Manchester is RED | United's best Anfield performance in years?
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Hello and welcome to the Manchester is Red podcast. My name is Stephen Ralston and we're recording this episode on a Monday morning. But before we jump into the podcast, just a very quick word from our sponsors, NordVPN, the fastest VPN in the world and an absolute essential travelling companion. You can use NordVPN on 10 devices with just one account, easily switching your virtual location to access apps and websites in other countries. If you're out of the country, we're

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Now that's over and done with Samuel. We'll crack on with the football. As I've just alluded to, it's Samuel Luckhurst on this podcast. Impeccably delivered by yourself. Thank you very much. Samuel was at Anfield. The game on Sunday afternoon was in doubt because of the snowy conditions. The rain was coming through the Anfield roof. But Samuel, it was a cracking game of football. 2-2 in the end. Nobody quite expected that performance from United. But it was a really, really positive display.

It was. I mean, there was obviously grit on the roads and United showed grit during that performance. It was their best at Anfield since the Mata game in March 2015. So many good individual performances.

Something that really stood out after they went 2-1 down was the body language that normally we've become accustomed to seeing. Heads bowed, slumped shoulders, no real communication. It was different yesterday, there were chests out, Fernandes

was preaching calm. He had a quick conflab with Diogo Dalo, which wasn't a surprise given how gettable Trent Alexander-Arnold was throughout the day. And 10 minutes later, they equalised. And even after that, there were 17 minutes more to play with the added time. United pushed for a winner. And them switching to 5-4, one formation out of possession, was misleading because it...

There was so much attack and intent from them throughout that game and defensively they were compact. I think they were on the front foot defensively as well. You think of a couple of the challenges in the first half from Maguire and Deleuze, I think both of them maybe on Luis Diaz. The manner of Lissandra Martinez's goal, it comes from him being in Liverpool's half, reading Alexander-Arnold's lazy pass and then showing the adventure to offer Maguire.

Fernandes an outlet with that cute little reverse pass that he played in. And it's rare that you see United play like that, Anfield. They had some pretty good chances there last season, but they never really had the conviction. And you did worry in the first half, certainly with that opportunity for Hoyland, who's a striker who really is almost totally devoid of conviction. He had a similar opportunity at the same end against Liverpool yesterday.

Last season, didn't take it, didn't take this one either. But fortunately for United, they finally got that elusive first goal at Anfield since December 2018. And that was always likely to prod the bear, poke the bear with Liverpool. And I certainly, even after United went 1-0 up, I didn't think that that was a game that United would see out with just a 1-0 win. I was always quite confident there.

that Liverpool would score just because of the firepower they have and their goalscoring this season. So what will frustrate United is that it was a self-destructive 11 minutes. I mean, De Ligt was at the scene of the crime for both goals. But apart from that 11-minute spell, and it's become a theme of them conceding or collapsing or both not long after scoring,

They managed that game really well. There were a couple of warning shots, a couple of shots across the bow from Gakpo and Alexis McAllister in the first 20 minutes. But after that, Liverpool seemed a little bit stumped. The goal, the equaliser, as I said, De Ligt made it far too easy for Cody Gakpo. Then he gives them a penalty. But in terms of the overall performance, not only was it United's best at Anfield in 2019,

nearly 10 years but it was their best under Amrim that is the kind of performance apart from the win that is what you would have hoped to have seen from Ruben Amrim's Manchester United there was aggression there was intensity there was

that their use of the ball was really canny at times. There was a sense of adventure about them. There was resilience. And despite the poor results they have had recently, he has clearly settled on maybe 13, 14 players who are going to run that way and run that way as well. And those players who started yesterday,

It was probably the predicted 11, but you knew with those players that there would be commitment. And I was always confident that United would put a shift in at Anfield and go down with a fight. I didn't think they were ever going to get thrashed. I didn't think they were going to get a draw from it, but I didn't see a thrashing. I just thought they would go down with a fight.

But as that game developed, you became more optimistic for their chances. And as I said, it's a pity for them that they had that self-destructive experience

11 minutes but the fact that we're talking in those tones and looking at the only negative body language was at full time when there were hands on hits and hands on heads because they had that one shot to win it right at the death and that's the mentality that's required at Manchester United you should be disappointed to come away from Anfield with

having not won. And if they're feeling that way after getting a very, what was a good result and a good performance, then that is a big step in the right direction. Liverpool are flying at the top of the league, obviously, and United were beaten by Newcastle before the game. So the worst was feared heading into Anfield. I think the travelling supporters who braved the conditions probably would have snapped your hands off for a nil-nil draw before the game. And then at half-time, I did wonder whether United would regret

kind of not scoring in that first half because it was a really positive first 45 minutes they looked on top Highland had that chance as you just mentioned the choice of finish was just bad he didn't really know what he was didn't look like he knew what he was doing did he Highland which we see quite a lot in front of goal unfortunately he's got to hit it hard and low there I've

I think. And then look, they come out the second half and Nassandra Martinez presses high, wins the ball. Bruno Fernandes plays that fantastic, clever pass and that finish from, from Martinez, it's not exactly the type of finish you see from a centre-half, is it? What a strike that was. And then you've talked about those kind of

of really bad 11 minutes where they go concede twice but they show such great character don't they Samuel to produce an equaliser and take a point at Anfield which is when the crowd are up and when the crowd are behind Liverpool and they've scored two goals Liverpool would have expected to see that result out from that point of the game

Yeah, and I was encouraged by United just from what I heard around me. The Liverpool fans were starting to vent. They were starting to become exasperated. I didn't hear it, but it was Lewis Steele from the Mail who tweeted about one Liverpool fan shouting at Alexander-Arnold, something like, what was it, if you don't want to be here, then F off. Obviously not saying F, saying the actual word. Yeah.

