, Brown is adamant Pochettino has been approached and talks have been held.

“I’ve been told by someone who would know, who I trust 100 per cent and who has given me stuff in the past and been bang on so is clearly informed,” he insisted. “They’ve been talking to Pochettino for a few weeks but most likely if anything happens it’ll be at the end of the season.”

Brown also sensationally claimed that he’s been informed that Pochettino has told United he will only take the job if much-maligned executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward is taken off all football and transfer matters at Old Trafford.

“He doesn’t want the job until certain requirements have been met,” Brown commented in reference to the polarised figure that is Woodward.

And Brown said on his Beyond the Pitch podcast: “Pochettino doesn’t have an agent, Ed Woodward can’t be seen to be talking to Pochettino in public, so they designated an individual who will mediate.

“I can’t say who that individual is. He doesn’t want the job until the summer.

“He demands a director of football guaranteed and the director of football cannot be Ed Woodward.

“He wants full freedom of first-team matters, including who can be sold. (He) wants Ed Woodward to step away from anything football at all and funds to be made available for purchases.”

https://www.teamtalk.com/news/poche...woodward-demand-after-giving-man-utd-his-word
 
Back