Part 1/2 🧵: The Old Trafford Magic Is Back - And So Is the Fight:
By Steve Sya
The scoreline says 4-4. The table reads 18th. The headlines screamed "crisis." But anyone who actually watched Manchester United against Aston Villa on Sunday saw something the spreadsheet merchants will never quantify: The Old Trafford spirit is back!
Twice United went two goals down. Twice they clawed back. Bruno Fernandes - the captain, the lightning rod, the one who never hides - dragged his team level before half-time from the penalty spot . When Villa went 4-2 up early in the second half, the old United would have folded. This one didn't. Joshua Zirkzee pulled one back in stoppage time, and Patrick Dorgu headed in a 96th-minute equaliser that turned Old Trafford into a cauldron of noise and disbelief!
That is not a "limpid performance." That is a team fighting for its manager. Dorgu said it plainly afterwards: "We need to fight for the manager, for the club and get out of this together" . Michael Owen, admitted on air that the players are "absolutely fighting for him" and the fans are "with him" . Even Roy Keane - famously unforgiving - conceded United "showed a bit of fight and desire" and "kept going".
The Board was watching. Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Jason Wilcox and Omar Berrada were all at Old Trafford . They saw an entire team fighting for their manager. They saw a stadium that erupted when Dorgu scored. They saw the first real green shoots of a side that might, induce fear again.
Results matter. But fans abhor a team that doesn't care. This team cares. That is the foundation. Everything else is built on top of it.
Here's what the sports news looked like on the day before United played Villa. Virtually every report - from the tabloids to the click-bait aggregators - had already written Carrick's obituary. The Mirror and The Sun pushed the line that Carrick had "no assurances" and "no idea" whether he'd survive the Villa game . Football365 ran with the "human shield" narrative - the idea that INEOS chiefs were hiding behind Carrick to deflect from their own boardroom failures . The Manchester Evening News framed the fixture as a defining week where Carrick was "powerless" to avoid the sack.
Was any of that reporting? Or was it something else entirely?
Click HERE to read Part 2/2
. STEVE SYA is listed in ASEAN Who's Who and is a 3-Time GP Champion
. Managed a football club that won its National Cup at first time of asking (with a player each, from Manchester United & Tottenham Hotspur Youth)
. Many of his players qualified for the Olympics Football Tournament, playing for their National Teams
. One went on to play for Hertha Berlin, in the Bundesliga & then coached the likes of Thomas Müller, Philipp Lahm, Holger Badstuber & David Alaba in the Bayern Munich Academy.
. Campaigned tirelessly, for the reinstatement of Maguire, Amad, Šeško and Casemiro, transforming them from benchwarmers, into vital players whose absence diminishes the team's effectiveness.
#MUFC #ManchesterUnited #ManUnited #TNTSportsFootball #TheBreakdown #ESPN #Skysports.com #si_soccer #talkSPORT #ManUtd #PremierLeague #JimRatcliffe #JasonWilcox #OwenHargreaves #GaryNeville #AstonVilla #MichaelCarrick #OldTrafford #PremierLeague #BrunoFernandes #PatrickDorgu #FootballMedia #Punditry #INEOS
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Part 2/2 🧵: The Pundit Class Showed Its Hand - And It Wasn't Clean nor Pretty
Look at the pattern. This is a pundit class populated heavily by ex-United opponents - men who spent their playing careers getting beaten by Ferguson's machine and who now sit in television studios with a barely concealed glee riding on the hope of Old Trafford in flames. The "lose and you're fired" ultimatum wasn't sourced journalism. It was a subliminal wish dressed up as news. A desire to see the old rival succumb, what they couldn't succeed in doing during their playing days - be defeated - packaged as "expert analysis."
In life, you come across true professionals like competent lawyers, doctors and engineers and commentators like Owen Gargreaves and then you have the "riff-raffs of the sinister and dark kind" like the 3 Card Monte conmen you find along the five footways outside Selfridges!
Notice one thing about true professionals?
Here is the uncomfortable truth. In any other profession, this would be a scandal. A lawyer who briefed the press against his own client would be struck off. A doctor who leaked a patient's file to a tabloid would lose his licence. Engineers who signed off on unsafe designs face prosecution. Why? Because they are governed by professional bodies - the Legal Services Board, the General Medical Council, the Engineering Council, the Premier League - that enforce codes of conduct and maintain standards.
Football punditry has no such body. The Premier League regulates clubs. Nobody regulates the men with microphones. And so you get the three-card monte conmen of the airwaves just like the 3 card conmen operating on the five footways outside Selfridges: the ones who shuffle the narrative, distract you with a sensational headline, and pocket your attention and in the process sully the reputation of the TV stations and media channels they represent; while the real story - a team fighting for its manager, a fanbase beginning to believe - gets buried under a pile of "sack race" graphics.
The BBC called it "bizarre and thrilling theatre" . Sky Sports pushed the "awkward interview" angle . ESPN focused on Keane calling Carrick names. Notice what none of them led with: the fight? The character? The fact that this United team, for all its flaws, refused to fold.
Fair-minded fans don't demand cheerleading. They demand fair play and objectivity - the minimum professional standard. On November 7th, the pundit class failed that standard. They didn't report the story. They pre-wrote it. And when the story refused to cooperate - when Dorgu's header hit the net in the 96th minute - they had to scramble to pretend they'd been covering the fight all along.
Carrick demonstrated more class in his pinkie than that entire band of mostly dishonest pundits and sportswriters. The Old Trafford magic is back. And the men who wished it dead are going to have to find a new script. The United Board, would have taken note.
The End
. STEVE SYA is listed in ASEAN Who's Who and is a 3-Time GP Champion
. Managed a football club that won its National Cup at first time of asking (with a player each, from Manchester United & Tottenham Hotspur Youth)
. Many of his players qualified for the Olympics Football Tournament, playing for their National Teams
. One went on to play for Hertha Berlin, in the Bundesliga & then coached the likes of Thomas Müller, Philipp Lahm, Holger Badstuber & David Alaba in the Bayern Munich Academy.
. Campaigned tirelessly, for the reinstatement of Maguire, Amad, Šeško and Casemiro, transforming them from benchwarmers, into vital players whose absence diminishes the team's effectiveness.