And that gave you an idea of how anxious, for once, Liverpool were at home against United. And I think there would have been quite a few Liverpool fans who rocked up there yesterday who weren't convinced it was going to be a case of how many, purely because United got a creditable goalless draw there last season. They prevented Liverpool from winning in the two games at Old Trafford in the FA Cup in the league. And as bad as United are, because they've not become...

good again all of a sudden overnight and as bad as they have played they do still have this there are there is still a wariness with with opposition fans that you know maybe the old man united may might turn up today and i think that was uh the case yesterday although it was an older than you know older united than most people would remember it was more of a um a united performance at anfield from from the 80s when they had a pretty good record there and they had some

some good wins or certainly the case of the 3-3 in 88, a good result coming back from 3-1 down and with 10 men to get a pretty famous draw on that occasion. And you look at that team and certainly I think for Man Room's

viewpoint, he will probably think six, maybe five or six of those players will be starters at the start of next season. And that squad is still a long way off. And as I said, I think that you can only boil it down really to maybe 13, 12, 13 or 14 players who you would want to look at and say they're in the plans for next season and

And what, you know, in addition to that doggedness and that diligence that they displayed yesterday, you also had it from the bench as well in Garnaccio, who has had some absolutely nothing cameos of late. He's on his longest run out of the starting 11 since he made his full debut in October 22.

but he created the equaliser and in the 88th minute he's sliding in with Conor Bradley on the touchline right in front of Amrim to win a throw-in. Then barely a minute later, he's on the byline winning the corner. And we've not seen that much from Garnaccio recently, but whether a light bulb has been switched, maybe it's coming off one of the social media sites, I don't know. But that was the Garnaccio of last season. When they beat Liverpool in the FA Cup, he had an involvement in all four goals and

That was in a week where he'd been nursing a hamstring injury in the run-up to it. So that's what he's capable of, and I think that's what we expect from him. And fortunately, it resurfaced yesterday. But I think that was a by-product of just how United were playing, how well the starters were doing. Because if you see your teammates playing like that, and they're having joy from it in terms of the result and the performance...

and the state of play, then you've got to adhere to that as well. And you sensed it even before kickoff, there was a real bullishness about that away end as United were doing their warm-up

During the game, Xerxe having his name chanted, Casemiro having his name chanted, players who were probably the four guys from the fallout against Newcastle. What I've always said is that the away support is the most reliable gauge of fan sentiment at any football club. And it is a lot... You know, it hurts more, I think, if you've got tens of thousands goading you or barracking you in...

in your own stadium, which is what happened to Xerxe during the Newcastle game.

But the absolute acid test of your popularity is from the away supporters. And that will have done Xerxe the power of good. And he did quite well when he came on yesterday. His pass wasn't perfect for Harry Maguire, but I think he did the right thing in not going for goal there. The angle was quite tight. There was someone, two players maybe behind Alisson who were retreating onto the goal line. I think it was the right thing to do.

to squirt to Maguire. So there was a reaction from all three subs. I'd have started Yoro just because of how athletic he is, but he put that disappointment behind him to execute that tremendous tackle on Darwin Nunez. And then in the 90th minute, he's sprinting into the Liverpool penalty area because he wants to get on the end of the free kick and add a goal to his contribution as well. So everything you saw yesterday was, you know,

almost, it was nigh on flawless in terms of an away performance. It was just lacking that winning goal, obviously. And Amrim said afterwards... Which they could have had, of course, Samuel. I mean, Harry Maguire. If it's anyone but Harry Maguire, they'll probably slot that home. Whether it would have been offside or not.

It's another story, isn't it? It looked quite tight. Yeah, it looked like maybe it would have been a shoulder blade offside or one of those kind of tenuous... Not tenuous offsides. If a part of your body is offside, it's offside. But it feels like the rule could still be...

rewriting it still wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. I mean, Maguire has been pretty useful in front of Golf United from time to time, but it's normally with his head. And as I said, the ball wasn't, I think it bounced into the ground twice from Xerxes' cutback. So it wasn't ideal, but he had to be hitting the target. So,

