355: Shock TRANSFER! Enrique vs Carrick JOB Race!

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1:16We've got updates around Michael Carrick now being in the top three candidates for Manchester United, but excitement around who the other two is. Also, De Zerbe looks like he's off to Spurs. We'll talk about that. Also, striker. Lots of stuff going on over the last sort of 12 hours about Man United going for a striker. We'll talk about that. Fernandes at West Ham basically saying he'd love to sign for Man United. Is that an option for United or is that a little bit low bar when it comes to the midfield as well? And a few other bits. Excuse me. I'm getting excited. A few other bits to get into on the show this morning.

1:51So welcome to the United Stands. I am Mark Goldbridge. and we have our live chat with us. If you're not watching live, get your comments in, and please do smash a like on the video. But I am going to start off. I was going to start off talking about strikers, but this has come in in the last few minutes in relation to the striker. It's coming in from the Manchester Evening News as well, so you never know. You never know. It could be real. It could be fed by the club. Michael Carrick is the clear favourite to become Man United's permanent head coach after an impressive interim spell. His strong results, including wins over Glasner, Silva, and Emery, have effectively ruled out most of the candidates.

2:26Only two elite rivals remain, PSG's Luis Enrique and Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann. Now, I think there's two ways of playing this. I think this is United setting everybody up with their PR spin to give it to Carrick and say, look, Carrick's amazing. He's better than Glasner. He's better than Silva. He's better than Emery. And now he's only got two more to defeat. And what will happen is, as we keep winning games till the end of the season, oh, Nagelsmann's out. Oh, Enrique's out because Michael Carrick's the best thing since sliced bread. He could read it like that. He could read it like that.

3:00Or you could read it that he can't get the job over Enrique and Nagalsman. So go and get Enrique and Nagalsman. This is great news. You know, best in class, it's Carrick or Enrique or Nagalsman. And if we don't get Enrique or Nagalsman, the club's fucking shit. It obviously hasn't got any attraction to it at all. And we'll have to settle with Carrick. And that, to me, is how I would like to read it. I don't want to read it that Carrick's defeated Glasner and Emery and De Zerbi and now he's just got to defeat Enrique and Nagaelsman and then it's his job because that's bullshit. He's not better than Enrique and he's not better than Nagaelsman.

3:34He's nowhere near that level. So I read it from an excited point of view that if it's Carrick, Enrique, Nagaelsman, then we should be getting Enrique or Nagaelsman. Happy days. Man United are back. We're actually going to have an elite coach. And I'm happy with that. What I don't want to end up in from this situation is it's Enrique, Carrick or Nagalsman and we end up with Carrick. That to me would be terrible. And look, I want to make it very clear. I've always been a massive, massive fan of Michael Carrick. Like if you've been watching the United stand for years, you'll know I'll say Carrick, most underrated England player of the last 20 years.

4:14The ridiculous how they didn't pick him enough. brilliant player for Manchester United. Michael Carrick is the thinking man's United legend. He's brilliant as a player. I love him. And same with Solskjaer. But my issue with Carrick as a coach isn't even Carrick. I think it's about time I said this. My issue with Carrick isn't Carrick. My issue with Carrick is Steve Holland and his coaches. I don't think they're up to it. I think Michael Carrick on his own is probably worth a punt as a risk. But it's not just Carrick, it's Carrick, Holland, Woodgate and Evans. And I think that's nowhere near good enough.

4:49So even if I was giving Carrick the job, I'd be saying, you're not having Steve Holland and you're not having Woodgate. We're not bringing some championship standard coaching staff to Manchester United. You can have the job. Now give us really top quality coaches you're going to work with. That's my problem. I don't want Steve Holland as our main coach at Man United. I don't want it. I don't think he's good enough. I don't think his style of football is good enough. and I think it's a massive mistake. And I think somebody needs to say it. If you look at England over the last six years with Southgate and Holland, they were quite successful, probably should have been more successful, but the football was dire.

5:26And if you look at United over the last few weeks, the results have been good, fairly good, but the football has been dire. So I think we need to stop talking about Carrick and we need to start talking about the reason I don't want Carrick is I can't stand the way we're playing football at the moment. It's counterattacking. It's negative. It's relying on moments. That's not sustainable. We tried this with Oli and it ran out of steam. So if we're going to give Carrick the job, Carrick needs to say, I want to play this brand of football and I'm going to bring this head coach in with me. And if he does that, maybe that's something new.

6:02But people need to stop thinking about it's Carrick and realise the reason we're playing bad football, the reason we're quite hard to watch is because that's the way Steve Harlan coaches teams. And that works for certain clubs and it's working for us at the moment. But sustainability, people are going to get fed up with this very quick when results go bad. You saw what happened after Newcastle. People were going, I can't stand this. If you keep winning, it's fine. So look, if you want to give Michael Carrick the job, you've got to look at his coaching staff as well. But look, it is interesting news.

6:32Let me know your thoughts. As I said, there's two ways of reacting to this news this morning, that Michael Carrick is now strong favourite to get the job. Only Enrique and the Gelsman stand in his way. You could read that this is United just setting us up for, we're not going to interview anybody. The Gelsman doesn't want the job. Enrique doesn't want the job, so Carrick gets it. That would be a shit show. If we don't interview people for this job, it's a shit show. Or you could read it like I'm reading it, that if it's Carrick, Enrique and Nogalsman, we've got to get Enrique or Nogalsman, which I think would be amazing.

