Europa League the priority as Onana sits out Newcastle defeat
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Vaguely next to a road, next to a car park, next to some other stuff outside St James' Park after seeing Manchester United's 4-1 defeat to Newcastle. We'll pore over the details of that, including a big decision from the head coach in changing the goalkeeper, a crushing injury to Joshua Xerxe and of course we'll also look ahead to that match against Lyon on Thursday.

in what is essentially the biggest game of the season once again. I feel like I say that every week when Manchester United are playing in the Europa League, but that is a fact. Karl Anka and Andy Mitten are here and I've lent them both a coat. Getting a bit parky now, Karl, isn't it? Yes, it is. Getting a bit nippy. Air is getting deflated out of the balloon as you're leaving St James' Park. Andy, how are you feeling?

Well, I've just seen my team lose 4-1, so I'm absolutely buzzing. I'm about to give you some historical nonsense to say that we're stood on the site where the old Newcastle Brown Ale brewery was. But I know we're going to talk about the game, and you're right, it's all about Olympique Lyon on Thursday. It was always going to be Ian, you know. I think that was in the performance and the team selection, right? I mean, before I got here, I said I've never felt as little optimism. And I've been coming here for 35 years...

as today and then the game starts and the team were actually okay first half was was okay in parts the Newcastle United players are starting to leave and go go past us but you and you lose 4-1 and the goals are given away so easily was it me or did were a lot of players slipping in that game there were a couple of slips I don't know what's going on with the pitch but yeah quite a few players were losing their feet there were players slipping yeah standards are slipping aren't they in a way our expectations are slipping I mean you just

I feel bad summoning any sort of energy about that performance because in a way it just doesn't really matter, the league. And you feel like that that was displayed, certainly in the second half when the game was beginning to get away from them, that Thursday is so much more important than what happened here. It was all about not damaging too much for Thursday. Yeah, I know you can listen to the noise

I made on Thursday when you asked me about coming in and I'm not looking forward to playing one of my physical teams in the league. And there you had it. Joe Arlington put the ball in the back of the net in the second minute only to be ruled offside. There was your warning. Be awake. Be ready to scrap. And United weren't awake and weren't ready to scrap. Good. Good equalising goal from Garnaccio. Really liked that finish. You're like, oh, OK, something's good here. And then I think I'm going to describe Harvey Barnes' goal early in the second half as a liver tap.

when you're doing a little sparring and someone taps you on the liver and every single bad decision you've ever made in your life comes back to haunt you all at once. That just completely took everything out of it. And then the sight of Joshua Xerxe running into open space only for the hamstring sniper to get him and he just goes ping. I don't know if you saw it on the television, Xerxe's face when he went over that, he just shrugged his shoulders like that.

we're bad and we're unlucky Bruno Fernandes proved that he does actually do everything at Manchester United by even becoming a physio in that moment and helping Xerxes off the pitch I mean

As blows go, losing one of those centre-forwards, especially the one that's in form at the moment, is an issue for United and that could rule him out for the season potentially. It could be the difference between staying in the Europa League and going out. It's a really, really important... He's become an important player. The contrast between the last time he played against Newcastle United and Old Trafford, I thought he was Manchester United's best player. I think he should just sit out Newcastle games in future. I know.

I know. But, you know, he picked up the ball in his own area and he'd ran and he'd beat players and he charged right into the Newcastle United area. He's got lovely feet. Some of his touches are really...

beautiful to watch so there were pockets of play where I was encouraged I know it sounds weak I think the first half actually there were bits to be I was more pleased with the first half than I expected to be in some ways Xerxe's getting a little bit of chemistry with Fernandez you've mentioned this before they had a little phase in the first half Eriksen, Fernandez, Xerxe shot on target and you're going

Okay, maybe a couple more pieces there you swap Eriksen for Meynu maybe get Mount in this can work this can work Xerxe gets far better at shooting on goal because we know he's not gonna get you 15 goals a season But that was nice. However nice when you're against Newcastle nowhere near good enough You need to be disgusting. You need to get your elbows out. You need to engage your effing core

There was fight in that Newcastle midfield especially there's fight in the team you look at the energy the way they're firing the crowd up clearly for them you know they've got the Champions League through the Premier League and their sights not through the Europa League like United but like I said I

can you get too wound up about it is it okay just to write games off like we seem to have been doing the last few weeks it's never okay when you're getting battered like that they were excellent they're really in the zone I thought their midfield were excellent when you're watching Sonali Isak has been in top form for them their

Their fans were right up for it. There's a big energy about it. I thought the fans went quite flat. And towards the end of the game, it was the away end singing away. A lot of them did go home. But those who stayed in the away end were singing for Amarim. And that in itself will divide people. Because people say, why are you singing for someone who in their eyes is failing and not winning matches? But then you could also say it's defiance. It's getting behind the manager when he most needs people to get behind him.