So that would have absolutely topped off a perfect day for United. But as I said earlier, coming away from it, you have to look at that as a good performance and a good result. 100%. Let's talk about some individual performances a bit more then. The midfield pairing, Kobi Mene and Manuel Ugarte were excellent. I really feel Manuel Ugarte has turned the page today

in the last month or so. Was the Manchester derby maybe the turning point for him looking back? Because when he first arrived at the club, obviously his integration was delayed, they didn't register him in time at the future against Liverpool. He was good in cup competitions against kind of lower division sides, but I got the impression that he was struggling with the intensity of the Premier League. He wasn't at his best in those fixtures. But in the last month, I've started to see a really improved Ugarte.

and kind of the player that we thought United were getting when he signed from PSG on deadline day. And he was excellent again at Anfield, breaking up play, releasing players forward, finding his teammates. And he's really complementing Kobimeni well now, who I also thought looked back to his best. Yeah, that midfield was mustered yesterday against...

one of the most dominant midfields in the Premier League. Liverpool may have missed Sir Boz Lye, but they've got very good depth there with Curtis Jones to call upon. Obviously, McAllister starts every game. Gravenberg has had a very good season up until this point. I mean, Amarim was quite keen to stress on Friday that I think this perception that United can

can be outnumbered and certainly did feel that way. Well, not feel that way. It was that way in the first half an hour against Newcastle last week. They said that Fernandes drops back into midfield and he makes it a three. And you noticed yesterday, one of the first occasions where United didn't have the ball

Fernandes' immediate instinct was to retreat and to supplement that midfield. And it was the same with Almand as well. It was compact. It was disciplined. They knew what shape they had to be with the ball, what shape they had to be without the ball. And what I'd say was impressive about Ugarte was that he probably should have been booked for his foul where he slid in. I can't remember it was he slid in on.

maybe 15 or not even 15 minutes in, but he got away with it clearly because it was an early foul and he used that to his advantage. He wasn't on a booking, so he could still put himself about, I think his second foul, he didn't get a booking for either and Arne Slott was getting a bit wound up on the touchline. He does love the yellow card you got here. He does, yeah. I mean, it's why he didn't play against Newcastle, but

You do want that from a defensive midfielder quite often. I mean, Manchester City, the amount of times they've, they've tactical, you know, their tactical fouls, they became quite infamous for it, certainly when Fernandinho was there.

But Ugarte, he has a real presence about him. Certainly he's grown with authority as a starter with every week, I think. I mean, at Wolves, he was probably, up until he came off, certainly in the first half, he was quite decent. It's strange because I think it was in Ten Hag's penultimate match at Fenerbahce that Ugarte actually played well after a very dodgy start.

Then he wasn't, he didn't start him. I don't think he even used him in the weekend game against West Ham. And then obviously Van Nistelrooy is the caretaker and Ugarte starts in all four matches under him. And he was always going to be one of the big winners of Amrim coming in because Amrim knows him. They work with each other for years.

for two years at Sporting. And Ugarte was, I think he might have been the only individual player who was actually brought up at the press conference yesterday. But Amrim, he is one of these coaches who's reluctant to dwell on individuals or just single out an individual. He wants it to be viewed as a collective effort. And in the case of Ugarte, where there is a past relationship there, where they are very familiar with each other, I suppose he's somewhat conscious of that as well.

But what I like about Ugarte as well, and people at United have said this, that he's starting to show silk to supplement the steel as well. He's clearly a very good footballer. There were times yesterday where his control of the ball was really important. And you need a big midfield performance if you're going to go to Anfield and get a result. And you look at United's wins there this century, almost all of them remembered for a standout midfield performance, whether it was Herrera in Liverpool

In 2015, I remember Quinton Fortune having a pretty good game in midfield back in 2002 when Diego Forlan scored his goals. Roy Keane dominated Steven Gerrard in 2005. Paul Scholes was pretty influential when they won there in 2012.

And of course, yesterday they didn't win. But that game yesterday, there was a lot of really, really impressive individual performances. And Fernandes was absolutely a worthy man, the match recipient. But it certainly was the best I've seen from Ugarte. And it wasn't the best of conditions to be watching him in either from that dreadful press box yesterday. But I still managed to appreciate his performance and United's performance.

We'll come on to Fernandes in a second just to end the first part, but let's touch on Maneu a bit as well because it is probably worth talking about Maneu and Ugarte separately because I think we touched on Maneu's form a few podcasts ago, a few weeks ago, and we just discussed that he's not been at his very best, the player that we saw last season, and he had looked a bit tired, which we thought was

His time on the sidelines would have helped. He's now getting back to full fitness. He should be at full fitness. And he looked like his legs were back at Anfield at four. And it was a really positive step in the right direction. Again, that is the Kobimunu that we saw last season and the Kobimunu who starred for England at the Euros in the summer.

He's starting to develop a good rapport with the guys. I mean, it was ridiculous that he didn't start against Newcastle. That is by far and away the daftest decision that Amarim has made since he arrived in Manchester. And they improved so much when he came on, didn't they, against Newcastle? Yeah, yeah. They almost immediately created a chance. He laid on a very good opportunity for Casemiro right at the end of that half. He was there perfectly.

probably their only good player against Newcastle, never mind their best player. And he is a player who can and will make United play. And you saw that yesterday. He's... The little triangles that they're starting to come up with a lot more frequently, these passing triangles, he is involved in them more often than not.

