PREMIER LEAGUE COLUMN: United and Carrick have problems already this season

The one thing Manchester United don’t need at the moment is anger on the terraces.

An hour before kick-off against bitter rivals City, around 500 fans gathered at the Bishop Blaize pub near to the stadium and marched as a protest group to Old Trafford. Carrying banners and flares the group demonstrated against the club’s alleged targeting of innocent fans regarding ticketing and without evidence say The 1958 action group.

They are also showing their hatred for the Glazer family and disappointment with minority shareholders Sir James Ratcliffe and his INEOS group. Only when they reached the stadium and were going through the turnstiles did they change their chants to supporting their team against City. Meanwhile, inside the stadium the Red Army, who provide and even pay for banners in the Stretford End, hoisted one that read “The way you treat us is a disgrace.”

United are also struggling as a team. Four points from their first four games including Hull, Ipswich and Everton should have produced more. The side looked very mediocre against Hull and they failed to benefit from Phil Foden’s sending off against City. Only Kobbie Mainoo and Marcus Rashford are showing their true class. Bryan Mbeumo is a shadow of the player who thrilled at Brentford. Against City, it was the first time United had failed to score at Old Trafford under Carrick. He immediately hit back after the game and said, “In all the games we’ve won here, we’ve scored at least two goals. We’ve lost one game and we scored in that game. At some point you have a game when we haven’t scored so I can’t be too critical of the players.”

The decision to play Cunha centrally and leave Sesko on the bench did not work and Carrick brought on Sesko in the 67th minute.

Luke Shaw sitting in the stands because of injury is a problem because he did not miss a game last season and for that reason Carrick told his board that he did not need a replacement cover at left back. Patrick Dorgu deputised for Shaw but he is not a natural left back. After the big spend and a midfield strengthening it is now United’s defence which has everyone worried.

Challenges for Liverpool

Supporters of Liverpool could be forgiven for thinking that wins over Ipswich and Atletico Madrid pointed to Liverpool’s improvement and potential for competing at the top of the Premier League.

Regrettably for those supporters, the Red’s dismal performance at home against Fulham

displayed multiple failings which manager Andoni Iraola is struggling to explain. He has however blamed his players for being lacklustre and careless but admits that fatigue is clearly a problem. Alexander Isak, for instance, failed to score with a glorious chance which he would have slotted home when he played for Newcastle.

Iraola tried to explain the failings by focusing on the Atletico Madrid match in mid-week which he said drained his main players of energy after an exhausting match. But these are very expensive players who should be super fit and able to recover quickly. Iraola admitted to reporters after the match, “There was a lack of freshness definitely – we cannot hide it”….. “These kinds of games you have to win sometimes with a set-play, a shot from the edge of the penalty area or a moment of brilliance…but we didn’t have that.”

Isak looked tired as did Bradley Barcola but it was in defence that Liverpool were at their worst. Kostas Tsimikas was dreadful and withdrawn at half time. He won three of eight tackles and only completed 20 of his 31 passes. Andy Robertson, probably Liverpool’s best full back, has moved to Tottenham and Milos Kerkez replaced Tsimikas but he too has started this season poorly.

Supporters had begged for a specialist No6 but Iraola didn’t agree. Alexis Mac Allister wasn’t offered a contract renewal and had he left the club Monaco’s Lamine Camara would have been considered.

Using Florian Wirtz in midfield was an experiment and it has largely paid off but using him as a No 10 often means he leaves too much space behind him.

Liverpool have many problems to sort out if they are to be competitive and restoring the midfield is taking priority. Szoboszlai looks like the player Iraola will build his midfield around but even the captain was poor against Fulham.

Why Leeds sit third in the table

I always felt sympathy for Leeds’s boss Daniel Farke. At his previous clubs his challenge was always to stay in the Premier League without the quality of players to do the job. Norwich is a perfect example and sure enough relegation followed but he showed his skills by getting the club back into the elite league.

No such problems at Leeds and he is thriving with his players. After finishing 14th last season they are unbeaten this time around and sit third in the table above the likes of Liverpool and Tottenham. His job was in danger only 10 months ago but now supporters are dreaming of European glory.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin is in great form and scored mid-week against Newcastle and his aim is to beat his tally of 14 last season. Newly signed £40million goalkeeper James Trafford is settling in. Last season Daniel Farke changed his tactics and switched to a back three/wing back system. This made Leeds a stronger team to play through whilst being able to attack with pace and aggression. Leeds subsequently lost only five of their final 28 league games. And the transformation has continued this year. Their wing-backs play very high up the pitch but without the ball they quickly retreat to make a five man defence.

