Man United’s FA Cup Escape, Rashford’s Future & Transfer Fallout | The Samuel Luckhurst Show
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Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the Samuel Lockhurst show on the Manchester Evening News. Of course, I'm Samuel Lockhurst and we'll be discussing, or I'll be discussing, the latest goings on at United in the aftermath of that FA Cup tie on Friday night. It was a quiet weekend for United, which was merciful for those of us who were at the game on Friday evening.

They won eventually. That meant there was no inquest. There was no need for a crisis piece. It's not a cracked badge kind of week. That's obviously a reference to newspapers, penchant for having cracked badges on the back pages if a club is in crisis. But fortunately, United have avoided that. They're still in the FA Cup. The FA Cup has opened up for them and some other clubs as well where...

There've been some really big hitters go out of the competition at the weekend. Of course, Chelsea lost to Brighton. The biggest shock of the round and possibly one of the biggest shocks in the FA Cup this century happened at Home Park yesterday when Plymouth Argyle

Liverpool from the FA Cup. There'll be no quadruple for Liverpool, no proper treble for Liverpool either. They're out of the running. Tottenham are out, which is not a surprise whatsoever, but they are a big club. They've got big history in the FA Cup. And Ange Postakoglu's Tottenham are unbeaten in four games against Manchester United as well. So that's got to be seen as another lift for United, who did, of course,

dispatch Arsenal in the third round and Arsenal have won the FA Cup more times than any other club. So there is some optimism that's starting to build with United now as far as the FA Cup is concerned. They are still quite a fair way from Wembley, two games away from Wembley technically if we're to count the semi-final, which of course is still...

They're still played at Wembley. They've been there since, I think it is 2008. I think it was. They were the first semifinals played at this new Wembley Stadium, even though it's not too new anymore. So it's a pretty good chance for United. The draw is this evening, Monday evening, that is at 7pm or 10 past seven. I think it's on the one show, which is not a great endorsement for the FA Cup. But there was a great endorsement with Plymouth defeating Liverpool yesterday.

On Sunday, United's game itself was not a particularly great endorsement. There was only one block reserved for Leicester City fans, and I don't blame them really. They must have taken about 1,000 fans there, which was roughly an 11th of the allocation. They could have had 11,000 fans at Old Trafford, but the fact that it was a Friday night game, which was inconvenient and pretty inconsiderate again of the schedulers, the game was on ITV.

And also the biggest to them, undeniably, was the cost of a ticket, which was £51, which is just so detached from the reality and what match goers should be spending. There is that very laudable cap for Premier League away tickets of £30.

So to really hike it up to £51, I mean, United fans have complained about it for years, being shafted by big clubs who think richer clubs means richer fans, which is an absolute nonsense. I mean, as we've discussed before, Fulham live in one of the most affluent areas of London and they will have a clientele. They will have supporters who are quite affluent because of the area, but that doesn't mean they are one of the richest clubs in the Premier League. And traditionally they have not been

One of the more affluent or well-to-do clubs in the league. You only have to look at their honours roll for that. So hiking prices to £51 for Leicester City fans, you don't blame Leicester fans for not going. And certainly for those who went, it would not have been worth it when Harry Maguire, their former player, popped up in the 93rd minute to win it for United. Now that's now, I think United's past three wins at Old Trafford, they've all come with goals in

in the 90th minute and beyond. Ahmad against Southampton, Bruno Fernandes in the 92nd minute against Rangers, and then Harry Maguire in the 93rd minute against Leicester. Yes, Maguire was offside. He looked offside at the time. I mean, when I was waiting to go down to the mix zone afterwards, it was quite... You hear certain things, just being in the right place at the right time. And the former Leicester winger, Mark Albrighton,

at the game in press, I think for BBC Radio 5 Live possibly, and he stopped to have a chat with one of the Leicester analysts and the Leicester analyst said regarding the offside goal that they'd been preparing for that kind of free kick all week. They did their job. They got the line right. Maguire was played offside, but what can you do when the officials are

get it wrong like that so you did have to have some sympathy with Leicester on that it was a bad decision it was an easy decision as well I mean Maguire was right in line with the linesman nothing was obstructing the linesman's view it was just a dreadful dreadful decision

There'll be a lot of attention on it and there has been a lot of attention on it because United were the beneficiaries. There's probably been more talked about it because United went through than there was about Andrew Madley's abysmal, absolutely horrific refereeing performance in the Arsenal-United game in the third round. And the main reason for that is that United didn't go out to Arsenal. They got through. There were a lot of feel-good stories, a lot of positive stories to write about United.

on the back of that game, the main one being the redemption story.