He offers control. You look at United's share of the ball in these games against away to Manchester City and Liverpool, and it's almost 50-50. Now, that would have been unheard of under Ten Hag, under Solskjaer, under Mourinho. You'd have to go back to Lou van Gaal's time when United just had high possession stats for the sake of having high possession stats. They barely did anything with the ball because they were so...

so rigid and so stayed in Van Gaal's style. It's very different under Amram. They are keeping the ball there, progressing it. They look comfortable on the ball. He got his team completely correct yesterday. I've not been a fan of full-backs on the wings whatsoever.

Under Amrim in this 3-4-3 But it was completely vindicated yesterday And of course with Ahmad You know if he's going to be as one of the two tens There's always a good chance That he's going to be in a goal scoring position And he was in a couple of them yesterday One in either half

But Manchester United are just, we knew it last season, they are a much better team when Kobi Mainu is performing. They were dependent on him last season and he was always going to hit a trough at some point or another. And it happened at the start of this season. And I think you look at his first half of the season, it feels, I think it's fair to say it's been a bit of a write-off just where he was out injured for eight weeks and change of managers and everything.

look pretty fatigued at the start of the season and there have been a few games where he's not standing under Amrim and we've raised our eyebrows or we've had a furrowed brow just because we're wondering well why wouldn't you start Kobi Mainu I think the Ipswich certainly Amrim's first game Ipswich that Mainu was on the bench and I think we all expected him to be starting that one

I think if there's one positive that has come from that Newcastle game, it is that Amarim will not play Casemiro and Christian Eriksen together again in midfield. And he can't do that again. I mean, when he was bringing Maidu on, we assumed it was going to be for one of Casemiro and Eriksen, which I think probably made it all the more galling for Xerxe, as poor as he was as well, that he came off. But you need dynamism in midfield there. And, you know, midfield...

It's interesting how midfield is starting to evolve because Newcastle, understandably, a lot of people are talking up their midfield as possibly the best in the Premier League. And it is a formidable midfield. It is extremely physical physically.

But they can all play. Guimaraes is a brilliant player. Tenali is a very graceful player. But also you look at, I think it was on Match of the Day, they had those three players as one, two and three in the running stats without the ball. And that was across both teams in Newcastle's win at Tottenham. So they've got that work ethic to supplement the technical qualities that they have on the ball as well. And

Arsenal this weekend, another physical side with Declan Rice and Thomas Partey. And you wonder, with Maido and Ugarte, how they're going to come up, how they're going to farragate some. Well, you certainly would have not been too confident about it before the game yesterday. But that Arsenal tie now, it doesn't look as daunting or as unwinnable as it did yesterday.

Maybe a week ago or maybe one or two days ago, certainly. And a big reason for that is Mainu and Ugarte coming back into the team, both starting. Neither of them started against Newcastle. Both of them started against Liverpool. And look how well United did against the best team in the land.

The fact that when Amrim's teams have dropped and if Mainu's not been in the side, we've thought to ourselves, why isn't Kobi Mainu playing? It's just such a huge compliment to a 19-year-old player, isn't it? He's 19. What were you doing at 19, Samuel? That was only last year for me, but for you, was that 30 years ago? Something like that? I keep going very fast.

And it wasn't last year for me, just to clarify. I should not even dignify that with the response. I think 19 was the age I was when I last bought a football shirt that I would... And you wore it over your hoodie as well. Not wear it out and about.

very often but that was the last that was definitely the last time i bought a football shirt though certainly i think the last time i did that was when i was 14 which is why i i despair at adults i mean some yeah i think we'll leave it at that but we will leave it we know what our thoughts are on uh on such a tire so bruno fernandez got mother match obviously i was just checking sky sports his graphic there that pops up when he obviously collects the award um

We all know that you hate XG Samuel. You've made those feelings very clear. But having pressures won, 35 pressures on the graphic, is that walk nonsense? It seems a bit, I mean, you never really look at Fernandes and think, yes, he's made 35 pressures today. That's a wonderful stat to make. But in all seriousness, we have eyes. I'm sure Hugh McIlvenny wrote about the magisterial pressures won by Diego Maradona at the World Cup in 1986. I mean, what absolute guff.

He had a great game, though. Created the assist, obviously, for Martinez's goal. Really clever pass back inside. And that is the performance that we expect from Bruno Fernandes, a real captain's performance at Anfield. Obviously, we were down at Molineux on Boxing Day and he received his third sending off of the campaign. He let himself down. Ruben Amorim blanked him as he came off the pitch. He sat out the Newcastle game and he delivered then. That was a real good response, I thought.

It wasn't. It had to be after the old discipline at Wolves. He is a very, very easy target for punters out there. And of course, when he got sent off at Wolves and United lost as limply as they did, he was going to be the fall guy. But it's taken to extremes. You get people... I mean, he is not...

There are times when he speaks you don't think he's actually sound of mind but Patrice Evra the other day saying I'll make Harry Maguire captain again. That guy did want a job at United after he retired and thank God United didn't give him a job because...

