Man Utd seal crucial win against Viktoria Plzen! | Ange SLAMS Werner’s performance against Rangers | Who are Man City aiming for in January?
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Welcome to Back Pages, bringing you everything you need to know about the biggest sports stories making the headlines in the morning's newspapers. I'm David Garrido. Joining me are Jonathan Liu and Martin Ziegler. Welcome along to you both.

Let's have a chat then, shall we, with Jonathan and with Martin. And let's start off with The Times and Manchester United and this comeback win over Victoria Pilsen. Martin, I wonder, given that Ruben Amorim had lost his last two matches in a row, how crucial was it that they did score that late winner? They did just arrest the recent slide and just start to try and get a little bit more consistency in their performances.

Yeah, and also, you know, on the back of Dan Ashworth leaving the club after such a short spell, I think it was pretty vital and also for Ameren to actually stake a claim in Europe. I think it's important, actually, that they got this win because the Europa League could actually turn out to be a vital competition for them to compete in this season. So,

I think for very many reasons it was really important they got that late winner. And I'm sure we'll talk about this dispute, this fight in the vertical commas between Hoyland and Amad Diallo. And maybe that just shows what the tension was like in the camp. Yeah, let's get straight to that. Yes, I mean, Rasmus Hoyland scored the winner, having come on for Marcus Rashford, got two goals. And then this row between them, presumably not passing the ball to one another. What did you make of that, Jonathan?

Yeah, I think if you think back to the great United teams of previous decades, there were always frictions and ructions in those squads. Andy Cole and Teddy Sheringham famously didn't like each other very much. Roy Keane with quite a few of his teammates. So it's not a prerequisite for a champion side that everyone has to get on. I do think there is a problem that occurs when these things boil over. And it seems to be quite a...

Quite a minor issue, really. I think, you know, Hoyland's obviously making a good run. Ahmad either decides not to play the cross or decides to take it on himself or doesn't see him. It seems a fairly minor thing for them to be blowing up in public on the pitch about. And, you know, we've all played five-a-side with these kind of people that after the game's finished, they still want to remonstrate with you for that pass you didn't play when I was just okay. The game's over, just leave it. So I think it's one for...

it's okay to have disagreements in a squad. And I think these things are better managed internally. And I think that is where Amarim comes in because you need a strong coach who can harness that. You know, Amarim talked about, you know, it's good when these things happen because it shows that they care. But it is also then down to the coach to harness that energy, that kind of, that tension and turn it for positive ends. Yeah, my

Martin, what do you think of what Jonathan's just said there? And, you know, the idea that this is something that could be useful ultimately for Amram and that he can ride on this passion that's in the squad. I think to an extent. I mean...

If you look at what happened at the end of the match, I mean, apart from initially Diallo not passing to Hoyland and then it looked a bit of a tit for tat as though Hoyland then didn't pass to Diallo when he was in a good position, as though he'd done that deliberately. I think if things are going to happen like that, especially when the match was quite delicately balanced, I think that's a big issue and something that Amaran's going to have to sort out because it's...

if personalities are clashing. Yes, creative tension is good, passion is good, but if it's going to boil over onto the pitch and actually affect goal-scoring opportunities, that can be quite dangerous. But I'm guessing, Jonathan, that this is the sort of atmosphere that he wants to try and spark as Manchester United head to Manchester City on Super Sunday. How well set do you think they are to try and take advantage of City's current travails?

Well, I suppose there's a danger in that, you know, the way that City are playing right now. It creates almost an expectation amongst United fans that they might even be favourites or something like that, which I don't think is the case. I mean, this is still a really gestating team under Amarim. You know, they're still...

I think quite a long way short of knowing what the best XI is, which players are ultimately going to fit for which roles and which will ultimately need to be moved on. They are still learning the style. I think they're still making mistakes. And Arna, we saw tonight, making that error for the Pilsen goal. So I think...

They are still very much, as we know, a work in progress. And I think the danger or sorry, you know, the important thing to keep in mind is that even though they are coming up against a city team that's not in the best run of form, they themselves are not exactly going to walk it. They still need to kind of learn the processes and the automatisms on the pitch that are going to help them succeed in the long term.

