United Humiliated in Bilbao: Where Does This Club Go From Here? | Manchester is RED Podcast
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Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the Manchester is Red podcast. I'm Tyrone Marshall hosting today. We're on location once again, recording from the lobby of our hotel in San Sebastian. Just checked out soon, about to take the trusty hire car back.

to Bilbao Airport after a long few days in the Basque Country. I'm joined by Samuel Lockhurst, who's been next to me throughout and was next to me at someone else yesterday. Samuel, how are you? It's busy, isn't it? It's a busy day of work after last night. It's certainly busier where Manchester United have had their worst season in 51 years.

And it's because of the tone, there's a greater demand, I think, for pieces, for inquests, for what's going to happen next. I mean, bizarrely, they've got a press conference on Saturday, four days ahead of the Aston Villa game. So when that news came through on, was it Tuesday, they were confirming that? I think we all were like, what a dreadful time to do it. But there will be a lot more interest in the press conference now, given what happened last night and what was said last night.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, let's start with the big question then. Where did it all go wrong last night? Starting Luke Shaw, who didn't deserve to start. And the end goal is, there's an element of misfortune there, but he was sluggish to start with. He was sluggish for that goal. Patrick Dawg, who didn't cover himself in glory either.

But if you started four games in 14 months for Manchester United, I don't think you should be starting in the final. And it should have been Nusrat Masraoui playing in the back three. Starting us was Hoyland, who can't score for Toffey. He didn't get a kick last night. He did get ahead to the ball and came very close to scoring. But for that, brilliant clearance off-line from Mickey van de Ven. But I felt for a few weeks that...

Amrim should have taken Hoyland out of the team, tried to experiment with something else. I think we all knew that that just wasn't going to happen because of the system, because it's geared for a striker, albeit a striker who actually scored goals regularly. And really this season, United have got the season that they deserved in that they've made ridiculous decisions from start to finish and Amrim has got in on the act. He's far from blameless in all of this.

And when they're chasing the game last night, it's like flight substitutionists. There's no shape-shifting. There's no deviation from 3-4-2-1. They say, oh, it's a system that is like any other system. It isn't like any other system. It's far too rigid. It's far too pragmatic. As I said, in terms of some of the selections he made last night, I mean, I tried to frame it to him quite sympathetically when I asked him a question about

i started mason mount over alejandra garnacho i thought garnacho should have started he didn't he's not taken that well i'm sure we'll get onto that shortly as well but although mason mount's a playmaker when you start him over alejandra garnacho that is a pragmatic thing and garnacho is a bigger goal for it and then he said to me like who missed the big chance again so athletic or bound the first half it was garnacho who came on and changed the game

in that second leg, it was Mason Mount. And that's the invidious position of Mandrew who's in. But when it doesn't work, they've got to accept that there's going to be criticism there. And Garnaccio did more in his first couple of minutes than Mount did all night. And that's been a recurring issue with Mason Mount. For a playmaker, he doesn't do enough when he actually has the ball.

So that was... This whole pragmatism over pro-activism with Amrim, that has got to end next season, where they won't have any European football, where they've got to be... As I said, United are just not good. They're not good to watch either. They're not entertaining. They don't get you on the edge of your seat. And that's kind of like a... It's a borderline betrayal of their ethos. And I know that Amrim has inherited a squad. He can only...

do what he can to a certain extent but he isn't helping himself at times he is being stubborn to a fault with this system not deviating from it and he'll have tried to map it out last night by looking looking ahead planning ahead who could come on who could have an impact but also the opponents can plan ahead ahead sorry because they know that that system is going to be that system come hell or high water at full time

And it makes United very predictable and they were far too predictable last night. I mean, Amram said afterwards they were the better team. It doesn't matter. They lost the final. And as we have said so many times this season, the amount of, I would say the majority of United's defeats this season have come against teams who have not actually played well on the night or that well. And that was another one last night. And he can't hide from that. He's not hiding from it.

But really, there are just so many appalling angles from when you look at this season, reflecting United's season, the fact that they've lost four times to Tottenham, the worst Tottenham team since they were relegated this season. They've not scored in three games against Tottenham this season. They've not scored in 16 games all season long.