#MUFC #ManchesterUnited #ManUnited #TNTSportsFootball #TheBreakdown #ESPN #Skysports.com #si_soccer #ManUtd #PremierLeague #PGMOL #SteveNichols #CraigBurley #OwenHargreaves #GaryNeville #ManchesterUnitedMuppetiers #UnitedPeoplesTV #TheUnitedStand
#StretfordPaddock #JimRatcliffe
#ManchesterUnited #AstonVilla #MichaelCarrick
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Part 1/2 🧵 The Roma Heist by United Proves Carrick Was Never the Problem - by Steve Sya
For 45 minutes, Old Trafford was a courtroom, and Michael Carrick was the defendant. Two goals down inside 17 minutes to a Roma side riding high in the Champions League, boos ringing out, tennis balls on the pitch in protest against the Glazers.
The verdict felt pre-written: nine games without a win, a manager out of his depth, a club in freefall. Then Matheus Cunha happened. Then Shea Lacey happened. Then Kobbie Mainoo happened. And by full-time, the 3-2 comeback might not just save Carrick's job - it exposed the laziness of the entire "Carrick is the problem" narrative.
Look at what actually turned the game. It was a tactical masterclass from the bench, and it was not a fluke either. Carlos Baleba, finally driving through the Roma defence with a brilliant move providing the kind of thrust United have lacked all season, pulled up with a hamstring injury just as Bryan Mbeumo waited for a tap-in. Brutal luck, the story of Carrick's tenure. Then Bruno Fernandes, playing as captain, dragged his side back with a retaken penalty - leadership, not just management. Cunha levelled, then Lacey, the academy graduate, threaded a pass of pure conviction for the winner. "Lacey has turned the game"... "Maybe trust the kids, Michael" sayeth a wise man. But trusting the kids is precisely what Carrick has been forced to do, because the squad he inherited is unbalanced, injury-ravaged and structurally broken.
This is the crux. Carrick was never responsible for the board's failure to strengthen at centre-back and left-back, nor for the main striker being injured without cover. He was not the one who allowed the squad to become so depleted that a 19-year-old and a midfielder returning from an ankle issue were the emergency solutions. The "no tactical identity" critique may have merit, but it rings hollow when the players themselves have spent weeks briefing against the manager, when the pundits publicly question his tactics while the hierarchy dithers over a replacement. The dysfunction at Manchester United did not begin with Carrick, and it will not end with him.
Click here to read Part 2/2
. STEVE SYA is listed in ASEAN Who's Who and is a 3-Time GP Champion
. Managed a football club that won its National Cup at first time of asking (with a player each, from Manchester United & Tottenham Hotspur Youth)
. Many of his players qualified for the Olympics Football Tournament, playing for their National Teams
. One went on to play for Hertha Berlin, in the Bundesliga & then coached the likes of Thomas Müller, Philipp Lahm, Holger Badstuber & David Alaba in the Bayern Munich Academy.
. Campaigned tirelessly, for the reinstatement of Maguire, Amad, Šeško and Casemiro, transforming them from benchwarmers, into vital players whose absence diminishes the team's effectiveness.
#MUFC #ManchesterUnited #ManUnited #TNTSportsFootball #TheBreakdown #ESPN #Carrick #Skysports.com #si_soccer #talkSPORT #ManUtd #PremierLeague #JimRatcliffe #JasonWilcox #OwenHargreaves #GaryNeville
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Part 2/2 🧵 Roma the Litmus Test for United
Roma arrived as the litmus test. A well-drilled, confident side, they should have buried a rattled United. Instead, Carrick's players - the ones supposedly lost to him - ran through walls in the second half. Mainoo produced the game of his life alongside Baleba before the injury forced a reshuffle. Mbeumo hit both posts. The energy was chaotic, desperate, imperfect, but it was alive. That is not the signature of a dressing room that has quit on its coach. It is the signature of a squad that knows its manager has been dealt a cruel hand and is trying to bail water out of a ship.
Carrick may not be a genius. He may not be the long-term answer. But the idea that he is the root cause of United's malaise is a convenient fiction peddled by a pundit class made up almost entirely of ex-player opponents wishing for and addicted to a diet of feasting on United's failures! These pundits sully the good name if the TV stations, channels and media they represent for rank unprofessionalism!
Not entirely blameless either is an ownership structure that has escaped accountability for a decade. The Glazers remain, the recruitment remains scattergun, the injury list remains catastrophic. When Cunha crashed in the winner, when the fans chanted Carrick's name, when the manager pounded his chest at full-time, it was not a vindication of a tactical system. It was a reminder that sometimes the problem is not the man in the dugout.
Sometimes the problem is everything above him. And until that changes, the next manager will be standing in exactly the same courtroom, facing exactly the same verdict.
Right now INEOS can solve the problem by investing sensible sums immediately in January! Sign: Rabiot (~£20m) for football intelligence and stamina to further strengthen the midfield, Theo Hernandez (~£20m) for pace at left-back, plus PULL OUT ALL THE STOPS to sign this deadly Aston Villa striker, Alysson, who only joined Aston Villa in January 2026 for, wait for this, £8.9M. Aston Villa is a selling club: Make them an offer they can't refuse!
The End.
. STEVE SYA is listed in ASEAN Who's Who and is a 3-Time GP Champion
. Managed a football club that won its National Cup at first time of asking (with a player each, from Manchester United & Tottenham Hotspur Youth)
. Many of his players qualified for the Olympics Football Tournament, playing for their National Teams
. One went on to play for Hertha Berlin, in the Bundesliga & then coached the likes of Thomas Müller, Philipp Lahm, Holger Badstuber & David Alaba in the Bayern Munich Academy.
. Campaigned tirelessly, for the reinstatement of Maguire, Amad, Šeško and Casemiro, transforming them from benchwarmers, into vital players whose absence diminishes the team's effectiveness.
#MUFC #ManchesterUnited #ManUnited #TNTSportsFootball #TheBreakdown #ESPN #Carrick #Skysports.com #si_soccer #ManUtd #PremierLeague #PGMOL #SteveNichols #CraigBurley #OwenHargreaves #GaryNeville #ManchesterUnitedMuppetiers #UnitedPeoplesTV #TheUnitedStand
#StretfordPaddock
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Part 1/2 🧵: The Pundits Love Their Standards So Much, They Always Try To Double Them - For United!
The Agenda & The Ghosts of Woodward
Let’s talk about selective outrage in football. Arsenal lost to Fleetwood Town - a result branded a “humiliation” but barely a whimper on the scale of the extended existential crisis, pundits rolled out for Man Utd’s loss to Grimsby. The standards aren’t just double; they’re on a different planet.
But the real rot goes deeper than one result. Trace the horrendous transfers back to Ed Woodward, and it stops looking dumb - it starts to reek of something rotten!
· Antony: Solskjaer’s scouting regime valued him at £25m. United then magically inflated their internal valuation during ETHs tenure, and paid £82m - £86m to Ajax. That doesn’t just fail the smell test; it reeks.
