Man Utd, Spurs, Chelsea AND Rangers all progress in Europe | Who will Tuchel call-up for his first England squad?
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Welcome back, Pages, bringing you everything you need to know about the biggest sports stories making headlines in the morning's newspapers. I'm Rob Jones. Joining me are Sam Wallace, chief football writer of The Telegraph, and Jonathan Liu, sports writer for The Guardian. Welcome to you both. We'll start with Manchester United, Jonathan. And, well, there is still a chance, even in what seems like the most disastrous of seasons, for them to salvage some silverware.

Yeah, and it's now eight games unbeaten. There's a little bit of optimism around this club for the first time in what seems like quite a few months, maybe. I wonder if, I think a lot of the noise this week over Jim Ratcliffe and the new stadium, new Trafford, kind of paradoxically helped them a little bit. I mean, if you imagine that the content machine that is Manchester United needs to keep

whatever the cost, if it's feeding on Radcliffe and the board, it's by definition not feeding on Amarim. I wonder if...

A lot of the headlines this week have taken the heat off him a little bit. And certainly it looks like, just in terms of little touches, obviously it was a very, very strong victory, but little touches like the performance of Aiden Heaven, the improvement of Xerxe, some of the set-piece routines were really clever. It just feels like Amarim is managing to get the little details right that when accumulated are going to turn Manchester United into a serious team in the future.

It's been strange, Sam, that at times this season that Bruno Fernandes has got a lot of criticism himself as well. And whilst maybe not perfect at times, you certainly do think where would Manchester United be without him? Yeah, I mean, he's the best Manchester United signing of the post-Alex Ferguson era by some distance. And they've certainly spent a lot of money in that 11, 12 years. So, yeah, I think...

When he loses his temper on the pitch, people certainly find that quite hard to watch from time to time. But he's a really good player and he would have got into the great United sides that would contest the Premier League title and would win it. He's that good and

And they do fall back on him time and time again, really. I think there was a time when United had lots and lots of players who in that one moment, given a half a chance, could score a really important goal. But he does feel like the last, currently the last genuine game-changing talent in that team, which is not to say that some of the younger players might develop into that. But I think now more than ever, especially now,

clearly with a very young Portuguese coach who's trying to change things he is he's just fundamental to the way they play and also to those big moments free kicks especially he's brilliant at and that's you know those that quality of player can make the difference

Jonathan, is there a danger that if Manchester United were to go on and win the Europa League, that people might get a fraction carried away in the wrong direction and think, actually, we've cracked it, don't need to worry, don't need a big overhaul this summer, everything's fine?

Well, I mean, if it means winning the Europa League and getting back into the Champions League for next season, I think that's a danger that most Manchester United fans would quite like to have. I just want to comment on Bruno Fernandes, you know, just briefly, because I think there's a little bit of a straw man argument around him. I don't think anyone was ever describing him as the problem or a problem, particularly when he's in this kind of form. The question that successive United managers have had to try and deal with is what happens when he's not in that kind of form?

I think he, like the start of the season, end of last season, he goes 17 games without a goal. And I mean, he's still contributing. I mean, that is not a problem as such. He's a kind of a rhythm player. But...

Is your sister robust enough to handle that, to have alternative routes to goal, alternative methods of attack? Because he's an incredible asset when he's in this kind of form. But if United are relying on him to be in this kind of form, that's what the problem is. But just to come back on that then, it's part of the problem that too often they do rely on him. And no player, not even Mo Salah, goes through the full season in brilliant form, 10 out of 10 every week. And it's felt like...

I guess the problem actually has been if it's not going to be Bruno Fernandes, then who is it going to be to sort of rescue Manchester United? Yeah, exactly. I mean, that's why the other kind of areas of development are so encouraging. You know, Xerxe and Hoylin obviously didn't score last night, but he looks like he's getting his confidence back a little bit. Those are the areas of improvement I think that are actually going to turn United into a more sustainable force going forward. Sorry, Sam.

Yeah, I would agree. I mean, going back to your point about the Champions League, I mean, that just simply, I know it's rather sort of reductive to just talk about money, but it's £80 to £100 million for playing in the Champions League. I mean, we don't need to go over to rehearse all the arguments that have been made this week about United's financial state.

that would be transformative for them. So clearly they're not going to do it in the Premier League. The Europa League offers a route into the Champions League and in many respects that would be an incredible ladder to climb

out of the situation they find themselves in. Just to look then, Jonathan, as the week as a whole, I'm sure that this result will not make Manchester United fans forget a lot of the stuff that came up in the round of interviews that Sir Jim Ratcliffe has done. Obviously, the new stadium is very exciting, but a lot of else what he'd said would really concern you as a United fan, wouldn't it?

Well, certainly the comments about current United players, even ones that are out on loan, which are then looking to sell off. This idea that a club can be on the brink of financial catastrophe and yet still be prepared to build a £2 billion stadium with money that basically doesn't exist right now. Those are the long-term concerns.

that I guess would concern me as a United fan. But I think, you know, being a fan is very much, okay, it's basically looking forward at the next game and the next game and the next challenge. And I think, you know, as I think we'll see with Spurs, you know, later in the show,

This progress in the Europa League has given a kind of shape and meaning and purpose to the rest of United's season. And that kind of energy that they can take through into the quarterfinal against Lyon, possibly further, that's the kind of thing that is going to sustain them. It's interesting, isn't it, Sam? Because those two things, as you sort of touched on, are so closely linked that...