for Joshua Xerxe getting the match-winning penalty in the shootout. What was it, 13 days on from his career nadir, probably, against Newcastle when he was substituted in the 33rd minute. But people probably didn't talk about Andrew Madley's performance enough that day. It was absolutely dreadful. And I don't blame the United fans who, as they were walking past us, were advising us to ensure that we referenced the referee's performance in our

in our pieces, and I certainly did. He was down to be the intro had United gone out, but fortunately for them, where they went through, the narrative had to change, and it was only right that Joshua Xerxes' name appeared in the intro on that occasion. It's not the ideal day or time to be doing a one-man show on the back of that game on Friday night because it was such a dire game for the majority of it and such a dreadful performance from United.

for an hour, but I'll do my utmost. But in terms of that first hour, I know it feels like we say this on almost a weekly or monthly basis, but the first hour is probably one of the bottom five, top five, however way you want to look at it. Worst performances from United at Old Trafford that I've seen in my lifetime. It reminded me of the second season under Louis van Gaal, just stultifying play, stayed play,

No chance is created whatsoever. And Amrim had to make a change at halftime. He did. He took off the one player who's actually decent or close to decent in Patrick Dorgue. And he played decently whilst being played out of position. Amrim said afterwards that if anyone had looked on Wisecout, they'd have known that Dorgue can play on the right. Yep, fair enough. And yes, Giovanni Kenda, the Sporting Lisbon winger,

He's left-footed and Amarin played him on the right as well. But it's very different at Manchester United because left-back has been their problem position for the best part of two years now.

They signed a left back in the winter transfer window and then to play him on the right is very, very strange. Someone who knows Dorgu and has dealt with him for a while now messaged me within seconds of kickoff, I've noticed where he was playing and said, I have no idea why Dorgu is playing on the right.

So when people have spent time with him or watched him certainly a lot more than I have and they're coming up with that, it is a strange decision as it looked from Ruben Amarin to play Patrick Dorgue on the right-hand side. It certainly also feels like he's got a bit of a blind spot with Diogo Dalot, who is playing almost every minute of every game. That is a credit to Dalot. His fitness is impeccable. I don't think he's been injured now for...

For two years, he did his hamstring in the World Cup with Portugal when they lost to Morocco in the quarterfinals. And then when he came back to United, he had a recurrence of the same hamstring injury against Charleston in the League Cup. And that, of course, affected him.

His playing time for the remainder of that season as Aaron Wan-Bissaka had a good few months on the team. But since then, that was going back to January 2023, I don't think Dalot's got injured, which is a remarkable run, and particularly where he's been a United player all that time and all the injury issues that United had last season to have avoided injury for two years is an extraordinary feat. But he's not performing at the level that...

one should be if they're playing on the wing for Manchester United. His best performance this season by far and away was against Trent Alexander-Arnold

That just, again, as if you required another reminder, it is an additional reminder as to how bad a defender Trent Alexander-Arnold is. Dalot had him on toast that day. He performed excellently. But that was really an anomaly. We've not seen enough from him in an attacking capacity. And the same can also be said of Nusra Mazraoui, of course, did switch to the back three against Leicester on Friday night. And I mean, Mazraoui is plentiful.

played in maybe six or seven different positions this season, including the number 10 role, which was just bizarre when Eric Ten Hag started him there against Fenerbahce back in October. But Masraoui, the more you see of him, the little attacking instincts you see from him. And this is a defender who's developed at Ajax, who moved to Bayern Munich. He's now at Manchester United. So you'd think there's got to be some...

attacking instinct about him or ability that he possesses, but we very seldom see it. We have seen it from Dalot in the past, but this season it's barely been visible. And that is a concern when those two are still really the prime picks for the wings. Dorgue, maybe where he's made his full debut already, which was a good statement of intent from Amarim that was then undermined by playing Dorgue on the right.

Maybe Dorgue will go back to the left where he has played the majority of his football, where he played the majority of his football for Lecce, where he plays for Denmark as well. And then they'll have that balance possibly. But still, Dorgue on one wing and Masrari or Dalot on the other, it's not exactly... I mean, it's not even...

It's not even Nani and Valencia, never mind Ryan Giggs and David Beckham in terms of wide men to provide service for the striker. And this is the point that we've covered before a number of times. I'm sure I'm echoing a lot of supporters' thoughts on this as well. But those two roles on the wings, people keep referring to them as wing-backs. They shouldn't be wing-backs. They should be close to wingers than wing-backs.

Those two roles, the remit has got to be to serve as the strikers. They're attacking roles. And of course, those players have got to be defensively diligent as well.

But I do think that United are impeded by having essentially defenders in those roles. And that was the case again with Dorgu playing there against Leicester as decently as he did. He is a full-back by trade and that is a problem. There was a very enlightening statistic that was sent my way by Daniel Castle last week. And I know he listens to the podcast because he said before, so I'm very grateful to him for listening today.