Guimaraes winning over Arsenal supporters

When Bruno Guimaraes was signed by Arsenal there were many gasps of disbelief from supporters. He was a player who, over the years, had given the Gunners’ grief with his aggressive tackling and do or die attitude which saw him pick up yellow cards frequently. The fact that he played for Newcastle, who are not top of the Arsenal fans’ favourites, and you can see why he wasn’t welcomed with open arms on the terraces.

When he arrived at the Emirates his necessity was questioned…why did Arsenal need another midfielder given they already have Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi, Martin Odegaard and others?

Talking to Arsenal fans this week, there is a definite thawing from the icy reception originally which greeted his first steps onto the green grass of the Emirates Stadium. In fact there were more boos than cheers.

Now however, things are changing rapidly. Bruno is delivering big performances, and his half time substitute appearance against Sunderland brought a spectacular goal which helped the Gunners win 2-0. He won balls, made accurate passes and his strong personality is already winning him admirers from supporters.

If Foden was red carded, why wasn’t Fernandez?

I was in Manchester this week and met several angry United fans and some upset City fans.

I have to comment on the sending off of Phil Foden last weekend. For sure he should not have kicked out at Bruno Fernandez but as Wayne Rooney commented, it was more of a flick or a gesture than a harmful kick. The problem for everyone, apart from the referee and VAR, was that Fernandes kicked Foden in the back first and he received no punishment. How can you send off one player and not red card the other? Fernandez is of course the master of the black arts and he has rehearsed his play-acting many times before. His rolling around after Foden struck him is worthy of an Oscar nomination and it is a disgrace that VAR did not draw the referee’s attention to the full picture. Referees are only human, VAR was introduced to get things right, based on technology and repeated re-runs of any controversial incident and yet they did not get it right – again!

De Zerbi believes Solanke will score 10-15 goals

Tottenham boss Roberto de Zerbi has told his players that he is making a vídeo library of each individual player in order to improve them. He is particularly concentrating on them making the right decisions in the final third of the pitch.

He said this week, “Video is very important because you have a different perspective on the pitch with the video,” he explained. “Working collectively in a better way but also individually – individual work, individual exercise to improve the assists, the crosses and attacking the first post”

He told us that he believes Dominic Solanke is capable of scoring a lot of goals this season. He only needs to get more games without the problem of injuries. De Zerbi said, “In the physical aspect and in the mental aspect, because he’s a sensitive guy, he needs to feel full of confidence and it is my job to build that big, big confidence. I remember Brighton against Bournemouth in the Amex Stadium, he was incredible, and I asked, ‘who is this striker?’…my challenge is to put him in the right condition to score.”

Brighton: shining example of how to run a successful club

The answer as to why Brighton have started the season so successfully is quite easy to explain.

Four league games played, 4th in the table with 7 points and Brighton have scored 13 goals making them the league’s leading scorers.

The secret is that Fabian Hurzeler’s team are not reliant on one top class striker. Against Coventry, five players scored: Kostoulas, Yalcouye, Gross, Dunk and Ayari. That is exactly what Hurzeler has instilled in his team from their first training session…he wants everyone to contribute, not just sit and play their positions but to move around the pitch, slotting inside and out and all the time moving forward creating chances.

The thing about Hurzeler is that he is only 33 years old but after two seasons in the Premier League he has gained valuable experience, how the big teams manage their players, their formations and their tactics. Injuries, a long season and packed fixture lists don’t affect him any longer…he has learned how to deal with it all. Last season Brighton went through a horrible spell with only one win in 13 matches but Hurzeler did not panic, he learned to cope and it is working for him now.

I have always said, study Brighton and you will see how to run a successful football club.

They brought in 11 players this season but lost Carlos Baleba, Jan Paul van Hecke, Danny Welbeck and James Milner. But they identify youngsters with potential, build them a path into the big league, develop them and they keep their squad competitive by having players ready to step up and replace the big names who eventually leave.

Getting Tottenham winning through their stomachs

Last season Roberto de Zerbi took his Tottenham players to a very expensive restaurant in London’s west end city lights. It helped spark a confidence build and the team improved. In the hope that it would work again after their disastrous start to the new campaign, he again took them to another expensive restaurant. He said, “We went for dinner, with all the players. There was something to eat, yes, some water, some beers, yes and I paid because I’m older than the players and it is a pleasure going for dinner with them.”

Hopefully Roberto will have some of last season’s bonus left, earned for keeping Tottenham in the Premier League but he is happy to pay as long as he has enough for his packet of cigarettes!