The silverware is great and that's what the supporters want but the financial incentives of the Champions League feels like what the club needs that Ruben Amorim spoke a couple of weeks ago I think it was before the Crystal Palace game about don't expect a big summer overhaul and loads of new signings unless we're in the Champions League because the money is not there and that was rammed on by Sir Jim Ratcliffe this week.

Yeah, I mean, that's the truth. United have, we don't know what their financial results are going to be next time around, but they've lost in six out of the last seven years, you know, well over 400 million in cumulative losses. And in the end, you know, that takes its toll. It takes its toll on players.

on the club's cash, but also on its PSR compliancy. So as you know, you can't lose more than £105 million over any three-year monitoring period. So it's not like even if he was minded to, Ratcliffe could just inject endless amounts of money into the club. They have to live within a certain parameter

And yeah, that's going to make a difference. It's not 2003 when Abramovich came in and just transformed Chelsea in the years before FFP was introduced. It's a very different landscape now, and rightly so. So United have to cut their cloth accordingly. But the stadium, of course, as Jonathan says, and the financing of that is a completely different argument again.

So there are two Premier League clubs then in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. Manchester United joined by Tottenham. The Telegraph say alive and kicking. Jonathan, you said signs of life under Ruben Amorim from Manchester United. Are you more convinced by them or by Tottenham at the moment? Probably by United. I mean, just because of the fact that Tottenham haven't really put a run together yet and they are still at a stage where they're getting senior players back. I think, you know, Van der Benck came back for his first start today and they just looked at completely different prospects.

And, you know, I think people were billing this as like a win or bust game for Anish Bostogoglu. I didn't quite buy into that. I didn't.

I didn't get much of a sense out of Tottenham that they were contemplating a mid-season change. But obviously what it does do, it shows what is possible, I think. Spurs have shown at various points in the season the ceiling, and they have an incredibly high ceiling. The problem has always been stringing those performances together week on week against smaller clubs, for example, against low blocks, against different forms of opposition that pose different kinds of attacks.

And, you know, here they showed, I think, obviously, very fluent apart from, you know, the goal they conceded was a little bit sloppy, but basically very fluent. Madison had a great game. The defence worked. The various parts worked. It's putting these games together now. They've got Eintracht Frankfurt next, who are a very strong Bundesliga team. They're looking to Champions League qualification for next season. That's going to be a step up in quality for them. So it's building on that now. Yeah.

It feels like, just to touch on one of the players that Jonathan mentioned there, Sam, Mickey van de Ven, you make the argument that because of that line that Tottenham play defensively, there's arguably no more important player to making the Ange system work than van de Ven. And having both him and Romero there, if they can keep them fit, should make a huge difference. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's certainly true. I mean, he is...

He is important to that side. I think now he's very quickly assumed that role as a Van Dijk is to Liverpool. Yeah, he's pretty critical.

There was one stat, it's a slightly tortured statistic, but it's quite an interesting one, that Spurs are the first team to have five players under the age of 21 score in European competition in one season. And that does make you think, well, you know, Odebeer did look good tonight and Bergvall has looked very good at times this season for a relatively quite small transfer fee. Archie Gray as well has done very well. And you do see, I guess, as Jonathan said, you know, the kind of natural changes

state of mind of the fan is to look forward and I think there is a possibility that maybe this has been a difficult season where players like Archie Gray and Bervell have got a lot of experience and there could be a reward for that down the line and

But again, it's sort of jam tomorrow, which has been a theme of Tottenham for decades, really. And do you think, Jonathan, that that is part of the reason why there wasn't a huge clamour for mid-season change, as you said, despite some pretty poor results, is that Tottenham fans see logic. They see young players who in three or four years' time will be far better than this if they're still at the club for the experience and just natural improvement that...

if they can get it right, this very exciting combinations potential teams that Spurs can really make progress? I think that's part of it. Yeah, the development of younger players probably thrown in a little bit sooner than they were ready for. The fact that it is basically just been an incredibly weird season with all the injuries and competing in four competitions.

But Spurs is a club that, I mean, it's never going to consistently challenge for big trophies. I think, you know, the history, the recent history of the club has shown that. The wage bill would dictate that. What that club has to run on is hope and optimism and offering a model that things are, you know, that things are going to get better, that they're going to,

the fans are going to go on a journey with that club. And I think the last sort of couple of months of the season are actually really crucial in this respect. They're getting players back.

They are going to try and play the sort of football that Postacoglu has been trying to get out of them all season with varying degrees of success. And I think if they can go on a European run, if they can improve in the league, if they can maybe pull out a couple of statement wins like they did against Manchester City and Manchester United earlier in the season, then I think there is this sort of optimism around the club.