And you look at it in retrospect now, and I don't think they were complacent at all, but flying out at 3pm the day before the game, the japes at the pre-match press conference. I genuinely think that although Foster Colclough has had some borderline run in some press conferences, I think it's part of his act. I think he was enjoying it. I think he was completely in control. It was almost as if he thrived off it.

of cultivating this siege mentality. And also, he has shown that he's prepared to adapt. Tottenham in their high line last season was absolutely suicidal at times. During this Europa League knockout run, they've been very pragmatic, going out to Frankfurt and scraping a 1-0 win with a pretty gutsy European away performance to get to the semi-final. Eczema isn't always obvious, but it's real. And so is the relief from Evglus.

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getting the job done in Bodo Glimt on a plastic pitch. I think quite a few people thought that they could come a cropper there, even though they had a 3-1 advantage from the home leg. And they've eked out two 1-0 wins against United this calendar year. So, I mean, Costa Coppola, I think he's, is he 60, 59 or 60? He's shown that he's prepared to adapt. Amrim is 20 years younger, pretty much. And he's just wedded to this system that,

It could work with new personnel in next season, but you cannot just play that way all the time. And he just seems set on playing that way all the time. And it's just not worked. It's hardly worked. No, exactly. We spoke about this on the drive home last night. And I said I'd mentioned that the substitute's in.

the five things thing we're doing. And I didn't go too big on it because they both had an impact, but it felt telling to be 19 minutes to go. You're making like-for-like changes and leaving three centre-backs on when you could have gone to a back four. The other thing you touched on there that I was going to mention was, you mentioned being a playmaker. Garnaccio brings more. He did more off the bench last night. And this is an ongoing thing with this team. When the strike doesn't score goals, they need...

They've got so few match winners that they need them on the pitch and they need them to fire. And Amad did all right last night. Galacha was lively, but had little time to make an impact. It was all down to Fernandes again, really, wasn't it? And he had an off day. And when Bruno Fernandes has an off day in this team, they create nothing and they created nothing and they never look like scoring.

No, they did have some really good chances. I mean, Fernandes had a sure right at the death, although that was an element of desperation. But really, it was probably about 15 minutes to go, maybe close to 20 minutes to go. When you're chucking Harry Maguire on, when you're moving him up front or telling him to go further forward...

and i don't think there's necessarily a deviation from from the system because the system was still very much in place but he was having to just play a little bit higher up because needs must but when you're doing that having invested 108 and a half million pounds and two strikers in successive summers and neither of them really strikers because hoyland is one of the worst strikes of simply united xerxes is not striker he's better playing the more withdrawn role

But it was damning that they pushed Xerxe to get fit to a point where he could play 20-odd minutes in the final because they just didn't trust Hoyland. And if you're doing that, Hoyland's card is marked from the start. So why start him? You've got to be a bit more experimental there or look for an alternative solution. Ten Hag in Fenestrian did that last season in the FA Cup final when he took Hoyland out of the team, played Fernandes at the apex of the attack.

But Tomny was behind him and it worked. An absolute treat. Fernandes provided that wonderful assist for Kopi Mane, his winning goal. And United were brilliant. Their game plan was absolutely faultless that day. They were compact, so compact they were practically tethered. Last night, they had 70% of the ball against Tottenham.

which you wouldn't expect United to have that amount of possession against a team like Tottenham, but Tottenham, most of the occasion, far better. They were without two of their best attacking players. There was the shock selection at night, really, with Son and Mindl starting.

But they had every confidence in themselves that they wouldn't concede to United. And they put together one piece of polished play in the first half. It ended scruffily, but it ended up with them scoring and going 1-0 up. And that was enough because this United team, as we've seen 16 times this season already, they cannot score. They've got a minus 12 goal difference in the Premier League. It will probably be worse than that come the end of the season because I think everyone expects them to get beaten by a Sevilla goalie.

on sunday and really this this team they deserve to finish 17th they just i know you were saying last night like when you look at some of the talented players in the team they are better than that and i get where people are coming from but this is we're in may they've played 37 only league games they've not won anything again you just look at every unflattering stat um that's that's leveled at them and you

The league table doesn't lie, as the cliche goes. No, it doesn't. I mean, we'll get on to a lot of what the players said after the game and some really interesting comments. And there was talk about mindset and not being demanding enough. But if you took all of those players starting yesterday as individuals and offered them to the 16 clubs or 15 clubs at the moment above United...