So there's two sides to that. I think you're right, Carl, the combination between Bruno and Xerxe, I think after 12 minutes, went towards a Gallagher end. Manchester United had more possession in that first half. Didn't get out their own half that much, but actually looked quite dangerous coming out of it. Even Deleuze.

who was at fault a couple of times. That run before Garnaccio's goal was, you can see what they're trying to do. Tindall went to the dugout and said, that's twice now about Dalot, and told Tino, Tino, don't engage in the United half. You wait for him to come to you. So I'm going to say it is what it is a lot in this episode.

That's what it is. It is what it is. Look, we knew playing Newcastle away from home after a European game is going to be difficult. We knew this Newcastle team was going to punch you in the throat. We knew this United team, when they run into space, it got some decent phases of play. We also know this Newcastle team, they like it when you have the ball because that means they get to do their strong suit, which beats you up.

thoroughly Ugarte's yellow card ooh that was another one when you're like oh mate could you not so Dallo slipping Ugarte making a recovery tackle I thought that was a very good tackle but that being judged at the front and getting the early yellow card I'm going you're yellow carding our enforcer this early on that

That's bad. He just gets yellow carded anyway. It's becoming the customary yellow card like we talked about. He had to make the challenge. True. He was rescuing Deleuze slip, actually. You mentioned slip. Yeah, he did. And it was Deleuze's mistake. But he didn't win the ball. So you're going to get booked that early on. Then it's going to be a problem. Maybe we'll talk more about Harry Amass. Maybe that's further down the line. Let's talk about him. Let's talk about him because obviously there was five changes in the starting line-up.

We've mentioned Xherkzy, who's one of the players who came in. Christian Eriksen came in. Viktor Lindelof came in. But the two eye-catching ones were Harry Amas and, of course, the goalkeeper, Altay Bayende. Let's talk about Amas. I mean, for 55 minutes,

He didn't look out of place, did he? No. I was just about to say exactly the same thing. That's cliche. It didn't look out of place at this level. That's quite true, actually. He didn't. He didn't. And he was up against a very fast opponent. There were times when they were trying to bully him. An informed opponent in Jacob Murphy. He's one of the most informed forwards in the league at the minute. He's

And to make your full Premier League debut at St James' Park against a pretty good Newcastle team, it's a big shout from the manager. When you're so young as well, but well done. Well done, he did really well. And I can't say any more than that. He couldn't have done any more. And that and Xerxes' performance before his injury were the two brightest points I took from today. It's interesting en masse because...

you know he's got something where he's being considered for like first team action and then you go pre-season in LA he's starting and then he just disappears from view and I think that was Eric Ten Haag and do you think he just thought he wasn't quite ready I was told that yeah you know and he didn't play did he

but he's obviously doing well in training he's impressive this position probably suits someone who's making their way into the first team a little bit more than playing them at full back like Ten Hag was doing Newcastle are a big side massive sides and Harry if you compare him to Dan Byrne there's probably a bit of a difference you have picked one of the tallest players in the league in fairness but yes Laurie

Laurie always preached caution with Harry Amass. We had loads of emails, Harry Amass, Harry Amass. And Laurie always went, look, his size might be an issue. He's quite diminutive. He's quite slight. He's not got the biggest frame. And then you throw him in against these big Newcastle players. And okay, technically, nice, tidy touches the ball. However, there were two or three bits where he did get bullied off the ball. There was also, I'm going to read the description.

I think he did quite well. He'd catch a player that is really fast, that would be Murphy. And he'd debut in maybe one of the hardest stadiums with one team that is in a good moment. But I think he did really well. He needs to continue and we need to help all these young kids. I'm not saying that's that role done for Harry Mask between now and the end of the season. But it's an option. If you're someone like Dorgue, if you're someone like Dalot, it's nice to know there's another person in there who can take it.

a couple of minutes in the breather. If you're someone like Luke Shaw as well, I think that probably means Luke Shaw is going to be left-sided centre-back. I think that was anyway. Yep, going forward. I don't want the idea of Luke Shaw running up and down 70 yards for 90 minutes. I think he's a better left centre-back than he would be a left-wing back. You might be right. You might be right. So it's another option. It's another option. And also, I think now we're talking...

about players not necessarily between now and the end of the season, but players that will be able to provide next season, after a full pre-season, hopefully a bit more fine-tuning on what Ameren wants. I love the booking for Lenny Yoro. I probably shouldn't. I probably should say it's petulant. I burst out laughing. And he shouldn't do it. But he's backing up Harry Amas there. Yoro, the senior man of the two...

He's not very senior, but looking after the young lad, I like that from him. I'm encouraged. OK, I don't think this was Joro's finest Manchester United game after probably what was his best game away in Lyon in the week. But little moments like that, again, it's something to...

cling on to with the very last little bits of your fingertips possibly? Yeah you can shove players but you can't push them over Not completely no but he did it before the ball came back in play so it was just a booking no penalty good timing in some ways His best game was on Lyon against Lyon in Lyon and we need him to have another top game against Lyon I think what we'll see on Thursday is Harry Maguire come in back alongside him there were a lot of changes today weren't there and I asked Bruno for the

Fernandes actually was Thursday in that performance like we were talking about before do you think Thursday was in their minds certainly as that second half went on it got to be hasn't it yeah and also they played on Thursday so there is that too you come back from France previous managers have had a big issue with this but then it is late on a Sunday it's hardly like you know make it any later than this it starts impacting the second leg then doesn't it yeah

