MANCHESTER UNITED

and was on very nice retainer (probably rightly) until ineos got involved, possibly for his compliance or service...as the Glazers don't know a lot about the club's history, I'll take a guess at which..

Given recent transfers I'd take SAF's advice before the current regime's

Maybe so but he wasn't given that input when on the retainer...and the biggest transfer catastrophes are all pre Ineos...

They aren't football experts and have been let down by the 'experts' they employed.

Ed Woodward wasn't a football expert even by pub standards and they were or should have been aware of that...

no credible football structure was installed until Ineos and no attention was given to anything other than bottom line revenues which Woodward was able to temporarily exploit on the back of Utd success in a different era..

Employing the wrong people is on the employer.

Woodward was a businessman.


When SAF left why would you put a whole new football structure in place when you had won umpteen titles?

because football was changing, or you could even have trusted him and what was a slightly outdated model to heavily invest in players at a position of strength..

I've said it before but SAF's last  title was his most impressive, that side should not have won the PL...

Employing the wrong people is on the employer.

True, though I agree with Sir Norb that the Glazers financial scheme for United worked perfectly well. There has always been more than enough money to assemble a Top 3 in the world squad

A couple of times while United were getting a hiding from City or Liverpool, Sky put a caption on screen showing the City/Liverpool side on the pitch cost, say, £630M, and Uniteds was £710M.

they didn't invest in players at Utd's high point

Who could they have bought in 2008-11 that they didn't realistically? It was right then that Man City were spending limitless amounts on fees and wages (no FPP until 2012) and a player was only going to prefer United if they had a sentimental preference for them (as Berbatov and Van Persie reportedly did). City could always offer more even if there was no Glazer debts.

Also the team being so strong would have been a deterrence to some players; eg a top centre half would likely have to wait years for Rio and Vidic to make way.

After Fergie left it seems United's managers or whoever was making the calls just chose the wrong players, not cheaper ones than their rivals.

After Fergie left it seems United's managers or whoever was making the calls just chose the wrong players, not cheaper ones than their rivals

that's already major miss the point stuff...Utd didn't spend massive sums on absolute elite when they'd won the CL and lost a final, City weren't spending silly money in 08 either..far from it..

sadly I can't rescout 2008-2013 which would be more crucial end date btw..

Managers don't take full responsibility (far from it) in the last 20 years...many seem not to get this..that's why there should be a sporting structure in modern terms....DOF working closely with CEO, Manager and scouting dept..

Ronaldo's sale offset 3 seasons spending for a CL winner and following season finalist ffs...

and every season the ownership that oversaw the s***show take another between 25-50m out of the club in interest payments..whilst taking no responsibility for how the club is run..

and took share holding dividends for failure until relatively recently..

I just had a glance at the premier league transfers of 2011-13 and they were mostly rather weak 'draft classes', perhaps why  English clubs did so poorly in the CL between 2012-18.

Aguero and Eden Hazard were standouts, but as said City would outbid anyone at that time and Chelsea were outcompeting United for players before the Glazers showed up. Van Persie and Fellaini were 2 of the bigger money fees.

When you have a great team as United did late 2000s it's hard to avoid decline as you are hardly looking to replace players when they are in their prime , you are only really going for back ups or young prospects. So that makes signing elite difficult in itself. Because what elite player wants to sit on the bench?

I remember that period being debated some years later, on Redcafe I think it was, with the anti Glazers saying it was a no brainer to sign Arjen Robben in 2009, but Glazer debt interest stopped it.

That was pure retconning as no United fans were calling for Robben in Summer '09. Neither Chelsea or Real Madrid were bothered that he'd left them and it was a big surprise that he suddenly became the 3rd best in the world at Bayern.

If you're in a tough to attain European elite window you shouldn't have a negative spend over the key years...Utd did...

The decline started during fergirs latter years.

It's also true Citeh and Chelsea cheated to
fund their purchases.

But Liverpool built a team under Klopp, and
Arteta has managed at Arsenal, that are really very good.

So it is possible.

Why do people give the Glazers credit for growing revenues when every single top club's revenues went up massively in the same period? They sucked a billion out and presided over another billion being spent on dross while clubs like Liverpool and Arsenal bridged the gap by spending well and being successful on the pitch.