I would hazard a guess that every single one would be wanted by a club above United. And the fact that as a collective, they cost £539 million and the 16th is, I mean, it's damning on them, but it's damning of their manager as well. And there's no getting away now from the impact that Amarim has had on this team. And it's clearly not been a good impact. I mean, let's touch on the goal. You kind of mentioned it before.

I mean, we kind of disagree, I guess, on the blame. I mean, Shaw could certainly act quicker. I think when you're watching the build-up, he's kind of watching Solanke, the man in front of him. And he does see Johnson because he points to him and tells Dorgue, you know, mark him. And Dorgue goes and stands next to Johnson. And as soon as Johnson moves, Dorgue, who has looked out of his depth for several months now, just doesn't follow the run, doesn't try and stop the run. And in a way, it then became a gold fitting at the final, wasn't it? It was a miskick from Johnson, a miskick from Shaw.

and Arna just all over the place again and a fitting goal to win a final between the 16th and 17th best teams in England I guess. They were both culpable and Dorgu this is what I mean about United in terms of is the club where anything that can go wrong will go wrong to

two regimes past and present at a football club signed two 20 year old Denmark internationals think they're both good enough to start they're both not good enough to start name the club anyone could name the club and they've done that 18 months apart with Hoyland and with Duomagu

I mean, as idealistic as it sounds to have Dorga and Harry Amos as the two left wings next season, that is not good enough. That is not good enough. It's bottom half of the table at best. And that is why United are in the bottom half of the table, or certainly one of many reasons. But my issue with Shaw is that he's quite a physical, bulky defender. And he still lets someone as live as Brennan Johnson in.

kind of out muscle him and i know it's split second but luke shaw's been at manchester united for 11 years and we've seen him be lazy before and that was i thought that was lazy defending last night it was daft from dorgoo it was different defending from dorgoo which i don't think any of us are surprised by because we've been watching him for

For a few months now, and certainly over the last month, he has been really bad. He had a little bit of rhythm, I think, when it was him and Dalot playing pretty much every game. They were quite settled down. It felt like they were making some baby steps. But then I genuinely think that Dalot's absence has...

has really harmed Dorgan because it's upset the balance of those two wide roles. And those two wide roles have got to be creative roles. Now, you're not going to get creativity from Nusrat Masraoui. And he even said to us last week, he actually prefers playing in a back three because it's more like playing at fullback, which is, of course, his specialist position.

And Amrim is still playing him on the wing because Amrim, it feels like he's erring on the side of pragmatism most of the time. And it's not offset substantially enough by Dorghul on the other side. And you look at where Dorghul's come from in Serie A, which has been a bumming ground for Premier League clubs for six or seven years, even though it's going to have another Champions League finalist with Inter Milan getting there against Paris Saint-Germain.

but he's come from a team that could be relegated at the weekend. So let's share 17th Serie A. United could finish 17th in the Premier League on Sunday. And again, I've only just thought of that then. You can probably find a million ways of how this looks dreadful on United this season. We could be here until the Cowboys come home.

talking about all the decisions they've got wrong, how obviously bad they were and how they were destined to fail. And obviously it all goes back to them losing their net over Ten Hag in the summer. But even something like, and it doesn't really get spoken a lot about because nobody actually knows why he's there, but Sir Dave Brailsford, his wheelhouse is cycling. He has said before on a podcast with Nasser Hussain,

are no expert in football what on earth is he doing on football board of manchester united

that he should be sent on his bike. I have no idea what the justification is for him being there. It is Clive Woodward Mark II, which for people who are not familiar with it, Clive Woodward, of course, was the England rugby coach when they won the World Cup in 2003. Rupert Lowe recently, scorned by the Reform Party in the UK, thought that he could be a director of football at Southampton. And of course, it went pear-shaped in Southampton.