They've had some real loose cannons there in recent years, and I think he'd be the loosest of the cannons if he'd ever gone in there. But Fernandes is a worthy captain. He has been, by and large, a good captain. But when he transgresses or he winds people up, he does it rather egregiously. And the Wolves incident was probably the worst example of that. Of course, the previous red cards, I thought the Porto one was a little bit soft, but it was daft of him to...

to invite the referee to make that decision. The Spurs won. He did try and hurt a team, sorry, not a teammate. He tried to hurt a fellow professional. It was a deliberate, cynical foul. I can understand why it was given as a red card at the time. I can also understand why it was overturned on appeal.

What was interesting watching him yesterday was that there were times where I thought he's clearly making adjustments to his leadership here.

And he would not have done that had he not got sent off against Wolves. Early on, he did give Ahmad an earful. And I thought, I think I even wrote the blog. It was like, oh, it's six minutes in and Fernandes is Barrett, his first teammate of the day. But then he adjusted his leadership after that. Like when he went up to Didlert after Gakpo had the chance where he prodded the ball just wide. And it was clearly a constructive conversation. He was confident.

he was annoyed about something, but it felt like he knew the solution to it. And so he factored that into the tone he took when he was pointing something out to Dilett. As I said earlier, after United went 2-1 down,

his reaction to it was exemplary his body language his gesture to teammates speaking to Dalot he was keeping himself busy and as I've said before I do despair I have despaired at United's body language at times when they lose you want someone to vent you want you almost want them to be picking a fight with each other at times because of how defeatist they look and

Fernandes is a player who does play on the edge. He has got that truculence. And a concern United would have had yesterday was that Michael Oliver was the referee, not just because he's a bad referee, but because also he has got some history with Fernandes. And there was certainly a feeling last season

People at United were concerned whenever they'd have a game with Oliver referring because of how Oliver handled Fernandes. Yesterday, it was Fernandes who was handling Oliver well in that he was just... There were quite a few occasions when he did speak to him, when he did raise something, when he would take umbrage with something, but he did it in a tactful way. And you need that with a captain. You need them to be...

You need them to be in the referee's ear, but for them not to wind the referee up to high heaven. Now, Fernandes does wind referees up to high heaven. He sometimes winds fans up to high heaven, United fans. He winds me up, the way he goes about his leadership at times. But he channeled it in a very different way yesterday, I thought. And that definitely benefited United.

I can't remember what the stat was Opta put up, but it was something like, I think the last four games that Fernandes has missed for United in the Premier League, they've not scored in any of them. And that would have been obviously the Newcastle game. He missed the two games last season through injury against Palace and Arsenal that they lost without scoring. Not too sure what the game would have been

It might have been Anfield last season because I think he was suspended. So it must have been those four matches. And as I said, he is an easy target at times in that some fans will say, oh, he's so overrated. He's no good. And it's not as black and white as that. He is a good player. He didn't necessarily...

A new contract for him in the summer would not have been on my to-do list if I was Dan Ashworth. I think there could have been a more constructive conversation had there. I don't think he's necessarily indispensable on this team. I think that there has got to be some forward planning as to how United will cope when he does leave the club, whenever that may be. But he has also been their best player ever.

of the post-Ferguson era, and he has been their best signing since Robin van Persie came to the club from Arsenal in 2012. And his impact in big games, it's not just about winning the awards, it's not just about the numbers he's posted. If you went off that, his most prolific season was during the COVID season, which was utterly misleading, but it goes beyond the numbers. And leadership is a big...

big aspect of that one of the reasons why ten hog had a successful first season was because Fernandes was the captain for the majority of it and even in that season there was the instant Anfield where you had yeah after accusation from Gary Neville that he's asking to be substituted when he wasn't asking to be substituted he was just gnarky and because United was six nil down at that point and he'll always be gnarky because that that is his personality and

But he's a quality player. He can make something happen out of nothing. And you look at his contributions yesterday, the reverse pass for the goal. He's the one who spotted Xerxe and played the right pass. I think his use of the ball

was a lot more prudent than it can be. He can take too many risks at times. He can be too impetuous with his use of the ball, but it was really measured. It was a captain's performance yesterday and that is the perfect stadium to produce a captain's performance when your leadership is being questioned and when your coach has said that the team is starving for leaders as well.

You would rather have Fernandes in your team than not have Fernandes in your team. I think that's the bottom line, isn't it? Yeah. With Fernandes. We'll leave it there for part one then. We'll be back in a moment for part two. Welcome back to part two of the Manchester is Red podcast. Now, Samuel Amram arrived in November last year.

results haven't improved as everyone hoped but he's obviously implemented a new system and he warned there was a storm coming he warned it would take time there's been glimmers along the way the manchester derby of course during the tottenham game as well and in the cup um but the players are starting to look a bit more comfortable in that system now and that was really noticeable at anfield the spaces were tighter they looked really well organized

And could that have been helped by having a bit more time on the training ground before the game? A lot was made of that, wasn't it, in the build-up? Because Amram's not really had a huge amount of time to work with these players and ideally would have had a pre-season to get his message across.

