Let me open with a question, this week. If you persuaded Pep Guardiola to cross Manchester and go in to manage Manchester United’s current group of players, how much better would the team be? Marginally, perhaps, but they would still not be a side who are going to be winning the Premier League.
I ask this at the end of another week of turmoil for United, in which Erik ten Hag was sacked, having been given ample time and money, and Sporting Lisbon manager Ruben Amorim was confirmed as his successor.
Amorim is making one hell of a jump to go from Sporting to United – in many people’s eyes, the biggest football club in the world, during that club’s worst Premier League period since the advent of the competition. It’s an opportunity that he could never turn down, but he’s facing a monumental job, which as sure as hell is not going to be easy.
It’s going to be very difficult for him to be successful there because of the quality of the squad he’s inheriting. They’ve got so far behind Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City.
Two things have to happen next. Three or four of the young kids all have to come through big and show they are performers at the top level. And he’s got to be very lucky in the transfer windows. It’s going to take more than a couple of windows to fix this. And as always with big football clubs, time is not your friend.
Amorim seems to have the ability to keep his team motivated and on their toes, having won two titles in the last four years at Sporting Lisbon. And as I’ve said many times in this column – winning the league says more about you than winning any cups. Before he arrived, Sporting hadn’t won the league since 2002.
But even if he’s the best thing since sliced bread, Amorim will achieve nothing at United without that club upping their game when it comes to recruitment. Because that – as I will never tire of saying – is the most important thing to get right at a football club.
Since Ineos came into United, I don’t think they’ve covered themselves in glory with some of the footballing decisions they’ve made. Like showing Fergie the door and recruiting players this summer who I very much doubt will take them to the very top of our Premier League or challenging for the cup with the big ears. This is their first managerial appointment at United. They must be praying they get this right. Goodwill for them is draining away.
On the basis of their recruitment record, Amorim will want a big say on transfers, going forward. He will need top players, who can deliver instantly. They will need a certain mentality, too. There are too many in that dressing room who are not dealing with the pressures of playing for United. Some of the current squad look like they’re playing with a sack of coal on their backs. It all looks too much for them.
I wouldn’t be getting carried away by anything United achieved in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday against a Leicester team whose priority is survival in the Premier League, but the improvement in their performance for Ruud van Nistelrooy demonstrated the bounce that a new manager can bring. He certainly got a tune out of them.
I don’t think Amorim’s age is a problem. At 39, he’s already achieved great success and he will arrive in Manchester full of confidence about replicating that in England.
The first thing he will need to do is convince that dressing room from the off. Within a week, the players will have worked him out and decided whether they’re having him or not. His personality is going to be a big factor. He comes across as having a confident manner and that will stand him in good stead.
Amorim might be fabulous for United. Or this job might be too much for him. I sincerely hope it’s the former, because our game is crying out for a strong United. But let me close by posing another question. Does anyone in this current Man United group get in the starting XIs of Liverpool, Man City or Arsenal, if everyone at those clubs is fit? For me, it’s a ‘no’. And that’s the size of the next manager’s challenge.
No gentle welcome back to the water
I was back in the sea this week for the first time in ten months, after a shoulder operation for what I can say is easily the worst injury I’ve ever had. I rejoined the team I did my Channel swim with last year, and I didn’t get the gentle welcome back that I was expecting.
They’re ex-military types who regard themselves as Ferraris and Porsches in the water, while I’m an old diesel engine with 250,000 miles on the clock.
We’re preparing for our next charity Channel swim next May, after this summer’s was postponed because of the tides and the weather. I was really encouraged by my 20 minutes in the water with our leader, Andy – breaking myself in gently.
I view that as a breakthrough. It’s been a long ten months, feeling like an old man and being brutally reminded of the fact by my team-mates.
Rodri rocks, but let’s see a few more goals
I’m delighted that Rodri has won the Ballon d’Or. It’s so often gone to the forwards and headline-grabbers – the Messis and Ronaldos or, in my playing days, the Keegans, Rummenigges and Platinis.
Only in recent history has the importance of the holding midfield position for the overall success of a team been fully appreciated. A lot of their work goes on unseen to the untrained eye.
The best ones in that position do a bit of everything, including chipping in with goals – which was never as important to me as protecting my two central defenders.
Rodri has scored 22 Premier League goals in four seasons for Manchester City. I scored 38 in seven seasons in the First Division for Liverpool. That puts each of us both on a fraction more than an average of five a season. But what it would have been like to have played on these modern surfaces, as Rodri can.
Coming onto the ball at the edge of the box within striking distance of the goal, the way the ball now rolls across the grass, you should be getting close to double figures in one of the best teams. I would certainly be expecting that of myself, if I was performing the Rodri role today.
Ballon d’Or snub by Madrid was a real disgrace
The ‘Real’ in ‘Real Madrid’ means ‘Royal’ in English. My understanding is that it dates to the club being blessed by the King of Spain in 1920. But the way that club have acted this week has been about as unroyal as any conduct you will see.
Refusing to turn up at the Ballon d’Or awards because Rodri, and not one of their own players, received the individual accolade? What a disgrace.
Arsenal draw bodes well for Liverpool
Another positive sign last Sunday for my old team Liverpool, who found themselves a goal behind to Arsenal at the Emirates but found another gear to get an equaliser in a very entertaining game, between two very good teams.
Liverpool didn’t try to change the way they were playing and believed in the system and each other. For me, that’s very encouraging.