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and eventually ended up in third tier of english football although i don't think that was all on clive woodward and really when we spoke to ratcliffe last year it was mentioned you know dave brownsford because this could this be clive woodward mark two and of course he dismissed it and obviously that and the other but you know to take a guy whose expertise is cycling

getting to effectively essentially oversee performance and the performance turns out to be their worst in 51 years. Why is he still there? And I know I'm digressing a lot from a question where you just asked me who's to blame, Shaw or Torgan. I've got Dave Bellsworth in on the act. But I just don't know why is this guy there? I've not heard a single justification for his role and his presence at the club. And that's why, and I'm sure we'll get on to Amrim shortly,

That's why the problems are far bigger than, as problematic as Amarim's management has been, the problems are far bigger than the guy who's in the dugout of the club. Yeah, let's get on to Amarim now then. It felt like they, I mean, maybe they were part of us, but they fell apart on the pitch last night. It was a flat, pretty pitiful performance in the final and then they fell apart off it.

afterwards in terms of some of the comments people suggested they couldn't leave it was such a kind of strange end to the evening and it started in the press conference that you were in with Ruben Amorim and he's I mean he's been almost too honest about his future in recent months he's almost been it feels at times like he's almost been asking for the sack like he's not convinced himself that he can actually turn this around and

Last night, he essentially made Ratcliffe and Ineos an offer, didn't he? If you don't think I'm the right man, then tell me and I'll go tomorrow without a penny in compensation. And that clearly shifts the dial, doesn't it, from what he's been saying in recent weeks? Well, the fact that he said that he would save them money, I mean, ordinarily he'd be using it to the ears of the people at Ineos, given the amount of cost-cutting and penny-pinching that's gone on at United over the past 15 months.

So it was a little bit different from some of the comments he said recently. I mean, he did clarify he will not quit on his own unless he is explicitly told that he is not...

They do not think he's the right man to be in charge anymore. And the club's position has not changed. He still retains the backing, unsurprisingly. And it would be a worry if they suddenly decide, actually, we will sack him now. Because his future should never, ever have been...

contingent on the outcome of the final. That was the mistake they made last year. So if they were to have done that again this year, their number would have been up. They need to start properly running the club and there have been far too many decisions where it's just been amateur hour, where they were swayed by emotion last year with Ten Hag and Ratcliffe said, you know, sometimes we get criticised for not being emotional enough and then when we are emotional, you know, we get criticised for that. No, you've just got to be objective and make the right decision.

And they very, very obviously, 12 months ago, made the wrong decision with Ten Hag. The tricky thing with Amarin is that I think the way you have to visualise it with Manchester United managers is that you look at them and you think, can they win the title with this man? And when he was appointed, I think the answer was probably an unequivocal yes. You could believe in that. But they are, even though a lot of us, everyone knew what could it be. There's going to be one of two outcomes last night, United win or United lose.

But now that it's happened and the fallout from it and what he said and what some players have said,

you do start to think whether he has actually gone past the point of no return now in terms of getting United to where they need to be. It would be an extraordinary, unbelievable story if he was to go on and be the man to make Manchester United champions again, given this starting point, because this is rock bottom. Apart from relegation, it does not get any worse than this, where they are, losing finally to Tottenham as well. That is...

That is absolutely humiliating. And the tricky position they're in is that he's got to oversee demonstrable improvement the first few months of next season, because if they're pretty much in a similar position to they were under Ten Hag in late October, it's likely to be an easy decision.

They've got to ensure that with the recruitment they do in the summer, it is not Portuguese-centric after the Dutch-centric transfer windows. Don't do that nonsense of just buying players because they played in the Portuguese league or they're fluent in Portuguese. You've got to sign players for the club. But there are certain players' futures where you look at it and you think,

Who would be a football administrator? Because with Garnaccio's future, and let's face it, Garnaccio was decent last night. I thought he should have started, but his attitude at times, absolutely rotten. Some of the stuff he comes out with on social media, how passive aggressive he can be. Amrim has already seen off someone because of their attitudes, pretty much, with Marcus Rashford.