But I'm rereading his stats, mine is the expletives as well as he suggested that I do so, which was quite dry of him. But regarding the Premier League, he said 783 minutes in the Premier League with two defensive wing backs, United have scored four goals and that's one every 196 minutes.

They've played 477 minutes in the Premier League with at least one attacking wing-back, i.e. Ahmad. And United have scored 12 goals and that's clocked in at one every 40 minutes. So yes, another attacking wing-back or winger would be Anthony as well because Anthony was on the wing, as Daniel pointed out to me or reminded me, I should say.

for the finale against Manchester City when United scored two goals very late on, of course, and won the game. So that is another, that's additional proof. And I know stats can be overrated and certainly I agree with that. I try and avoid them at all costs. I think it's still better to

go with your gut feeling and what you can see rather than look at statistics. I'll always be in favour of that, but they are helpful at times in backing up your point. And that is a point that certainly backs up the feeling that United have to have a winger on the wing. And there may come a point at some point, not necessarily this season maybe, but maybe next season, where Amarim does have to look at maybe playing Alejandro Garnaccio on the wing. Because when you look at the way Garnaccio played

in the second half against Leicester. He was a winger. He was in one of the two 10 roles. We all know that.

but he played as a winger and that's his role. And if you can have that fine, you know, that happy medium where Amrim has got his style, but you also stand true to the ethos of United and United's identity and their tradition of playing wingers, then go for it. But certainly come the Tottenham game on Sunday, I would not want to see Dorgu and Dalot or Dorgu and Masrari or Masrari and Dalot. I would want to see Ahmad on the right wing and maybe Dorgu on the left wing

or Masrari or Dallow. Of course, it's going to be quite an intense game. I think it's got high comedic value, that game as well, given the league form of both teams this season and particularly given that league cup tie between the teams in December, which ended 4-3 and United could easily have scored double the number of goals that they got in the end if they had a goal scorer, maybe they would have scored

So it's going to be a fascinating watch that one between Spurs and United on Sunday. But coming back to the point, United do need to start get to a point where they're not just playing more defensive players than attacking players. And that was the problem against Leicester. In essence, they had five attacking players on that pitch and they didn't need, you could, sorry, five defensive players on that pitch.

you could make the argument that they had six defensive players on that pitch because Ugarte is a defensive midfielder. And if you've got six outfield defensive-minded players and four attack-minded players, you're going to struggle for goals. And that was the problem against FCSB as well. I think there were only four attack-minded players who started that game. Kobi Meynou, Rasmus Hoyland, Bruno Fernandes,

Who was the other 10? I'm struggling to think of now because, of course, Ahmad and Alejandro Garnaccio came on at halftime to change that game. So I'm in Alan Partridge mode now where I'm trying to buy time before I get the robot named Christian Eriksen. Of course, he was the other playmaker. So it was only four attack-minded players in that half. And this is... You look at it, this is why United have struggled to score in first halves of games. And they've not scored in the first half of a game...

I think since, goodness me, well, it was the Brighton game, which doesn't seem that long ago, but that was only a penalty. They didn't against Southampton. Trying to go further back now, and I am looking at the stats. Goodness me, we are going a long, long way back. The last time they scored in the first half of the game that wasn't a penalty, wasn't a free kick, was from open play.

was against Nottingham Forest on December the 7th, which is pretty scary when you put it that way. It's not just at Old Trafford, it is away games as well. United have fared a little bit better away from home of late, but Liverpool away.

Arsenal away the goals came in the second half same with Fulham same with FCSB so all three of their goals against Tottenham in the League Cup tie last month as well they they all came in the second half the first one only came after the hour mark as well when they were three nil down so it's high time they got a first half goal that wasn't a penalty and and that that day against Brighton that was their only attempt on target um the penalty from Bruno Fernandes so

There are lots of ways of looking at United's goal scoring struggles, but that's another one of them. The match winner against Leicester, of course, was Harry Maguire. Some of us spoke to him in the mix zone afterwards. He did the on-pitch interview as the goal scorer and the match winner of the night.

So, of course, he was a logical one to do the mix zone as well. Tyrone Marshall, my colleague, had the pleasure of speaking to him after the Arsenal game last month. So that's two in a row now for Harry Maguire on mix zone duty in the FA Cup. He told us, in fact, just goes to show how meaningful these moments are for footballers. But he reminds us afterwards how he scored in the last minute

Leicester against United a couple of days before Christmas in 2017. You might remember when Maguire got an equaliser at the King Power Stadium. Leicester had 10 men and United missed a hatful of chances when they should have easily won that game. In the end, it felt like a defeat. And he said that the roles were reversed this time, that he popped up and added time to score. Quite similar manner as well with that far post header.

to win the FA Cup tie for United. But Maguire spoke very frankly. I mean, it's been noticeable since he had the captaincy taken off him that he speaks more authoritatively. He sounds more authentic as well. And his form has improved immeasurably. He's had a really good 18 months now, it feels like, since he came off that 2023 season.

pre-season tour. It's a real shame for him that he missed the run-in last season because otherwise I've no doubt that he'd have absolutely started in the FA Cup final.

