Second Take

Having had plenty of time, the Manager of Manchester United, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, has proven to make really amateur mistakes. Taking a well experienced United side that looked somewhat average at points to making teams have absolutely no respect for the Red Devils. His latest decision to field a team that barely had an average age of 23 proved to be the last straw for fans, well for myself. Football at the very top is not meant to be about taking chances and exposing yourself and lack of mental discipline. Just swallow your pride and field United's best. The amount of talent either on the bench or not even making first team appearances makes no sense; it means players that are being paid huge salaries just to become part of United's furniture! Whether the Manager has no control over these players or the players don't believe in him, is truly unclear, but what is clear is that United need a change. A change in management and a change in attitude to their approach to wha...

The mind boggles! What possessed the Tottenham bosses to sack Pochettino in favour of bringing in Jose Mourinho? Mourinho is only likely to contribute to upheaval in the dressing room, rather than being a solution. Judging by his time at Manchester United, things don't bode well for Spurs. Unless upheaval is precisely what the bosses want? Perhaps they feel a certain stupor had overcome the players and they want someone to come and shake things up. Mourinho always has expectations of a big budget. Are the Spurs bosses prepared to seriously invade the January transfer market? Interestingly, in 2015 Mourinho claimed to have rejected a move to Tottenham because of his love for Chelsea fans. What message is he sending to United fans by accepting this job? Let's brace ourselves for Tottenham double-deckers, starting with the City match!

The sacking of Pochettino is seismic! He was an institution at Tottenham, and it was unthinkable that he would no longer be there on the touchline, exhorting the likes of Harry Kane to perform. When Poch arrived at Spurs, it was a mediocre team, and he built it into a powerhouse. In a way, what has happened to him compares to what happened to Claudio Ranieri the year after he won the Premier League. Loyalty to managers seems to go so far. But, let’s be honest, in recent times Poch underperformed at Spurs. He had a team that, like Manchester City, is brimming with talent. Watching Dele Alli, Kane and Heung-Min Son in full flight is poetry in motion, but unlike Pep Guardiola, Poch couldn’t convert this into trophies. One of his errors was failing to continually refresh the team with new talent. When other top six teams went to market, he simply kept faith with his trusted players, and this may have been his undoing. However, make no mistake, Poch is very talented, argua...