That said, Matthijs Koundé, there's clearly disciplinary issues there and he's had disciplinary issues this season. So you'd like to think they've done their due diligence and they're confident of taming the side to him or at least managing it. But Garnaccio is a United-developed winger. He will thrive wherever he goes if he does go somewhere else. Do these people really want to be the people that decide to sell him in the summer, back the manager and then sack the manager three months down the line? Which is completely a scenario you can see happening out.

And that's why it's such a size with summer anyway for United. But they've got to find a thing with something like that. It's got to be an even keel there where you map out a plan for Amram. Where Jason Wilcox and Wesley Hill and Amram say, look, you've got to try and make it work with this player, Alejandro Garnett-Gembe. And Kobi Maynard as well, given that he didn't start the final last night. There's certainly uncertainty over his future as well.

But United, these people do not want to be the people who sell players who've come through the academy, back a manager, and then that manager can't actually improve things. And by the way, he actually offered to quit in May, but you decided not to take him up on his offer. But then maybe five or six months down the line, you are having to take him up on his offer. The club are in a worse state.

And actually, relegation is a tangible threat this season because there are better clubs that have come up from the Championship. I know that a lot of that is hypothetical, but you can see it play out. And I think an issue with a lot of United fans is that they have no faith in the hierarchy.

and the decision makers to get it right because there's no proof of it really. I mean, last summer they signed five players, four of them were defensive players and this was after they got into the season with a minus one goal difference. So why did they sign only one attacking player? And of course the Amethyst has still switched to the attack with Kunya likely to come in. They'll obviously sign a starting striker, whether that's Liam de Lappe or someone else.

But there's got, I think there's got to be an element of compromise there that with Amrim, it's like, okay, you want this system, but we don't want it to be rigid anymore. You've got to try and make it more fluid, more flexible, and allow it to shape shift when it needs to, because that stubbornness is, the stubbornness is holding United back. Yeah, definitely. We spoke to...

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totally unequivocal backing to Amarim, really. There was no area for reading between the lines as you occasionally get a fella. They all backed him. We did put his comments on Fernandes, to Fernandes, about he basically offered to go if the club don't want him. And said, what would you say to Sir German and Eos if they're considering that? And Fernandes did say, I can understand looking at results. I said, looking at results, I can understand why they'd consider it. But there's no better man for the job. So it's clear that

It's clear the players, it seems the players from what they're saying aren't blaming the manager and both Shaw and Dallow kind of blame the dressing room for it and just said the mindset's not right, the mentality's not right. Dallow said they're not demanding enough of each other. Why aren't they demanding enough of each other? Well, this is what I was going to say. I mean, it feels like that pretty incredible stuff really that Dallow's saying we're not demanding of each other. Shaw, one of our colleagues said he thought Shaw was going to cry in the mix and we've been there. I can kind of back it up to be honest. I mean, he was out first and

I can't recall seeing a footballer look more broken. I mean, he was struggling to find the right words, really. And he said, every one of us in the dressing room has to ask the question if we're good enough for Manchester United. And I think the answer is no, probably in a lot of circumstances. But the stuff the players are coming out with and stuff like Dalot's comments that we're not demanding enough of each other paints a pretty bad picture, doesn't it, of kind of the rot that is set in in that dressing room.

It's not going to cause as many headlines, I don't think, because one, it's Diogo Dalot saying it, and two, there are quite a few more headline-grabbing comments that have come from Garnaccio and Shaw and Fernandes. But for Dalot to say that we are not demanding enough of each other, if he knows that, and it appears to be that he knows that, why are they not demanding more of each other? I mean, Fernandes, you see him during games. He is demanding.

But I've often felt at times, you see when United can see goals, it rarely happens where players are effing and blinding each other or, you know, trying to get or getting in a confrontation with each other. And there's nothing wrong with that. We saw it a little bit at Chelsea on Friday night when Fernandes and Maguire rounded on Garnaccio.

