DO CALL IT A COMEBACK
Considering they’d just gone nine games without a win, assorted Manchester United fans carping about the manner of their team’s Bigger Cup win over Roma on shouty radio phone-ins on Tuesday night struck Football Daily as the type who’d complain about a firefighter refusing to wipe their boots at the front door before rescuing them from a burning house. Yes, it’s true that United played appallingly in the first half and were lucky to be only 2-0 down. And yes, the penalty was somewhat fortuitous against a knack-ravaged Serie A side who have form in coughing up two-goal leads in the competition. However, when your once mighty side has spent the opening months of the season looking more like a broken washing machine full of spanners falling down an escalator than an elite football team, complaining about the artistic merit of a highly unlikely comeback win seems unnecessarily churlish, even if Matheus Cunha’s celebration of the winner was a little over the top.
United were well represented on Amazon Prime’s coverage, with club alumni Nicky Butt, Ashley Young and Wayne Rooney all present to offer their views which reflected a performance of two incredibly contrasting halves. During the break the trio understandably got the collective funk on over their former side’s timidity, cowardice, and lack of ideas, confidence and belief but less than an hour later they were whistling a far happier tune.
“The second half was amazing, they were front-footed and they deserved to win the game in the end,” cheered Rooney in his post-match analysis. “The first half was terrible, but we saw the passion and fight we wanted in the second half. The crowd got right behind the team and you felt like they could go on to win the game.” While most in the Old Trafford crowd gave the team their full support, the cameras did inevitably cut to ashen-faced club blazers Jason Wilcox and Omar Berrada half-heartedly applauding their team with all the enthusiasm of dinner party hosts forcing a smile as the cat proudly drops a dead mouse on the cheeseboard.
With United now on an unlikely one-match winning streak, much of the post-match discourse focused on what this win might mean for Michael Carrick’s future as head coach. Widely regarded as a dead man walking before the game, he may well have bought himself a stay of execution and a scenic detour to the gallows. A pardon seems unlikely but another home win against Aston Villa on Sunday would further endear him to fans who really want him to succeed. It would also make life extremely difficult for his increasingly unpopular employers before an international break they had almost certainly boxed off as the ideal time to hand him his P45.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“For Real Madrid and for all Madridismo it is a great pride that a figure of his sporting and human dimension, a benchmark in Spanish and world sport, becomes part of our board of directors and contributes, from this responsibility, to the present and future of our club” – there’s a new man on the Real Madrid board – and it’s 22-times grand slam-winning tennis legend Rafael Nadal. It’ll make for some interesting family chat when he next sees his uncle, the former Barça stalwart Miguel Ángel Nadal.
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE
Join Simon Burnton at 5.45pm GMT for red-hot MBM coverage of Fenerbahce 0-2 Liverpool, while Dominic Booth will be on hand at 8pm with a Bigger Cup clockwatch taking in the goals from RB Leipzig 0-2 Manchester City and Slavia Prague 0-2 Arsenal.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
Roma managed to capitulate to Manchester United while being 2-0 up. Even Man Utd haven’t managed to do that too many times but I wouldn’t describe their second half performance as ‘a comeback for the ages’. Their opponents just didn’t turn up” – Nigel Sanders.
These suggestions of paper and velcro shirts seem overly complicated. (yesterday’s Football Daily letters). If teams would just commit to using body paint instead of clothing, the foul becomes impossible to commit unless a defender is possessed of both long fingernails and a cavalier disregard for the health of their opponent. Also, no more tedious yellow cards for removing the shirt after a goal. Win win” – Ben Mimmack.
Poor Nuno can take comfort that he’s in a long list of managers seen off by a poor result against West Brom since 2010, including Chris Hughton twice and five others. If you add Roberto di Matteo (he clung on for one more game) and spoiling Alex Ferguson’s leaving do with a 5-5 draw we were responsible for nine dismissals in seven years between 2010 and 2017. I think that’s pretty impressive. We’ve been quiet since then but perhaps we’re going for another run – championship managers beware” – Tom Levesley.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s letter o’ the day goes to … Ben Mimmack, who wins a copy of Programmes! by Richard Crooks. It’s out now and available to buy on the Pitch Publishing website. Terms and conditions for our competitions are here.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
Pump the latest episode of Football Weekly into your ears now! Beam the latest episode of Football Weekly into your eyes now!