But on Sunday, there were signs of that message really, really starting to bear fruit and come across well. But I guess I'll caveat that with, we kind of said the same things after the Manchester derby, didn't we? And we said that what a fantastic performance. And then there was more bad results. So this has to be the turning point now, doesn't it? They can't, they have to kick on. They can't regress again after this performance.

No, and he talked a good game, as he almost always does at the press conference yesterday, where he was extremely measured. He said he was upset because they can perform like that, and then they perform like they did at Wolves or against Bournemouth and Liverpool.

And Newcastle and Forest as well, in particular. It must be straight to life for you as a coach, wouldn't it? Watching that performance, I can see why he said that. Where has his performance been? Why can't you do it each week? You can't just turn up at Anfield and do it against the lower sides. No, and he didn't want to talk up the gap between games, but that was certainly a reason why I thought that United would put up a fight yesterday because they had the benefit of...

of that six-day gap, which they hadn't before. I mean, the upside of not being in the League Cup is that they will have two free midweeks this month, where the semifinals are this week, and I think the second leg is in a couple of weeks or three weeks' time. So United won't have any

match commitments in those weeks. And that's why it's imperative that they go through to the round of 16 in the Europa League automatically by finishing in the top eight of the league, because then it's two more free midweeks.

in February, you normally, you want as many games as possible because you, you want to go deep into every competition, but they've, they've got to see it as, as a blessing in disguise, as far as the league cup is concerned that they've, they've gone out of that and that did provide that training time. And I certainly think that it had an impact or had a bearing on, on the final score and,

at Anfield but he said you know yesterday I think he dwelled on like I think he said something like we had this talk after the City game and you know we can talk but we need to we need to go out there and do it and back it up and

Four days after the City game, of course, they lost at Spurs. But I think we were quite upbeat about that defeat in our coverage because United, I thought they were pretty good in the first half, just didn't get that goal. They had a collapse at the start of the second half after that.

They were the better side and they were quite rightly pretty gutted to have gone out because I think overall they were better, but they just weren't as clinical as Tottenham were. But then when you get thumped 3-0 at home to Bournemouth at the weekend, it's end of day stuff again and you're back at square one again.

But I've always been consistent with Amrim. I mean, the only time I've... The only time I'd say I've been disappointed in him, truly disappointed, was the team he picked against Newcastle, taking Mainu out, putting Casemiro and...

and Ericsson in midfield and starting Xerxe and Hoyland. I thought it was, if anything, I thought it was a game to not start either of them and maybe try and experiment in a different way. It might not have done any good, but the main new call against Newcastle was the only time that I was certainly disappointed in him. I think a lot of United fans would have thought, why the hell have you done that?

Yeah, because if you look at those midfielders, you thought there was only going to be one winner, didn't you, at the start of the game? And if everyone could see that, you thought, who knows more about the game than we do by a long stretch would think that as well. Yeah, and I'd have thought from his first game at Ipswich when he...

He pretty much started Casemiro and Eriksen because Casemiro had the international break off because he doesn't play for Brazil anymore. And Eriksen came back pretty early because Denmark's games had been played.

quite early on during the November internationals, it felt like, okay, well, you've had time to work with them, I get it, but all you've got to do is just ask one of us journalists, should I play Casimir and Eriksen together? No, no. We saw enough evidence of that last season that you shouldn't do that. It worked for a season, but that was two seasons ago. So sometimes he flew in blind to an extent with...

Coming in and you're not going to ask questions that may feel extraneous as to, you know, how were these, what did these two do last season? How good were they together? How bad were they together? It was certainly more bad than good last season.

But there is an element of him having to learn on the job because they didn't give him a pre-season because they didn't bother sacking the previous manager in the summer. But almost everything he's done or said, I've really liked. I really like the cut of his chip. I think he's by far and away the best player

or as a permanent United manager since Mourinho, by far and away. Rangnick, there are some similarities between him and Rangnick. Obviously, Rangnick was an interim with Amrim being so candid and using some pretty loaded words as he did on Friday when he talked about

the starvation for leadership. And he talked about the players being afraid. And I mean, I asked him yesterday, was there a method to him saying that they're afraid essentially? Was that a motivational tactic? And he said, I'm always challenging these players and everything I do because I feel we are not just the players, but everybody at Manchester United is too comfortable. So I think sometimes we need a shock and you could see today we were a different team today.

That is, by and large, job done. It was only not completely job done because they didn't win that game yesterday. But in terms of his preparations for it post-Newcastle, they must have been pretty exceptional because look at how United performed, look at what United did, look how they came off

Maybe if Harry Maguire connects with his boot rather than his shin, then maybe we're talking about one of the sweetest wins United have ever had at Anfield.