But I look at that squad and think that there are maybe nine players who have the quality and the personality who you can get behind for next season. But none of them are untouchable. Even Fernandes, he's been a brilliant player for United, but he's also been involved in three of their worst seasons in living memory. And he does somewhat symbolise United. He is hitting hope, creates something out of nothing. A moments player, obviously.

Just, you know, no real strategy behind it. I don't think it would be the end of the world if United got a huge fee for him and cashed in. You have to move on from brilliant players at some point or another. And look, provisionally, he should be among the keeps, absolutely.

But as I said, I don't think after a season like this, you can't tell me that there's absolutely not one player in that squad who's an absolute must-keep. Clearly, players are going to stay there because of different reasons, whether it be that they've joined recently or they're on...

long contracts and they've had injury issues and then they're going to be unsellable but Shaw's comment about you know I have to question whether I'm good enough well everyone knows the answer to that he's not good enough he's not available often enough so he he should know that answer with that answer is he going to exact is he going to say is he going to knock on the door of Jason Wilcox or Omar Braden and say look I've concluded I'm not good enough

could you tear up my contract so I can leave on a free and I'll take a pay cut and go and play back at Southampton, something like that. It's not going to happen. And he's under contract for two more years. So I think the chances are he will be playing for Manchester United still next season. So in some ways, I think those comments, they will wind up supporters because although Shaw is a very raw speaker after games at times, and he does speak from the heart, it's also quite hollow what he said because he's not going to

as I just said, he will not necessarily come to the conclusion he's not good enough for United and decide, look, I've got to walk away. I owe it to this club. He's outstayed his welcome by a very long time. Jose Mourinho wanted to sell him after four years. Seven years later, he's still at United. That tells you where the problems have been for a long, long time. And the problems are still there because this current lot

have overseen 15 months of ramp in the mismanagement times, whether it be handling the manager situation, the transfer market,

the treatment of supporters, the ticket price and everything, it has been absolute disaster class. And I get sometimes, you know, things need to get worse before they get better, but they did not have to, and they do not have to get this worse. And they would never, ever from Business United finishing just above the relegation zone. No, definitely not. And on Fernanda, see, we asked her about her future as well last night, and

essentially, you know, it's going to be a big rebuild. Do you see yourself being a part of it? To which he did say yes, but also left the door very much ajar to leave and instead of, they've always said if the club want to cash in on me, then I'll go. And obviously, if Al-Halal come knocking with a mega offer this year, there was obviously that temptation and it certainly felt like Fernandez was saying, if you want to sell me, then I'll go. So,

He's probably in that position now where he's thinking, I've given the best years of my career to this place and I'm not getting the return that I deserve, really. So, I couldn't blame him for the temptation. Someone at the different end of that spectrum, we've talked about a few times already, is Garnaccio. In a way, last night kind of summed up the predicament United are in with him. What he did before and after the game, in terms of the Instagram post, which I think was...

a pretty obvious indication. When we all saw it in Google, we said he's not starting. It was pretty clear what the messaging was with that Instagram post.

what his brother posts afterwards, the fact that he stops to speak. I mean, he so rarely stops and speaks. And then he stops and speaks to the Spanish press and clearly has a message to get off his chest. His comments are pretty explosive, really. A, about how bad the season are. And then it's something you need to watch more than see. Like the way he sort of closes his eyes and shrugs his shoulders when I played every round and I get 20 minutes in the final. I don't know. And...

In between those two things, he came on and did have an impact. But I don't get the impression that he fits this system. I don't get the impression Amarim thinks he fits this system. When he does have an impact, he comes on and he goes and plays on the wing. And I don't know if Amarim wants to play on the wing, if he's just doing it himself. But his best work still comes in that position. And I think after last night, it would be even less of a surprise now if he left this summer, wouldn't it?

If Amram was to be sacked at some point this year, United are not going to replace him with Pipo Inzaghi and play a back three with no specialist wingers. It would be a back four, it would be wingers under the next manager. I'm 99.9% certain of that. And with Garnaccio, I see it from both sides. He should have started last night.

