'Greedy' new manager option sees Carrick as assistant

Michael Carrick has surely made the Man Utd manager’s job his own; who is the only viable alternative?

Not many mails this morning but maybe you’re all saving yourselves for the Champions League. Mail us at theeditor@football365.com

Big question

How’re you all getting on reconciling Kompany being sh*t with Burnley then just dandy with Bayern?

Finlay x

Only one man should beat Michael Carrick to Man Utd job

It’s not just Gary Neville damning Carrick to an exit, but the rather one-eyed Will Ford match review, which amounted to “Carrick hasn’t got United playing like Bayern, Barcelona, PSG or Man City, therefore shouldn’t get the job full time… all he’s done is play Bruno and Mainoo in their correct positions”.

Don’t get me wrong, United were lucky to have not conceded in the first half, but it was an open cut-and-thrust game and not the one-sided domination Will would have us believe. 3-3 would’ve been a fair half time score, Brentford probably shaded it in the round but part of that surely was game-state driven given how United sat off at 1-0.

Carrick, since he’s come in, has won more points than anyone else in the league (2 ahead of Pep who has a game in hand). He’s working with the exact same squad as Amorim. He’s getting a tune out of players who, bar Bruno, are not world class. To be so mealy mouthed to say that, because he’s not got non-world class players playing like a world class team – in half a season – is beyond miserly.

Kompany was a failure of a Prem manager with Burnley, but with the right resources has turned Bayern back into a top, top team. Arteta, for all the memes, has been given ample time and resource to turn Arsenal into genuine contenders for titles. Carrick has demonstrated he’s more than capable, more than deserving, of a permanent contract. The only managerial appointment I’d accept besides Carrick is Enrique, and if I’m being greedy I’d want Carrick on his coaching staff to have a final apprenticeship before retaking the reins whenever Enrique moved on.

SM

P.S. the Ole revisionism still boils my p***. The guy was more than vibes, had genuine tactics that reflected the squad United had at the time. Saying appointing Carrick would be making the “Ole mistake” again is nonsense on many levels – not least because Ole wasn’t a mistake.

Impoverished Spurs? Really?

Graham Simons says, as an Arsenal fan, he hopes Spurs stay up because those in the “impoverished local area” will have fewer match days. He does realise you have 23 home games in the Championship rather than 19?

Street turnover will increase.

Also, the idea that Spurs fans paying £900 a season ticket are all from the neighbouring area, and not from nice parts of north London, Hertfordshire and Essex is a reach.

Spurs, as a club, have aggressively used compulsory purchase orders to force out local businesses/home owners at knock down prices for their own regeneration. They haven’t cared about the “impoverished local area” for years.

Spurs being relegated isn’t any more or less an economic tragedy than it would be anywhere else, only few other clubs have ever tried to run off to join a European Super League, a brazen attempt to strangle the footballing pyramid.

Something which really might have economically decimated the impoverished local areas of many other footballing towns.

Andy

READ: Will Spurs take West Ham’s crown as the Premier League’s ‘best’ relegated team?

A fool and his explanation…

James, not sure where you write in from but if you’re in England surely you’ll know there are tube strikes at the minute and the Jubilee line wasn’t running that evening from the O2. Also, Matt Rife had sold out all nights at the O2, meaning when he was done, twenty thousand some-odd headed for the exits and clogged all manner of egress.

Lastly, I’ll assume you didn’t pen the heading of your message (to call me a fool with my money; F365 does enjoy a good fuel-for-the-fire prodding to stoke its own mailboxers) and as you agreed rightfully on the 3pm blackout stuff which was my point in writing in anyway, I want only to explain and evidence my justifiable fiscal reasoning and outlay (unlike any recent outlay by Boston-based owners of the Merseyside club I support).

As you were then.

Eric, Los Angeles CA

Stop the cheats!

Once again the shithousery of football managers/teams is ahead of the lawmakers. The tactical “injury”, especially for the goalkeeper (cramp, my arse!) has now become almost a part of every game, players have admitted that they have passed a message from the manager to the keeper to do this!

So how do we combat it? Danny Murphy is correct on MOTD, the referee has no power to stop it and cannot take a chance that there is not a genuine injury. So my suggestion is that should a keeper require treatment then he should leave the pitch to receive this and the reserve keeper take over for a minimum of 5 or 10 minutes, the “injured” but now treated keeper can then return.

I’m sure this would then lead to a keeper being “injured ” after conceding a penalty so the 7ft 6″ sub comes on, this should not be allowed and the keeper treated as now. Other players should always be required to leave the pitch for treatment and the game continue without them (head injuries excepted?).

More holes than Swiss cheese but something needs to happen, unfortunately it may require words not normally associated with each other, PGMOL and positive action.

Howard Jones

Thank you Liam Rosenior

Some say that it’s a revolutionary act to bring joy to the world.

In this spirit I would like to thank Liam Rosenior for what I genuinely think might be the funniest thing anyone has ever said.

I must have laughed 200 times at the ‘man’ ‘ager’ quote and each time it made that day even better.

Fair play, he’s provided a secure financial future for his family: nobody can fault him for that and in a political world filled with mostly dark humour, such subtle joy is much underrated.

I mean, the layers, the ironic juxtaposition within those layers; it can bring several laughs as the understanding that you meant it, creeps in and creates a multiplicity of complex irony that’s…ha,ha…. yeah(I’m laughing now thinking about it.), it’s utterly brilliant.

And surely if he ‘age’s men’ he’s a ‘menager’? Which I suspect is an entirely different thing.

I am, though, absolutely sincere in my gratitude, at least 25 joyous shared moments with other football followers attest to that.

All the best Liam, you’ll be missed.❤️

Quick question: looking at Forest and Spurs is four managers a season the right number?

Also: are we moving from ‘worst season ever’ to ‘tingles ‘?

Big love y’all.

Hartley MCFC Somerset (sincere is one of the best etymologies! In the olden days they made statues out of marble and there were fake ones that used wax to cover up flaws. Sin cere is Spanish for ‘without wax’. Genuine . I know, cool right?)

Football fans should support who they want

Joining the debate about who you should support. Of course people can support whoever they want and if you live in a different part of the world you can come up with any reason you want for why you support the club you chose. Who knows what led a number of Norwegians to support Barnet. But my point is that it is different if you live in the area where your team is from.

I am a big fan of cycling which I started watching in my late twenties and so wasn’t brought up in the culture that a Dutch, Belgian or French fan would have who has grown up with the sport. I think I watch cycling in a different way to these fans, I just love the spectacle and appreciate the riders without the need to hate any of them (well certainly not since Lance Armstrong left the scene). I’ve seen very few races live with most of my viewing on the television.

That is of course how many, or most, of your readers consume football. A while back you had an article on how fans of Man Utd and Liverpool in the far east (I think Thailand) were able to watch the game together, without the need to denigrate the other supporters. I think that is healthy but it is a different experience when you have been brought up in the culture, supporting your local team or one because all your family do. This is particularly the case if, like me, a Spurs fan, you live in an area, East Finchley, which is equal distance between Tottenham and Arsenal.

Like me with cycling there will always be an element missing for fans who have come to love the game in foreign lands. Although with football that may be a blessing because you can concentrate on loving your team without hating your rivals.

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