Ruben Hammering just said look the new week starts tomorrow so that's a car alarm going off in the car park that I mentioned before I should say where we are here all the Newcastle United players are driving out past us and there's some autograph hunters here and the collection of cars is absolutely staggering a lot of Mercedes a lot of Mercedes there's a lot of little giddy Jordies running after cars in pretty well on a main road basically which is not the wisest move perhaps and the parents are cheering them on about

2007 I came to write a piece about Newcastle against Sunderland about the derby and I was in the pub over there at the Strawberry and one of their players Jose Enrique somehow lost his phone outside the ground right

He'd stopped in a pub, he'd stopped for an autograph and he couldn't speak English. And somehow I end up translating for him to find his phone. Did he find it? I got him his phone back, right? And he was thankful for me. I now regret that because he ended up going to Liverpool and being really gobby against Manchester United in recent years. He did, didn't he? Yeah, he did. That was just around the corner. Wish he'd lost his phone now and then he couldn't have got ten men with it, could he?

You've made me smile, Andy, thank you. Just going back to Garnaccio, actually, obviously a lovely finish for Manchester United's goal, the first goal that United have scored at St James' Park since when, Kyle? You told me rather excitedly at half-time when the scores were level. Since Edo Scavani. Wow, really? Really? Since Scavani, when Cristiano Ronaldo was also here. 2021. Yeah.

Wow. Wow, yeah. Anyway. It's so odd how St James' Park has gone from being one of United's... Guaranteed three points. To just... Not. Just not. Trying to get the ball here is like trying to get a seat on a busy tube. They're just elbows, arms, all those nasty little angles and they just bully really well. Ameren said on Wednesday, so before Lyon, that...

of the intensity in the Premier League and that's why the Europa League suits his team more he says when you get an extra second on the ball it's a completely different game and Newcastle today they just denied that extra second what Harvey Barnes did to Masraoui is the difference between the Premier League and the Europa League in a nutshell Masraoui has enough time to get that ball out Premier League Harvey Barnes just goes nah I'm going to have that Another thing though about the team when they do make a mistake like that no one rescues anyone

You know, great teams, there's two or three players queuing up to rescue you when you make a mistake. Ugarte got the booking to rescue Dalot in the first half. But even Onana the other night for the second goal, yes, he shouldn't push it out into that area. We'll talk about Bayon Deer and his performance and what it means for Thursday in a moment. But someone can react differently. Someone can save him. A good example is a team called Newcastle United, who...

I'm not a fan of that ownership model at all, but the way they've recruited players for between 30 and 40 million has been really intelligent. And I think everyone expected them to splurge, and they didn't do. Clearly they had money which they didn't have under the previous owner. PSR stopped them as well, hasn't it? Of course, which, I mean, if PSR didn't exist, then these could probably outspend anybody in the world, and I don't think that would be a good thing.

But the way that they have recruited has been smart. And, you know, who'd heard of Tonali? You know, there's Italians. Italians. Tonali's family. Bookmakers. Oh, there it is. You made that joke, not me. His act was very, very good for Real Sociedad. People were talking about him when Manchester United played Real Sociedad in COVID. He was their star player there.

But they've signed him. Guimaraes, he was very young at Lyon and they've signed him and they've come good. Most Manchester United signings have not come good and most of the Newcastle United signings have come good. Sprinkle that with a bit of local dust, which they love, and you can see why. It's fantastic. Anthony Gordon as well. I know he didn't start today, but hugely impressive. I watched him for England's 17s and 21s and...

When they signed him, you're like, oh. But they've signed well. They've done really well. How many points clear of Newcastle United over Manchester United? Well, that means now they will finish above United again for just the second time in Premier League history, like I mentioned on the last podcast. That's the first league double in a long, long, long, long, long, long time over Manchester United. 1930-31. There you go. Wow.

Jul Garnaccio that I mentioned before, I'm going to get this starting eventually. The Athletics' Will Jeans posted on social media: "Premier League goals scored before turning 21. Cristiano Ronaldo 14, Garnaccio 15." There you go, Garnaccio. You've got one thing over Cristiano. Text him that and see what he says. No, I'm joking. Look, his ability to get into space and his ability to create his own shots

and shoot regularly is better than Xerxe and is better than Hoyland.

Notable that he was taken off pretty quickly after Xerxes picked up the injury as well. Yes, Amarin was asked about the changes, the second half changes, and he said, I'm paraphrasing here, please forgive me, but Xerxes' injury hastened some changes he had planned after the hour mark. So I was essentially like a cricket team declaring, I was just like, OK, this is it, we're losing here. You lot, I need to save your legs for Lyon.