I thought after the Chelsea game on Friday that his goose was cooked because Amrim clearly, if Lenny Oro not recovered from injury, Amrim would have played the same side that lost to Chelsea, which I can't understand because United were, okay, they were competitive for an hour, but the game lasts for 90 minutes. They had one attempt on target. That's not good enough. That's not compelling evidence that you should play that team in a European final five days later.

But as you said, Garnaccio does somewhat jive, not somewhat, he does jive with that system. Even though he'd gone, I think it was the Athletic Football second leg, that marks his 14th successive start. They put him up for the press conference the day before as well because he was kind of seen as one of the handful of positive players this season in terms of their performance. He's not been as good as last season, but he's not been as bad as people have suggested.

and as i said before he's not even 21 yet he's played an awful lot of football united he's had a hell of a lot of um those those shoulders the burn on those shoulders has been extreme at times particularly last season and there's a lot of scrutiny that comes with playing as one of one of the academy players one of the pin-up boys of this team but how his advisor or advisors have not

got tried to convey to him the importance of not putting out stupid posts on Instagram is beyond me. His brother, as you said quite colourfully, is a gobshite and I know he's only about 14 or 15 but essentially he's echoing what his brother is saying so what he says on his social media is newsworthy and it's going to get traction as well. Nobody's reining him in

Garnaccio, as you said, he effectively gave away team news with that post yesterday. It was so abundantly clear that he wasn't going to start. I thought his body language as well

regarding the announcement was telling him that he was the only player out he was the only nice player out on the pitch speaking speaking to Sergio regular wasn't it yeah when the lineups were confirmed everyone else was in the dressing room the only other United player actually walked out on the pitch was Matthijs to live who of course is injured and was out for the final

So it was almost like Garnaccio was just trying to completely separate himself from everything that was going on. And he said, we'll see regarding the summer, which again, it's another

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It can easily go right, it can easily go wrong. But if they sell him, they have to accept that he's most likely going to be very good where he goes on and plays elsewhere. He was in demand by Napoli in January. Napoli could win Serie A. I know, obviously, as I said earlier, Serie A is not what it used to be. But nevertheless, if you're champions of Italy, they'd be champions for only the fourth time in Napoli's history as well.

We've already seen how well Scott McTominay has done there. And also, I think more so than napping or skimming, it's the validation in a way that Antonio Conte wants from you. Antonio Conte sees in him a hard worker, someone who's gifted, someone he can actually improve. And I'd have no doubt that Conte would get a really good tune out of Garnaccio. But I still think that he could have a big role at United

Yet the caveat is, can you actually tolerate a player who, let's face it, is undermining the manager? He's only 20. It's not like Ronaldo sounding off about Eric Ten Hag to Piers Morgan that time. And that was bad enough. I think the United manager's position has always got to be protected. And that's why it's such an awkward position for United to be in with Garnaccio.

I don't know definitively what they should do with him. As I said earlier, I think there's got to be a form of compromise. And, OK, in this day and age, young footballers are very different to young footballers 20, 30 years ago. How they acted, how they conveyed their message, I don't think they're as respectful anymore.

necessarily I think that's just a symptom of the generation that they've grown up in and they've got access to social media they could you think they don't think before they speak we've all been there we've all done it you have to have a little bit of empathy with them where they're coming from but Amri has not gone out to deny his garnet in the season yes he dropped him from the derby but since then he was in he's been in every matchday squad he started 14 games on the spin

There's been a willingness from both sides to try and make it work. Hamlin has spoken very effusively about him. I thought it was quite telling that Garnett actually did that press conference on the eve of the Athletic Bill Bell second leg. But now it's come to a head again and it almost feels like both sides need to sit around the table and maybe thrash out their differences and come to some form of compromise or some form of decision. And that decision could be that he ends up being sold. Yeah.

I mean, let's briefly look at the future then. Eighth in the Premier League last year, 16th in the Premier League this season. Because of their cup runs, they've been failing upwards, essentially. They're only in this country if they cut. I think it's the Coventry game, the Lyon games, even in this run, they've had some pretty ropey performances. They've finally fallen back down to earth now. When Chelsea had no European football in Conte's first season, they went from 10th to 1st.