If United were successful on the pitch their revenues would be a lot bigger and they could have done it by spending half what they did. Ferguson papered over the cracks in his latter years. United are now like a club with the global fanbase of Villa/Everton due to horrific money management and the debt saddled upon them but with a massive global fanbase, still.

Fergies

absolutely true but managers get a lot of credit at the expense of recruitment at times..

game has changed and Utd were way behind until Ineos got involved - Ratcliffe not at all likeable or probably even interested in anything bar a profit on share turnaround long term but for their faults (lot of pushback on ticket prices and season ticket attendance revoking) at least they are visible and trying to do stuff unlike the majority clowns half of which allegedly want out anyway..

Why do people give the Glazers credit for growing revenues when every single top club's revenues went up massively in the same period?

Even if you doubt the extent that their operation raised club revenues, they had the vision to see that both United and the league were undervalued, and that rising revenues would pay their loan interest and still leave more than enough for transfer fees and wages.

I've said it before but SAF's last  title was his most impressive, that side should not have won the PL..

I do agree with this. It was the squad Moyes took to 7th.

SAF understood that his defence was creaking and the midfield was lacking in technique/athleticism, so they couldn't control games. But they had great finishers, which meant end to end games with the likes of Reading, Newcastle they could win just by scoring more in 4-3. Moyes was too defensive minded to want an end to end game with anyone so the team did not play to it's strength.

Why do people give the Glazers credit for growing revenues when every single top club's revenues went up massively in the same period?

No one's commercial revenues went up like United's.

United had much bigger commercial revenues and global fanbase than nearly every other club going back decades, nothing special about theirs growing massively at a time when everyone else's did too with so much new money coming into the game in that period.

lurka you can have the last post.

Carrick, defended the performance.
“I didn’t think we were [passive],” he argued. “Did you think we were? Football is a difficult game. We controlled a lot of the first half. It’s the Premier League and you will have spells where you don’t have it all your own way. To expect total dominance for the whole game, I don’t think anyone gets that in this league.”
Carrick claimed that United had done “more than enough” to win the game against Fulham, who started the game bottom of the table and are yet to win in the Premier League.

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Out of Possession stats for this season (sky sports)

Distance at high intensity (km) rank 20th
Time at high intensity (mins) 49.6 rank 20th
Sprints 243 rank 20th
Time Sprinting (mins) 9.2 rank 20th
% time walking out of possession 51.1% rank 17th

Distance covered yesterday was 110.2 km v 116.7km for Fulham...in abstract if you look at other games it's low but not freakishly so but against the backdrop of the other stats it gives a fairly obvious idea of what is badly wrong currently...

On the eye test yesterday - you would rarely see a less energetic, committed performance...if that's the best Carrick can get out of a team that needed to show some reaction then he'll be very lucky to make Novemember - though it's also a pretty shocking indictment of the players themselves...

Agreed.

From dale Gibson, bbc



Between 17 January and the end of the season, United picked up more points than any other team - 39 points from 17 games.

Yet only four teams ran less than United, and only two clubs had fewer sprints.

There is no material difference in the running stats, but United were returning 2.29 points per game compared to the 0.8 this season.

Something is clearly different, but it does not appear to be linked to this particular stat because barely anything has changed - apart from the results. Maybe this United squad simply does not have runners.

Then there is the comparison to rival teams.

Manchester City have won all five Premier League matches, but have covered less distance than United. Enzo Maresca's squad have also recorded the lowest number of sprints in the division.

Brighton, one of the most exciting teams in the league this season and the top goalscorers, are one place above United for sprints.

Maybe United's problem is tactical rather than a simple case of not running enough?

........


Dale doesn't seem to consider other teams may have been more tired in that spell, whereas with less effort expended man utd had more left in tank for run in.

No one answer I'm sure, but you'd like to see teams leaving nothing on the pitch the way the game is played, and refereed, these days.

As always with Manchester United, everything is sensationalised and nothing is run of the mill. Stats get pulled out of nowhere to emphasise the latest 'crisis', even Mr Neville on commentary with his 'worst 15 minutes I've ever seen' comment add fuel to the fire.

Don't recall any viable options when Carrick was appointed - I personally would have said 'thanks for getting us in the top 4 but goodbye' if there was an outstanding candidate or 2 out there - but there wasn't. Is there right now either?

Maybe the general lack of spending in the summer was a case of not over committing to Carrick if someone of high calibre does become available. We'll all never know what was talked about when he was offered the job on a 2 year deal.