7:08Look, I will concede this. I think Luis Enrique is arguably the best coach in world football at the moment. The style of play, the things he's done. I mean, you sometimes get a great coach like Mourinho and you sometimes worry about his style of play and his longevity. But with someone like Enrique, you've got a great coach, brilliant aura, charisma, interviews, but also, more importantly, fantastic style of play, fuses modern style of attacking football with youth. Enrique is the standout option. I mean, I would have sacked Amrim at the start of the season for Enrique. And I want to just say this about Enrique.

7:52I would have sacked Ten Hag for Enrique. I would have sacked Amorim for Enrique. I would sack a manager that doesn't deserve sacking to get Enrique. This is not about we've got a job available, let's get Enrique. I would literally sack managers to get him. If Luis Enrique said, I'll only take the job if I can take it today, I'd sack Carrick and bring him in. I would sack managers to bring Enrique in. That's how great I think he would be for Man United. With Nagalsman, I actually think you could make an argument and I think there'll be people out there, even in our chat, I think there's people out there with Nagalsman who go, oh, don't rate him.

8:25I'd rather take Carrick. I find that hilarious. Maybe it's a lack of education around Nagalsman. I find it hilarious that people think Carrick's better than Nagalsman, but that's absolutely fine. I think what adds to Nagalsman for me is Favell. Even if you think it's close between Carrick and Nagalsman, and I don't, I think Nagalsman's better, but even if you think it's close between Carrick and Nagalsman, the opportunity to, I mean, hopefully fuck off Wilcox. But even if Wilcox stays, the opportunity of teaming Nagalsman with Favell when they've worked with each other before, I think that would be really exciting.

9:04So I think all three offer, and look, I'm sat here this morning and I'm like, please, you know, I'm sort of like this from a footballing sense. I'm sort of like, please, please let this be true. Please let the three-man shortlist be Nagalsman, Enrique and Carrick, because I can deal with that. I can work with that. I can get excited about that. If our three-man manager shortlist is Enrique, Carrick and Nagalsman, the club's finally using its head. I'm not praising them because they should be doing this anyway. But you know what? It's amazing. We should be looking at these three. And if we're looking at those three, hopefully we can get the best option.

9:49And as I say, there's pros and cons to all three. I'm not dismissing or disrespecting those that want Carrick. That's absolutely fine. Obviously, I want Enrique. Second for me would be Nagalsman. I think he's better than Carrick, but also this would be a job that I think he could be here for the next 10 years because he's still quite young. He's got a raft of experience. He's a very tactical, astute coach who can play different formations. And he's got that relationship with Faval. He's the only one who's got the relationship with the recruitment team. I mean, Carrick hasn't got a relationship with Wilcox and Faval.

10:30He's just working with them as an interim. So I think all three are really interesting. But I'll repeat what I said. I love Michael Carrick. I like Michael Carrick. My issue with Carrick is, one, it reminds me too much of Oli and he worked with Oli. But two, at least with Oli, he was the assistant coach. I don't like Steve Holland. Not personally. And people can get in the comments and say, oh, Steve Holland did this at Chelsea. For the last six years, he coached a boring shit Southgate team. And I think over the last six weeks, we've seen very similar tactics. If Steve Holland can get us playing really entertaining football, absolutely fine.

11:07but is that not what you're meant to be doing? Don't tell me, oh, if you give me the job, we'll play good football. You're literally third in the league. Everyone below you is shit. Over the next few weeks, Steve, I was about showing us some good football because then it might change my mind, you know? If Carrick needs better coaches, how can you actually want Carrick in the first place, says Rory? Because I don't dislike Carrick. I like Carrick. I just don't like the coaches. I don't think they're good enough for Manchester United. I think the style of football we've seen in the last few weeks is a massive hint of what we're going to do next season because I think that's what Steve Holland is.

11:43We've seen it in England for the last few years. But I get tired even myself of making it out like it's Carrick. I don't mind Carrick. If Carrick, Sir Alex Ferguson played different brands of football under Steve McLaren, Rennie Mullinstein, Carlos Juarez, you know, he played different brands of football because he had a different coach. If Michael Carrick had a different coach, he might be the right guy. But I will be honest, if I'm ranking these three and you rank yours, if it's Enrique, Nogalsman and Carrick, which three would you go with? I want to see comments on this. I want to see comments on this, especially if you're not watching live and tell me why.

12:16My choices are this. Enrique, miles ahead. This is the guy you can rebuild a dynasty with if you do it right. Enrique, number one. This is the guy that could be, you know, he's already managed Barcelona. He could be Bayern Munich's manager. He could be Man City's manager. He could be Liverpool's manager. He's elite. So Enrique, you can't refuse. He's got to be number one. Second, and it's big, and from Enrique, I'm going down a lot. So Enrique is right up here. Number two, I would say Nagalsman. It's a big drop from Enrique, but I would still say Nagalsman. The experience he's got, the type of coach he is, I think he'd be fantastic.

12:56And I think he'd suit the Premier League really well. And I think he will be in the Premier League at some point. And I think we'll regret it. also the relationship with the Favelle and then below Nagalsman but not massively below but below Carrick and Carrick's problem is inexperience interim bounce and the coaches he's using I don't think are good enough so that's what, that would be my three at the moment RPG says I'd go Enrique number two I'd go Carrick with a new coach and then Nagalsman and I can live that, you know, but we don't know what that let's be real if they give Carrick the job he ain't sacking Steve Holland and Woodgate is he they get the job with him they become as a package and that terrifies me but I also think you don't have to but I do think it's fair to give that clarity I don't dislike Carrick I just don't like the coaching I don't like it I think it's been and I also have heard a few things I don't think the players will do this long term under this coach I don't think they will.