Is that a sensible decision, Andy? Yeah. Maguire was going to come on and didn't come on because he's got his first XI in mind. Is he fully fit, Maguire? Is he carrying something? I think he's fine to play. Why does he keep being brought off? He's just being protected then. I don't know. I think the options are in middle centre-back right now. Maguire's undisputed number one for that middle row. Unless De Ligt's fit. De Ligt's better on the right-hand side of the three and seems to be getting a bit more...

momentum on the right hand side of the three so you want Maguire in the middle people can argue in podcasts and email about whether or not he's good enough there but it seems like Maguire seems to be Amir's favourite there the licks right side centre back Lindelof played middle centre back today you pointed out he spent a lot of time talking to the dugout in the first half in the first half yeah

The job of the central centre-back is to talk a lot to the guys outside. You're supposed to have those other two on a string, come here, do that. And then the times you do have to engage and defend, you have to do it properly. And we know about Lindelof's strengths and weaknesses right now, or his lack of strength.

which is a weakness of his. And there were two or three times where his timing was correct when trying to stop Izak, but then Izak just pushed him off the ball. He's only started a handful of games this season as well. It's a player who looks to be on his way out of Manchester United, Victor Lindorff. I mean, I don't know what more can be expected of him in these circumstances in some ways. Right, let's take a quick break and then we'll talk about the goalkeeper.

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OK, before we talk about the goalkeeper, and you've just poked me to say you'd like to make a funny observation, so here's your opportunity. It's not funny. There's four Geordies around us wearing shorts. I'm absolutely freezing. I've got four layers on, and Geordies think it's the summer. I've got shorts on. One, two, three, and one's just walked up there. I've seen Geordies wearing T-shirts today.

If I've gone soft, which is possible, well, I don't see you in a T-shirt here, do you? You know what I mean? No repair of shorts, but not appropriate for work. This is it, right? The Newcastle team is a fair and accurate reflection of how the Newcastle fan base like to imagine themselves, which is harder than everyone else. I have no idea who that person is, sign autographs. I should probably know this. It's the lad who's manager today.

It's not Jason Tindall, no. No? No. You should know this. Fantasy League geek. You know what everyone looks like, don't you?

I know how much they cost. Yeah, but you don't know what they look like. Is it one of the reserve keepers, maybe? I'm not sure. Anyway, this is cutting-edge podcasting right here. There's someone in a Lamborghini who won't be a third-choice goalkeeper, I'm pretty sure of that. Anyway, nobody's listening to this to find out who's signing autographs from the Newcastle team. They are listening to this to find out the situation with Manchester United's goalkeeper. So...

Andrew Onana we heard earlier on today, David Ornstein with the story on the Athletic that he was going to be rested from the trip to St James' Park, not in the squad. Amarin spoke before the game and talked about the need to take him out to give him the opportunity to reset after what has been a pretty difficult couple of weeks for him on and off the pitch with a robbery involving

himself and his wife and obviously also the performance and everything that went with it in the game against Lyon the other night. I thought it was interesting, first of all, Andy, that he was taken away from it completely rather than just put on the bench. They're human, right? And he's become a meme, unfortunately, where when people say that he's dropped, they say, oh, he missed the bus, you know,

He's become a laughing stock, which is not a good place to be. If I was going to defend him, I think he got it wrong last week in what he said, but I don't think it came from a malicious place. I don't think he was being arrogant.

This is a third or fourth language for him, English, essentially. And it's probably, when you look back at the quotes, it's probably in all the things he said, just that one word, way better. If he'd said United were better, I don't think we'd have got anything like what we got out of Matic and everything else. I also think, having reflected on it, Matic played a lot with David De Gea as well. And we spoke before about how Matic is a Mourinho disciple, Mourinho lieutenant. He's also De Gea's former co-worker and probably wants to...

do something there. Look, this is so hard because Manchester United aren't a very good football team. So Manchester United have therefore become a soap opera between a lot of men who aren't just swinging their dicks about former glories and who said what and who does this and I'm sure we'll get onto it when we talk about what one United captain said about another former United captain later on. And it's all so tedious.

In terms of the football, it's good Onana isn't here right now because the sight of him being on the bench would have just invited TV cameras on him again and again and again and again and again. And it would put more pressure on Bayer and Deere as well, wouldn't it? Absolutely. And as far as I can tell in their interactions after games, Bayer and Deere and Onana seem to get along as colleagues. I said on the last podcast about how they had a little

and whatnot and then after before the penalty shootout against Arsenal in the FA Cup Arnano was hyping up Bayern near full-match shootout so I don't feel there's any animosity there in the same way that perhaps existed between Romero and De Gea at some point I don't think he's a snide I speak to enough people who tell me about him

for me to be saying stuff like this. It was actually Jason Sindel in the Lamborghini. Was it? That's funny. He has to be the only assistant manager in the Premier League who drives a 4x4 Lamborghini. Yeah. Wow. I thought it'd be the star player. Anyway. And you're now getting...

People saying Anand has just said this on social and putting fake quotes to him. And it's pretty snide on him. So what are you going to do as fans? Are you going to mock him? Are you going to laugh at him? Or are you going to back him up? He's clearly had a bad week. He shouldn't have said exactly what he said.

It'd be quite interesting to put one of these English-only speakers and send them to the Cameroonian League and see how they handle the local media there, because it will not be easy. And Inanna, what's he speaking, three, four languages? More. Five or six, I'm told. If you're playing really well, stuff like this doesn't really matter. He's made a small error in terms of what he said.