Maybe we should just move to the Watford model, never employ anyone for more than a season and get rid as soon as someone doesn't win in 3 matches - seems like it would please some, although maybe even those terms are too long.

United have the most touches in opposition box (182) and least opposition touches in their box (92) after 5 games. Last season they had 9 points more than expected based on chances created/conceded, this year they have 3 points less than expected after 5 games.

in regard to yhtl - it's not just about raw stats though, Utd looked and played liked a committed team in most of the games under Carrick last season, I and many others opined the results outperformed the performances and so there was likely to be some regression unless the summer transfer window was transformational - obvs we have to wait and see what Baleba does when fully fit and established as his profile feels a great fit for what Utd could do with but doubts over his true level after last season remain..

If you are going to run less than most you need to have a sense of control in the games through quality of possession and also have enough end product or simply sit in and play on the counter which isn't going to work for sides with top 4 aspirations - least of all away at Fulham......as I said on this thread there were hints of it (control) at Everton and you could argue when 11v11 ...they were doing pretty ok against City..

I'm probably along with you don the least trigger happy on managerial change that posts reguarly but what I saw yesterday was very concerning and we all know in this age you simply aren't getting long if performances aren't up to scatch...not to mention out of any mythical title race after 5 games..

Yeah Brentford, I don't really have that much of an opinion,on current work rate, and can only go off what others say and thats just a bit of balance.

One other thing that was notable is that Carrick and his staff seemed to be the only people that felt it was going ok from a Utd point of view...no changes to the starting line up until 77 mins (Zirkzee) and Dorgu and Mount not introduced until 80' both of whom should surely have been out their before that moment..

Don't get me wrong, Carrick could have made some better decisions in games so far this season. The game management and subs v City were poor and yesterday was just drifting in the 2nd half until Fulham scored. We also all know the results last season flattered us in terms of 1 game a week and the low general standard towards the Champions League places.

I do feel (as you mentioned) that Carrick is trying to move us towards a more possession heavy, more considered and technically improved team - counter attacks alone isn't good enough. He's also reliant on the attacking players producing and, apart from one half v Ipswich, they (and particularly Bruno by his high standards) haven't.

Carrick should never have been appointed, the right approach is to appoint a manager that at least ticks some of the boxes relating to experience with one of the bigger European clubs and preferably with some success, if it doesn't work you keep trying to do the right approach until you get it right, you don't decide to do something completely bonkers because the right approach isn't working.

If there isn't a standout then there would still be any number of candidates more qualified than Carrick.

Of course as far as the board were concerned he ticked the most important box, the one entitled, most likely to give us the least push back.

Keith Andrews, Kieran McKenna

Andrews and Hurzeler are mightily impressive but I would be afraid that, although they have very good clear ideas and charisma for that matter, especially Andrews on that score, there would be a big risk that they may end up another Franck and United just can't afford to take that risk, Mckenna is definitely in the Carrick category for me, it would have to be someone like Poch or Conte for me.

Andrews and Hurzeler are a perfect fit for their squads and vice versa and a lot of the recruitment is already done for them. Clubs like United and Spurs are the polar opposite of Brentford/Brighton in terms of top down organisation and squad building. No surprise to see Frank and de Zerbi struggle at Spurs.

Andrews doesn't play the type of football that United want, Hurzeler does but you can't even say with any certainty whether either of them is good at squad building or identifying talent.

The likes of Hurzeler and Andrews are doing terrific jobs at their clubs, but the circumstances and expectations are totally different at those clubs. They are this seasons 'De Zerbi, Eddie Howe, Graham Potter, Scott Parker, Nuno, Thomas Frank etc etc'
No manager in the Premier League has scaled up successfully to a big club, the closest being Brendan Rogers and..... Mr Pochettino.

Pochettino always gets a mention on here in times of turbulence and to be honest I'm not sure what qualifies him to be regarded as a higher level candidate. Underwhelming at both PSG and Chelsea after being sacked at Spurs. He wouldn't have been available in any case in the summer, being committed to a home World Cup with the USA. Conte at least has a good record of winning trophy but how he finished with both Chelsea and Spurs has probably dissuaded other English clubs from going there.

United need a manager with a vision who can rebuild the squad. It is that bad.

Carrick is a wet lettuce.

