"Give them the ball, they don't know what to do with it" Discussion as Man Utd draw with Spurs

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Man Utd draw with Spurs: possession problems and Carrick pressure debated

The panel reviews Manchester United's draw with Tottenham, criticising United's lack of organisation, intensity and ideas in possession while questioning Michael Carrick's position. Spurs are credited with progress and fight, but their goal threat and mentality remain concerns.

► Subscribe to Sky Sports News: http://bit.ly/SkySportsNewsSub ► Watch Sky Sports with NOW: https://bit.ly/NOWSkySportsYT The Sunday Supplement show discuss the difficult start to the season for both Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur after they drew in the Premier League. SkySportsNews SkySports manutd spurs ► For the latest developments on this story: https://qrcode.skysports.com/skysports/topstories ► For the latest transfer news: https://qrcode.skysports.com/skysports/TransferCentre More from Sky Sports on YouTube: ► Sky Sports: http://bit.ly/SkySportsSub ► Sky Sports Boxing: http://bit.ly/SSBoxingSub ► Sky Sports Cricket: http://bit.ly/SubscribeSkyCricket ► Sky Sports Darts: https://bit.ly/SubSkySportsDarts ► Sky Sports Football: http://bit.ly/SSFootballSub ► Sky Sports F1: http://bit.ly/SubscribeSkyF1 ► Sky Sports Golf: https://bit.ly/SubscribeSkySportsGolf ► Sky Sports Premier League: https://bit.ly/SubscribeSkySportsPL ► Sky Sports Retro: http://bit.ly/SkySportsRetroSub ► Sky Sports WSL: https://bit.ly/SubscribeSkySportsWSL ► TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@skysportsnews ► X: https://x.com/SkySportsNews ► Website: https://www.skysports.com ► To enquire about licensing Sky Sports content, you can find out more here: https://www.skysports.com/more-sports/news/31754/11434270/license-sky-sports-footage