FRANK VIEWS WE CAN DO WITHOUT
Jambo from Hollyoaks, Stacey from Eastenders, Jason from Coronation Street, even Frank McAvennie from West Ham and Scotland – everybody has a podcast now don’t they? Though we’re not sure how many sensible people will still be tuning in to Let Me Be Frank after his recent comments about the Celtic defender Auston Trusty’s absence following the death of his father. “I’ve got every respect for that, but how long do you want off?” barked McAvennnie. “Martin [O’Neill] says he’s away to celebrate the life of his dad. Celebrate the life? You’ve got football. You’re getting paid and we’re in trouble. How long is it going to be? It’s the woke brigade now, isn’t it? It’s nonsense. My dad was the best man, the only man I looked up to when he died, but you’ve got to get on with it.” Following an online backlash McAvennie removed his foot from his mouth and uttered an apology. “I should have chosen my words more carefully. Everyone deals with grief differently, and I certainly meant no disrespect to Auston or his family. Celtic need the big man back, and that’s what I was clumsily trying to say. I wish him and his family all the very best.”
NEWS, BITS AND BOBS
Aston Villa’s Bigger Cup ambitions were slapped up sharp in a 3-0 defeat by a clinical Barcelona at a rain-drenched and open Camp Nou, Raphinha scoring twice. “There are a lot of things to learn today,” sighed Unai Emery. “Overall we are competing fantastically in the [Bigger Cup]; we have nine points. Today, we saw there is still more to do to get to this level. ”
Elsewhere in Bigger Cup, Bayern Munich were too strong for Atlético Madrid in a 2-0 win at the Metropolitano, PSG scored a load more goals – six this time – in a thrashing of Villarreal and Inter romped to a 3-0 win at Feyenoord.
West Ham have confirmed the widely anticipated appointment of Scott Parker as their new manager, on a two-and-a-half year deal. “My energy levels, my enthusiasm, my desire, my passion – it’s absolutely running through and that’s the feeling I had as soon as there was a conversation that this was possible,” he whooped.
Parker takes his new charges to Cardiff on Wednesday with West Ham still eighth after Tuesday’s Championship action, which included a fine 3-1 win for Portsmouth over high-flying Swansea, another strong Birmingham performance in a 3-0 cruise against Millwall and a hard-fought 1-1 draw between promotion-chasing West Brom and Southampton.
Andoni Iraola wants Liverpool to sharpen up in attack as he prepares his side for this evening’s Bigger Cup test at Fenerbahce. “We still need to improve, especially attacking the box,” warned the Liverpool boss. Their opponents will be led – for one night only – by former Anfield cult hero Dirk Kuyt, who will be in the dugout as interim manager before Emre Belozoglu takes over permanently.
Meanwhile Liverpool’s owner, Fenway Sports Group, has held talks about taking a majority stake in the Cadillac F1 team for more than £2bn as Mark Walter continues to sell off his sporting assets amid allegations of insurance fraud.
Mikel Arteta has revealed more about his clip-collection hobby after being quizzed about whether referees might try to even things up against his team after the non-award of a penalty for Jurriën Timber’s shirt-pull on Alexander Isak. “I have a lot of clips about shirts, pulls, grabs. So I have a massive library that we can talk about,” teased the Arsenal gaffer, “I have a massive library that we can throw there to remind everybody what every team is going through.”
And Lyon boss Paulo Fonseca is now Sporting boss Paulo Fonseca after jumping ship for Lisbon on Wednesday. The French club said in a statement that they regretted Fonseca’s departure, “particularly given its timing midway through the season”. Lyon said Fonseca, who joined in January 2025, had been approached after Sporting ushered coach Rui Borges through the door marked Faça Um at the weekend. “In light of his clearly expressed wishes, the management considered that continuing a working relationship that could no longer guarantee the total commitment essential to the project’s success was not in the club’s best interests,” sniffed a Lyon statement. Jorge Maciel will take charge until the upcoming international break.
RECOMMENDED VOTING
The FSA Awards are fast approaching folks and, though Football Daily has been cruelly overlooked yet again, Big Website has been nominated for a gong as well as Football Weekly, Women’s Football Weekly and Suzanne Wrack. If you want to show your support by casting a vote, you can do so here.
STILL WANT MORE?
Has a footballer ever run a faster marathon than the evergreen James Milner? The Knowledge knows.
Manchester United’s comeback against Roma may have raised spirits at Old Trafford but it hasn’t reduced the urgent need for systemic change at the club, warns Nick Ames.
Océane Hurtré is making waves at Birmingham and she can bend it like Beckham too, writes Tom Garry.
And scenes in China, as John Duerden reports on the extraordinary collapse of runaway leaders Chengdu Rongcheng, who needed just a point with four games left to clinch their first title. With one game to go, they still need a point, setting up a thrilling denouement to the domestic season.
MEMORY LANE
12 August 1999: Sky TV launches its digital interactive football service by displaying TVs in London showing just how good its improved format is going to be. It was actually pretty cutting edge at the time though why the TVs weren’t stood on tables is a mystery.