I suppose they could sack Carrick and then appoint Michael Carrick on an interim basis until the end of the season, I wouldn't rule it out

A new low today.

2.4 from GOLDBRIDGE

Tielemans is a statue and remember Santos, who we were all told was so good and always passed the ball forward in pre season, well, Chelsea got their own back on the Garnacho signing by palming him off on us alright.

I suppose if the board knew that Sesko was a serious crock they might have addressed the centre forward position during the Summer, oh wait, they did know that

Mainoo doesn't run, Bruno is no longer a factor, Cunha is not a 9, the defence are shaky as f00k and the manager is a wet lettuce.

That'll about cover it.

A 3 or 4-1 defeat would have been a fair reflection. Holding on for a win would have been the biggest footballing crime in Manchester since...... you get the picture.

Fortunately for Carrick he has a raft of irrefutable evidence proving that he's doing a very good job.

Mainoo been one of the few to impress this season -

looks physically stronger, playing more progressive passes and taking the ball forward himself at times and appears to be getting a bit better on the defensive the side but he's never going to be an athlete....as has been said numerous times by many people, you need a more athletic player alongside him for the balance of the side to be right...Tielemans should currently be his understudy or rotation option...hopefully Baleba can make some difference in there...looked ok yesterday though a huge amount to prove and way too much on him to make the difference..

Bruno being a bit out of sorts has really exposed some of the others this season..and especially in the first 30 mins again the testimonial energy levels are criminal...you have to be a very good side to play with that lack of energy and they certainly aren't...

Football teams are built in their manager's image.

If Carrick worked for me I'd give him 15 minutes to go and bollock the entire squad.

Fergie might have employed Carrick as a coach.

Give him 15 minutes fag break and
bollock the players himself.

Man U look so slow and this season is painful Carrick nice bloke just cannot spout same rhetoric and why wasn't Shaw sent off?

Martinez giving the club's hierarchy both barrels.

He's only saying what the fans think.

Yep, good to hear, as soon as Clarke realized what was likely to go down he put as many words into his mouth as possible, but Martinez was up for it.

It's about time Martinez did something good this season.

Didn't seem very authentic..

a bloke that virtually never does media interviews comes out with that when his contract renewal negotiations aren't advancing as he'd like and now setting himself up for a transfer in January or the summer..

a bit rich to be criticising the quality of the squad as well when he's been both often injured and highly inconsistent since he arrived...if Utd had a spare 300m knocking about he almost certainly wouldn't be playing...

Self interested and pre planned agenda more likely than anything..

It needed saying.

Agreed brentford, but I don't care whether it's sincere or not, it has the same impact either way.

Didn't see the first half, 2nd half looked pretty even. At least Carrick adjusted his team - we have been terrible against back 3/5 teams in his reign, including at home to Leeds last season. Probably contributed to a scrappy, stodgy game but better than being wide open as previous. You could almost say it was 'Amorim like'.

Worst running stats this week end apart from
SUNDERLAND-who had only 10 players
LAZY

It's not Carrick, it's the players.

Oct 18, 2026 -- 4:21PM, SirNorbertClarke wrote:

It's not Carrick, it's the players.

I agree.
So many managers have come and gone.

I think the biggest problem in the dressing room is Bruno.

When he's on fire he wins games but he more often than not he spends more matches moaning at the referee and feigning minor injuries.

The game against Leeds was a classic example.

The bad news is he's currently in contract negotiations

It's not Carrick it's the players, but if the tea lady was in charge (if she was still employed) it wouldn't be her fault either but it wouldn't mean that she was qualified to do the join the first place,

Bruno has simply buckled under the weight of carrying the team practically single handed for the past umpteen years.

job

Club captains under Fergie

Bryan Robson    1986–1994
Steve Bruce    1992–1996
Eric Cantona    1996–1997
Roy Keane    1997–2005
Gary Neville    2005–2011
Nemanja Vidić   2011-2015

Bruno has a minor injury and is being played out of position...but yes his antics can be annoying... (hoping censors deem that to be acceptable)

It's a strange quirk that the two players that have carried the team through the last 10-12 years, firstly De Gea and then Bruno, for all their efforts have, still consistently found themselves heavily criticised by some sections through-out that time.

De Gea would make 10 great saves but the moment he didn't come for a cross he would be in trouble, and for all what Bruno has done, a couple of arm waves in frustration at the rest of the shower and he gets it.