· The Sabotage of Solskjaer: He tried to sign Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland when they were cheap and unknown. Woodward ignored him. Cheap is anathema to a CEO who prefers inflated deals - so instead, United splashed £73m on Jadon Sancho, who's now worth peanuts!
· Hojlund: A good buy - a natural double-digit striker. His United career was destroyed by Garnacho’s selfishness, repeatedly refusing to pass to Hojlund for a tap-in, instead choosing to blast over! I've lost count of the number of times, Hojlund kicked the post in frustration. Pundits in sharkskin suits (good footballers, but useless as analysts and pundits) just couldn't suss it out, and Hojlund was sold at a heavy loss.
Click HERE to read Part 2/2 on Chelsea v Man Utd
. STEVE SYA is listed in ASEAN Who's Who and is a 3-Time GP Champion
. Managed a football club that won its National Cup at first time of asking (with a player each, from Manchester United & Tottenham Hotspur Youth)
. Many of his players qualified for the Olympics Football Tournament, playing for their National Teams
. One went on to play for Hertha Berlin, in the Bundesliga & then coached the likes of Thomas Müller, Philipp Lahm, Holger Badstuber & David Alaba in the Bayern Munich Academy.
. Campaigned tirelessly, for the reinstatement of Maguire, Amad, Šeško and Casemiro, transforming them from benchwarmers, into vital players whose absence diminishes the team's effectiveness.
#MUFC #ManchesterUnited #ManUnited #TNTSportsFootball #TheBreakdown #ESPN #Carrick #Skysports.com #si_soccer #talkSPORT #ManUtd #PremierLeague #JimRatcliffe #JasonWilcox #OwenHargreaves #GaryNeville
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Part 2/2 🧵: The Saboteurs & The Solution
Against Chelsea, the improvement was obvious - but the Jury is still out on Bruno and Martinez. Martinez especially has to go. Sell him in January at ANY COST. He should take up acting; he’d be worth hundreds of millions.
· Martinez parted like the Red Sea to let Morgan Rogers score Chelsea’s opener - a repeat of Bournemouth’s Rayan breezing past him in the 3-0 loss.
· He then angled for a red card, first wrestling with Morgan Rogers around and in the box for which he got a yellow. You could see him looking at Fofana before deliberately jamming his right elbow into Fofana’s throat for a penalty (second yellow) and a sending off!
· Bruno’s whiffed final shot in the first half was also suspect.
Carrick is blameless - guilty only of gullibility in believing Martinez wouldn’t sabotage the team. You could bring in ten world-class managers; they’d be helpless with players like Martinez out to sabotage the club.
Both Bruno and Martinez were angling for improved contracts, whilst Rashford is upset that the club tried to sell him all summer!
The solution: Back Carrick to the hilt! End the despicable United player-power culture once and for all. Don’t succumb to blackmail!
Sell in January: Bruno, Martinez and Rashford (the latter 2 at ANY price),
Sign: Rabiot (~£20m) for football intelligence and stamina to further strengthen the midfield, Theo Hernandez (~£20m) for pace at left-back, plus a deadly striker! Bring Yoro to centre-back, Dalot to right-back - and watch United go!
The End.
. STEVE SYA is listed in ASEAN Who's Who and is a 3-Time GP Champion
. Managed a football club that won its National Cup at first time of asking (with a player each, from Manchester United & Tottenham Hotspur Youth)
. Many of his players qualified for the Olympics Football Tournament, playing for their National Teams
. One went on to play for Hertha Berlin, in the Bundesliga & then coached the likes of Thomas Müller, Philipp Lahm, Holger Badstuber & David Alaba in the Bayern Munich Academy.
. Campaigned tirelessly, for the reinstatement of Maguire, Amad, Šeško and Casemiro, transforming them from benchwarmers, into vital players whose absence diminishes the team's effectiveness.
#MUFC #ManchesterUnited #ManUnited #TNTSportsFootball #TheBreakdown #ESPN #Carrick #Skysports.com #si_soccer #ManUtd #PremierLeague #PGMOL #SteveNichols #CraigBurley #OwenHargreaves #GaryNeville #ManchesterUnitedMuppetiers #UnitedPeoplesTV #TheUnitedStand
#StretfordPaddock
605
🧵Part 1/2: The Pundits Love Their Standards So Much, They Always Try To Double Them - For United!
The Agenda & The Ghosts of Woodward
Let’s talk about selective outrage in football. Arsenal lost to Fleetwood Town - a result branded a “humiliation” but barely a whimper on the scale of the extended existential crisis, pundits rolled out for Man Utd’s loss to Grimsby. The standards aren’t just double; they’re on a different planet.
But the real rot goes deeper than one result. Trace the horrendous transfers back to Ed Woodward, and it stops looking dumb - it starts to reek of something rotten!
· Antony: Solskjaer’s scouting regime valued him at £25m. United then magically inflated their internal valuation during ETHs tenure, and paid £82m - £86m to Ajax. That doesn’t just fail the smell test; it reeks.
· The Sabotage of Solskjaer: He tried to sign Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland when they were cheap and unknown. Woodward ignored him. Cheap is anathema to a CEO who prefers inflated deals - so instead, United splashed £73m on Jadon Sancho, who's now worth peanuts!
· Hojlund: A good buy - a natural double-digit striker. His United career was destroyed by Garnacho’s selfishness, repeatedly refusing to pass to Hojlund for a tap-in, instead choosing to blast over! I've lost count of the number of times, Hojlund kicked the post in frustration. Pundits in sharkskin suits (good footballers, but useless as analysts and pundits) just couldn't suss it out, and Hojlund was sold at a heavy loss.
Click HERE to read Part 2/2 on Chelsea v Man Utd
. STEVE SYA is listed in ASEAN Who's Who and is a 3-Time GP Champion
. Managed a football club that won its National Cup at first time of asking (with a player each, from Manchester United & Tottenham Hotspur Youth)
. Many of his players qualified for the Olympics Football Tournament, playing for their National Teams
. One went on to play for Hertha Berlin, in the Bundesliga & then coached the likes of Thomas Müller, Philipp Lahm, Holger Badstuber & David Alaba in the Bayern Munich Academy.
. Campaigned tirelessly, for the reinstatement of Maguire, Amad, Šeško and Casemiro, transforming them from benchwarmers, into vital players whose absence diminishes the team's effectiveness.