Transcript

Right, let's discuss Manchester United and Tottenham, shall we? A one or all draw yesterday at Old Trafford. Um, we're going to start with the Telegraph for this one. Salanki to the rescue. Tottenham striker grabs stoppage time equalizer after Bentonor is sent off. It was an eventful game, wasn't it? Essentially, particularly towards the end of it with Rodrigger Benton seeing red for a headbutt on Luke Shaw who' pushed him. We we'll get into all of that, but in terms of Dominic Sanki, he needed a goal and also Roberto Derby said they needed a point desperately, didn't they? >> Yeah, I think it it turned out into a a pretty positive evening for Tottenham and for Salani simply because I think it would have hurt so much if they'd emerged with nothing given how given how much they dominated the first hour. Like they should really been three or four up before Manchester United came back into the game. But they they fought back. They got a pretty good point I think given the quality of their performance and for Salanki. It feels like a huge moment. This is Salanki's his first goal this season in the Premier League. He's had you know he's had a tough time with injuries and Deser's been working really hard to build up his confidence, keep playing him even when he doesn't look in good form and good rhythm and so for him to grab that late equalizer at the end. I just wonder if that might be a kind of confidence boost going into the next round of games. >> Yeah, we'll discuss the Spurs side of it in a bit more detail shortly. In terms of United, they're pretty much the headline actually when you go inside the Telegraph. James Ducker says United's failure to hang on is no shock for suffering fans. I mean, it took him till 73 minutes, James, to get a goal. Spurs then go down to 10 men and they can't see the game out. They concede late on. How worrying is this for Manchester United? James Ducker says there was nothing about this performance and there is nothing about this team that will have convinced any United supporter inside Old Trafford that they they were going to hold on for the victory even against a side as toothless as Tottenham. They weren't putting up much resistance at all, were they? >> No. I I came on this show the back end of last season when they were flying under Carrick and I said at the time I felt I didn't think that giving in the job permanently was going to take them back to the point of winning leagues again. I got hammered for that on social media at the time and so I I I haven't changed my view on that. Um, and I think there's some just some really worrying signs that the sort of positive vibes, the momentum, the enthusiasm that was there and Michael Carrick, to his credit brought back in that incredible run in the second half of last season. It doesn't look to be there. They don't, you know, there's a lot of very sort of drawn, serious, downcast body language, faces. again the the the damning stats, the running stats, you know, they were outrun again by Spurs by 5 km collectively and then you put that with the Fulham performance before the international break when and obviously Gary Neville was very good on that, you know, the high running stats and just how static they were and you sort of see Michael Carrick on the sidelines shaking his head near the end and you just think this this looks like we're getting to a stage where people are going to start thinking about the manager situation again. And I mean, I'm s I'm I'm surprised it's happened so quickly. I have to say I did think that, you know, after the summer where they they've invested again and we can debate whether they've invested correctly again. I think I've question the the merits of just focusing on one area of the team when it's quite clear that defense needs probably a complete overhaul, certainly improvement. and and you you look at the team again and you and a performance like that last night where there's no real patterns of play, there's not that energy, enthusiasm, there's not the basic I mean look at Believer when he came on and he suddenly stands out because there's a guy who's actually getting his foot in and he's running around and he's trying to get involved and you think if that's all it takes to stand out what does that say about the collective malaise at that club at the moment and it's these are all really deeply worrying signs for Michael Kerry. There's a lot of language around sort of sluggishness, looking pedestrian. James, I could just say much to echo your thoughts that they're a team going backwards. In Ladyman in the Daily Mail calls it the hangover from hell after sort of celebrating what's befallen Manchester City. Um he also points the point that United have got a heck of a week ahead now. Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday, lead United who are looking pretty good so far this season next Sunday. I mean, given depending on how those two matches go, could we be seriously talking about Michael Carrick being the first Premier League manager to to see himself dismissed this season in a in a week or so's time? >> I think we're already having that conversation. And to to James' point there, he mentioned he mentioned vibes. I mean, what else is there about Carrick's Manchester United at the moment? They've just gone out and targeted midfield plus a substitute goalkeeper as their only bits of transfer window business. And the worst part of their team yesterday was their midfield. Now, what does that tell you about the people above Carrick for a start? But I look at I I I look at that team and there are talented players in there and Carrick's job is to at the very least sort of ma match the sum of the parts, but they're less than that. That's on the manager. The shape is on the manager. The organization is on the manager. Now you've got Tottenham who arrive in that game as the worst team in the Premier League this season, albeit with some decent performances. They're running through the middle of that team. They're they're they're picking holes in that United side sort of, you know, meters across. It's there there was there's nothing about United's character. There's nothing about their organization. There's nothing about their tactics. There is nothing about their performances at the moment that provides any level of optimism. I mean, look, if this, you know, heaven forbid this Man City situation hadn't happened, they would have nothing to shout about right now. The team the team the team is in a complete mess. We're talking about Atletico Madrid away. We're talking about leads. As we sit here today, I can't see United getting anything out of out of either match. That that that that's a sentiment that could obviously age very badly. But if they don't, if they don't, Carrick is under a huge amount of pressure there because so far we're look, we we came into this season with the one question of, okay, fair play to Carrick. He did a he did a really good job stabilizing the club and improving them drastically after Amarim, which was a disaster. But how's he going to cope with the bigger workload? >> Is he going to have a squad that is sufficient to cater for that workload? the recruitment team didn't deliver for him in in in the summer. And so far through the more gentler part of the schedule, he's he's not delivered for the team either. And now we're coming into that really busy period of the season. I think if we're seeing cracks already, what we see in the next couple of months could be >> could be really worrying. >> That's a really good point because this is this is relatively easy start for United. the fixtures were were kinder than they could have been and they were playing a game a week last year, very settled team, didn't really have any injuries and you know were able to thrive in that environment. They've now got I think it's eight games in 28 days and some huge fixtures that are going to get you know the tougher matches now and as Ri says if you you you're in a situation where you're watching a team that just continues to look like they're just playing off the cuff there's no you don't you don't look at United and really see what they're trying to do. The only time they look threatening is on transition is when the o the the opponents are out of shape. The the play breaks down and they've got players because they've got a lot of individual ability and they've got pace in that team who can cause problems getting up the pitch quickly and score goals that way. But the the most damning