Purely for context and not a direct retort..

I only ever criticised De Gea in his last couple of seasons when he was bang average (I lived with his early troubles in the context of a young Spanish keeper in the PL).. and he was world class for 3--4 years unquestionably...

Bruno I've virtually never criticised and whilst the time may be nigh if an offer comes in - Utd would probably have been relegated without him not to mention never hitting the heights of 2nd and 3rd..as they have during his time here...  (subject to censor removal)...

I was speaking generally

no I know..(as I say not a direct retort) ...the Fernandes stuff annoys me (annoying though he is at times) ..

the De Gea blindspot of some of the fanbase and lack of context with him turning down very good money before he was released as well..also annoys me...though in the rearview window clearly they could have paid him double what he wanted for 2 years and it would have been better than Onana....Lammens, not so much...

I never thought I'd say it but I am starting to think that trying to wrestle Emery away from Villa wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, he appears to be able to thrive in chaos, take his players away and he deals with it, he might even be able to do something with Tielemans

The club captain should always set the tone of the squad. Should always be a warrior.

Bruno - the team is built around him as a number 10 with limited tracking back responsibilities. His output over the years has justified that, but whenever in a dry run the negatives will be amplified.

Has been shown if you play him in a different role to balance the team (wide, deeper or even as a false 9) he's not the same player. At some stage a decision will have to be made about replacing him, but I'd rather that be done as a restructure of the team rather than a like for like replacement.

Carrick thinks the performance against Leeds felt like a "fresh start"

Managers typically begin to display delusional behaviour when they approach the event horizon.

EtH unloading on the club today.

It was more than disappointing. I think everybody’s got to take responsibility for that. I’ll take responsibility for the overall team and performance, it stops with me and I’m fine with that. But as a supporter of this football club, to see a performance like that is unacceptable, I have to say.

I’ll look at what we’ve done. It’s the motivation and the purpose and the intensity of a game of football that you have to bring. We didn’t bring that today. You can’t choose when you want to perform or you don’t, when you give absolutely everything and when perhaps you don’t.

I care an unbelievable amount about the supporters. They’re the heartbeat of this football club and always will be. I’ve got to apologise for the performance. Everything they’ve done to get here tonight, for them to watch that performance tonight, I feel for them.

Tonight’s not about me. It’s about digesting the game, and how it went. That’s the most important thing right now.

Carrick and Fernandes trade barbs as United rocked by more infighting

As Jeff Lynne said, 'There's going to be a showdown.'

Very disappointing window, the fans are being asked, and many have swallowed, the we're skint and are therefore being sensible BS, they've missed all their targets and saw Tielemans going relatively cheap and they thought they could placate the fans , oh, he's good, the fans will fall for that one so they snapped him up.

The board have reached their zenith in CL qualification, the money will keep rolling in so no need to push for honours as that is not a necessity.

We have seen through this window precisely why Carrick was given the job, happy to be here and no pressure being applied from his direction.

We are now having this notion that Rashford and injury prone Mount are akin to new signings and world beaters whilst continually having the Santos is world class narrative being foisted onto us that Chelsea somehow couldn't see.

We needed legs and aggression in the midfield as well as another top striker and we haven't got it done.

Last summer the board did a good job as they needed to get back into the CL, now they've got there they've sat back and not gone again.


All too obvious.

PSR

Utd didn't have massive amounts available and none of the key targets wanted to come anyway - who can blame them ? ..not going to post all the financial detail again as it gets deleted anyway..

Baleba has been signed for legs and aggression, probably best he gets more than 2 starts before being written off btw but the current issue and even Carrick finally referenced it tonight is that the players don't run..also Cunha and to a lesser extent Mbuemo haven't really justified their signings anyway..certainly not on this season especially...

It's a shiitshow.

Unfortunately Baleba only has the one pair of legs, he needs one for himself and another couple for the other mids.

They spent 50 million on Santos, who has been a flop, who knew, that money could have gone towards a striker, I say this because the only one we had was injured before the season started, you know someone perhaps like Welbeck to fill in, he'd have jumped at the chance to come back to us before Chelsea who paid a measly 5 million for him and a good egg in the dressing room to boot, who did we buy, no-one and started the season with no centre forward.