#MUFC #ManchesterUnited #ManUnited #TNTSportsFootball #TheBreakdown #ESPN #Carrick #Skysports.com #si_soccer #talkSPORT #ManUtd #PremierLeague #JimRatcliffe #JasonWilcox #OwenHargreaves #GaryNeville
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🧵Part 2/2: The Saboteurs & The Solution
Against Chelsea, the improvement was obvious - but the Jury is still out on Bruno and Martinez. Martinez especially has to go. Sell him in January at ANY COST. He should take up acting; he’d be worth hundreds of millions.
· Martinez parted like the Red Sea to let Morgan Rogers score Chelsea’s opener - a repeat of Bournemouth’s Rayan breezing past him in the 3-0 loss.
· He then angled for a red card, first wrestling with Morgan Rogers around and in the box for which he got a yellow. You could see him looking at Fofana before deliberately jamming his right elbow into Fofana’s throat for a penalty (second yellow) and a sending off!
· Bruno’s whiffed final shot in the first half was also suspect.
Carrick is blameless - guilty only of gullibility in believing Martinez wouldn’t sabotage the team. You could bring in ten world-class managers; they’d be helpless with players like Martinez and Rashford, out to sabotage the club.
Both Bruno and Martinez were angling for improved contracts.
Rashford is upset over the club trying to sell him!
The solution: Keep Carrick. End the despicable United player-power culture once and for all. Don’t succumb to blackmail!
Sell in January: Bruno, Martinez and Rashford (the latter 2 at ANY price),
Sign: Rabiot (~£20m) for football intelligence and stamina to further strengthen the midfield, Theo Hernandez (~£20m) for pace at left-back, plus a deadly striker! Bring Yoro to centre-back, Dalot to right-back - and watch United go!
The End.
. STEVE SYA is listed in ASEAN Who's Who and is a 3-Time GP Champion
. Managed a football club that won its National Cup at first time of asking (with a player each, from Manchester United & Tottenham Hotspur Youth)
. Many of his players qualified for the Olympics Football Tournament, playing for their National Teams
. One went on to play for Hertha Berlin, in the Bundesliga & then coached the likes of Thomas Müller, Philipp Lahm, Holger Badstuber & David Alaba in the Bayern Munich Academy.
. Campaigned tirelessly, for the reinstatement of Maguire, Amad, Šeško and Casemiro, transforming them from benchwarmers, into vital players whose absence diminishes the team's effectiveness.
#MUFC #ManchesterUnited #ManUnited #TNTSportsFootball #TheBreakdown #ESPN #Carrick #Skysports.com #si_soccer #ManUtd #PremierLeague #PGMOL #SteveNichols #CraigBurley #OwenHargreaves #GaryNeville #ManchesterUnitedMuppetiers #UnitedPeoplesTV #TheUnitedStand
#StretfordPaddock
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🧵Part 1/2: The Theatre of Screams: "Ifs and Buts" are just candy and nuts, for a club choking on both.
Something amazing happened, after Bournemouth embarrassed United 3-0 at Old Trafford. The fans spoketh loudly, after the game. They cheered Carrick - the only man who genuinely cared - and jeered, inter alia, the players masquerading in red. That's not toxicity. That's a fanbase with standards and nous.
See: instagram.com/reel/De7SbUloH…
Because it's not simply the scoreline. Barcelona losing 4-2 away to PSG in the Champions League, wasn't too far away from 4-1 and 0-3...just as catastrophic and yet, Barca wasn't condemned - Reason? Because they played well!
Bournemouth and Como played the kind of football I'd urged Carrick to keep playing: simple triangulation, pass and move, let the ball do the running. No tricks required. It's what United produced against Man City and Arsenal when Carrick first took over. That kind of football, runs rings around opponents - something we found out from Como AND Bournemouth, to our detriment!
The headless-chicken running? That happens when a player is unintelligent - or pretending. Sounds familiar?
Click HERE to read Part 2/2
. STEVE SYA is listed in ASEAN Who's Who and is a 3-Time GP Champion
. Managed a football club that won its National Cup at first time of asking (with a player each, from Manchester United & Tottenham Hotspur Youth)
. Many of his players qualified for the Olympics Football Tournament, playing for their National Teams
. One went on to play for Hertha Berlin, in the Bundesliga & then coached the likes of Thomas Müller, Philipp Lahm, Holger Badstuber & David Alaba in the Bayern Munich Academy.
. Campaigned tirelessly, for the reinstatement of Maguire, Amad, Šeško and Casemiro, transforming them from benchwarmers, into vital players whose absence diminishes the team's effectiveness.
#MUFC #ManchesterUnited #ManUnited #TNTSportsFootball #TheBreakdown #ESPN #Carrick #Skysports.com #si_soccer #talkSPORT #ManUtd #PremierLeague #JimRatcliffe #JasonWilcox #OwenHargreaves #GaryNeville
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🧵Part 2/2: Management Nous Is Not Optional
Management requires a funny element called street-smartness. We've spent the summer trying to sell Rashford, then made the fatal error of trying to reintegrate him. Now he plays with a permanent sulk, pretending to try, but always whiffing his final shot.
It is an unwritten management rule, that Staff in offices worldwide once handed P45s, are paid off instantly and totally barred from the building - because they can cause irreparable damage...like making important files disappear. That's trite management.
Lisandro Martínez's contract was up for renewal. Decisive action means renew or sell. No ifs and buts. Same with Bruno, running around like a headless chicken, but it was all pretense. Delay, and you get an own goal and a "wrestling" match with Solanke that fooled every pundit - the same script plays out again, as Martínez's came on in his cameo and "instantly slipped" in the United box against Bournemouth. If you won't pay them what they're asking, sell them ASAP!
Rebuilding a team, is a little like ALCHEMY: It's not just youth, but a potent combination of experience, youth, and deadly superstar strikers. Selective splurging.
Casemiro should have been retained. After a difficult start, Casemiro is now playing extremely well in Miami -Carragher, Cundy, Merson and Sherwood, et al, aren't fit to coach kindy teams, which is why they ALL flopped in management, as they all focused, simplistically, only on Casemiro's chronological age. In the process, they bring dishonour and disrepute to the channels and TV stations they serve as pundits!
For it is biological age, not chronological age, that matters - Alves played till 39, Modrić is 41 and still running for Croatia. Rabiot (31), with his football intelligence and stamina, would have transformed the United midfield for £20M. Théo Hernandez (29) - with his blinding pace at left back, and still playing for France - same cost. Two signings. Real nous. That would have left a budget for a deadly striker. Instead, we sit here sucking on candy and nuts!
The End.