14:00I think they'll, when the results go bad, they'll be like, we don't like this style of coaching, you know? Nagalsman failed at Bayern. Why are you rating him highly? I don't think he failed at Bayern, mate. I think he won the league at Bayern. I don't think I'd call it failing. And also, Michael Carrick got sacked by Middlesbrough. So, I mean, we'll move on. Let me get into some more comments. Good morning, Mark. Watching from Kuwait, where the airspace is closed and we've been getting attacked by Iran the last few weeks. Send us some love. Well, hopefully that's all going to end soon, Big Z. And hopefully anybody involved in that conflict, in that area of the world is safe and well.

14:39Thoughts with you. Have you seen this backtracking bullshit about the stadium being built in five years? Oh no, we meant construction would take five years, says Lee. Yeah, we were talking about this last night, Lee. It is backtracking. It is spin. Amit says, Carrick has managed a next season plus average players. That'll be the norm. They wanted the lap. They think they want Enrique's keel. Well, yeah. But remember, the positive about this is if we believe or want to believe that it's Carrick, Enrique or Nagalsman for the job and we end up with Carrick, then we can just go again the board of fucking rubbish.

15:17It's not best in class, is it, to get a guy in to do a short term job and then say you can have it permanently. That's not best in class recruitment. That's plaster on the wound again. you need a top manager or head coach to attract quality players equally need a good ownership but sadly glennios are hopelessly short says laura baxter whoever the manager is we need to sort the defense in the deep line midfielder can't keep conceding so many goals i think we only have two clean sheets as liam brown if carrick needs better coaches how can you actually want carrick in the first place i've done that from rory patrick lynch is in the house thanks for your super chats he says my only concern with enrique much like with the last two managers is we don't have the infrastructure in the club that will actually make him successful everything we do is half-arsed and underfunded but that's patrick that's probably comment of the morning so far this is why when they sacked enrique when they sacked amarin you'll remember it was um i did a video in my garden where i said there's no way back um and i i will revisit that video every now and again because i don't think there is a way back and i think whether it's Michael Carrick or it's Luis Enrique, fundamentally, you're making the same point.

16:24Is it harder to be successful with a world-class manager like Enrique who doesn't get backed? Or is it harder to be successful with an experienced coach like Carrick who doesn't get backed? So it's going to hurt everybody, isn't it? It's going to hurt everybody. Every manager is going to have the same problem. You can bring in Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp as a dream team and not back them and they won't do well. You can't say let's not get Enrique because he might fail under this board. The same thing will happen to any manager. Would you take Simeone over Carrick's as JSD? I mean, Manchester United are too bloody weak to go anywhere near a Conte or a Mourinho again or a Simeone.

17:08They won't go for that type of character. But I think Simeone is interesting. It's just we won't go near him. Not prepared says expect two more names to be added to the three-man shortlist. If that's the three-man shortlist and we go with Carrick, it would be seen as settling on the worst, as not prepared. And John United says, Carrick has steadied things but built unity. Now he must impose his style and stop trying to please everyone. He has to show what he's got in the remaining games. I think that's a very fair point. A very fair point. And it says, could Favell leave United if Wilcox gets his way with Carrick and no transfer ideas from him come our way?

17:44I'd love Stiller to join. I've never heard anything about Favell leaving. But what worries me about Favell, and we have seen it with people at other clubs and United, is that Favell will not stay as technical director for long. His reputation, and it's rare, but Favell's reputation at Man United externally is really good. In the game of football, Favell's reputation has gone up since he's been at Man United. Now, normally, if you're a manager or a director of football, you end up being a clown. But Favell has resisted the makeup and the big shoes and the silly hair and has actually enhanced his reputation.

18:25The concern with that is a little bit like Omar Barada. He was COO at Man City. He gets offered a CEO job. Man City say, well, we don't need a CEO. And he goes, well, I want to go. And they go, OK, because it's a promotion. There could be a time in the next 12 to 18 months where a club goes to Favell and says, we want you as our director of football. And Man United go, well, we can't give you that job because we've got Wilcox. And he goes and we weaken ourselves because I actually think Favell should be our director of football. So he could get offered that somewhere else. I mean, it's totally speculative, but it could happen.

19:05Do you think we can still get Bruno G? Your opinion, says G. I think that... This is a lovely cup of coffee, by the way. I think Bruno Guamerez would be perfect for Man United, and I'm not fearful of him being 28. But my personal prediction is that United do have a parameter of not signing players over 26. So I don't think we will buy him, because I believe that that parameter is there. It's ridiculous, but I think it is there. Why have we been in talks with him? I suspect it might be agent-led. But if Man United haven't been in talks with him, then somebody has told Romano that we have. So I'd still say it's up in the air, but I worry about the parameter.

19:50Emily Derry says, if we get a manager like Enrique and he fails, the scrutiny on Wilcox and the board would be more intense. It's probably why they won't go for him. Yeah, Emily, but we probably need to flip that as well because I said this a few days ago. If they ignore going for top-class managers to give the job to Carrick, the scrutiny on Wilcox will be even more intense because we've done this before with Ollie. And when you've done something before, it's like going back. You imagine you're in a relationship and you break up and then you get back together and everything's going to be different this time.

