Little developments for one of the biggest jobs in football

The Independent’s football newsletter [View in browser]( [The Independent]( November 24, 2021 [The Independent]( Reading the Game Written by Miguel Delaney Big job, little developments Pochettino is willing, but are United? It is one of football’s many great quirks that Mauricio Pochettino finds himself in Manchester this week, facing Manchester City, when so many now expect him to return to the city in the very near future as Manchester United manager. Given he is in the Paris Saint-Germain hotel, it’s not like any meetings can be arranged. Pochettino has made his willingness to manage United known, though, and that is one factor in how he has emerged as one of the club’s two top candidates. He wants it more than he wanted to return to Tottenham Hotspur in June. PSG are also less insistent on keeping him than then - although they are not going to let him go that easily. They would just want £10m, while United would also have to budget for his backroom team. It would be an expensive operation. One interesting point is that the United hierarchy aren’t 100% sold on him. Ed Woodward is said to have become “enchanted” by the idea of Zinedine Zidane, mostly just seeing all those Champions League medals. United know he’s almost impossible to get, though. For the moment, the word from the club is that they are concentrating on the interim process in order to allow more space to make a proper decision on the permanent appointment. Valverde may offer a temporary solution We are also told that there is credence to the Ernesto Valverde talk, and he is a option, along with Lauren Blanc. The feeling is the former Barcelona coach, in particular, can offer stability. PSG prepared to look elsewhere One reason certain figures are reticent on Pochettino is that honours list on his CV. Some of in the game similarly believe he should not leave PSG without at least winning the French league. They know it would look bad, especially at a club like United. That weakness will be amplified during any poor run. On the other side, it is a factor in why PSG have long started to look elsewhere and wouldn’t be against Pochettino leaving. They’re generally content with the Argentine but are aware he hasn’t been completely happy in the job, so in the last few months have been keeping lines of dialogue open with other managers. Among them are Zidane, Antonio Conte and Didier Deschamps. This is similarly why many in the industry feel there could be a best-case solution for everyone by the end of the season, and that there is an easy changeover where Pochettino takes the United job and Zidane comes in at the Parc des Princes. The one big caveat to that career Even if Pochettino were to leave mid-season, and leave himself open to criticism, the reality is that his time at PSG is hard to judge. He came in mid-season in 2020-21 himself, when they were already behind Lille. The reasons for that, and Thomas Tuchel’s departure, were the same as why Pochettino is experiencing difficulty now. The squad is generally seen as almost unmanageable. The best you can do is just facilitate them. It is the curse of being blessed with so many stars, in such a context. No coach at the club can ever have any kind of authority. It is impossible to impose any kind of ideology. This is principally because, if any player is any way unhappy, the culture is such that they will just go over the manager’s head to one of the directors until they find a response they like. There are so many stories like this from so many sources. It has been particularly problematic for managers like Tuchel and Pochettino because their coaching is based on an ideology, that is dependent on core principles. The counter-argument might be that they should adapt, but that goes against the reason they are so good in the first place. It is one of the many contradictions and complications of the club. Both PSG and City are owned by states, but they each represent very different ways you go about that. Solskjaer's managerial legacy at Old Trafford And what of Solskjaer’s managerial legacy? Manchester United supporters will say they felt the most excited since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure, but it occasionally felt that was at least partly because of who he was. He was simply never going to be criticised like any other coach. There was a will for him to succeed. There just wasn’t the ability. Looked at coldly, Solskjaer at best performed to par at United. They finished third and then second, the latter on an unusually low 74 points for the position, but that having spent more than anyone in world football - £441m - during his time in charge. They also had the biggest wage bill in the game. In modern football, that is virtually a guarantee of around 64 points and a top-three place. There is a fair argument that they only did better than third last season because Chelsea persisted with Frank Lampard for half the season and Liverpool had no senior centre-halves. Their expenditure was certainly the main factor in the much-feted “squad rebuild”, which seems to have just reverted. More than a few signings have stagnated, and they now find themselves back in upper mid-table: exactly where they were when Jose Mourinho left. We were long past the point where Solskjaer fulfilled the initial requirement of improving the mood. His time ended with United’s famously loyal away fans angrily booing him. That was as bad as anything we saw under Mourinho or Louis van Gaal, with the last few performances far worse, and without a title challenge or a trophy. The best they had were moments. They’ll always, for example, have Paris. That just saw United persisting with a coach who was never going to be as good as his counterparts at their rivals. It all added up to a waste of time. A bonus newsletter? You may be wondering why you are receiving this additional newsletter from me on a Wednesday and that is because this is part of our bonus coverage ahead of [Black Friday](, which is happening this Friday (26 November), not to mention that there is plenty currently going in the football world, as discussed above. The annual day for retail bargains is the ideal time to pick up deals for all those Christmas presents you are desperately trying to find the time to buy. Luckily our colleagues over on the IndyBest desk have been busy putting together guides of all the best deals around. Here are a just a few to tempt you: - [Black Friday sports deals 2021]( - [Best TV deals in the UK for November 2021]( - [Apple Black Friday deals 2021]( - [Best Amazon Black Friday deals 2021]( - [Aldi Black Friday deals 2021]( Top stories [Jadon Sancho shows why he should be cornerstone of Manchester United’s post-Solskjaer era]( [Karim Benzema: Real Madrid striker found guilty in sex tape blackmail case]( Miguel's Dispatches As one media colleague at Vicarage Road remarked on Saturday evening, the time between a manager’s last match and confirmation of their departure can be a bit of a “wild west”. Everyone knows what is going to happen, but so much swirls around. Most journalists basically got reliable information that Solskjaer was to leave the job by 9pm after the Watford game, but there’s quite a gap between knowing that and being willing to write it. There were still denials that he’d been “sacked” late into the night, which was true. Given the club didn’t put it in that brutal term, that was technically true. The writing was on the wall, though. By midnight, it was in most media. By the next morning, it was finally in a club email. Quote of the day “We were close…” Solskjaer re-iterates his belief that his Manchester United weren’t far off glory in his farewell interview. Reading the game quiz If Mauricio Pochettino becomes Manchester United manager, he will be the first to coach both Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi. Sixteen players have played with both. Name them. (Sergio Ramos excluded due to not getting on the pitch at PSG at the time of the quiz. (Last week's answers: Marcel Desailly, Patrick Kluivert, Fabrizio Ravanelli, Jari Litmanen, Karl-Heinz Riedle, Steve McManaman, Fernando Morientes, Gaizka Mendieta, Deco, Hernan Crespo, Samuel Eto’o, Juliano Belletti, Pedro, Ilkay Gundogan, Arjen Robben, Gareth Bale, Luis Suarez, Alvaro Morata) Essential reading [Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel ‘worried’ by Ben Chilwell injury after Juventus rout]( [Paul Scholes: Michael Carrick and Manchester United coaching staff ‘all should have gone’ with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer]( If you can spare a minute we’d love your [feedback]( on our newsletters. [The Independent]( Join the conversation or follow us [Facebook]( [Twitter]( Please do not reply directly to this email You are currently registered to receive The Independent's football newsletter. Add us to your safe list of senders. If you do not want to receive The Independent's football newsletter, please [unsubscribe](list_name=IND_Football_CDP). 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