Next season, if this team go from 16th to 6th, that would be a success, wouldn't it? Yes. It seems like quite a leap, doesn't it? The work has already clearly begun because I think everyone expects you, besides Kun, you to be playing for United next season. But they've got to try and frame it as a positive. I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing that they have no Champions League football next season. They need to...

I'm not going to say cultural reset and mean it seriously, as United used six years ago. But they do just need to gut that squad. They need to streamline that squad. They need a smaller squad, given that they could play as few as 40 games next season if those go out of both cup competitions at the third hurdle. And the last time they had a season without European football was 2014-15. Of course, they had that rather infamous loss

Defeat to MK Dons in August. This is what I mean. United are going to be playing in the League Cup in August. That's how bad their season has been. But it's got to be a thinner squad. They've got to get out of this habit of giving players obscene contracts. So they're going to have to say they're welcome of making very obviously bad decisions.

you look at the recruitment hit rate, I mean, it's been awful for 15 years. It dates back to Ferguson's time, never mind the post-Ferguson, just after Ferguson retired. But looking at them in recent years, there have been so few examples, so few players where I've thought, yeah, I actually agree with that signing. And I know it's a subjective thing, but the signings they made in the summer, like,

Masrari has been quite decent this season but taking two players from Bayern Munich who used to play for the manager and then and also that manager is a manager you don't want to keep and then they sat that manager in October that's just appalling that is an appalling way of running a football club and nonsense like that needs to come to an end so that's I mean I've always been amid the Giochra's

I've always been wary of it because I don't want United, for United's sake, to go down that road of just signing players from Sporting Lisbon, of just signing players from the Portuguese league. Would I rather have Gokris over Lionel? Absolutely. I don't think the answer to United's striker problems is someone who was born four days later than Rasmus Hoyland and has been playing for Ipswich Town this season. I think they need someone who's proven that.

I just, I don't have faith in them to get the decisions right. They've got to, and I'm clearly not in the minority there either, they've got to prove to us that they are the right people to make the decisions. The next year is going to be, it's going to be barren at times because of the lack of midweek games, but it will be fascinating to see whether United can take the advantage of having a European football. Leicester and Chelsea won the title in successive years.

with obviously no European football. Newcastle have qualified. I mean, I know they've not qualified for Champions League yet, but they're expected to. But they'll have qualified for Champions League pretty much in two seasons where they didn't have any European football to contend with. Liverpool should have won the league in 2014. Again, it's just a domestic calendar for them that season. Arsenal got back to a... Excuse me.

a position where they were on the up, having not had any European football in that season under Mikel Arteta. I think it might have been two seasons out of Europe, in fact, in his first two seasons.

in his first two fall seasons because obviously he was appointed in December 2019 so there are examples where it clearly has a benefit and they've just got to draw a line here but then again I remember three years ago

um the day after home again this season that crystal palace and it was out in the house press almost and john murtel said that we just wanted to draw a line under the season as soon as possible move on from it united finished sixth that season and they qualified for the europa league and it's like you're looking and they are 10 places worse off though and those days and that that season was far more shocking than this season because of some of the defeats they had

but that just goes to show how accustomed we've become to United being dreadful and just sinking like a stone. Yeah, absolutely. They're amongst the all-star ones, aren't they? Nine teams in Europe from the Premier League next year and some in Manchester United aren't one of them. I was going to ask you about Aston Villa, but frankly, who cares? So I think probably a good time to wrap it up. It's time for us to...

head back to bilbao get our flight and put our passports away uh samuel thanks for you thanks for your company thank you for your time thank you very much uh please remember to leave a review if you've enjoyed the podcast subscribe as well we will be back i won't be back i'll be on holiday but someone will be back next week to

review the Aston Villa game if you can bear it and we'll be with you throughout the summer for what's going to be a big transfer window again at Manchester United but I hope you've enjoyed the coverage from Bilbao please leave a review if you have done and we'll speak to you all soon