20:25But it never is because after the honeymoon period, and when you're back together in a relationship that's ended before, the pressure of that and knowing why you broke up before puts more scrutiny on things than it ever did before. And it rarely works when you go back. I believe that Man United giving Michael Carrick the job is very similar to going back to a relationship that you've tried before, because we've done it with Oli and people go, it was Oli, it wasn't Carrick. Carrick was there. Carrick was his head coach. Carrick was there with Oli for three years. Carrick was part of that. And also it's an ex-player as well.

21:00So I think if they give the job to Carrick, there will be no honeymoon period. There will be no patience because in the back of every Man United fan's head will be, this better work and it better work from day one because we've tried this before. And if it doesn't work, I'm going to go in two-footed on the club and on the board and on Wilcox because we didn't need to do this again. So I actually think giving it to Carrick puts more pressure on Wilcox on the board than it would do giving it to Nagalsman, Enrique, Simeone, De Zerbe, because they'd be brand new managers. And I think they get more patience and more time because it's new.

21:39But I think with going with an ex-player again, who's an interim, we've done this before. So I think there'll be more intensity and more pressure on the board and Wilcox if they do this, because a lot of people think it's just going to be a mistake. It's just how long it's going to take for that to happen. Hi, Mark. I think this board want yes men as a manager. You said a couple of months ago Enrique and the goalsmen are not yes men managers, says Arshan. If we change Wilcox, I'd have confidence that we'd get a proper manager in. But...

22:14You're right. They will want a yes man. Deeply concerned with manager and midfield situation and fans supporting for permanent role. Don't understand why we've started accepting mediocrity, says Kazen. Fantastic point there as well. Just before I come back to some of your comments, I mean, obviously it's a news show, so we've got news to bring this morning and we are reacting to the main story here. But just as a side, De Zerbe is massively linked with Tottenham. So Tottenham, according to Romano, are assessing their best options for their situation in the next days deserve the favorite candidates and um marco silber also being discussed internally i also saw something this morning that deserve be is considering being the the savior of spurs and going in there now um so it looks like i i don't know why deserve be would have been an option for manchester united anyway um i don't think that would have worked but apparently, you know, he's off the list and he's looking at...

23:25He's looking at that. I've just realised I forgot to do the bloody hotter meter.

23:36Someone remind me about that. I'll sort it later. Kulin says, can you bring back five strands of transfer news? It never went away, mate. The five strands of transfer news is always discussed, as we mentioned with Bruno G. So with the Bruno G story, the way the five strands of transfer would work, and there'll be people in the chat going, oh, no, somebody's bloody mentioned it. It's like what he mentions going to New York. So when you get a transfer story, I like to use the United Stands five strands of transfer news. It's almost like someone's nicked something there, isn't it? Sounds a bit familiar.

24:10But we've been doing this for years. So when you get a transfer story, it's either total nonsense, totally true. The agent's doing it. The club are doing it to generate interest in a player they want to sell. Or the agent is doing it with the player to try and get a new contract where they are. I think with Bruno G, it might be the agent. Yeah. Players determine style of play, I believe. Enrique will need players as well. Carrick can only work with what he's got. With Martinez, we are better.

24:41I don't agree with that, Olu. I don't agree with that. I mean, obviously, I've done a little bit of coaching. I'm sure many people here have. I don't think it's about, I don't think players determine the style of football you play. If you look at the football we played under Amerim compared to what we're playing with Carrick at the moment, it was a lot more intense. We were creating more chances, but we weren't necessarily as good at the back. I think under Carrick we're better organised, we're harder to score against, but we're not as intense in the press and we're not creating as many chances anymore.

25:11So, you know, same players, different style of play. When you look at the way we played under Ten Hag, it was very different to how we played under Amrim, predominantly the same type of players. So you look at the way Maresca was setting up Chelsea compared to how Rosinha is, same players, different style of play. So I think coaching has a lot to do with how you set up. For example, even when I was doing the Gold Devils on Monday night, you know, there's times where I can see maybe people are getting tired. We're not pressing high up the pitch. You're allowing people to get shots from the halfway line because it's six a side.

25:44you instantly either sit back and go okay they're tired let's let's be a bit more compact or you say what I was saying get 10 meters further up impose the press and if you can't do that you're turning around and you're bringing two subs on with fresh legs to do it you have as a coach an ability to set the standards of how you want to play Michael Carrick could say to Manchester United players I want to get down the flanks and put crosses into the box in as early as possible into Sesco. We don't do it. Our fullbacks get it and pass it backwards. So you can, you're in the hands of your players once they go out on the pitch, but you can dictate what you want to happen and tell them how it works.

26:26Sam says, we finally have someone who is winning and we want someone else. Lewis will win and lose some as Michael. Why are we rocking the boat? Carrick is a nine out of ten and Lewis will probably match it. I don't get it. Because you don't understand football, mate. I can't be more blunt than that. I mean, look, you think Michael Carrick's better than Luis Enrique, that's fine. But it's not as simple as Carrick's winning, why not change it? Because we have seen the performances and the style of play over the last few weeks and it's not going to be sustainable twice a week next season. We've also seen what Luis Enrique has done, basically playing non-stop football for 18 months and his style of play and how he evolves that team and brings young players in.