. STEVE SYA is listed in ASEAN Who's Who and is a 3-Time GP Champion
. Managed a football club that won its National Cup at first time of asking (with a player each, from Manchester United & Tottenham Hotspur Youth)
. Many of his players qualified for the Olympics Football Tournament, playing for their National Teams
. One went on to play for Hertha Berlin, in the Bundesliga & then coached the likes of Thomas Müller, Philipp Lahm, Holger Badstuber & David Alaba in the Bayern Munich Academy.
. Campaigned tirelessly, for the reinstatement of Maguire, Amad, Šeško and Casemiro, transforming them from benchwarmers, into vital players whose absence diminishes the team's effectiveness.
#MUFC #ManchesterUnited #ManUnited #TNTSportsFootball #TheBreakdown #ESPN #Carrick #Skysports.com #si_soccer #ManUtd #PremierLeague #PGMOL #SteveNichols #CraigBurley #OwenHargreaves #GaryNeville #ManchesterUnitedMuppetiers #UnitedPeoplesTV #TheUnitedStand
#StretfordPaddock
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🧵 1/2 The Theatre of Pretense: Carrick’s Como Catastrophe Exposes "Something is Rotten in the House of Denmark! - By Steve Sya
Part 1: The Captain’s Betrayal & The Passenger in Plain Sight
The 4-1 Champions League defeat to Como wasn't just a tactical disaster; it was the definitive unmasking of a rotten core at Old Trafford.
While the football world was purring over PSG’s 4-2 victory against Barcelona - a game played with the kind of reckless "leather and thong" abandon that makes the Champions League special - Manchester United were busy embarrassing themselves. But forget the scoreline for a second. Look at the captain.
Bruno Fernandes was a complete passenger. He wasn't just off-form; he was holding back...a phantom in the shirt. For 90 minutes against Como, Bruno was just pretending. He struts, he points, he moans, but the output is gone.
He came out after the match questioning the team's tactics, begging for the side to be "more brave." It’s a classic diversion tactic. By questioning the manager's setup, he is covering up the ultimate act of treachery...from the club captain of all people, denied the crazy wages he's asking for.
We are witnessing the breakdown of the United dressing room in real-time. There is a growing, undeniable suspicion that three careers at Old Trafford are effectively over. They must never pull on the red shirt, ever again: Bruno, Rashford, and Lisandro Martinez.
You only need one player to deliberately balk to destroy a game, but at United, we seemingly have three players deliberately playing against their own club for the season. It’s sabotage!
Bruno and Lisandro Martinez were demanding Rashford's crazy wages! The captain’s comments about "bravery" are rich coming from a man who has spent the season hiding from the physical battle.
Zirkzee is the sub who really tried. You know what SAF would do? He'd try Zirkzee in Bruno's position and end up discovering another Paul Scholes!
If Carrick hasn't learned from this Como lesson, he probably never will. He is done as a manager, if he cannot see the treachery staring him in the face.
Click Here to Read Part 2/2
. STEVE SYA is listed in ASEAN Who's Who and is a 3-Time GP Champion
. Managed a football club that won its National Cup at first time of asking (with a player each, from Manchester United & Tottenham Hotspur Youth)
. Many of his players qualified for the Olympics Football Tournament, playing for their National Teams
. One went on to play for Hertha Berlin, in the Bundesliga & then coached the likes of Thomas Müller, Philipp Lahm, Holger Badstuber & David Alaba in the Bayern Munich Academy.
. Campaigned tirelessly, for the reinstatement of Maguire, Amad, Šeško and Casemiro, transforming them from benchwarmers, into vital players whose absence diminishes the team's effectiveness.
#MUFC #ManchesterUnited #ManUnited #TNTSportsFootball #TheBreakdown #ESPN #Carrick #Skysports.com #si_soccer #talkSPORT #ManUtd #PremierLeague #JimRatcliffe #JasonWilcox #OwenHargreaves #GaryNeville
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Part 2/2: The P45 Precedent & The Youth Revolution
So, what is the solution? Management takes street smartness, nous, and decisiveness. It takes courage. Sir Alex Ferguson didn't hesitate to hand over the P45 to his best player, Roy Keane, faster than you can say "faster than you can say" when the Irishman got too big for his shoes. Carrick needs to channel that kind of street smartness, decisiveness and ruthlessness. SAF didn't wait to hear the usual coverups and malarkey's!
If 3 players, including the captain are balking in games, then the manager will, unfortunately, pay the ultimate price for sticking with them - or he must cut them loose immediately!
The irony is, I hope Bruno wins the Ballon d'Or, or comes close, so we can finally sell him and recoup some value. But in the meantime, Carrick can only salvage this season by radical means.
Look at PSG. They rotated their entire squad in the league to focus on the CL. That is smart. United, conversely, is running its starters into the ground while they sabotage the results.
Carrick needs to drop the "untouchables" and play the youth. Focus purely on performance, instead of results. If the team always performs well, the fans will accept and be more forgiving. We would rather see a team of hungry academy kids lose 4-3 while fighting for the badge than watch a team of "superstars" lose 4-1 while deliberately balking.
Or Carrick falls on his sword, and resigns or gets the P_45 himself!
The era of the pretenders is over. It’s time to walk the walk, or get on the bus out of Manchester.
There's something rotten in the House of Denmark - Hamlet
William Shakespeare
The End.
. STEVE SYA is listed in ASEAN Who's Who and is a 3-Time GP Champion
. Managed a football club that won its National Cup at first time of asking (with a player each, from Manchester United & Tottenham Hotspur Youth)
. Many of his players qualified for the Olympics Football Tournament, playing for their National Teams
. One went on to play for Hertha Berlin, in the Bundesliga & then coached the likes of Thomas Müller, Philipp Lahm, Holger Badstuber & David Alaba in the Bayern Munich Academy.
. Campaigned tirelessly, for the reinstatement of Maguire, Amad, Šeško and Casemiro, transforming them from benchwarmers, into vital players whose absence diminishes the team's effectiveness.
#MUFC #ManchesterUnited #ManUnited #TNTSportsFootball #TheBreakdown #ESPN #Carrick #Skysports.com #si_soccer #ManUtd #PremierLeague #PGMOL #SteveNichols #CraigBurley #OwenHargreaves #GaryNeville #ManchesterUnitedMuppetiers #UnitedPeoplesTV #TheUnitedStand
#StretfordPaddock
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Keep Calm, Forget the Table, Trust the Process: Why Carrick’s Salvation is a Total Team Mental-Reset -
By Steve Sya
If you had offered Michael Carrick a point at Elland Road before kick-off, he would have bitten your arm off. A 1-1 draw at a resurgent Leeds, is commendable. Ask Man City in Dec 2025. In their recent October 2026 Premier League fixture at the Emirates Stadium, an undefeated Leeds United gave the title-holders a massive scare. Daniel Farke’s side played with immense ambition and took a shocking lead in the 55th minute through James Justin. Though Arsenal ultimately recovered to scrape a narrow 2-1 victory, the intense performance proved that Leeds could heavily threaten the league's top clubs!