And he may well have started for England at the European Championship as well. I think it bodes well for him going into the first England camp under Thomas Tuchel next month. Sorry, United are playing in a back three and there's a good chance that England will play a back three as well, given how often Tuchel has done it in his time as a coach and particularly during his time as a coach.

England with Chelsea as well. So that bodes well for Harry Maguire. He was aware it was offside as well. He had a little chuckle about that at the end of our five minutes with him. And he was very complimentary about Garnaccio

He said, and I read out the quote specifically. I'm just getting up for it, getting it up here. He had a huge impact. I'm sure he doesn't want to be called an impact player and he wants to be playing from the start, but credit to him. He was mentally right, mentally focused, and he came in with a great attitude and he definitely helped us win the game. We saw that from Garnaccio last season. He was coming on in games. The Brentford home game really springs to mind the impact he had on that when United scored. Scott McTominay scored the 93rd minute and the 97th minute to give United

Their first win having been behind going into the 90 minutes since the 1999 Champions League final. That's how long ago it was. And Garnaccio, without him that day, it just wouldn't have happened. And he was a game changer back then. Then he progressed to

a reliable starter a really important member of the starting side and he was an established first team for the majority of last season it's been a season of peaks and troughs for him so far but I still think he's had a pretty respectable campaign and you've seen how well he's he's knuckled down since he was dropped from the squad against Manchester City in December he's gone in one opposite direction Marcus Rashford has gone in the polar opposite direction really so it's

first of all it's great and reassuring for United that Garnaccio is still at the club I know for certain that there were people at the club who were relieved that Garnaccio had stayed there was of course interest from Napoli last month and Chelsea as well there was a bid from Napoli there was not a bid from Chelsea you do wonder whether that will resurface again in

in the summer but it would have been a scandal had United sold Garnaccio given that they signed him as a 16 year old from Atletico Madrid they developed him into a player who's got world class potential I think it's safe to say his trajectory since he came into the team has

has been excellent. He's shone under Eric Ten Haag, of course. I think he's shown some really good performances under Ruben Amrim. If you look at and read the quotes or watch the footage of Amrim speaking about Garnaccio in press conferences, it's become more and more glowing with every week. There's a very good working relationship going on there between the two of them, which again is testament, I think, to the player given that setback he had

in December when he was dropped from the derby. And I remember during the week in Pilsen when he came on, he didn't look particularly engaged when Amorim was speaking to him before Garnaccio came on. I thought, is that going to be a concern? And clearly it was a concern because he was out of the squad.

a few days later, but he's done very well since then. He's had some good impacts. The assist for Ahmad Anfield, the assist for Bruno Fernandes at Arsenal. I thought he was electric against Rangers. He got man of the match against Leicester City on Friday as well. So there've been plenty of signs and, and,

Particularly, you're seeing these signs whilst United are playing dreadfully, almost on a weekly basis, that Garnaccio is still a bit of a shining light for United this season. So it's reassuring that he's still at the club. People at the club knew if he got sold, it would have been impossible to have spun it as a positive. I think there would have certainly been outcry from the supporters as well. During the Rangers game in the second half, there was a very loud rendition

Viva Garnaccio. And it's not even three years ago that I first heard that when Garnaccio scored two in the FA Youth Cup final win against Nottingham Forest back in early May 2022. And

And you got the sense that night, well, if he carries on in this vein, he could do very well in the United first team. I think looking at Kobi Mainu, he seemed like a more likely fit for the team. And Garnaccio was maybe at a disadvantage where...

there were so many left wingers in that United side already. There was Rashford, Sancho, Marshall possibly, Anthony Alanga as well at that time. So that side, the attack was lopsided back then, but Garnaccio broke into it and he overtook just about all of them. So a huge credit to him. And there was a hell of a lot of gratitude from United fans towards him again on Friday evening.

