Carrick out: ‘Pathetic’ Man Utd star ‘another stick to beat him with’ as Conte called for
Time is running out for ‘nice guy’ Michael Carrick at Old Trafford as one ‘pathetic’ Manchester United star has become ‘another stick to beat him with’ after a draw with 10-man Tottenham.
He may well have been ‘set up to fail’ by the Red Devils bosses but that’s not stopped the calls for Antonio Conte.
Carrick out
Unsurprisingly, Spurs were the better team for the majority of the match. The worst Tottenham team I’ve seen since they were sponsored by Holsten (apart from last season, obviously) should’ve maybe been 3 or 4 nil up at half time.
Even when we went 1-0 up we were still shit. Then Spurs went down to 10 men. So we did the United thing. We f***** it up.
We’ve got Atletico Madrid away next. And then, more importantly, we’ve got an away fixture against a very, very good Leeds United team.
I love Michael Carrick. He seems like a genuinely nice guy and he was an incredible player for us, but he’s not good enough.
Carrick out.
Ant MUFC (that result certainly doesn’t help Eddie Howe’s estate agent)
Butchering ‘The Butcher’
Whoever named this guy the butcher has to be found and made to explain themselves. Everton game, the most pathetic attempt at a clearance by defender gave the assist for their first goal. Ipswich, a direct mistake led to their second. Fulham, an own goal that makes you scratch your head in disbelief. And yesterday, took on the role of a magician, performing a vanishing act so perfect that the average striker that was his opponent easily headed home.
We have played 6 premier league games, and this dude has made serious mistakes in four of them. Yet, he will always play. Another stick you can beat the coach with.
Somehow, very soon, the board, even accounting for their incompetence, will realise that a football match is played for 90 minutes, not for the 20 when this expensively assembled squad suddenly remember oh wait we’re actually supposed to be playing some football here aren’t we? And then the coach will go.
Olu, Calgary (Can the rest of the league petition the FA to always start their game against United with 10 men?)
Blaming Bruno
Martinez got away with one start of the second half grappling with Solanke instead of getting himself in a good position to defend, Solanke really should have scored. Didn’t learn, cost us 2 points at the end be doing the exact same thing. Tielemans looked off it and Baleba did very well when he came on. Mainoo is an absolute class act. Cunha did his best work defensively or in transition. Mbuemo was mostly quiet and does his best work off the right side. Diallo needs another spell as backup he was miles off it. Zirkzee looked lively. Not sure what Mount is there for. We lack a focal striker massively in this team a proper #9.
I have one massive observation. 85th minute (or somewhere round there) Bruno hooks one up in the air with a miss kick, throws his arms around looking for someone to blame, Mbuemo runs 15 yards to win it and flick it to Zirkzee to keep the ball alive when it landed 5 yards from Bruno. It’s those little 1%ers that seperate the haves from the have nots. United are currently a haves not because we’ve played some of the dross early on and are struggling massively.
Gibbo (MUFC – down under)
Carrick forever the caretaker
He just has a ’caretaker’ aura that won’t be shifted.
Sixyardbox, Stockholm
United We Stood
Trusting Ferguson’s legacy to deliver now is like trusting a hooker to come back with the coke you paid her for. She is long gone. So is Ferguson. And with him went the fear, the aura and the titles.
It’s been thirteen years since United’s last league title. Back then, David Moyes had a future, BlackBerry still made phones, and United were champions.
BlackBerry and Moyes have moved on. United haven’t.
“Thirteen years, different managers, different players, same trophy-shaped hole.”
The club has since run through managers at a rate that rivals Downing Street.
The dressing room door spins even faster. Record signings arrive to fanfare and leave to the same. The dinner lady is still too dizzy to comment.
The back four no longer park the bus. They drive it straight into their own net. Sky Sports then wheel out Gary Neville to break it down, and his post-match analysis confirms he remains United’s longest-serving defender.
Leicester City weren’t even in the Premier League when United were last champions. They aren’t today. But they still pulled up to the drive thru, grabbed a title at the window, and drove off before United had even placed their order.
The infamous 20 Titles banner is thirteen years old now. Once a symbol of how feared the club was, it now hangs dripping wet beneath a leaky Old Trafford roof.
United are now Liverpool in the nineties, with the same selective memory, just as much whinging about a crown they haven’t worn in over a decade, and a TikTok account to post about it.
It’s time for the Theatre of Dreams to wake up. They say the title will come again. History says it can.
Just don’t ask Huddersfield Town.
– Miles Out –
Cheers and look forward to hearing back. Bhavish
Calling Conte
Dear football gods: Please make Antonio Conte to Manchester United happen.
Peter G, Pennsylvania, USA
Carrick set up to fail
To quote F365 from the end of the summer, “Yet as the transfer window ebbs away there’s a gnawing sense when looking across that United squad that Michael Carrick is being set up to fail with a creaking defence and a midfield still short of energy”.