In terms of how he's playing, you can absolutely say he should have been dropped because the two are intertwined. He's brought attention onto himself in a negative way, onto his team. So he's dropped to B-O-L-L-O-C-K, you know what I mean? Yeah, he has, hasn't he? I'll just give you a moment to spell that out in your minds as well. Altai Bandir started, actually his Premier League debut, 19 months after arriving at United from Fenerbahce. How do you think he did?

There's a reason why he's the backup to Andre Onana. Simple as that? Yes. The final minutes of this game saw Bindia receive the ball and Newcastle fans going, Now, caveat, I have also seen Arsenal fans go, when Onana gets the ball. We've got a situation here where United's number one goalkeeper, Andre Onana, is in a bad run of form, has made some mistakes and has

damaged trust between himself his teammates probably and the fan base as a whole we've had loads of emails and loads of messages about how they feel about Unhonour and about what they want Unhonour to do in the future and what are the other negative things

The majority of the emails we've received in this podcast since the Thursday game are pretty negative to us, aren't they? I wonder whether that will change after seeing our tie by and day today. There was a lot of people pre-game at St James' Park saying, well, he played well in the Arsenal FA Cup tie. And I said, well, yeah, he was the hero of the Arsenal FA Cup tie. He saved the penalty from Martin Urdegaard in normal time. He was the hero of the penalty shootout. But Gabriel's goal in that game did come from...

A punch of his that wasn't particularly strong. And the Tottenham League Cup tie was less of a good advert for him. Yeah, so today I don't think he made any massive howlers. The fourth goal, no? Well, look at you two looking at me now. Goalkeeping is hard. Goalkeeping is incredibly hard in the ninth age of the Premier League, especially if you're a football team that wants to be playing in the Champions League. I'm looking at Nick Pope. Nick Pope did two or three kicks today. And our Newcastle reporter, Chris Wath, went...

Pope's kicking. One thing that holds him back. And conversely, there was a point in the first half, Binder gets the ball, does a crow turn to sweep it onto his stronger right foot. And the entire time, Ameren is shouting, left, left, left, because he doesn't see Harry and Matthews in open space asking for the ball. A quicker release than that.

You get the ball on the go. That's maybe what a confident Onana sees and hits. Onana's not doing that right now. That's something Bayindir just doesn't have in his locker whatsoever. And this is difficult. Do you know that, though, unequivocally? Because I don't even know if we've seen enough of him to know exactly what he does and doesn't have in his locker, really. From the stuff I watched on White Scout of him in Turkey, Bayindir does not have the kicking of...

what you'd expect not just from Onana who's regarded as a ball playing goalkeeper but of a top six top eight top ten goalkeeper he's kicking over long distances isn't the best and that was evident again in the fourth goal United give away that's fine he's a superior I mean he made a very good recovery save that was also from not dealing with a cross particularly well

he's okay he's a good backup but this now creates a situation where depending on how you feel about Andre Onana goalkeeper's gone from being 6th or 7th on your shopping list to being 3 or 4 yeah maybe I mean Amarin did say after the game that you know tomorrow's a new day they'll reset I think I've used that word again I feel like a lot of resetting that needed ahead of Leon but you know he'll be back in training and he's got the opportunity to start on Thursday who starts on Thursday Bayern Dier Onana Tom Heaton

Tom's what, 38? I'm not picking a team. I would say Anana because he's a better goalkeeper than Bayern. So I would predict that to happen. But the manager was asked about it and he said it's all to play for. He said, I'm going to pick the team which is most likely to win the game. And that's what all United fans want to see.

On Thursday, but it's a tricky one. And then the argument then comes back about why did he sell De Gea? But actually at the time it was quite complicated. You know, there's a lot of stuff that fans don't see. He wasn't universally popular either, was he, with the fan base because of the wages that he was earning. People were moaning about that at the time. Yeah, so history will remember him well as a Manchester United goalkeeper. And rightly so. But they'll also say he wanted to leave in 15 and was more than happy to go back to Spain, which you can understand because he's going back to his home city.

The last time I ever heard a fax machine mentioned actually was that transfer I think. Yeah, that's true. His wages were among the best paid footballers in the world. Footballers in the world. And there were a couple of them Spanish lads who I'm not even sure they know how much their agents were asking Manchester United for and they were let go.

because that was peak, okay, we're going to cave in and we're going to give you way, way more than your level deserves. David De Gea got into a very fortunate situation because his contract was running down and to replace him would have been more expensive.

Three months before he went, I asked someone very senior at the club who I trusted, the Tottenham away game in April, give me some guidance on De Gea. They said, yeah, he's going to stay. And then he didn't stay. So Eric Ten Hag has really pushed for Andre Inanna to come through. And, well, they got him for 47. United were really pleased. Including Adonis, I think, yeah. United were really pleased at that price. They were. They felt they'd got a real deal.

But we're talking now from a point of real weakness. There's one thing I would caution against, though. Just driving everyone out of the club when they have a bad few months. I've said it a few times. If you let fans decide, you'll have no players within a month. Some of the greatest players in Manchester United's history have had bad seasons. And he's having a bad time now. But what are you going to do? Are you going to mock him? People are mocking him. Have you seen these AI...