It was a result that Carrick himself described as feeling “like a fresh start”. But the cold reality is that United have now won just once in seven Premier League games - their worst start in 40 years. The noise around Carrick’s future is deafening, and every dropped point tightens the noose.
Yet the greatest mistake Carrick could make now, is to chase results. His only viable path forward is to double down on a performance-oriented culture, because results are a lagging indicator that will inevitably change.
The seductive alternative is to point at Arsenal. The Gunners were “toothless” and “limp” at Nottingham Forest's City Ground, mustering a single shot on target - a deflected Noni Madueke strike - and still walked away with all three points. That, Carrick’s critics will argue, is what “winning mentality” looks like. But it is also luck, and luck is not a strategy. Arsenal have the structural stability and individual quality to survive off moments.
Carrick cannot control deflections. He can control whether Bryan Mbeumo is stationed upfield to exploit his goalscoring threatvor to finish off counter attacks, rather than parking him in defence where his weaknesses are exposed, during set pieces. He can control whether his midfield pivot holds its shape. Those are process victories, and they are the only kind that will survive the noise at Old Trafford.
The squad itself proves why a results-obsessed culture is a trap. Marcus Rashford earns £325,000 a week - United’s top earner - and has become effectively unsellable because of that wage. That kind of money does not motivate; it satiates. It creates players who can live the all-nighter high life, sulk, thumb their noses at management, and still collect. Rashford can benchwarm his way, out of a contract that heavy!
Carrick should demand a standard of performance that exposes the gap between pay and output. The same applies to Bruno Fernandes, whose urgency is welcome but whose wild early free-kick in the 9th minute against Leeds, was a reminder that effort without composure is just noise. And Mbeumo, for all his goals, was not attentive enough to hold Calvert-Lewin off, for the equaliser - the same defensive lapse against Tonali that cost United against Tottenham. But Mbeumo can't be faulted. He is an attacker who delivers!
Carrick’s job is not to rage at these flaws. It is to build a system that minimizes them and a culture that corrects them.
Keep creating chances, the goals will come! That's what I always tell my players! The clean sheets will come, if the marking assignments are drilled. The results will come, if the performance becomes non-negotiable.
Click Here to Read 2/2
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If Carrick starts measuring himself purely by points, he will make short-term, survival-mode decisions - dropping creative players for “safe” ones, abandoning the slick teamwork that once made United dangerous.
That is how managers lose dressing rooms and identities simultaneously. Instead, Carrick must echo his own post-Leeds sentiment: “If you keep doing the right things for the right reasons then you get what you deserve in the end”.
It is a cliché because it is true, and at a club that is constantly lambasted by the most unprofessional of professionals, the Pundits...ex-players emotionally invested in ensuring the failure of their ex-rivals, Manchester United, bringing their TV Stations and Channels into disrepute and sullying their good name and reputation, it is also the only way to work, as results will come!
The End.
. STEVE SYA is listed in ASEAN Who's Who and is a 3-Time GP Champion
. Managed a football club that won its National Cup at first time of asking (with a player each, from Manchester United & Tottenham Hotspur Youth)
. Many of his players qualified for the Olympics Football Tournament, playing for their National Teams
. One went on to play for Hertha Berlin, in the Bundesliga & then coached the likes of Thomas Müller, Philipp Lahm, Holger Badstuber & David Alaba in the Bayern Munich Academy.
. Campaigned tirelessly, for the reinstatement of Maguire, Amad, Šeško and Casemiro, transforming them from benchwarmers, into vital players whose absence diminishes the team's effectiveness.
#MUFC #ManchesterUnited #ManUnited #TNTSportsFootball #TheBreakdown #ESPN #Carrick #Skysports.com #si_soccer #talkSPORT #ManUtd #PremierLeague #JimRatcliffe #JasonWilcox #OwenHargreaves #GaryNeville
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Theatre of Scams: How United Can Break the Contract Curse and Escape Relegation - By Steve Sya
Manchester United sit 13th in the Premier League with just six points from six matches - their worst start in 40 years. They are as close to the relegation zone as they are to the top half. Michael Carrick, a club legend thrust into an impossible situation, is already fighting for his job. But the rot runs far deeper than the manager's tactics.
The Contract Curse
A poisonous pattern has infected Old Trafford for more than a decade. When key players approach contract renewal, their performances mysteriously plummet. Marcus Rashford, United's £325,000-a-week top earner with a deal running until 2028, produced a performance against Atlético Madrid so lethargic that Wayne Rooney publicly condemned him for letting opponents "run past him". Fans accused him of "strolling" and showing zero intensity. Bruno Fernandes, out of contract in 2027 with extension talks stalling, has suffered a similar sudden decline. Lisandro Martínez, whose own goals and defensive lapses have been catastrophic, chose the aftermath of a 2-0 Champions League defeat to launch a blistering attack on the club's technical director.
This is not coincidence. It is leverage. It is theatre.
The Theatre of Sabotage
Sir Alex Ferguson understood this game. When Rooney agitated for a move to Chelsea angling for crazy wages, Ferguson refused to capitulate - he was prepared to sell him, just not to Chelsea. It was David Moyes who caved to Rooney, and that capitulation birthed a culture of blackmail, crazy wages that makes the player unsellable, that has metastasised ever since. Pogba, De Gea, Rooney - the pattern repeats. Players demand improved terms, negotiations stall, and suddenly their form evaporates.
The current crop has perfected the art. Martínez's "own goal" and his decision to let Solanke score in the last minute against Spurs were Oscar-worthy. Bruno's sudden invisibility belongs in the same category. Rashford's great pretence of effort - beating everyone just to whiff the final shot or tracking back just enough to appear committed - is pure theatre. These are not footballers. They are actors, and Old Trafford has become their stage.
The Academy Solution
Only Joshua Zirkzee has emerged with credit. After an initial sulk, he transformed the game against Spurs and laid on an exquisite delicate square pass for Cunha to shoot just outside the box, in Madrid. The difference when a player genuinely tries is night and day.
If United AND Carrick want to survive, they must bite the bullet - hold firm. Break the curse once and for all! Bench all three: Martínez, Bruno, and Rashford. Transfer list them immediately. Play the Academy kids. Kobbie Mainoo, Tilemans...even Zirkzee, can occupy Bruno's position. The young players who dismantled Rosenborg 5-0 in pre-season - Shea Lacey, Harry Amass, et al - will demonstrate exactly the intensity and verve this squad lacks. They have nothing to lose and everything to prove.