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A special mention for Joshua Xerxe as well. I thought he was just as, if not more influential than Garnaccio. He did get the goal, of course. Getting your name on the score sheet, that does make a big difference. And Xerxe has done really well since that career nadir against Newcastle on December 30th when he was taken off in the 33rd minute.

with things just not working whatsoever. He was a victim of Amrim's bad decision-making that night as far as the team was concerned, but he's really knuckled down, he's gritted his teeth. People at Carrington have spoken about a player who has a real quiet determination about him. There was some interest from Italian clubs in the winter transfer window. Italian clubs thinking possibly opportunistically that they could get Xerxe back,

for a cut price fee, given that he's proven in Serie A after doing quite well with Bologna, particularly last season when he helped them qualify for the Champions League. But Xerxe actually pushed back against the possibility of going back to Italy. He wanted to stay at United. He wants to do well at United. He wants to do well. And he's done pretty well since the turn of the year, particularly in the context of the substitution against Newcastle,

on December 30th when you consider that he almost could have had the assist for Harry Maguire winner at Anfield it wasn't the best of passes to Maguire I think it's safe to say it could have been should have been a lot cleaner a much more polished pass it wasn't

But he was involved. He was where he needed to be at that time of the game. He was showing a real sense of adventure to try and help United get an unlikely win at Anfield. The following week, he did help United get the win at Arsenal. And there was some fascinating footage from United after that game where they had a pitch side

camera focused on the players as they were in their huddle during the penalty shootout. It was different footage, very different footage from what you'd have seen on television. And after Lenny Yoram made it 3-1 and he got back and he high-fived his teammates, Bruno Fernandes prodded Xerxe in the chest as if to say, you get ready to win it for us. And Xerxe steeled himself for that moment. I mean, there was still a couple of penalties to be taken, but

Lissandro Martinez would take United's fourth penalty. Fernandes was clearly confident he would score that. He certainly might not have had to have taken the penalty because then Thomas Partey

had to convert to ensure that Xerxe would step up for that fifth penalty. Xerxe did. He scored the penalty. It was good captaincy from Fernandes. It was great bustle from Xerxe. And to do that 13 days after that humiliation against Newcastle showed real character and people at Carrington have spoken about

as I said, this quiet determination. Some of us have spoken to him in the mix zone this season. He's done that a couple of times post Fulham and post Everton at Old Trafford games he scored in, of course. And he is quite a laconic character. He's a man who is that dreadful cliche of actions speak louder than words that he wants to do. He's talking on the pitch. I think he's happy to be one of those footballers who is just great

doesn't have a lot to say outside, away from the pitch and wants to just, you know, just, as I said, allow himself to do his talking on the pitch. I said, I hate that as a cliche, but I've asked it twice now. It does also help, as people at United have told me, that where Xerxes is 6'4", he does have presence. And if he was, it sounds daft, if he wasn't quite as tall a player,

Would he have been able to act as Tull in the wake of the Newcastle game? But he's had some very respectable performances, not just Arsenal, of course. Leicester, as I said on Friday, that was a very good impact.

him coming on, getting the equaliser, keeping the ball well and also probably his best performance so far against Southampton when he came on and there were three reasons why United won that game that night. Eriksen's impact off the bench, Xerxes' impact off the bench and Ahmad's goals. They were the three players, they won it for them. Nobody else really made much of a contribution at all to that rather chaotic win in the end in the circumstances but Xerxes was excellent and

It's a little bit of a surprise that he's got four games without starting now, given that Rasmus Hoyland is not getting better. He's getting worse, unfortunately, for him. But Xerxes does have something about him. He keeps the ball, which helps. And if you keep the ball, you're going to be like clear to score as a team. With Hoyland, nothing seems to stick.

And on a slightly relatable note, the first action that Marcus Rashford had against Topham Hottie's Aston Villa debut was an aerial duel with Kevin Danso, I think it was, and he won it. And this is a player who had gone almost two months without playing, who was clearly not fully match fit because he was only on the bench and that was in the absence of Olly Watkins as well.

But Rashford won that duel. And I'm struggling to recall the last time Rasmus Hoyland won an aerial duel or a ground duel. He's been far too easy to play, whether the defender is

Virgil van Dijk or whether the defender is Fout Weiss of Leicester, essentially a championship standard defender. It doesn't matter the calibre of defenders he's coming up against. He is struggling against all of them. It's now 14 games without a goal for him. Xerxe at least did end his drought. He hadn't scored since I think it was 19th of December, which was that chaotic game against Tottenham in the League Cup, that quarterfinal game.

But he got a goal at the weekend that was 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. He'd got 11 games without a goal. So that was a lengthy enough drought. But unfortunately...

It's not a surprise that he had that kind of drought. He had a longer drought than that at the start of the season between the Fulham game and the Everton game. I'm not going to go through the list of blank squares and soccer base and bore you with that. But the fact that he went nearly four months without scoring at the start of his United career was not great. I think it's now 33 games he's not scored in or 32 games he's not scored in.

for United out of 36. So he's still got a long way to go, but he has made strides over the past month, which is some encouraging news. Where United have got a nine-day gap between games, the players have been given permission to have some time off, go abroad, and you'll have seen that over the weekend. Garnaccio and his partner and their young son,

Enzo headed off to Disneyland Paris, just across the channel, an easy mini break for a footballer and his family. I think Manuel Ugarte has gone back to Lisbon. Again, it's not remotely a surprise. I would guess that Casemiro has gone back to Madrid. He's got property there from having lived in the Spanish capital for as long as he did.