Memes. Memes things that are going down. The action doll thing. I mean, we're talking right now and I've already just seen someone's dropped in a group chat a fake screenshot of apparently Andre Anar on his Instagram story. I've seen it. Andre Anar doesn't even have to do anything now and people make stuff up and put words in his mouth. I think that Manchester United fans at Old Trafford on Thursday have a decision to make about whether they get behind him for this game or whether the question marks about his suitability to be United goalkeeper, his future at the club,

are going to be front and centre in people's minds going into that game because United need him and need him to play well between now and the end of the season if they are to win the Europa League. You get behind him on Thursday, you don't mock him, it's a huge game.

So getting on his back, how is that going to help the team? He's not just turned into an absolute fool and an idiot to be mocked at overnight. We've been very, I think we've been very accurate how we've reported what has gone on, but you get behind him, you give him a lift, imagine how that much that would help him. It could be a turning point for him in some ways as well, couldn't it? It wouldn't be the first time. Look at what happened with Xerxe. Xerxe was cheered off by the away fans. Oh, Joshua Xerxe. Today as well. Today as well, how?

hamstring injury and you're cheering him off and you're going that's our player and that's United and the fan base at it's best and you get a repeat of that not just for Onana but for everyone involved on Thursday and the game is on the game is absolutely on I think Amrin has a plan for how he wants to approach that second leg and just play like the first leg and don't make the errors sorry we've got a fire engine going past us now just play like the first leg and don't make the same errors United go through yeah

No? I think there's two or three tweaks they're probably going to make in midfield that you weren't seeing in the first half against Lyon. But it seems like Amarant's got a card or two in his back pocket that he's waiting to play on Thursday. Mount and Mainu? Exactly. I think Bruno Fernandes gets taken off 82nd minute for Mainu. Newcastle fans go in. There's only one Bruno. Now...

Mainu on the 82nd minute feels like a late sub for a player like him who wants to get some rungs in I think Amarin's planning to do something with him and also think if Xerxe has gone down with a hamstring injury if that's three weeks or even longer that means Mainu's importance goes up and up and up so keeping him back in reserve for the 82nd minute only until then I think that's Amarin going alright I've got a Mainu plan you're not seeing it until Thursday

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OK, a couple of things to point out before we talk about Manchester United against Lyon in the second leg of our Europa League quarter-final at Old Trafford on Thursday. First of all, Laurie's not here, but he has written an article about the latest on Manchester United's search for a striker. The names Liam de Lappe and Matthias Kunje are featured in that article on The Athletic. Go and have a look at that. And I should also say congratulations to Manchester United's women because goals from Celine Bizet and Grace Clinton won.

their FA Cup semi-final derby with City 2-0 and they will look to defend their 2024 triumph at Wembley later on this season. Of course, it's their third FA Cup final in a row for Mark Skinner's side. A hero was their goalkeeper, Fallon Toulouse-Joyce, who made a spectacular double save to keep Manchester United in command of that game. And here she is talking about the challenge of denying Chelsea a domestic treble.

I think it'll be super special. I know how much it means to my teammates. It meant so much to them winning the Cup last year. So I'm proud to be part of that moment right now and I'm just looking forward to it. I think it'll be special. I think you see that chemistry on the field today and just that willingness to grind it out, to cover each other left and right. I think that's something special that we have with this team this year. So yeah, a chance for the women's side to enact a bit of revenge on the first of this sequence of FA Cup finals.

with avenging the 1-0 defeat to Chelsea back in 2023. So that's a good occasion for the club to look forward to, a reason to put a smile on people's faces as well. So congratulations to Mark Skinner's side. OK, Thursday for Manchester United's men. Before then, actually, we're going to be recording a Talk of the Devils Extra and to try and summon a bit of positive energy, like we've been saying,

We're going to talk about some of the best European nights that we've enjoyed at Old Trafford over the years. Thanks to everyone who's got involved in this already and sent in their thoughts. Devilspod at theathletic.com if you want to get involved. We're going to be speaking to some of the people involved in those famous European nights. And by all means, get in touch if you want to make your suggestion. Remember, it's matches at Old Trafford.

at Old Trafford in Europe and not away from home. We might do that another time because there's been some brilliant suggestions for that as well. And let's hope, Carl, that we are adding to the list on Thursday. Absolutely. I think Old Trafford's going to be rocking on Thursday. I know Andy's lit the beacons. He's been talking around. He's in the group chats. We're going to get some noise. It's going to be buzzing. I'm...

It's weird to say this after your team's just lost 4-1. I'm looking forward to Thursday. You're going to reset and look forward to Thursday like the rest of us. Get at them! Just get at them! Just get at them, yeah.