thing you can say about Man United is give them the ball. >> Yeah, >> you give them the ball. They don't know what to do with it. Not >> great for people. >> I couldn't believe how bad they looked physically yesterday. Like they were second to everything. There was tons of space in the middle of pitch every time Spurs came forward. Spurs were so able to just nick the ball off United when they tried to build up. There were no there was never any resistance. And there's a there's been a a clip that's going around which I think a lot of people have seen one of the highlights from last night which was I think early in the second half Kinsky rolled the ball out to Archie Gray. Archie Gray then just runs forward and like 5 seconds later Spurs got the ball on the on the edge of the Manchester United box and the lack of resistance, the lack of pressure, the lack of physicality from United. this in a home game against you know a team who you would normally expect them to finish roughly similar place in the Premier League. The lack of the lack of competitiveness from the players is just unbelievable. Believer and Mayu I think is potentially a a working solution there. I think you know I want that that that as a as a as a combination in the middle. I do think that's something that could give quite a sharp upturn but everything else at the moment is just pointing the wrong way. >> Um let's turn our attention to the Spurs side of things then. still winless, but a point and a goal for Dominic Sanki. As we've mentioned as well, the front of the Sunday Times sports supplement this morning says, "Fighting spirit bentin sent off for the headbutt, but then windless Spurs rescue a vital point." Um, he was off only 12 minutes after he came on yesterday. In terms of Spurs, it was quite similar, isn't it, from what we've seen so far from them this season in terms of a fast start, lots of missed chances. It wasn't it wasn't through Manchester United's doing that it took them till the 92nd minute stoppage time to score. I What did you make of their performance overall? And is this showing promising signs? Because that's sort of the the story inside the Times this morning that at last we're seeing promise from Spurs, but we've kind of seen that throughout the season. Yeah, I mean flashes at least. >> It's difficult, isn't it? Because United, we've just spent five minutes telling everybody how bad United were and we're now going to talk about promise with Spurs and and actually maybe they've just taken advantage of playing against a team that, you know, was a little bit of a mess really yesterday in in United. But having said that, I do think there are signs that that Deserby is building something there. I think they were better for longer in the game and they're they're having longer spells where they look more cohesive. Um there's obviously a sort of crippling lack of confidence there which is is embedded from a long period of time despite the fact they've made a lot of new signings. And I think it's is it I think it's 48 games where they've gone behind and not won. So it's I think it's 48 I think it's 48 49 games that speaks to a mentality issue at Tottenham that's been there for a long period of time. Thomas Frank, Jackal know this Thomas Frank talked a lot about this last season about this mentality issue about trying to find some character and some leadership and some resolve and I don't think we'd be speaking out of turn to sort of say that I think Thomas Frank made Christian Romero as captain because he didn't really feel like he had an alternative and what does that say about the kind of leadership options that you have at the club and so I think when when we see Derby sort of almost almost praising Benanker for for that show of not quite condoning violence but sort of certainly saying oh look somebody's showing a bit of fight a bit of resolve a bit of you know a refusal to lie down I think I think that's the context in which he's speaking there he's talking about that you know those 48 games where as soon as they go behind that's it they don't even look like coming back into the game and actually obviously they've come back and got something against United and and and he feels as though he can cling to that and point to that and say look this is the kind not literally the kind of fight we want to But that kind of defiance is what marks out the better teams from the average ones. >> Yeah. He said that the headbutt wasn't the right reaction, but that he did give Benden Court a kiss for his level of passion. And given where Spurs find themselves and how they started the season, it is that passion and that desire to to win that's so often been looking as though it's been lacking. >> I think so. Yeah. Deserby keeps talking about blood, which I think he means, but he doesn't literally mean blood. he means kind of competitive character and and uh desire to win. And there was a lot of that there, you know, Spurs have changed so much in the last year or so. There was actually a lot of that kind of character and desire at the back end of last season where they just scraped safely thanks to the rescue job that Derby did. But basically, they came back in in the summer and they effectively had to start all over again, right? Because they made 10 signings in the summer. It was a pretty disruptive summer. They had a tour to Australia. There was a World Cup. There were injuries and so on. And so it's been like trying to it almost feels to me like Derby is trying to build a new team from scratch. Everybody's got a blank slate, but trying to create that kind of competitive character that he wants, that desire, that mentality, as well as teaching them the complicated aspects of how he he wants them to play. That's difficult and that takes time because, you know, half these players went weren't there last season. They've got very little to fall back on in terms of that kind of muscle memory of winning that good teams have. you know, they've got very few memories together apart from the maybe half half of the team with the results they got the back end of last season to keep them up. And so it's I feel like Derery's having to almost kind of rebuild the whole Derby is almost rebuilding the football club from scratch by himself, which is a which is a very difficult job. And so I think he's he's very very keen on this kind of thing. And that's why, you know, he's always talking about he's trying to build up the players confidence. He's trying to tell them how good they are. They're going to Marbaya, I think, today for a few days on a >> uh on a on a kind of team bonding trip. So, yeah, it's all about trying to rebuild that kind of that character and energy and passion amongst the players. >> Joshua Pek on the back of the Sunday Mirror this morning says that Sanki stoppage time header rescued a point for 10-man Tottenham and might have saved Roberto Deserby his job. Does that feel accurate or does that feel a bit premature? I don't I don't think contrary to what the lee table was telling us. It's it's it's not my understanding that that deserve was in sort of really grave peril there. But I think you know there is a danger of giving him a little bit too much a little bit too much credit for an improving trend in performance. I mean the club's still in the bottom three and as we've just discussed there they couldn't beat Manchester United and at the moment there isn't a greater indictment in in football. struggling to be sorry I'm bit you know be we could be a little bit facicious about it but it's this the Tottenham yes they are trending in the right direction whether it was a good 20 against Everton a good half hour against Aston Villa and and now a predominantly good and dominant performance against Manchester United but they've still had to rely on a stoppage time goal I think fundamentally the problem we're identifying with Tottenham is the one that we've been saying since day one which is where are the goals going to come from? You know, but there there is no shortage of creativity in that side. I think Savio is now definitely, you know, I find Savio a fantastic player to watch. I just, you know, it's that final ball and we keep coming back to it with him. I think that's improving. I think that's also that decision making, something that can be coached. I think Salanki the biggest point from yesterday is whether or not he's got the confidence to actually look like the player he was 3 years ago because that is the area where Tottenham are massively lacking.