So it's a logical thing to do, give players downtime. United won as well. I remember when Jose Mourinho was in charge, he insisted on fixed days off because he thought it was more counterproductive to haul players in for training if they played badly, which was a right that Louis van Gaal reserved and David Moyes reserved. He thought that was worse than having fixed days off. And it's...

Pretty good management as well. It's maybe a tactic that people wouldn't necessarily associate Mourinho with, but sometimes if you've had a bad day, you've had a bad result, the worst thing you can do is to get the players in for training the next day. It does have upsides, of course. I mean, and Haag did it with the players after the Brentford debacle. He hauled them in and they went on that long run in 30 degree temperatures, I think it was. It was very hot, I remember, that weekend in England.

We were certainly pretty worried in the press box at the community stadium when the sun was shining on us in the first half, just that we might get sunburned. Unfortunately, someone had some sun cream at hand, so that bailed us out. But that's how hot it was that weekend, and people at the time were saying, is this the right thing to be doing with footballers, just knackering them out? But there was a nine-day gap between United's games, and of course, in the next game, they beat Liverpool on that raucous Monday night.

And that was Liverpool's first domestic defeat that calendar year. So the method, there was certainly method in what some people might argue was madness with what Ten Hag was doing. But United don't play until Sunday against Tottenham. They've got a couple of Sunday games again this month with Everton. That will be the final trip to Goodison Park. Everton are out of the FA Cup, so...

United can't get an away draw at Goodison as they did in the FA Cup fifth round back in 2005. It was 20 years ago. Well, that was Wayne Rooney's first game back.

at Everton as a Manchester United player. With the transfer window closed, I mean, that of course was covered chapter and verse by and large last week. There was a separate video that I think went out in addition to the podcast that we recorded on the day of that. The podcast aged reasonably well, I'd like to say, because United didn't sign anybody else. They were never going to sign anybody else. We got a message through, I got a message through

at about seven o'clock outlining a wrap of United's window, so to speak. And that would have been worked on from the afternoon time. So I think it's pretty safe to say from maybe lunchtime, United knew that they weren't going to be doing any business. They possibly knew even earlier than that. I mean, the message I got off the club in the morning suggested, indicated that there would be no more incomings.

So I think they, although the day before and particularly given the result against Crystal Palace, I think there was a lot of expectation from ourselves, from supporters that United would do something, that they would have to do something. In the end, they decided it wasn't worth their while. And there is a bit of a contradiction with the Matthijs Tell deal where he's gone to Tottenham and there's an option to buy Tottenham.

in the summer. United said that there would not be an option to buy Tell in the summer and they didn't want to just take a player off Bayern Munich's hands and essentially develop him for them if they weren't going to have an option to buy them. Tottenham do have that option, so not too sure what was going on there. Maybe it was a case of United being treated slightly differently to Tottenham because it's a different level of football club in England, but nevertheless,

United will soldier on regardless and will have to carry on with the attacking options that they have, which are pretty limited. And as we've just outlined, their goal scoring problems are not going to be solved by someone from within. I did, however, ask Ruben Amrim about Chido Obi-Martin on Friday. Some of us go to Carrington had discussed for a while, you know,

who's going to ask the Chido-Obi Martin question? When's it going to be asked? And I thought, given the deadline, given the window had closed, given that United hadn't signed a forward, that Marcus Rashford had gone, added Marcus Rashford coming to the Manchester United team back in 2016, February 2016 as well, it was because there were players out injured and there were strikers out on loan as well. Wayne Rooney was injured.

Anthony Marshall got injured on the night of Rashford's debut against Michelin. Marshall was on the team sheet to start, but he suffered a hamstring injury in the warm-up. That's why Rashford was promoted from the subs bench to the starting 11th.

Will Keane at the start of that week came on away to Shrewsbury Town, the FA Cup, and with a shot that hit the post, he tore his groin, I think it was. So he got injured and Ashley Fletcher and James Wilson, two older academy strikers, were out on loan. Fletcher was at Barnsley. James Wilson, I think, was at Brighton on loan when they were in the championship.