If this podcast hasn't put you in the mood, that talk of the devil's extra will be available ahead of Thursday, so keep your eyes peeled for that. Andy, you're sort of pacing back and forth. Because I'm ready to go on Thursday. You know, the atmosphere there the other night in France was really, really loud. It was good. It was miles louder than it's been at Old Trafford this season. So what are you going to do, Manchester United fans who are going to Old Trafford on

on Thursday you're going to moan and whinge and have sly little digs about players who you don't like or you're going to make a difference and get behind your team against one of the biggest clubs in France who are going to bring a really loud wave following PSG's following took the piss a few years ago they came they completely out sung Manchester United fans and went woo woo woo woo

No, no, no, no, no, no. Get in before five minutes before kick-off and make a difference because you can make a difference. Just stop moaning for an hour and a bit and get behind your team and get the team towards Bilbao. I mean, that's not a rallying call to get you in the mood. I don't know what will. Maybe talk to the Devils extra. Just looking actually at Lyon's ex-account, they are, what, a quarter of an hour into...

a 0-0 draw so far at Augsburg in Ligue 1. Lots of changes made by them similar to Manchester United, so it's clear where their priorities lie, despite the fact that they're only just on the periphery of the Champions League places in their domestic league.

I've been very positive about the performance the other night. A lot of people didn't feel the same in our comments and emails, getting in touch. They thought there was things to improve on. There undoubtedly is, but Manchester United should feel confident, Carl, shouldn't they? They should, for the reasons Amrin outlined before. That extra second you're going to get in the ball in the Europa League that isn't there in the Premier League. I think the build-up play against Lyon will be very different. One of the things that really, really soured that second half against Newcastle is...

When United are building up from the back, Newcastle are just waiting because the ball is going to Lindelof. Lindelof, okay, good long pass, over short distances between the lines, not great. Goes up to Ugarte.

I know I've been mean to Ugarte. He's good at tackling. He's a good enforcer. He's got good feet. He's got quick feet. There were a few times today, and it was a patchy performance today. I don't think he played well today, but he has got quick feet and he can be nippy. It feels like there's a lack of options for him. There's a lack of options, so you need to tweak that against Leon. I think that will be helped by Maguire being in for Lindelof, by...

someone next to Garte. I'm not sure if that's going to be Fernandes or Casemiro. It'll be Casemiro considering he's not kicked a ball today, won't it? So you can have quicker revs in that build-up play and that should help. Leon are not quick either. No, no. There were some parts in that first half against Leon where United just boxed them in at right-back, used Maitland-Niles as a pressing trigger. So United are going to go from being soft and bullied on this Sunday to hopefully being the bullies on Thursday. And that's why I think...

there's reason to be quietly confident. Do you think there is enough athleticism in this side or do you think that will be a priority for the summer? I mean, we've had a question from Patrick who says there's a lot of talk about the players not being strong enough, not being athletic enough, which was evident in the Newcastle game. Looking at the squad for next year, where does that come from?

You can show that Thursday. The short answer is Carrington, right? Where does it come from? The gym. The gym. A couple of 18-year-old lads coming up. A brand new gym that will be opening in the summer, actually. They've got a bunch of creatine and God knows how much testosterone flowing through their bodies because they've just turned 18 and everything's new and exciting. Moved on from Bradford, haven't you? Yeah, maybe that helps, right? There's a difference between Christian Eriksen for all his technical ability playing in Manchester United's central midfield to Maynard.

or another central midfielder. There's a difference between whoever you want playing on that right wing back position and Ahmad Dialla when he's fully fit. It will get better.

I don't know how much better it will get. I'm really sorry because I'm saying this and I know last season I went, things will get better if only by default. Oh, it can't get worse. It definitely cannot get worse, can it? No, it can't. I don't think it will. It can't, Andy, please. You can go down, you can be relegated. Relegation exists. No, no, no. I don't think it will. Look, I think there will be an improvement next year. I think you've got players like Lenny Yoro who with experience and are continuing, you know, still very, very young. You've got...

Please don't struggle this much. At some point next season... He was back in the squad today, that was great. At some point next season, Lissandra Martinez will come back. And there might also be some options so Lissandra Martinez doesn't have to be forced back in before he's fully rehabilitated. At some point next season, knock on wood, on all of the wood, Luke Shaw and Mason Mount might be able to play 90 minutes of football.

At some point next season, there will be a striker who can score a goal and shoot frequently. I don't know who that player is. I don't know if that's Joshua Xerxe. I don't know if that's Rasmus Hojna. I don't know if that is a brand new football player. I don't know if that is... I mean, I'm even got in my whiteboard. That might be even one of those players who's out on loan and comes back and then decides, actually, maybe Man United isn't too bad. Chido Obi. It might be Chido Obi as well. Who knows? But...

I don't want to call them a cavalry, there are some additional forces coming through. We had a few emails as well about whether the formation's working, which it felt like in recent weeks there has been a bit of improvement, certainly defensively, for United. We also had a few saying about Amarant getting the team selection wrong against Newcastle again. I think Thursday will tell you whether the team selection was right today or not, because if they look fresh, if the players who've been rested...

either on the bench or out of the squad come back rejuvenated and have the impact that we want them to have the team selection here because let's face it we've united finished 12th 13th 14th 15th it doesn't really matter now does it well we know it's historically bad yeah it is bad um if it goes below 13th then it will be the worst season since the relegation season there is a point about four million pounds for each truth there is that yeah but a gap

has developed above Manchester United now that you know we've run out of time we've just run out we've fought all season we're going to start to climb and get into the European places bang we're out of time with that it is all about Thursday United go out of Europe it's just end of season

But the season has still been kept alive. I think your point about the defence is right. I think the goals had stopped being leaked as much. United actually before today had the second best defence away from home in the Premier League this season. This United, this season, second best. After what, Arsenal? Yeah. I think so, yeah. OK.