You briefly talked about Alejandro Ganacho there in the first part. He obviously came on from the bench and provided the assist for the equaliser. It's been a really interesting few weeks, hasn't it, for Ganacho? Dropped with Rashford before the Manchester derby and he's now facing what he has been facing the most challenging period of his career so far because he's only young but it's been a constant upward trajectory and now he's actually facing a challenge and a spell out of the team and it's going to be fascinating to see how he gets back into the team and how he gains Ambrose's trust again.

but that cameo from the bench at Anfield was definitely a way of doing that it was really positive and he did well when he came on and as you picked up his kind of contributions in the closing stages if you remember back to Boxing Day it was Gennaccio who actually lost the ball for Wolves' second goal so that was a real contrast there to the end of the game against Liverpool yeah

Yeah, it was feckless for the second Wolves goal. It was so obvious what he had to do, just shift the ball to Dallow, who's to his left.

And Dallow, I remember when that, when Garnaccio was robbed of the ball, he just went like that. And he knew he couldn't get back up the pitch. And okay, you'd look at that and say that's bad body language, but I'd say that was forgivably bad body language because that was, that was the game done there. As soon as Garnaccio lost the ball, that was it for United. Whether Wolves went up the other end and scored or whether they didn't, time had, time had run out. And, and it was, it was feckless what he did there. So,

He said in his posts after the game yesterday that it's been a tough few weeks or words to that effect. And of course it has been. He's not started for United in nearly a month now. I think it was the Forest game, wasn't it? So that's seven matches in a row that he's been either out of the squad or on the bench for.

And I didn't like his body language in Pilsen when he was about to come on. He looked, as I said before, it might have been a couple of weeks ago, he looked disengaged. And you can't act like that as a 20-year-old who's a really important player for Manchester United. And also you're fighting for your place as well, particularly in this system. It's something that he's going to have to adapt to. He's going to have to make the adjustments because I don't think he's going to end up

um, on the wing in, in, in this three, four, three. So he's got to add some strings to his bow. Uh, I think he's capable of doing it because of, of his ability and his age. He's got time on his side and he's had a big impact to the club as, as a teenager already. So there's no reason why he can't have big impact in, in the second half of the season. Um,

But Amrim has got to be absolutely certain in him because it's non-negotiable in this team that you run towards the opponent's goal and you run towards your own goal. And that should be a non-negotiable at every football club. But United have become pretty infamous for having players who do not run around enough, who give the impression that they're not...

completely committed so that was that was almost as that was probably as big a plus as Garnac chose assists for the equaliser yesterday just how much of a shift he put in during what was he was probably on the pitch for about 25 minutes I imagine given the time that he came on so it was definitely

As I said, all three substitutes, they had impacts to a certain extent. Scarnaccio created a goal, Xerxe created a chance, Joroh with that magnificent tackle on Nunez. I was just about to come on to Joroh, so that's a nice little segue because that challenge on Nunez was fantastic. The U8 section loved it.

What have you made of Jorah's time at the club so far? He obviously had a fractured metatarsal in the summer, which delayed him coming to the side. And he's made a few starts. He's made a few appearances from the bench. Do you think by the end of the season, he will be starting each week? Do you think we'll get there? It was a strong cameo again against Liverpool. Obviously, you can't draw Jorah, as you've said. You replaced a late...

And it seems like United have got their fast, pacey, strong French defender back. It was once Raphael Varane. If you think back to that game at Anfield in December 23, 0-0, Varane had a wonderful game. Is Joro going to pick up that baton from Varane? Well, it's a very different profile of defender in that Joro is nearly 10 years younger than Varane was when he went into United.

It's natural for a professional, Samuel, and we made that point in the summer where United are usually buying players at the end of their careers, in the winter of their careers. And yeah, they sang Joroh who was at the start of his career. He looked like someone who Real Madrid would sing and obviously United got Varane at the end of his tether, but I thought that was fantastic getting Joroh in at that stage and it's really promising for the future.

Well, it gave the impression that they were a properly run football club again. And then they signed another Dutch player and then two more players who were born in the Netherlands because the manager who they should have sacked was also Dutch. So that all went out the window pretty quickly. I mean, I did think that Euro was maybe this is the model of...

of um recruitment strategy that they're they're settling for now but it was you know it was it was it was an illusion um it was he he was you know pretty he was pretty much an anomaly in that sense but he's only played eight times uh okay made his debut barely a month ago at arsenal as a substitute gradually he is going to be eased into the

into the starting 11 because of the investment and he has to be and clearly you can see the raw attributes that he's got. He's brimming with athleticism and it's not a particularly athletic defensive department that United have got. They will and should, I mean they need to release two of the defenders in the summer and they probably will do in Lindelof and

and Johnny Evans, who were both injured again yesterday. And I think it must have a combined age of, well, it's 67 now, given that Evans has just turned 37. But somebody, I think one of our colleagues said how, you know, United have got good depth in defence. They don't have good depth in defence. They've got someone who's always injury prone. They've got a 37-year-old who,

is probably going to retire in the summer. You're playing a back three. So essentially three have to start and then you've got one reserve. That's not sustainable. They will need a centre-back in the summer. And I mean, I still see graphics of how United could line up next season. And so many of these graphics have De Ligt in it as if De Ligt's going to be integral to United. I don't see it personally. I think he's a player that they need to be looking at to...