Continues to 2/2
. STEVE SYA is listed in ASEAN Who's Who and a 3-Time GP Champion
. Managed a football club that won its National Cup at first time of asking (with a player each, from Manchester United & Tottenham Hotspur Youth)
. Many of his players qualified for the Olympics Football Tournament, playing for their National Teams
. One went on to play for Hertha Berlin, in the Bundesliga & then coached the likes of Thomas Müller, Philipp Lahm, Holger Badstuber & David Alaba in the Bayern Munich Academy.
. Campaigned tirelessly, for the reinstatement of Maguire, Amad, Šeško and Casemiro, transforming them from benchwarmers, into vital players whose absence diminishes the team's effectiveness.
#MUFC #ManchesterUnited #ManUnited #TNTSportsFootball #TheBreakdown #ESPN #Carrick #Skysports.com #si_soccer #talkSPORT #ManUtd #PremierLeague #JimRatcliffe #JasonWilcox #OwenHargreaves #GaryNeville
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Survival Through Courage
Carrick and his coaching team are completely blameless! They inherited a dressing room poisoned by years, nay, a decade of mismanagement and player power! The only path to safety is radical: strip the malcontents of their influence, put them in a bomb-squad, promote youth, and accept short-term pain for long-term gain.
United will not be relegated because of a lack of talent. They will be relegated because of a lack of courage. The club AND Carrick, must finally say no. No to blackmail. No to theatre. No to the curse. Play the kids. Break the cycle. Survive.
The pundits screaming for Carrick's head, only prove how utterly naive and totally unsuited they are to punditry! Paul Merson, Jason Cundy et al, as ex-rival players wishing for United's downfall, is incapable of objective analysis, and sully the reputation of their TV stations and Channels, Talksports and Sky sports, with their incompetence and obvious bias.
The End.
#MUFC #ManchesterUnited #ManUnited #TNTSportsFootball #TheBreakdown #ESPN #Carrick #Skysports.com #si_soccer #talkSPORT #ManUtd #PremierLeague #JimRatcliffe #JasonWilcox #OwenHargreaves #GaryNeville
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Carrick can hold his head high: it is de Zerbi who should be more disappointed - By Steve Sya
I'm sanguine over the Spurs game. It is Spurs, which should go away feeling robbed! Carrick and his coaching team can hold their chins high!
Michael Carrick walked off the Old Trafford pitch to a chorus of boos, yet the more you scrutinise Manchester United's 1-1 draw with Tottenham, the clearer it becomes that the wrong manager should be feeling hard done by. Roberto de Zerbi's Spurs, after all, are the ones who let a winning performance in the first half be nullified.
Spurs are not a weak team. They'd pinned back Liverpool, Aston Villa and Newcastle United in the first half, before losing 1-3, 2-3 and 0-2 to those three teams.
Similarly they ran riot in the first half against Man United in the first half. Carrick can't be faulted, for he made some astute changes in the second half to take the lead through Mbeumo. Remember Šeško's still out!
Yes, United were poor in the first half. Carrick admitted as much, calling it a "mixed game" where his side "found it tough to start with". But the second half told a different story. Carrick's substitutions - particularly the introduction of Joshua Zirkzee - transformed the contest. Zirkzee pointing to Mbeumo where to stand and his intelligent movement drew Marcos Senesi away, creating the space for Bryan Mbeumo to strike in the 73rd minute. That was coaching, not luck.
Then came the moment that swung the narrative. Rodrigo Bentancur's red card for headbutting Luke Shaw should have been the platform for United to kill the game. De Zerbi, remarkably, kissed the midfielder afterwards, praising his "character". That is a manager accepting indiscipline as passion, and it cost his team control.
Carrick's one genuine error was withdrawing Lenny Yoro. The young defender, fresh from his France debut, had bright his Euro Nations League form and had been composed at right-back. Sandro Tonali should never have been allowed to cross for Dominic Solanke. With Yoro on the pitch, Tonali's would likely have been intercepted. Mbeumo cannot be blamed for failing to close down a cross - he is a striker. The structural failure sat elsewhere.
And that brings us to the deeper issue: game management. United's weakness is not talent but the ability to suffocate a match when the opponent is down. In my book, game management is an on field decision, primarily made by the Captain.
This is what I always tell my captain.
Here's what Bruno has to tell the team and this can be practiced at Carrington:
"Alright everyone, listen up! We're up 2 goals or they’re down to 10 men, which means we have a massive tactical advantage, but only if we ruthlessly manage this game. We don’t let them breathe, we don’t let them hope, and we do not make it a basket case.
Continues 2/2
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Contd 2/2
Here's what Bruno has to tell the team and this can be practiced at Carrington:
"Alright everyone, listen up! We're up 2 goals or they’re down to 10 men, which means we have a massive tactical advantage, but only if we ruthlessly manage this game. We don’t let them breathe, we don’t let them hope, and we do not make it a basket case.
Here is exactly how we kill this game off right now:
1. Go for the jugular and score another to kill the game off but most importantly, starve Them of the Ball
• Keep possession: Move the ball quickly with one or two touches. Make the pitch as big as possible to force their 10 men to shift side-to-side.
• Do not force the final pass: If the opening isn't there, recycle it through the back. The longer they chase, the faster their legs will fall off. Let the ball do the running.
2. Suffocate Their Counter-Attacks
• Lock down the transition: They only have one outlet now - the long ball or a quick break.
• Rest defense: Our center-backs and holding midfielders must stand firm. Do not get sucked too high up the pitch. Keep your eyes on their isolated strikers and shut down any counter-attack before it starts.
3. Overload the Flanks
• Create 2v1s out wide: They have to pack the central area to stay compact. That leaves space on the wings.
• Full-backs push high: Isolate their wide players. Work the ball into wide areas, create overloads, and pull their compact defensive block out of position.
4. Dictate the Tempo
• Manage the clock: Take an extra second on throw-ins, goal kicks, and free kicks. We set the pace of this game, not them.
• Control the chaos: If the crowd gets loud or they try to make it a physical fight, pass it around the back four. Cool the game down completely.
5. Ruthless Game Intelligence
• No cheap fouls: Do not give them a free kick to pump into our box. That is their only lifeline.
• Stay laser-focused: The moment you think this game is won is the exact moment they score. Professionalism until the final whistle.
Move the ball, stay disciplined, and squeeze the life out of them. Let's finish this."