And a decent summer in the transfer window as well. That can honestly be something to build on for next season. We talked about the two Premier League teams into the quarterfinals of the Europa League. Obviously, none of the first editions featuring that penalty shootout victory for Rangers against Jose Mourinho's Fenerbahce. Sam, it's a bit of a theme, I guess, from the three British clubs who are going through that this Europa League campaign is maybe sort of just keeping going.

their season going and putting the memories or the troubled domestic seasons to one side? Yeah, it's certainly been a difficult season for Rangers. They've sacked Philippe Clement, haven't they, recently? It looks like Celtic, well, almost certainly are going to win the title, which will be their 55th.

which I believe, I'm not a Scottish football expert, but I believe that equals them with Rangers. So that's a big moment in Scottish football. But they've got this great European run of late. They got to the final in 2022. So the Europa League final, that is. So yeah, it's a big moment, especially against an old sort of European great like Jose Mourinho. I don't think Jose will be too pleased with his penalty takers after that. I did...

I did hear his post-match interview and he was, let's say, a concern that the hangover from his final during his time at Roma was maybe playing on the lines of certain officials. He was just suggesting that he was making no firm allegations. But yeah, he was very much in the mind that Fenerbahce had been the better team in that game.

But, yeah, their penalties were pretty dreadful at the end. Let's just move on then to a couple of other stories away from Thursday night's action. Let's start then with the Friday task for Thomas Tuchel to confirm his first England squad, Jonathan Loo. The good news is that Prince William has given him a Royal Seal of Approval and says he's the best man for the job. Any particular new faces that you'd really be excited about seeing included? Well, it's interesting that, you know, he gets this...

good luck message from Prince William and then Morgan Rogers turns up in the squad. So, you know, people say there's no such thing as a deep state. Dan Byrne is one that's been, I think, mentioned. I think maybe it's the male who...

who have put him in the squad. I think left-back is a big issue because I think, obviously, Shaw's injured, Lewis Hall is injured. There is a vacancy there. Chilwell, who obviously played so well for Tuchel at Chelsea in that Champions League run, he's not played much. So I think, you know, do we see Myles Lewis-Skelly? Does he go for, I guess, the more physical threat of a Dan Byrne? And also the centre of midfield because I think...

One of the traits of Tuchel's career so far, if you go back through Bayern, through Chelsea, is that he wants experience in the centre of midfield. Which means I think that while we might see somebody like an Adam Wharton or an Elliot Anderson in the squad, potentially, I would generally be really surprised if Tuchel gave them a significant role in the side. I think Conor Gallagher is a player who we might actually see feature quite a bit, even though he didn't actually play much of a role for Chelsea.

It's interesting as well, Sam, as to how Thomas Tuchel approaches it. And a lot of the conversation has been he's not here to sort of plan long term into the future to do things the FA's way. He's here to win and he's here to win now.

Yeah, which is interesting in that his predecessor was one of the first things that Gareth Southgate did. And it's often overlooked because he had those four games before he was appointed permanently. But in his first squad, when he was the permanent England manager, if you like, he took Wayne Rooney. So that was a huge moment in English football. I don't think there's anyone...

quite at that point for Tuchel. I mean, the eldest in the team now is Harry Kane. And, you know, clearly he likes Harry Kane because he signed him. So I don't think we're about to see that. That would be a, well, famous last words, but that would be a huge shock. No, I think he...

He will throw in young players because he has to. And I think Lewis Skelly is one of those. He's clearly a superb player, young player, superb prospect. And he's already a Premier League regular. So I don't see an argument against him being in the squad, to be honest. If you were picking the squad yourself, Jonathan, would Marcus Rashford be involved?

Yeah, I think not necessarily to start, but I think it becomes one of those selections that becomes self-prophesying. If you want Rashford confident, informed, feeling good about his football, then actually you want to, I think you want to get him involved in the squad sooner rather than later, rather than kind of second guessing himself. He's in a rich vein of form and I think we know he's got the pedigree.

Let's just finish with an exclusive in the mail, Sam. Toon Plan New Super Stadium, writes Kraycoat. Newcastle planning to build a new 65,000 capacity super stadium. The club preparing to take their intentions to the government in a bid to get a sign-off and create hundreds of jobs for their local economy. It's always interesting, isn't it, when a club, I guess, plans or looks like they may well leave a spiritual home which has such a pull as St James' Park does?

Yeah, I haven't seen all the details of Craig Hope's story, but I'm presuming this is the plan where they kind of, they build it almost next to St. James' Park. So it sort of overlaps maybe a little bit, a little bit like the Spurs stadium when it was built kind of half off, on and half off the site of White Hart Lane. I don't know.

I mean, yeah, it's, it's a, it's a great stadium for many reasons, I think, but mainly because it's on a hill in the middle of the city. I think that's a, the perfect place for any football stadium. And so, um, yeah, it's location is absolutely crucial to it. And, uh, it has those, I think Georgian houses down one side, which means that they can't expand on that side. So, uh,

If they can just take a little bit of the parkland next to it, then it could be a possibility. And clearly for big owners, rich owners, and there are none richer than those who control Newcastle United, then the stadium is an important kind of status thing to do when you acquire a new club.