Just want to come back on to one of the points that you mentioned in your first answer, Martin, which was to do with Dan Ashworth. Of course, he's had a very, very short stint at Old Trafford, now decided his future lies elsewhere. This has been covered in the Mail. I just wonder whether you can just give us

A little bit more detail on this. So did the ring Dan United sacked Ashworth due to indecision in manager Hunt? I'm just going to read the first paragraph here of Sammy Mottball's piece. Dan Ashworth was sacked as Manchester United sporting director because of concerns that he lacked a decisive vision for the club's head coach position after an arduous struggle to hire Ashworth from Newcastle. The highly rated administrator was sacked on Sunday just five months later.

into his tenure. I mean, it looked like they were assembling a pretty strong top level on the football side of the operation. This obviously is really not ideal for this man to depart. What do you make of those comments there?

Well, I mean, I think it was not... It can't be a coincidence that he leaves so soon after a new manager's appointed. So to read... You just have to read into that that that wasn't his choice. He didn't think Amarant should have come. If he was fighting tooth and nail for Amarant to come and then he comes, it's very unlikely he's then going to leave within a couple of weeks. So I think it must be tied up with that...

Obviously, he had different ideas. Clearly, Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos, they've come in, they've been ruthless, haven't they? They've slashed the workforce, they've made cuts, they've got this idea of how they want to run the club.

And if Dan Ashworth, despite the fact that they went all out to get him, if he didn't fit into the particular niche that they had for him, then they've shown how ruthless they can be and they just think, you know, get rid of him, get somebody else. They wanted that manager and he was their priority. And I suppose...

Time will tell who made the right decision. Yeah, I mean, you're right. Just reading a little bit further into Sammy's exclusive, he says it is claimed Ashworth lacked conviction on who the club should target in the event of Ten Hag leaving, although he is understood to have tentatively recommended a move for former Chelsea boss Graham Potter and Newcastle boss Eddie Howe. And, of course, ultimately it was Ruben Amorim who was recruited later.

from Sporting Lisbon. OK, let's move on, shall we, to Tottenham against Rangers, the 1-1 draw at Ibrox in the Europa League. Jonathan, let me come to you on this. I mean, you know, we knew that these were two sort of inconsistent sides. Did it feel to you more like sort of two points dropped from Rangers rather than a point gained? I mean, they had spurs on the ropes towards the end of that game as well.

Actually, yeah. I mean, a lot was made in advance of the game of the relative value or the cost it took to assemble these two squads. I think Spurs in the hundreds of millions and Rangers in the low tens of millions. But it didn't pan out like that. Spurs were really bad. Spurs, I think, were... I mean, it's up there as potentially one of their worst performances of the season, even if...

They did manage to salvage a point in the end, which I think they needed because it's increasingly looking like they're going to need two wins to qualify for that top eight and avoid the two-legged Europa League playoff in February. So, yeah, it did feel... Again, we saw... And Rangers, by the way, you know, they deserve credit because they have...

They've looked to start a more cohesive side in recent weeks. I think they had a little wobble in October, November, but they have actually, the results have been picking up for them and the performances. And this was actually not a bad display for them. And Spurs just haven't,

looked like being able to control games for 90 minutes for a long time and this this was another of those of those occasions where they couldn't play the ball out of defense they couldn't keep it in the final third they ceded control of the midfield and and there were times when it didn't really look like they knew what they were doing and we've seen this we've we've seen this from spurs against good teams we've seen it against poorer teams we've seen it against teams that they'd be expected to beat and we've seen it in the europa league as well so you know the

I think Spurs have a really, really good chance of winning a trophy this season. They're in all four competitions, but they are really going to need to learn how to manage games better. Yeah, and the only reason they got a point was because Dejan Kulishevski equalised having come on as a substitute. That's mentioned in the back page of The Express. Dejan making his point. He did actually say after the game that we've got to start winning games. Also, I just wonder...

Martin, in terms of Ange Postakoglu, it's very rare that he calls out players. He tends to be, like many managers, protective of the squad. Although comments about Timo Werner, who admittedly he's having a tough old time in the Premier League, just really hasn't hit his traps. He didn't really do it at Chelsea, hasn't done it at Spurs. And the quotes about him are quite revealing, aren't they?