27:09mate there's a difference between Pep Guardiola and Michael Carrick there's a difference between Liam Rosinha and Jürgen Klopp and there is a difference between Michael Carrick and Luis Enrique anyway Nagalsman fits where we are and what we have I think Nagalsman could do he could do as I said I think all three of them offer very interesting opportunities

27:36and I'm happy that those are the three options but I definitely think two of them should be the ones we go for. Rajaf says, I'm extremely impressed with Garner's aura back in red. I'd bring Garner back. I would bring Garner back. I've not heard anything about us doing that but I would bring him back, yes. I'd take Garner over Balaba every day of the week and Sunday. Every day of the week. I mean, players I'd take over Balaba Wharton, Stilla, Jal Gomez, Garner, Scott at Bournemouth Bruno G, definitely, Tonali, definitely, Anderson, definitely There are more, I'm thinking of more Who else am I thinking of?

28:22I'd probably take Inanna from Villa over Belayba There is somebody else I'm thinking of Bergval, I'd take over Belayba the Labour wouldn't be in my top 10 and yet he's probably in Man United's top two yeah yeah um JMR says that's not what he said Mark he said Carrick is a 9 out of 10 and doesn't see Enrique being any different I literally answered that question I know you think you're trying to be you know helpful but I literally answered the question there's a huge difference between Luis Enrique and Michael Carrick the same as there is between Rosinha and Pep Guardiola Michael Carrick being a 9 out of 10 9 out of 10 on what?

29:079 out of 10 on what? What? On accumulating points When everyone blows his shit And we're playing one game a week? When Enrique comes in We'll be playing two games a week And we'll have a summer transfer window If you want to gamble on Carrick Next season with Steve Holland Be my guest I ain't even disrespecting it But don't try and pretend That Luis Enrique And Michael Carrick are the same Because they're not And Michael Carrick's biggest weakness is inexperience and his coaching staff. His coaching staff are going to be his weakness. They're not going to be good enough for this level. And people need to stop criticising Carrick for style of play and realise that Carrick is hindered by the coaches he's got.

29:49And in fairness to Carrick, he was in competition with Solskjaer to get the interim job and had to assemble a coaching staff very, very quickly. Ideally, the board would say, we want to give you the job, but we don't want to give you the coaches the job because ultimately you just threw them together as quick as you could. We want to give you the job, but we want better coaches than that. That's what should happen if they do offer him the job. But I think as we all know, he will have loyalty because Carrick's very loyal to the people that got him the job. If you remember, when Solskjaer got the sack, he was the interim and he said, I don't want this job as an interim because I feel responsible and loyal to Oli and I only stayed on to give a little bit of stability while they found a real interim because I don't want the job because I feel loyal to Oli and I was part of the reason Oli lost his job.

30:47So Carrick will be loyal to Steve Holland and his coaches and And I think that will be his undoing if he gets the job. I'm extremely impressed with Garner's. We've done that one. TW Wolf says, will the new stadium's higher ticket prices bring fans more interested in entertaining clients, pushing out real fans who truly love United? Mate, that new stadium is going to be corporate. 100%. We won't end up with the atmosphere in the new stadium will be worse than what it is now. Absolutely. You speak to any match-going fan, they know this is coming because it's already happening anyway. Now, Galsman done that one as well.

31:27OK, right, let's move it on because there are a couple of other things I wanted to talk about this morning. First and foremost, let me just say this. Just a couple of quotes from Rasmus Hoyland on leaving Man United. He said, it felt like it was over for me at one point. Here at Napoli, I've rediscovered my love for football. People even back in Denmark were writing me off, but I never stopped believing. he also said that if we look at recent periods at Manchester United I did not perform well I'm aware of that but now many things have changed I've rediscovered the joy of football and I'm working and scoring much more obviously Rasmus isn't coming back to Manchester United but I thought it was a nice prelude into this story that's sort of come out from come out of nowhere really that Man United are looking to bring a striker in in the summer.

32:21Now, I don't know why it's come out. I don't know where it's come from, and I don't know why people are talking about it, but it's the most obvious thing in the world that we're going to look for a forward, or we should be looking for a forward in the summer because Xerxes is going to leave, and that leaves us with Cesco. So a striker in the summer makes total sense. however my fear around this and the reason i wanted to talk about it is because a lot of people talking about man united going for a striker in the summer but this are we not talking about a fan theory here or a nice to have from the club because last summer a midfielder was something that we logically needed and ended up being a nice to have that we didn't do and all we've really heard about United and transfer targets is midfielders, a winger and maybe a centre-back.

33:18We all want a left-back, but it's not even been confirmed that we're going for a left-back. I've heard nothing about United going for a striker. Before we talk about options, I just want to say we might not buy a striker this summer, not because we don't need one, but because we're Manchester United. How many summers have we not got what we need? And there's been very little about a striker and we didn't get a midfielder last year. We've ignored positions, like I said before, in previous years. We've ignored January transfer windows. What are the chances that United just ignore the striker situation and run out of time or run out of money or don't prioritise it.

34:04Again, the flip side to that coin is it would be quite risky and contradictory because they've solved this story that last summer was about solving the goal scoring issue and this summer will be about solving the midfield issue. But with Xerxes going, you can't build a house right and go, first and foremost, before we sort the kitchen or the living room. We're just going to put a roof on the house. And then when we've got the roof on, at least we can put a couple of beds in and we've got somewhere to sleep. So if bringing the forwards in last summer was building the roof, and now we're going to go down to the kitchen.

34:48But before we start the kitchen, someone puts their hands up and says, the roof has a leak. It's still a great roof. It's just, for some reason, it's got a leak. Let's patch that roof up before we start on something else and United go no we're not getting a striker because we're focusing on the kitchen that's my fear is that it's all right saying you've solved that problem but if you ignore a weakness in that problem and don't go back then what you've solved becomes a problem and what I'm trying to say is if Xerxi goes and we don't replace him and then Sesco struggles and Embermo gets injured and we struggle to score goals, we've left ourselves short.