And so that meant five players had to either be out of the way or injured for Rashford to get his chance. And you look at it now, Rashford's out on loan, Anthony's out on loan, Jadon Sancho, if he counts, he's out on loan. Ethan Wheatley has gone out on loan as well. So that's four players who are out of the way. Joe Hugel, if you want to count him, so there's another five. They're all out of the way and

And Chido Obi-Martin has been scoring goals for fun, as a lot of people expect he would after he joined United's academy from Arsenal's academy in the summer. There was a lot of he said, she said when that move happened. Arsenal suggested that Obi-Martin had made unreasonable demands, that he wanted the guarantee of training with the first team or at least playing for the first team in their squad this season.

United have signed quite a few players off from Arsenal's academy now. I mean, obviously Aidan Heaven is the most recent example of that. He's gone straight into the first team squad. He was on the bench at the weekend, sorry, not the weekend, on Friday night against Leicester City. So maybe his debut will happen sooner rather than later. Even Herbert Grazik,

the goalkeeper who was on the bench as well against Leicester City. He came from Arsenal at the start of last season after a trial. I think he'd been released from Arsenal, but that's three players who've come from Arsenal's academy to United's academy. Just going off on a tangent there with Grasic, he was the sixth choice goalkeeper, but he was effectively second in line on Friday night because Tom Heaton is injured, Azhar Bayandir got injured,

Dermot Mee is injured as well. And Eli Harrison was cup tied for the game as he's played in the FA Cup during his loan spell at Chester FC. That's why Eli Harrison was playing for the under 21s on Friday night rather than being on the bench for United, having been on the bench against Crystal Palace the previous week. That also meant that Colin Murdoch, the academy goalkeeper, who will almost certainly be in goal for the under 18s against Chelsea in the FA Youth Cup on Wednesday, was

was effectively the third goalkeeper during the warm-ups. You'll have noticed for about a good nine years now, I think since Jose Mourinho came in, that there's always a third keeper who is involved in Manchester United squads, home and away, who will be involved in the warm-up. And that goalkeeper was Colin Murdoch on Friday night. I've digressed quite a lot there, but I have remembered to get back to Tudor Obi-Martin

But you look at his skill set, the excitement around him. Could he be a player to be promoted to the first team squad? I did ask Amber in the question because I thought it was quite timely and relevant.

And Amrim said, he's doing his job. He's improving. He's playing in the youth teams. And also we have other players who can play that position. Rasmus and Josh are there. We bought these two players. We need to improve them. And sometimes the confidence can change a player. We will see in the end of the season. But until then, we have two strikers who can score goals. They've proved in the past. So let's see if we can improve as a team to help them score goals. So clearly the priority, unsurprisingly, is to continue with Hoyland and Xerxe. Hope that they...

regain form, they start scoring rather than turning to a 17-year-old in the academy, which is logical. And as Amrim has already shown by playing Kobi Manu up front, he's not afraid to look at auxiliary options. As I said, regarding the FA Youth Cup, United play in the fifth round against Chelsea at Leeds Sports Village on Wednesday, October

it's at Leigh, annoyingly. It should be at Old Trafford. When United won the Youth Cup a few years ago, all of their home games were played at Old Trafford. They even played Scunthorpe United at Old Trafford. So this game really should be being played at their stadium. Instead, it's being played in a town that doesn't have a train station and the tram certainly doesn't venture that far out in Greater Manchester. Leigh is fantastic.

I know it's hard to believe, but Lee is actually in Greater Manchester. Lee Sports Village as a complex is pretty good. I don't have any complaints about that. I do have a complaint about having to go that far to watch United's academy games. In fairness, I've not been there for...

Probably three years. I think when United played Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Youth League and Jamie Binoguitten was starting that night and played very well. I think he might have been the decisive player that evening. He certainly scored and Dortmund won.

penalty shootout there's some very good players for United that night as well Alvaro Fernandez started Hannibal Mejbri Garnaccio might have played as well I can't quite remember the team off by heart so forgive me for that but I will be ending my exile from Leigh Sports Village Stephen Ralston of course will be there he he's sent there even on nights when he he's looking to get out of it he doesn't want to be there he does want to be there really we we all know that but

I will be flattered by him. I suppose the one last point to dwell on, Marcus Rashford's debut for Aston Villa. I thought he looked quite sharp. He put himself about. He could have got a goal. He just overhit it, overhit a touch when he went in with a duel with

with Archie Gray towards the end of the game. But he should have had a free kick outside the area when he's fouled by Pedro Porro. If you're a winger, getting fouled outside the penalty area close to goal, that's a good thing. He had a purpose about him. So hopefully that move works out for him, works out for Villa. And then that means it works out for United because there's a high probability that

Villa will pay the £40 million to sign Marcus Rashford. I don't think there's any point talking about does he have a future back at United? His future very much lies away from the club. It's in everyone's best interests that Rashford has a change of scenery and he seemed to thrive with that change of scenery.

for Aston Villa at Villa Park during their home win against Tottenham. They next play, I'm going to check very quickly, this is me biding for time like Alan Partridge again. They play Ipswich on Saturday, three o'clock kick-off home game. Feels like a home banker as well. Villa really should be winning that. They don't have any Champions League commitments as they're automatically through to the last 16. So that feels like a good opportunity for Rashford to have his full debut today.