It's not now, but anyway. Yeah, well, because you've just conceded four. It's all about Bilbao. It's all about beating Lyon. And we were 30 seconds away from beating Lyon. That would have been not one of the greatest results in the club's history, but of this season. You liked that on the DVD, along with the Derby victory. On the what? DVD. Have you got a DVD player? Do DVDs...

United season that's not a thing anymore I thought that would be the sort of thing that I say and you lot would be a VHS wouldn't it Peter Max anything about what's happened here today the situation with the goalkeeper yeah

the injury to Xerxe that could have destabilised United a little bit and confidence a little bit ahead of Thursday. I don't want to be negative, but I really do not want to contemplate the idea that United season finishes against Lyon. I don't. So injury to Xerxe absolutely could be a big negative. Positives, Mainu, Amass, Shaw, Mount, maybe a bit more clarity on the goalkeeping situation.

It's hard when you... Garnaccio scoring, because he's not been scoring readily enough. New celebration. New celebration. The fact that we now think that actually Casemiro is pretty important again, and we miss him. I'm scraping here. It's going to be hard. Thursday's going to be hard. It's the quarter-finals of a European competition. It's not going to be easy, is it? There you go. If you look at all the things that need to go right for Amarant's team to win games, and you compare it with other things that can easily go wrong...

throw a spanner in, yeah, maybe you do a big noise like that and go, come on then, let's get it together. But also,

Like Andy says, it's a quarter-final of a European competition. Don't be scared of hard work. This has made me chuckle a little bit from Tom because it kind of sums things up. He says, every time we play, I feel myself getting excited and I look forward to it, hoping that we'll show more, do more, be better. But it's just so off all the time. I know Thursday's a big game coming up, but shouldn't we be better yet? Shouldn't we be showing more? It's so frustrating. I could have written that myself. Exactly. Because when I walked into the ground today, it was sunny and I'm thinking, all right...

You know your optimism is so low, but it's an addiction, isn't it? Well, when Garnaccio placed that ball into the far corner, when it came into the goal off the post, I was like, oh, hang on. I wasn't bothered when it was 1-0, then it was 1-0. I was like, this could be on here, we could win this. You can see what he's trying to do here. We're going to start winning every game here. The world is a beautiful place. Stick that, Geordies. They've gone quiet in here. We're living for these scraps at the moment. It is that bad.

But when it comes good, we will look back and... Smile. Yeah, smile. The problem I've got with me saying that is I was saying exactly the same thing six years ago. At the end of the 2018 season, I can vividly remember speaking to a load of United fans in Norway, going, trust me, it won't always be this bad. Manchester United will not be six, and it's got worse.

Yeah. We can't finish it on that, can we? We should have finished it on your rallying call 15 minutes ago. Play it again. Play it again, Andy. Oli, if you can do this, play it again. MUSIC

Because I'm ready to go on Thursday. You know the atmosphere there the other night in France was really, really loud. It was good. It was miles louder than it's been at Old Trafford this season. So what are you going to do Manchester United fans who are going to Old Trafford on Thursday? Are you going to moan and whinge and have sly little digs about players who you don't like? Are you going to moan and whinge? Moan and whinge. Are you going to moan and whinge? Or are you going to make a difference and get behind your team?

get behind your team against one of the biggest clubs in France who are going to bring a really loud wave following. PSG's following took the piss a few years ago. They came, they completely out-sung Manchester United fans. No, no, no, no, no, no. Get in before five minutes before kick-off and make a difference. Get in before five minutes before kick-off because I'm ready to go on Thursday. No, no, no, no, no, no.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Because you can make a difference. Just stop moaning. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Because I'm ready to go on Thursday. Just stop moaning for an hour and a bit and get behind your team and get the team towards Bilbao. Right, that's the spirit. Let's look ahead to Thursday. Let's hope for better.

Just before we go, a reminder that tickets are on sale for our tour in the autumn. Talk of the Devils Live is coming to a town or city, I should say, vaguely near you. We're in Belfast, Dublin, Cork, Manchester and London. You'll know the dates and the venues by now, but all the details are in our show description and the information about how to buy tickets is also on our social media. But for the minute, Andy and Carl, they're already looking at the phones, checking in on everyone. Can't stop journalists, can you?

Thank you to Carl and Andy for being with us here between a road, a bush, and a car park outside St. James' Park. And thank you for your company as well. Come on, United. Let's look forward to Thursday and hope for better. We'll speak to you after that. And don't forget, Talk the Devil's Extra will be coming your way to get you in the mood before kickoff on Thursday night. Thanks for listening. Take care. Bye-bye. The Athletic FC Podcast Network.

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