Mbuemo is perfectly capable of playing as a CF..he's done it for clubs and at international level which is why they didn't prioritise the position ..they desperately wanted to move Zirkzee (and Rashford for that matter who can also fill at CF)  to free up funds for recruitment...couldn't shift either beyond loans...would have tried to move Ugarte but did his cruciate at the WC...which further hurt available funds..

agree Santos feels very odd as clearly didn't fit the obvs dynamic required (did make them less desperate in the market for Baleba so may have saved 10-15m on what they eventually paid there)  and Carrick doesn't seem to rate him much - only getting playing time largely through necessity to this point - though from what I've seen he's a reasonable player and obvs only 22 currently but needs a Baleba type just as all the others do alongside him....

Welbeck was available on a free at one point (would have been if overtures made) - not his biggest fan but felt an obvs stop gap..gained zero response from memory but less so 2 years on I'd say..

Not Utd players.

MERCANERIES.

Conte statement...

"Following recent media reports in Italy and abroad, I feel it is appropriate to clarify my position.

"My name has been linked with numerous clubs, but there are currently no negotiations at an advanced stage. Following a wonderful and successful spell in charge of Napoli, I will take the time I need to consider how and when to return to management. It will be a carefully considered decision, one I will make when I believe the conditions are right.

"I have read reports of financial demands and requests for full control that I have supposedly already made to the clubs mentioned, as well as reservations about what has been described as my “strong personality”. These reports are unfounded, as there is currently no concrete basis for such assessments.

"Should a concrete opportunity arise, that will be the time to hold discussions with the club concerned and jointly consider the terms of a potential agreement, with due regard for both parties’ needs and the qualities and approach that define my work as a manager.

"Until then, any assumptions about my demands and my professional future remain speculation and cannot be treated as fact."

I'll become a Palace fan if ever Conte becomes United's manager.

I don't see that happening tbh for multiple reasons..

the others getting most attention in the media at least seem to be Nagelsman and Howe...not massively inspiring, I like Howe but I'm not sure this is a great fit for him..Nagelsman certainly didn't show any signs of being a master tactician with Germany..

Nagelsman also keen on a very high tempo, high pressing game...GL with that with the current squad...

With the club having dillatory owners if the next manager is to succeed then he will have a arrive with a very firm set of values and have the balls to bend the club to his will.

So called big players will have to pull their weight or be booted out.

'According to club sources', names suggested to replace Carrick include Conte, Nagelsmann, Eddie Howe, Unai Emery and Hurzeler.

Apart from the fact that they all play totally different styles of football and would require totally different types of players to each other, what could possibly go wrong?

I did at one point think that Carrick was appointed in the summer but was still technically an interim, that we had a better candidate in mind who couldn't be obtained in the summer. Hence not spending much in the summer or buying players that the eventual coach wouldn't want. Obviously I was wrong and I was overestimating massively what future planning was taking place.

I never thought I''d say it but I would actually be in favour of Emery if for no other reason that you seem to be able to throw anything at him and he can make the very best of it, obviously the Arsenal tenure is a negative.

Somebody pointed out Eddie Howe tried to sign a load of your players and they went to
man utd, not Newcastle.

So interesting to see if they would have suited his style, or if he could adapt.

I thought emery was the loudest whisper of who was being chased, but....

Might need an interim for a couple of games if Carrick goes otherwise, r.e. Emery, it could be the first time ever that a manager has managed two different clubs one after another in consecutive games.

United have Villa at home immediately before the International break.

Emery has a good overall record, I'd prefer him over Eddie Howe for a few reasons. However, I think he requested and has been granted a fair amount of power at Villa and I doubt very much he'd get that at United. A bit of an underdog coach in my view but is there where we are as a club in reality?

I think emery is far more flexible with regards to systems and style of play.

I think you would need to be on the white stuff to ruin your reputation there. toxic.

Mate of mine has called and he said next transfer period, incoming players done deal. United sick to death with the playboys. Incoming Todd Cantwell, Barry Bannon, David McGoldrick and Wayne Rooney.

Emery is an alchemist, the much maligned Lindelof another of his success stories it seems.

Villa are the bottom of the BIG clubs or thereabouts.

Could it be simply the players know they either perform there or it's Burnley next?

Carrick stays imo

Something has to change and rightly or wrongly it's going to be Carrick.

Jonny Evans or Fletcher will take charge for the Chelsea and Villa games, before they give the job to Howe who ticks the only relevant box, namely being placid.