Yeah, Ange is absolutely lacerated. We took him off at half-time and in the post-match press conference he said his performance was not acceptable for an international and a Premier League player. I mean, I think if you're Timo Werner and you have that from your manager, that...

spells big problems ahead. I was very surprised that the Spurs manager went that far. I mean, no matter how frustrated you are, I think that it's very rare that that kind of thing pays dividends. Thinking about Jose Mourinho, when he was a couple of times a player, he called out it. I never thought that it had the desired effect. So I think it's a big risk for Ange to take to do that.

Let's go to the story that all of the back pages are focused on. City sets to rebuild in January. Martin, let's go to your paper and chat to you about it. So City target Tottenham Field champions ready to spend next month and are interested in...

Florian Wiertz, Bruno Gimmelreich and Martin Zubimendi, who of course was linked with Premier League clubs in the last transfer window. It feels very much like they have been pushed into this situation, not just because of the Rodri situation and his injury, but the form they're in and Pep has not managed to find any reasonable solutions to those problems. No, I think, I mean, Manchester City...

always prefer to do their transfer business in the summer, don't they? So the fact that they're looking to strengthen the side significantly in the January window, I think, just shows that there must be a clear feeling that something has got to change. Rodri's been obviously... You know, everybody knows what...

brilliant, amazing player he is. But I don't think City were quite prepared for the impact his absence has had. And it's been a fairly devastating, incredible run of form recently. But they still have some absolutely top, top players. But I think once you're on the slide, it's quite difficult to stop it. So perhaps they do need fresh blood to come in and do that.

Yeah, Pep's set to splash cash there, it says in the back page of The Sun. I wonder, Jonathan, look at Florian Wirtz particularly from Bayer Leverkusen. He's been linked with Real Madrid and we could see potentially in the future if Carlo Ancelotti makes way that Xabi Alonso is one of those who comes in and that would be another link back to his current player. I wonder how much of a statement signing would that be?

It would be, yeah. I mean, we all saw him at the Euros. I watched him quite a bit with Leverkusen. He is a fantastic player if he stays fit. And he obviously has had some injuries in the past. I think it's a bit of an admission. If you look at some of these targets, Zubin Mendy is another one that's been talked about. Pedro Poro is another one that there's been some talk about. I think it does kind of underline...

where City's transfer business has, I think, been a little bit deficient. They certainly didn't add in the summer as they probably needed to. They've kept a few players on, I think, through loyalty, maybe a year or two past their best. Kyle Walker's one that comes to mind there. And I guess the elephant in the room here, because we're talking about transfer targets, who they might be able to attract, who they might be able to spend money on. The elephant in the room here is the charges. If you are an aspiring player, one of, you know...

a player in the sort of class that City would be interested in you. And City are sort of talking about their vision. Where are you going to be in 12 months' time? Where are you going to be in two years' time? Where are you going to be in four years' time? Nobody knows. I think anecdotally, there's been a lot of evidence that the uncertainty around City, around the proceedings, around what's going to happen to them over these charges,

that has fed into, I think, an uncertainty for players, whether they want to commit to a club where you don't really even know what division they're going to be in in a couple of years' time. And that is something that City have kind of made a bed for themselves in escalating this and dragging this out for so long. And I think it's having knock-on effects on players maybe being a bit hesitant about wanting to join them at the moment.

Yeah, listen, we're obviously still waiting to hear further developments on the Premier League's case against Manchester City and those charges that you mentioned. But of course, City do deny...

any wrongdoing and they deny all the charges, just worth saying that. Martin, I just wonder in terms of, you know, we're focusing on specific individuals here, Viet, Skimoraj, Subbimendi and Jonathan mentioned Poirot as well. Do you feel that that is, you know, a kind of quick flip change solution or do you think that there are deeper, sort of deeper set problems there that might alleviate some? Is it the sort of ready-made quick solution that Pep needs?

