Defeat against Villa today could finish the United manager. Victory should at least earn him a chance to prove he can turn things around
I wonder how much West Ham’s dismissal of Nuno Espírito Santo (left) owed to Scott Parker being available. Patience is easier when you haven’t already spotted something you fancy in the shop window. Photos: Shutterstock.com
I wonder how much West Ham’s dismissal of Nuno Espírito Santo (left) owed to Scott Parker being available. Patience is easier when you haven’t already spotted something you fancy in the shop window. Photos: Shutterstock.com
Manchester United’s unexpected comeback against Roma bought Michael Carrick some breathing space and the manager everyone thought was doomed two weeks ago lives to fight another day.
Having said that, the way things have been going over the last couple of months, every time he parks at Old Trafford it probably makes sense to leave the engine running.
Two goals down at half-time, with boos ringing around the stadium, he watched his players turn impending disaster into a glorious 3-2 victory.
After nine matches without a win, United finally remembered how to do it.
Now comes Aston Villa at Old Trafford this afternoon, which will undoubtedly let us know whether Tuesday’s result was the beginning of a recovery or merely an unexpected interruption in a collapse.
Win today and Carrick can point to consecutive victories, renewed belief and something to build on. Lose it and Roma risks becoming a flash in the pan, with his departure potentially following shortly afterwards.
Personally, I still suspect he is on borrowed time. But I would quite like United to give him the chance to prove he has what it takes to turn things around.
Changing managers has become the club’s favourite repair technique, despite mounting evidence that replacing the driver does little for a vehicle whose wheels keep falling off. Every appointment brings another grand rebuilding project, usually abandoned before anyone has located the cement mixer.
Perhaps they could try letting somebody finish the entire project.
Alex Ferguson arrived in November 1986 and waited until May 1990 for his first trophy, the FA Cup. His first league title came in 1993, more than six years after he took charge. By modern United standards, he would have been sacked at least four times during that period.
Obviously, giving Carrick time does not guarantee another Ferguson. Leaving something in the oven longer does not automatically make it dinner. There has to be evidence that a team is improving, that the manager’s ideas work and that the players can produce a performance before going two goals down.
But United keep chasing the stability Ferguson eventually established while appearing unwilling to tolerate the difficult years that preceded it.
Defeat against Villa could finish Carrick. Victory should at least earn him the chance to build on something other than a freshly issued ultimatum.
They spent six years waiting for Ferguson to win the league. They have spent the years since his retirement proving that changing managers doesn’t make the wait any shorter.
When football turns tragic
The entire football community was shocked and saddened last week by the death of Jesús de Miguel. It’s difficult to stop thinking about the sheer cruelty of what happened.
The Tenerife striker, just 30, was chasing a long ball when Andorra goalkeeper Jesús Owono raced out to clear it. Their collision left De Miguel requiring emergency treatment after suffering cardiac arrest. He died in hospital the following morning.
What gets to me is how familiar the situation was. A forward chasing a chance, a goalkeeper rushing out to stop him. I have watched countless variations of that challenge over the years, sometimes wincing at the impact, occasionally arguing about the colour of the card but always expecting both players to eventually get up.
Around the world, there must be a thousand such challenges every week, usually followed by a whistle, an argument and everyone getting on with the game. Here, a desperately cruel combination of circumstances turned something familiar into a tragedy.
We all expect players to get up. It is part of the unspoken agreement we have with the game. They might get hurt, sometimes badly, but they are always supposed to make it home to their families.
My thoughts, like everyone else’s, are with De Miguel’s family and friends. I hope there is some small comfort in knowing how many people across football are thinking of them.
But I also keep thinking about Owono, who must now live with his part in what happened. You can question the challenge while still recognising that its consequences were beyond anything a player would ever anticipate.
I cannot imagine how he will begin to process that, or how often he will replay those seconds and wish he could change them.
He needs compassion and support too. When football moves on to its next controversy, I hope it remembers that he will still be carrying this one.
New Hammer Scott knows the drill
West Ham United have managed the unusual feat of making a managerial decision I am not convinced was fair, followed by an appointment I find very difficult to fault.
Nuno Espírito Santo was dismissed with the club eighth in the Championship, six points off the top and just four away from automatic promotion. After 13 matches, that hardly sounds like a season requiring emergency intervention.
Successive home defeats were clearly unwelcome and relegation was already a substantial mark against him. But having decided to retain Nuno for the Championship campaign, I would have given him until Christmas to demonstrate that he could get them back up. At least, let the man reach the stage where his contract pay-off can double as a festive bonus.
Players accustomed to the Premier League do not necessarily adjust immediately to life downstairs. There is a tendency to assume that an expensive squad should simply arrive in the Championship, wave its wage slips around and be escorted back to the top flight.
Yet, the division has a considerable track record of disappointing people who think like that.
Six points in early November is hardly an insurmountable gap. A decent fortnight can transform the table and spare everyone another statement thanking a manager for his hard work, usually written by someone who has spent the morning negotiating how much it will cost to stop him doing it.
However, the identity of Nuno’s replacement makes the decision considerably easier to understand.
Scott Parker has now been appointed, and if promotion is the brief, his CV takes some beating.
Parker’s record is remarkable. Three full Championship seasons, three promotions, with Fulham in 2020, Bournemouth in 2022 and Burnley in 2025. Different clubs, different squads, the same destination. He has yet to complete a campaign in the division without escaping it.
That makes him an excellent appointment for the job West Ham need doing. They can worry about his less convincing Premier League record when they have regained the right to be concerned about it.
It also leaves me wondering how much Nuno’s dismissal owed to Parker being available. Had that particular replacement been employed elsewhere, might the board have discovered a little more patience?
I suspect so. Patience is considerably easier to practise when you haven’t already spotted something you desperately fancy in the shop window.
I would still have given Nuno until Christmas. West Ham have instead hired somebody whose speciality is delivering the present they really want in May.
E-mail: Jamescalvertmalta@gmail.com
X: @maltablade
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