Villa did play without a striker yesterday with Ollie Watkins out injured, Daniel Mullen, Morgan Rodgers and Jacob Ramsey, I think were the front three. Morgan Rodgers was very good again. He's been having a very good season. There's a reason why he was called up to the England squad.

back in November, and I suspect he will be in the England squad again in March. And just the last thing to touch upon, it's Rashford related. Jadon Sancho, another winger who was exiled. His exile was far worse than Marcus Rashford's. He was banished to the Academy building at Carrington and had to get ready in a lot changing room. He commented on Rashford's Instagram post that essentially marked his debut for Aston Villa.

with the word freedom with a praying emoji and I think it was a celebratory emoji as well, hands raised. You can see even now why Manchester United got rid of Jadon Sancho. You can see it during games for Chelsea where his invisible act continues and you can see it just through a one-word comment.

On Instagram, it was a little bit bizarre. There's a video of Sancho with some influencer type, certainly not a journalist, on Sky Sports last week. Very soft questions. And he talked about

how the best player he'd ever played with was Cristiano Ronaldo, and he was asked what he learned from him, and he said about his mentality, his approach to training, which is just dripping with irony because that guy's United career was killed by his training form, according to Eric Ten Hag. And of course, James Sancho then decided to publicly accuse him of lying

He never apologised for that. He played once more for United and that was one game too many in the community shield. His final kick for United, rather aptly, was a very casual penalty that Edison saved and United lost that penalty shootout to Manchester City. Chelsea have that obligation to buy...

in the summer. That is looking like pretty shrewd business for United. It will be between 20 million and 25 million four years on from them spending 72.9 million pounds on him. It was almost as if they felt obliged to sign Sancho that he had to be their superstar signing that summer. I always had reservations about him. I mean, someone who is a teenager essentially doesn't turn up for training under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. You've got to have some brass neck to do that and you've got to really back it up. And OK,

OK, for Dortmund, he did back it up to an extent, but he wasn't playing in a pressure cooker environment. He was playing for also rounds in the Bundesliga, who, apart from last season, almost always go out of the Champions League at the round of 16. That's still far more consistent than United, but compare the pressure at Dortmund to United and there's a huge difference. And I still remember when we spoke to Ralf Rangnick on a Zoom call,

it would have been just over two years ago. And he had Sancho's number at the time. He said that there was an issue like it's up here. And he pointed to his temple, pointed to his head, suggesting that Sancho mentally was struggling with the pressure of playing for United. And that's a manager who Sancho played his best football under for United. He did well for Rangnick in February and March of 2022. He scored some good goals. He's, he's,

performance level was pretty consistent then when he came back from his three-month absence in the second season under ten hog he had a very very good february scored some important goals against leeds and leicester that leicester game when he came on at halftime he really changed the game united were dreadful in the first half very lucky to be one nil up sancho came on took the game away from leicester united won three nil and sancho was the best player on the pitch that day and he

He earned that trust from Ten Hag at that time to start against Barcelona home and away in those Europa League knockout ties. And that's what he was capable of. But he did not have the mindset or the mentality of a proper Manchester United player. And there's a reason why his United career effectively ended after two years. So I don't think too many people at United will be sorry to see the back of Jadon Sancho.

That's it for this week's one man show. Uh, thank you very much for listening as always. I hope it's worth it. These, uh, one man shows that they're engaging enough and that you're, you're keeping up with it and you're not turning off and you're not pining for Steven Ralston, but don't worry. He's always coming back and Tyrone Marshall as well. Uh, might I had, but they will be back at some point with their midweek podcast. Uh, just a look, one final quick note. It is Dennis Law's funeral on Tuesday. Uh,

His coffin will be driven past Old Trafford as well. There will be a book of condolence still open to supporters. So if you are in the area, if you want to still pay your respects to Dennis Law, whether it's writing a message in the book or whether it's just applauding,

as his hearse has driven past Old Trafford one final time en route to Manchester Cathedral, then that will be at about, I think it's just after one o'clock tomorrow, it's scheduled to drive past. There are details on the Manchester United website. I'll be at the cathedral tomorrow. Stephen will be at Old Trafford. So we will be present for what will be an emotional day, but a day of celebration to celebrate a genuine great life. It's rare that you get a footballer who,

is a great, a legend, and a king, but Dennis Law was all three. Thank you very much for listening, and we'll be back later on in the week.