35:30And there's no doubt this season, even massively under Amirim and under Carrick, we are averaging, I think we average two goals a game. I don't actually have the data on that, but I think, let me have a look. I think in the Premier League, well, that's the only place we play. The great thing about Man United is if you want stats, you just go to the Premier League table because we didn't play in anything else really. Grimsby and Brighton, that was it, wasn't it? So, yeah, we've played 31 games and we have scored 56 goals. So we're not quite there, but I mean, to be fair, nobody is. Man City have the best.

36:09Anyway, 31 games, 56 goals. So we're around two goals per game scored, which I would guarantee you compared to last season, and I don't have the data, will be a good improvement. And that's, you think about under Amrim, we're scoring two goals a game a lot, and we've kept it going with Carrick. So if Xerxi goes and we don't replace him, there is a chance that we weaken our attack. And it doesn't mean because we're losing Xerxi, it just means what if Sesko gets injured, who plays up front? I don't think Embermo's a striker, by the way. I don't have the information for goals scored by Embermo from striker and as a number 10.

36:51But I would imagine that most of Mbamo's goals were scored when he wasn't up front. So, yeah, I'm going to talk about that Romano story in a minute, golden boy. So I think we do need to go for a striker, but I would hold caution and say, do you think Man United are going to sign a winger, two or three midfielders, a fullback, a centre-back and a striker? I don't see it. And also, where's the money going to come from for this striker because where are you going to find a striker for under£40 million that's willing to sit on United's bench? So it's all right saying United are looking at a striker, but who is it?

37:31Who is it? And that's my problem. I can see United 100 % need to bring a striker in, but I can see them going, we don't need one, do we? Because we've got Sesco and Carrick doesn't even pick sesco all the time so we've got embermo who can play up front kunya can do it as well and then we've got sesco so really we've got three strikers so i can see united going we don't need a striker um because we've got kunya and we've got embermo who can do that role but can they i don't like embermo as a striker and i don't think he likes being a striker um kunya can probably do it better than him but again is he really a striker so i don't personally think we'll buy a striker I think we need to but I don't think we will I think we'll go let's make do and we've certainly got history of doing that as we know with the midfield situation last year so Golden give me your thoughts though Golden Boy Waza says that Romano has said that Man United want Tonali I don't know whether he has said that I did I actually saw it on Talk Sport Man United and Man City are both interested in signing Newcastle United's Italian midfielder Tonali However, the former AC Milan player would prefer a return to his homeland if he were to leave Newcastle.

38:51I don't know whether Romano has said anything about it. You know what, though? Look, I like Tonali. I think he's probably the best option for United because he's older than Anderson. He's a better conductor than Anderson and he's ready to go. And with Elliot Anderson, I think what people need to realise, with Balaba, Wharton, Anderson, all three of those players however you rank them if they went to Man City or Man United they would have to be given time and patience because even Elliot Anderson in a Man City midfield is coming from Nottingham Forest into one of the biggest clubs in the world he might hit the ground running but he has got a right like any new signing of that age to go I might have an adjustment period here same with Belayba same with Wharton whereas I think Tonali if he goes to Man City you don't expect an adjustment period you expect him to just go bang let's get on with it so that's the attraction of Tonali definitely I don't think United will go for Tonali I really don't think we're going to want to pay 90 million pounds and as Andy Mitten said yesterday I think they will look at the gambling thing as a concern I also think that how true is it that he wants to go back and play in Italy because I actually do want players that when they sign for Man United at 26 they want to retire here.

40:12I don't want players that want to play here for two or three years and then go to Italy. So is that a bit of a concern for United as well? So I don't think we'll go for Tonali. I think he's the right player, but I don't think we will. 17 God, thanks for your super chat. He says, I don't think if we want to get back to the top of football, Carrick is the man and I'm afraid of a huge regression next season. Yeah, I mean, look, just to jump back on that, I think this is why I'm always very fair with Carrick. I like him. I respect the fact that people want him, but nobody can convince me that it's a massive mistake and nobody can convince me that it's a surefire success.

40:50And that concerns me. I also think that you're giving a massively inexperienced person with a massively inexperienced coaching team a huge season where we can't afford to go. let's see how you get on. You've got time. You've got patience. We haven't got time. We cannot be. I don't think people understand how important next season is. I think people think if we're in the Champions League, oh, we can relax. Nah, next season, look at Newcastle. They're mid-table. We can't in a year's time be, that was nice in the Champions League. We've got the whole week off next year again because we're out of Europe completely.

41:29And it can kill you. It can kill you. And what better manager knows about having to play lots of games? I mean, Luis Enrique at PSG, I was talking to somebody about this the other day. PSG have basically played nearly every week for two years. It started in August 2024. They won the Champions League in June 2025 they went straight into the Club World Cup where they got to the final they then came back and started another season and here they are now in April 2026 in the quarter finals of the Champions League still going so yeah it's the French League I get it the French League is not as competitive as the Premier League but he's still having to circumnavigate no pre-season no rest constant football Club World Cup Champions League Champions League, French League, it's constant.

42:29It's every three or four days PSG have effectively been playing for two years, bar international breaks. So if you want somebody that can deal with the pressure and intensity and demand of constant football, he's perfect. He's absolutely perfect. But beyond that, it's an elite coach. And I'll tell you what, I've said this before, but I'll say it again. If you go and look at Man United's share price tracker over the last 10 years, you'll see in the summer that we appointed Mourinho, it went rough in June or whenever it was. Man United's share price went through the roof and it correlates with Mourinho coming to Man United.