Well, I mean, I think they do need somebody in central midfield. But if you're going to get a really top player like that, what happens to them when Rodri comes back to full fitness? Do they then become the understudy? That's something I'm sure that those players would bear in mind when making the decision. I think what Jonathan said as well about what's going to happen about the charges is really, really significant too. But, I mean, lots of people have mentioned the transfer policy issue

What's happened, selling Cole Palmer for £40 million and steel for Chelsea and Alvarez going in the summer as well and without replacing him. They've earned a lot of money from selling players, but you can imagine why some Manchester City fans should think perhaps they should have spent quite a bit more of it to improve the squad in some very important positions, especially where players are ageing.

And, of course, this is all in the context of where City are at the moment, given that 2-0 defeat to Juventus, given the 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace, where they find themselves now.

is that they are fourth in the Premier League table. They are eight points off Liverpool, who have the game in hand on them, remember. And they've got two very tough games coming up. Manchester City take on Manchester United at home this coming Super Sunday. And then the following weekend it is Aston Villa away. I wonder, Jonathan, is there a feeling here? There is so much weight, not just on that first game, but on both of these games. Should Manchester City fail to win them? Because these are tough games.

Could you say that they are out of the title race? Yeah, I mean, I think they probably are if they lose the next couple. I think Liverpool will have a gap that is probably unassailable. Even City, even Guardiola. I just, you know, I don't think any of us have seen the sort of football from them yet that would lead us to say...

okay, these guys are conceivable title winners. And then when you add, you know, a numerical points gap and the fact that there isn't really a chance for a reset, there isn't, you know, a scheduled break until I guess the March international break, the fixtures just keep coming. It's hard to see how they kind of, how they managed to pick things up, you know, significantly enough to get themselves back into the title conversation.

One other story to mention to do with Manchester City is that of Karl Walker, who has hit out after he received criticism and racist abuse on social media, on Instagram. In fact, he screen-grabbed the abuse itself

We haven't been showing it here on Sky Sports News, but obviously incredibly upset about it, as you would imagine he should be. Martin, this is not the first time and it won't be the last time that we hear of these sorts of things on social media. What meaningfully do you think is changing? What needs to be done? Well, I thought it was really good that he didn't just try and brush it off or ignore it, that he actually, as you say, took a screen grab and said,

went public with it, made it... Because it's so absolutely horrific and horrible, he did exactly the right thing. And I think he should definitely be applauded for that. And I think just by doing that, he's helping to...

try and tackle this problem because it does put money pressure on the authorities it does put pressure on the social media companies and the law enforcement people as well to try and find out who's doing this and take action

What's your view on that, Jonathan? I think everyone keeps saying Meta, who obviously are the owner of the Instagram platform, needs to do more, that maybe it should be linked to identification. We haven't really seen much movement on this situation with similar cases up until now. What do you think needs to change?

Yeah, I mean, we could talk about this for an hour. We've probably got like a minute or two, right? But the one thing I want to mention is data, right?

There are organizations, there are bodies, there are law enforcement bodies who are trying to get to these platforms and try to profile where this abuse is coming from, who's sending it, where they are demographically, what sort of circumstances, what sort of accounts they're coming from. And the tech companies, obviously, they're very protective of their data, but they've actually been quite...

in a lot of cases, quite hostile or reluctant to help out law enforcement and bodies, academic organizations that are trying to study this problem. And if we don't know what this problem is, if we don't have a grasp on the scale of it, then we can't fight it. And that is true, any form of abuse across social media, or in fact, in society at large.

Finally, let's just have a look at the back page of the Express because Chelsea beating Astana. This is the 3.30pm kick-off our time. Slightly caught me unawares. Martin, it was obviously a very young side, nine of Enzimorescu's players, 21 or under, who played in this game. And they proved that they can cope with minus 11 degrees out in Kazakhstan. Yeah, they certainly look very chilled in every aspect.

Yeah, well, no, they-- I mean, you know, Maresca's-- what he's come in and done actually has been excellent because to go and take a completely second string side, get them to perform really well, difficult conditions, very long flight, eight hours or something like that.

It's brilliant because also what it means is that the other players are going to be fresh for when they play against Brentford at the weekend. And they are looking really, really good. So they can fight on the European Conference League front and they can...

barely affects him in the Premier League and he's doing so well. Yeah, it's a long old trip back from Astana but it's a 7pm kick-off for Chelsea against Brentford on Sunday evening. OK, gents, we're going to have to leave it there. Thank you very much indeed to Jonathan and to Martin.