take out of that defence. I think Martinez is someone that you would hope he'll return to the heights of his first season and also he's left-footed, which is crucial in the back three. You do need that balance. Maguire will get his fair share of games over the next 18 months. There's no doubt about that. He's got an acceptable and

satisfactory quotes of games over the past 18 months and that was just after United tried to sell him and failed to sell him. So I don't think you need to worry about Harry Maguire whether he's starting regularly for United or not starting regularly for United but they will need another centre-half in the summer and I think they will need someone who's more senior and also athletic because that was a concern certainly of that defence yesterday. There was not a lot of pace in

in that back three coming up against Salah, Gakpo and Diaz. But they compensated for it by playing on the front foot. And you saw it with a couple of tackles from De Ligt and Maguire in the first half. And you saw it certainly with Martinez, from Martinez with his goal.

Obviously, Rasmus Heuland was replaced by Joshua Xerxe and he had that really heartwarming reaction from the supporters who chanted his name. It was chanted before that as well as he warmed up to actually come on. Or maybe actually in the first half when he emerged to have a trot down. It was in the first half, yeah. Yeah, that first time it happened. But that was really nice to see, Samuel. It was just, what, six days ago that he was kind of booed off against Newcastle. It was a suggestion that he might have had tears in his eyes and you never want to see that, do you? Regardless of...

your thoughts and our thoughts on his performances this season which haven't been good enough and let's be honest about it he just hasn't looked good enough for united but having said that it was really nice to see that from the away supporters and um it just kind of showed they understand how players are feeling and how to get behind them and it would have done world for his confidence really a world of good for his confidence yeah i i said already and it was it was quite um

When I first heard the chant, I thought, well, that's Van Persie's

That's the tune they sing to serenade or chant about Robin Van Persie, but I'm pretty sure they're not singing Van Persie's name. So I was trying to make out who it was and then it got louder and it was easy to make out that it was Circe's name that they were chanting because he was warming up in front of them. And I think that was those supporters trying to redress, to correct what happened on Monday because...

However people try and frame it, he did get booed off when he went down the tunnel. He got specifically booed and he was getting booed by fans in the Stretford end. When his number was up, I think it was mainly just sarcastic cheers from braying fans. As I said on the podcast last week, one of them in front of the press box said,

you know I remember him wearing a Jose Mourinho scarf when Louis van Gaal was still in charge because there was an attention-seeking scarf seller outside Old Trafford and here was this van who wanted to get some attention as well but he so it didn't surprise me that he was like grinning like a jackal and braying like a hyena when when Xerxes was substituted. Football stadiums democratic places and

Your fans are entitled to cheer, boo, vent their opinion. Sorry, air their opinion, vent at times. I've never agreed with supporters booing one of their players. I think booing a collective, that's just about acceptable. I mean, I've never done it in my years going to games as a supporter. It's never been something that

that I've ever done it just doesn't seem like I don't think many people could imagine me being a supporter doesn't it it's contradictory yeah but I don't want to I don't want to have a pop at fans who are paying money and you know saying oh how dare you how dare you boo after losing 3-0 at home to I think it's their right to boo as well isn't it yeah yeah exactly you absolutely understand it

But there were quite a few thousand buffoons at Old Trafford who got on Xerxes' back after he was substituted against Newcastle. And yes, he's not good enough. Yes, he shouldn't have been signed. Yes, I gave him one out of ten of the player ratings. Yes, I've said his race is run. That is a lost cause. That is out of his depth. But that is the reality of watching Joshua Xerxes. And you can't sugarcoat that.

But as I've said before, it's not been as rife this season. I hope that's not your car outside, Stephen. I know it. It should probably be. It's not been as rife. There's an easy joke to make there, given that they've just played Liverpool, but I won't veer into that territory. But going back to Xerxe, you say all these things about him, but...

it's not been quite as rife this season in terms of the stick we've got off the club or complaints of the club over our coverage of United playing badly because they were bad last season, they've been worse this season. But I think it is a lot more damaging if supporters are going to turn on a player like they did. And I can imagine next time they play at Old Trafford, whether Xerxes warming up or whether he's coming on or whether...

restarting he will get a good ovation because people will try and counter the the dreadful reception he got when when he was taken off he he was he was absolutely cheered off uh when he went down the tunnel he was absolutely booed by montage united supporters you can't rewrite history we we saw it we heard it um but there were also supporters and as i said the other day

I said good on them, who applauded him when he came back out at Old Trafford. And he did all right at Anfield. He did all right at Anfield yesterday. His pass for Maguire, it wasn't a clean pass, but I think he made the right decision to play the ball to him rather than going for goal. Thankfully, the car alarm has stopped outside. Apologies for that if it's come across on the audio. It was a defiant away end, Samuel. It was a defiant performance. Hopefully they can go to Arsenal in the FA Cup third round and progress. Thanks very much for your time. We'll be back later in the week.

Thank you, Stephen. I was going to say, Samuel, you're supposed to say, thanks, Stephen, and we end and we all have smiles and we go, what a podcast that was. Thanks to the listeners. See you later. Bye.