De Zerbi, by contrast, should be the one lying awake. His Spurs side dominated the first half but failed to score. They lost their discipline. And they only salvaged a point because United failed to manage a game they had won. Spurs remain winless and in the relegation zone. If anyone was robbed at Old Trafford, it was the home side.
Carrick can hold his head high. His changes worked. His team responded. The boos hurt - "it hurts a lot," he said - but they were aimed at a first-half performance, not the manager's decisions. De Zerbi, meanwhile, should be asking why his team needed a red card to find courage.
The End.
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Groundhog Day: If dishonesty could fly, many of these football pundits & sportswriters would be jets! -
By Steve Sya
Just five games in, and these pundits are proving true to form, breaking the sound barrier at Mach 3-4!
The greatest disservice the pundits did to United was to hound LVG, who also started with five points, out of the job. Rated the most tactical manager he'd ever seen by Rooney, LVG could bring five Academy players into the team and beat a full-strength Man City and Liverpool. When the results started coming, as LVG (who loves attacking football) started tweaking his system to adapt to a horrendous injury crisis to qualify for Europe and win the FA Cup, the pundits switched to attacking the system...coming up with disparaging remarks: "Like watching grass grow". What did you expect! You wanted victories right, with LVG playing 5 players from the Academy (players who later couldn't make it to Championship Teams)? United's then-CEO, Ed Woodward - a chocolate teapot, if ever there was one - threw LVG under the bus instead of backing him, a move that destroyed United for the better part of a decade.
In truth, the pundits, as ex-rival players themselves, were totally unfit for the job, emotionally invested as they are in ensuring United fails, bringing the TV stations and football channels they commentate for, into serious disrepute! Some of the sportswriters too, such as those calling for Carrick's sacking just five matches in, should spend more time in the sunshine; it's the best disinfectant!
For more than a decade, this has been going on, making it impossible for any United manager to succeed. Hurzeler, Pep, God - they'd all struggle under this incessant cacophony of criticism.
Carrick's permanent tenure began with a 0-2 defeat at newly-promoted Hull City, followed by a 5-2 win over Ipswich, a 2-2 draw with Everton, a 0-1 loss to Manchester City, and a last-gasp 1-1 draw at Fulham - five points from five games. The League Cup exit to Brighton, surrendering a two-goal lead at home, added fuel to the fire.
Yet INEOS have no plans to sack Carrick. Fabrizio Romano confirmed the hierarchy still has confidence in him, with no channels opened to potential replacements. The club directors believe patience is required after a major midfield overhaul and hope the situation improves once Carlos Baleba is fully integrated. Crucially, Carrick retains the full backing of the dressing room.
There is, however, a "deeper concern" regarding player fitness and intensity. United rank 18th in the Premier League for sprints and 19th for high-speed runs. This is a systemic issue, not a managerial one.
For Carrick, the job is simple. Stop playing 3 Players: Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford, and Joshua Zirkzee. In fact, sell them in January. All three are guilty of not playing to the spirit of the game. For Rashford and Zirkzee, it's understandable - the club had unsuccessfully tried to sell them in the summer. Bruno has just shown he's no different from Rooney, De Gea, and Pogba, who all posted performances way below their normal standards to force through improved contracts as their deals came up for renewal.
Carrick should start with a clean slate. Play Mainoo in Bruno's position and use Baleba as the holding midfielder, building a new United for the ages - just as Busby and Ferguson did, starting again from the ashes. Left-back is no issue, with Shaw proving dependable and Amass deputizing. Cunha moves to the left, with Sesko or Mbeumo central and Amad on the right wing.
The pundits won't like it. They never do. But then again, they're the same voices who celebrated LVG's departure and have spent a decade feasting on the carcass of a great club.
As the saying goes, those who cannot remember the past decade are condemned to repeating it. Old Trafford is living proof.
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Unwanted, Unsettled, Uninspired: The Real Reason Manchester United Are Struggling - By Steve Sya
Manchester United's opening five Premier League games have produced a mere five points - one win, two draws, two defeats -equalling the club's worst-ever start to a Premier League season.
The pundits blame Michael Carrick. The analysts and sportswriters all point to Carrick, to tactics, to fitness issues. They are ALL WRONG!
What we are witnessing at Old Trafford is, in horse racing parlance, a classic case of "riding a non-trier"- players who, for reasons entirely their own, are simply not giving their full effort.
So I googled the term and this came up:
"In racing, when a jockey is suspected of not trying, stewards launch an immediate investigation. They review footage, question the rider, and look for tell-tale signs: holding back without cause, easing up early, or a sudden unexplained drop in form. The penalties are severe - fines, lengthy suspensions, and disciplinary referrals."
The question United's board must now ask is whether certain players are guilty of the same offence. Whether the same 3 players should be fielded before this is cleared up.
Marcus Rashford and Joshua Zirkzee both spent the summer being actively shopped around by the club. Rashford was linked with moves to Saudi Arabia and beyond; Zirkzee held talks with Fiorentina over a loan exit. Both ultimately stayed - but not by choice. When a player knows he is unwanted, when he has been publicly dangled as a bargaining chip, the human response is rarely inspirational. It is the resentment...the big sulk! It is half-heartedness. It is the footballing equivalent of a jockey easing up before the finish line.
Bruno Fernandes, meanwhile, embodies what I would call: "the United Curse." His current contract expires next summer, and while United have opened talks over a new deal, negotiations have yet to resolve. This pattern is painfully familiar: Wayne Rooney agitated for a move and his form collapsed. David de Gea did the same. Paul Pogba's career effectively ended amid contract brinkmanship. Now Bruno, United's captain and most influential player, is in the final year of his deal. His performances have dipped noticeably. Coincidence? At Old Trafford, it never is.
The Ipswich game - a 5-2 thrashing -is the outlier that proves the rule. Against Ipswich, Bruno scored a hat-trick and registered an assist. Perhaps assurances were given before kick-off. Perhaps for one afternoon, the uncertainty lifted. But one brilliant performance amid four dismal ones is not a foundation; it is a warning sign.
The deeper illness is structural. United's players rank 18th in the league for sprints and 19th for high-speed runs. This is not a fitness problem. This is a motivation problem. When players feel undervalued, unsettled, or betrayed by the club's own transfer machinations, the legs stop moving. The tackles stop being made. The runs stop being timed.
Carrick is not blameless, but he is not the cause. He inherited a squad of players who know they were being sold, players who are watching their captain's contract saga unfold, and players who have seen this movie before. Until United's board addresses the root cause - the chronic mismanagement of player relationships and contracts - the non-triers will keep riding. And the stewards' inquiry should begin at the top.
The End.
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