I would certainly make the argument that Manchester United have the worst back four talent-wise in the Premier League, and, you know, one can optimistically hope that Baleba might help when he gets up to speed, but at the same time, I can’t see how Carrick is to blame here when he has this collection of players at his disposal.
David, out of Atlanta now
Spursy Man Utd
With this result (conceding a 90th minute equalizer to a 10-man Spurs), have Manchester United now established themselves as the Spursiest team in the Premier League?
Does Spursiness, in fact, work like a heavyweight title belt, passing from the previously most Spursy team (often, but not always, Tottenham Hotspur) to whoever manages to faceplant against them in the most comically Spursy fashion?
And follow up question, did Johnny Nic retire from F365 (I will miss you, Johnny!) specifically to avoid accounting in full for his nuclear “Carrick’s United will win the Premier League” take of this August?
Seb, NW3
The mythical Red Cartel
Alright, it’s great that MAGA, sorry, City fans are all singing from the same hymn sheet, but surely it’s worth pointing out a few facts with regards to this mythical red cartel? Firstly, Liverpool – a presumably strong member of said cartel, hadn’t won the league in 30 seasons. So the cartel-ing was hardly working. Moreover, the implication of the red cartel and PSR is that the successful clubs just outspent everyone, and that was all that was needed to win at football. Can’t imagine why City think that. Come fellow readers on a history lesson!
The Premier League began in the 92/93 season. For the next 10 seasons, Arsenal or United won the league, with the exception of Blackburn, once. We’ll come to that. It wasn’t until Roman’s billions came in that another club got a look. QED, the Red Cartel must have been spending their way to glory!
But, in that time, the mighty Arsenal led the spending table…0 times. Oh but Fergie always did it right? United topped the spend exactly twice. Newcastle actually ‘won’ the spending the most, 3 times, and Blackburn twice, even Liverpool and Leeds had a ‘victory’.
Contrast that with City in the accused period, when they were the top spenders in 7 of the 9 seasons.
Could it be, fellow football fans, that maybe having Fergie and Wenger as generational managers might have been more of an impact? If only we could see what happened before and after those two? Ah yes, until last season, once the two greatest premier league managers left, neither of the red cartel won the league. Despite spending.
So unless this ‘red cartel’ was designed to keep LFC from winning and used its fortunes to clone two managers, it doesn’t seem to have been very good at its job.
Ryan, Bermuda
The Anfield bearpit
I suspect lots of people are expecting a bearpit reception for City tomorrow in Liverpool and at Anfield but I’m not so sure.
The noise from fans has some anger in it, justifiably so but as much sadness and regret at what was lost.
Meanwhile City’s players and staff remain bullish in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. It says so much about the mindset of the super rich and those who live under their gilded umbrella. They believe, actually they know ultimately they are untouchable. The levers of power sit in front of them to pull at their will making Prime ministers and governments dance to their tune. They can literally sink or save economies with the power of their wealth.
So yes there might be some booing tomorrow, maybe even a few witty chants and a banner, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear some Hillsborough chanting from sections of the away support. Ultimately though City are a much stronger team than us and we’re missing our two form attackers, they will probably win or certainly not lose. Because at the end of the day the rich don’t lose, like that posh prick in the inbetweenwers they can say with confidence “I never lose”
We the fans are the losers, this game that has been sold to us is now a chimera for the wealthy to distract us while they plunder and destroy our planet.
So yes we can all tune in to enjoy the illusion of City getting punished and humiliated but ultimately money and power wins in this world and we are all about to receive a lesson in our insignificance I fear.
Maresca smiles and laughs, Haaland smiles while his bank account explodes, Pep walks about without a care in the world, money wins lads while we fight amongst each other over their creations.
Dave (not feeling hopeful in case you missed it) LFC
Unai Fawlty
Watching Unai Emery celebrate Villas second goal on match of the day definitely gave off Basil Fawlty vibes, or is it just me?
Andrew Goonerabroad Brown
Savage the saviour
Due to the focus on some creative accounting in a parochial, backwater league, Football365 is once again guilty of ignoring the biggest story in world football. I speak, of course, of the appointment of Robbie Savage to the hot-seat at London Road, PE2. A polarising character with voluminous trousers, he has made a fine start to his tenure including a first away win in 15 games at Leicester. Things had very much stagnated under Luke Williams, the joy had been sucked out of the team and a (normally) free scoring side had retreated into their shell. One of the things Robbie Savage seems particularly good at is connecting with the fans and his unbridled joy at winning seems to be contagious.
There are now green shoots of recovery; some potentially very good young players have been signed (Williams, Edwards, Feeney), alongside some academy products who look comfortable at this level and probably higher; Mendonca looks a cultured defender and then there is the jewel in the crown, Bolo Shofowoke, who could be the finest product from the academy ever.
Reasons for optimism finally after several seasons of disappointment!
Dan in France