43:14and if United want to sell shirts and they want to put tickets up, prices up, and they want people to be interested in Man United, sometimes you can learn from history and it would... You give the job to Carrick, I think people will go, let's see what happens. Oh, I don't know. You know, I think it will be a 6 out of 10 summer in relation to enthusiasm. You give it to Enrique, I think it goes to 10. Whether it works or not, I think the enthusiasm, the media, the world media, everyone would just go like that. The big question is, how do you get him out of PSG? I accept that. But we're Manchester United.

43:53I find it insulting that Tuchel decided to stay at England than even talk to Man United. I mean, I've never known anything. I've never known an England manager choose a contract extension with England over the Man United job. so that doesn't reflect well on the club of course but well we have a buyback clause for garner says josh we do not have a buyback clause for garner as far as i'm concerned we do not have a buyback clause um i think we had a sell-on clause there was there was talk of some clause maybe santa claus but we we have i think there's something josh but i think it might be first refusal or something like that.

44:39But I don't think we get a discount. I don't know. He's just signed a new contract at Everton as well. So I don't know whether that would negate anything that was there before. Look, I get the feeling if I run a poll here, would you take James Garner back? Would you sign James Garner? Right. I think there's a bit of snobbery around James Garner. I think it's not the shiny toy everybody wants. I think it's always an ex-player. But I think there is context to James Garner at Manchester United if he came back. And the context is this. He's six foot, which is quite big for a midfielder, certainly not small.

45:24He's only just turned 25. So he's only just 25. He's still relatively young, but a little bit more experienced than others. He knows the club. obviously he knows the club very, very well. He's one of the best tacklers in the Premier League this season. His energy is incredible. He's aggressive. He's got himself back into the England team. And when you look at the assist for the first Everton goal last weekend, his passing is immaculate as well. You know what? I don't want to say this, but if Liverpool bought James Garner or Chelsea bought James Garner or Villa bought James Garner, I think he could go to the next level and he's already at a very good level.

46:12We only sold James Garner, by the way, because we couldn't sell anybody else. United desperately needed to bring some money in and they couldn't sell anybody and Everton gave us 15 million or whatever they gave us and it was pure profit and we took it. It wasn't even like we wanted to sell him. We sold him because we needed to sell somebody. So I do like him. I just don't think United will do it. And I don't think there's much of an appetite in our fan base. But I loved it when we played them. And, you know, he got into that altercation with Kunja. And I almost didn't like Kunja for doing it because I was like, I know you're a Man United player and that's an Everton player.

46:48But Garner is, to many of us, still a United lad. but that's a credit to Kunja obviously because you like that but also it's a credit to Garner that he has that aggression and determination when he puts whatever shirt on so I do like him I do but I agree with Fee who says that you know new contract Everton they're a very difficult club to negotiate with yeah look as long as we don't go back in for Brantway I think we can all sleep easy can't we fantastic show this morning by the way we've got nearly 8 ,000 watching remember we are with you all the way through this international break 8 o 'clock show again tonight some fantastic shows I love the international break I'm one of the few who do like the international break because we always have really good shows and also I think this March international break is on a is bubbling up like the last couple of mornings there's been so much you don't normally get that in the November ones and the reason it's bubbling up is because there's a lot of conversations going on like yesterday I was on That's Football Enzo Fernandez wanting out of Chelsea Real Madrid obviously Romano last Friday advanced talks Elliot Anderson I'm still waiting for when we're going to join that party by the way if we want Elliot Anderson and Man City are in advanced talks with him why are we not in talks with him I'm actually surprised we've hit Wednesday and we haven't heard that United have picked up the phone to Elliot Anderson because when we do we will hear Forza thank you very much for gifting five memberships you're a legend he says I hope you all have a good day you too as well mate we finished 15th whilst in the Europa League Champions League is going to be harder, says Jacob.

48:24I think this is a great point again. Like, I think that people are putting too much focus on being third in the league and the wins that we've had. We're playing one game a week and all our rivals around us are dying because they're playing too. Villa, Chelsea, Liverpool, they're all struggling. And people go, well, maybe we'll be OK. But look at last season. This time last year, I've got the empty bottle of wine. That Leon night was incredible. But then you play Wolves at home on the Sunday and we lose 1-0. How many games did we lose straight after European games last season? and that's because we just didn't have the legs we didn't have the squad to go we're playing on Thursday and then we're playing a Premier League club that's had the week off on a Sunday this is why we need to probably buy 10 players in the summer because squad wise it's going to be a problem and that's why again having someone like Enrique would probably help us there because he'd look at Wednesday night Champions League and he'd look at Saturday Premier League and he'd go well I know what I did at PSG, okay we'll do this this, we'll take you off, we'll get you know that experience is really important and has Michael Carrick got experience of managing players in the Champions League and in the Premier League Wednesday to Saturday every week for eight weeks, it's tough and that's just to get into the groups the knockouts Are we not falling into the trap of having young centre forward with no back like we did, the back up like we did two years ago with Ten Hag, not sure they're learning from the mistakes as Ray, I completely agree I mean, if there's one thing about this football club, we do seem to.

49:58What's the saying? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. How many times have we said that over the last decade as well? Jid says it took weeks to get Mbibbo over the line just for us to pay the asking price. We are terrible at negotiations as signing three or four players in one window isn't hopeful. It's laughable. Well, and that's why we need to move quick. Oli says James Garner is a top player, in my opinion. his stats in terms of interceptions and tackles are much better than Casemiro this season. I think, James, you know what?

50:31We're not going to do it. We're just chewing the fat. But my personal feeling is that the best replacement out there, the least risk replacement for Casemiro out there that's gettable is Tonali. Norman says, what a great show. It's been a fantastic show this morning. I absolutely loved it. The best replacement for Casemiro is Tonali. If you can't get Tonali, Garner is probably the best replacement because Elliot Anderson is more box-to-box. Adam Wharton is more box-to-box. Bruno Gomérez is more box-to-box. That's not to say they can't do more of a sitting role, but James Garner has been playing right back and midfield for Man City.

51:15He understands his defensive responsibilities and he's a very good passer. I don't think we'll do it. I don't think we'll do it. But, you know, there we are. Let me just have a quick look at the chat. Thank you very much. We've nearly hit 1 ,000 likes, by the way. Please do smash a like on the video. Lots of people ranking who they'd go for in their top three between Enrique Carrick and the Goldsman. As I said, my big concern is Carrick's coaches I think they'll sack him A lot of people say Oli got himself sacked If you remember with Mourinho A lot of people forget this Jose Mourinho did really well In his first two years at Man United And then in that summer before he got sacked He'd finished second And he wanted enforcements because he wanted to try and go for first.

52:14And that was the summer where Liverpool bought Alisson and a few other people. And United didn't have a very good summer. And Man United didn't start the season very well and Mourinho was gone in December. But the previous May, we'd finished second in the league and we didn't really have a very good summer transfer window and we got past. And I think a lot of the fan base thought, we finished second, we're going to go to the next level. But we stood still, people came past us and Mourinho ended up losing his job. And over that summer, he had a lot of arguments with the club about recruitment and the club got a bit fed up with him and the players got fed up with him and they came together and they sacked him.

52:54But what a lot of people don't remember is that in the first two years of Mourinho, we did well. We won the Europa League, we won the Carabao Cup, we finished second in the league. But that summer, and Chris has absolutely nailed it, as I was talking a little bit longer, Rui Faria left. that summer as well, his assistant coach. Rui Farrier left and I think he brought Michael Carrick in, which I'd forgotten and that actually worries me. I'd forgotten about that. He did promote Michael Carrick, I think, but he lost Rui Farrier. It's nothing to do with Carrick, forget Carrick. What my point was, Farrier left as his assistant coach in that summer and Mourinho was gone by December.

53:38And there's plenty of examples of this. You may be a manager, you may be a head coach, but so much of it is about who your assistant is. The assistant coach does most of the training ground stuff. The assistant coach does most of the work because as the manager, you have to be a little bit withdrawn and also you've got lots of other responsibilities. So your assistant manager is absolutely essential. And in the conversation about Carrick, I hear people saying, I like the results, but I don't like the performances over the last two months. Apart from Man City and Arsenal, the performances are getting worse and worse and worse.

54:20The intensity is getting less and less and less. Well, most of this is his coaches. It's not him. you could argue that Carrick does really well to get results out of moments because he motivates players as a man manager but the tactics are a problem well the tactics are obviously the way Carrick but the majority of the coaching will come from his coaching team and that I think that's his weakness if that's us for the next two or three years I think that's going to be a real problem because I just don't think they're up to it and and to be fair why would they be up to it They were thrown together in a week where Carrick was probably ringing up saying, who can I get in January?

54:59But I think he would be loyal and stick with them as well. Are you worried about Maynou's style? Well, I watched the show with Beth at two o 'clock yesterday. Obviously, there's a Maynou contract that's coming. Look, Maynou is 20 years of age. He's back in the England team. He's back in the Man United side. It's been a weird season. I would say judge Maynou next year and judge him. Some people say Maynou is amazing. Some people say, shit, I like Maynou, but let's judge him next season. I mean, I don't really want him to go to the World Cup if he's going to be sat on the bench. I mean, I always think of that Rashford summer where he went off and then came back and he was super fit.

55:38He was ripped. He was ready to go. I'd like to see Maynou have a proper preseason, but he might be going with England. But he's going to be under scrutiny because he's not the finished article yet. Do you see Renegalsman as a risk? I think I think Nagalsman's a risk I think Enrique's a risk I think De Zerbe's a risk I think Carrick's a massive risk I think everybody's a risk it's just you know which is why you try and go for the best you can get Who would love to have Salah as one of our players absolutely not robotic maniac he says can we do a poll on whether we should sign Salah I'll do that poll computer says 99 % say no Salah's an amazing player but he's done he's done absolutely done Forza's gifted another 10 memberships, I think, here.

56:24Absolute legend of the chat. On the poll, 65 % of you would sign James Garner and 35 % of you wouldn't. I'll tell you what, I'm going to leave you wanting more because I'm going to try and get the hot-o-meter on the show tonight. Eight o 'clock tonight, I'm going to try and get the hot-o-meter ready. I can't wait for the eight o 'clock show. I've loved the 10 o 'clock show. I don't really want to go. It's been an amazing show this morning. Thank you, everybody. Absolutely loved it. and some great conversations. So whatever you're doing, might be night time, might be morning, might be dinner time.

56:57Have a great day. Stay safe and make sure you subscribe. Bottom right hand corner and smash a like on the video and we'll speak to you all later. Great show today, everyone. Take care.