Манчестер Юнайтедын дасгалжуулагчийн бүрэлдэхүүн, Арсеналын сонирхол болон Премьер лигийн багуудын зуны солилцооны цонхны үйл ажиллагааны талаарх асуултуудад Дэвид Орнстейн хариулт өглөө.
Манчестер Юнайтедын дасгалжуулагч Майкл Каррикийн ажлын үр дүн болон түүний багийн бүрэлдэхүүний талаарх шүүмжлэлүүд үргэлжилсээр байна. Дасгалжуулагчийн туршлага болон багийн тоглолтын хэв маягийг тодорхойлох асуудал тулгамдаж байгаа ч зуны солилцооны цонхоор довтлогч болон хагас хамгаалагчийн байрлалд хийсэн өөрчлөлтүүд нь чанарыг дээшлүүлсэн гэж үзэж байна. Тус баг зүүн хамгаалагчийн байрлалд Льюис Холл, Майлс Льюис-Скелли нарыг сонирхсон ч эцсийн дүндээ Карлос Балебаг элсүүлсэн юм.
Арсеналын хувьд Ливерпүүлийн авьяаслаг тоглогч Рио Нгумохаг сонирхож байгаа боловч одоогоор албан ёсны шилжилт хийгдээгүй байна. Тус баг санхүүгийн дүрэм журамтай холбоотойгоор шилжилт наймаанд болгоомжтой хандаж байгаа хэдий ч ирэх өвлийн солилцооны цонхоор довтолгооны шугамаа хүчирхэгжүүлэх боломжтой гэж шинжээчид үзэж байна.
Ковентри Ситигийн дасгалжуулагч Фрэнк Лампардын хувьд Премьер лигийн эхлэл хүндхэн байгаа бол Ипсвич Таун болон Халл Сити багууд өөрсдийн менежментийн бодлогоор үр дүнд хүрч байна. Ипсвич Таун багийн хувьд шинэ дасгалжуулагч Гари О’Нэйлийг томилсон нь зөв шийдвэр байсан гэж үнэлэгдэж байгаа бол Ковентри Ситигийн хувьд дээд лигт өрсөлдөх туршлага болон санхүүгийн нөөцийн ялгаа нь тоглолтын үр дүнд нөлөөлж байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
The Athletic’s soccer correspondent David Ornstein will join The Athletic FC podcast every Tuesday this season.
As part of the show, David will answer a selection of listener questions submitted through The Athletic, covering all the latest news from across the football world, and discussing them with Emma Paton and James Horncastle.
The Athletic will also be publishing those questions and David’s responses on our website and app after the show every week. His latest responses are here.
Anwesh asks: How good is Manchester United’s coaching staff? When a new manager takes over, there are always references to players not being physically sharp. Another interesting thing is the current staff seems to be mostly English. When you compare Carrick’s staff to, say, Mikel Arteta’s at Arsenal, it just doesn’t look elite on paper.
David Ornstein: “There will be understandable scrutiny over Michael Carrick because he was an interim appointment at the beginning, and then he earned the job on a permanent basis.
“Would he have earned the job if, say, a Thomas Tuchel had been available and hadn’t extended his contract with England? United might well have gone for him. There were other options on the market, and clearly the hierarchy at Old Trafford ran a process. And if that process was robust enough, they would have scrutinised candidates. They did. They spoke to some pretty high-level coaches.
Carrick looks on during the Manchester derby defeat to City on Sunday (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
“For whatever reason — and there would have been multiple factors: availability, price, continuity, familiarity, maybe input from the dressing room — they decided to go with Carrick. It’s easy for us to be wise after the event. Everybody was lauding Carrick’s impact and (assistant) Steve Holland’s influence as a coach in reference to that specific question about English staff.
“It was good enough in the second half of last season when United, particularly at home, were imperious, and now we’re suddenly saying, ‘The coaching is not good enough’. We’re on the outside, so we don’t know.
“Look at Sir Alex Ferguson, Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola, Mikel Arteta, some of the best coaches — they do have changes to their coaching setup. (With Arsenal), just recently on the medical side, but there was the addition of Gabriel Heinze. Klopp at Liverpool had Pep Lijnders, who was then used by Pep Guardiola at City.
“(Guardiola) had the most changes. Maybe not as big names, but there were comings and goings. Juan Manuel Lillo was there for a bit and then was out, and Rodolfo Borrell and, of course, Enzo Maresca. Ferguson was renowned for that with Brian Kidd and Rene Meulensteen and Steve McClaren.
“It is very early to judge Carrick. The one thing that appears clear with United is that they are still searching for a game model, a clear identity.
“They’ve recruited quite well with the attacking acquisitions and the midfield acquisitions this summer. A lot of people would say they’ve raised the quality and got value for money in their work in the transfer market. They’ve shown restraint, whereas in the past, that restraint may have been lacking.
“But we’re still watching them and maybe not quite sure who they are, what they are, in a way that we see more of with Arsenal and City and previous generations of United. But it’s not a fine science. There is credit in the bank for Carrick and his coaching staff. It was a different level, but at Middlesbrough (his previous management job in the Championship), I remember seeing clips of Carrick’s coaching technique go viral, and everybody saying, ‘Wow, this is the next big coach’. A bit of measure is needed around our analysis of him and his coaching staff, but it is a legitimate area to scrutinise.”
James Horncastle: Maybe they couldn’t get in a (transfer) target they needed?
Ornstein: “Yeah, Newcastle’s Lewis Hall was looked at. Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly was looked at as left-back/midfielder.
“There would have been different options right up until deadline day, when they were offered the opportunity to go for Manchester City’s Rayan Ait-Nouri on loan. City would have wanted quite a high obligation to buy. United weren’t prepared to do that, because he isn’t seen as their long-term solution in that position, which shows that left-back was a real area of interest.
Manchester United looked at Newcastle left-back Lewis Hall this summer (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)
“There was a point in the window when United had already signed two midfielders, Andrey Santos (from Chelsea) and Youri Tielemans (from Aston Villa). And we all thought, ‘Now they’re going to go for a third’ — they were linked with Roma’s Manu Kone and others.
“I heard Carrick’s focus was the left-back first, and that’s when Lewis-Skelly came into the picture, after it was clear Lewis Hall couldn’t be attained. And then, suddenly, they pivoted back to the midfielder with Carlos Baleba (signed from Brighton & Hove Albion). And then at the end it was, ‘Can we squeeze in a midfielder/left-back?’
“I respect that they didn’t want to do something just for the sake of it, which could have come back to haunt them, and they felt they had options, with Luke Shaw, with Patrick Dorgu, with Harry Amass, with Noussair Mazraoui if needed, but it does now look a bit like an oversight that you would suspect is addressed sooner rather than later.”
Why Do Some Onside Goals Look Offside?
Antony R asks: Have you heard anything about the rumours of Arsenal interest in Liverpool’s Rio Ngumoha?
Ornstein: “I think there is some interest from Arsenal in Rio Ngumoha. There’s surely interest from lots of clubs in him, because he’s such a precocious talent. I did hear over the summer that they like him. They’re allowed to like him; that’s their prerogative. It doesn’t mean Liverpool are going to sell him.
“They want to renew his contract. He’s 18 and tied down at Anfield until 2028. I don’t know of an agreement yet on a new deal, so clearly that’s something they’ll try to progress.
“When you’ve only got two years to go, then it can be open to speculation. There was a story by Alan Nixon, who was the first to report Arsenal’s interest, and that’s what has led to a bit of noise around it.
Rio Ngumoha has two years left on his Liverpool contract (Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
“I heard Arsenal have some interest in him, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens with him and Liverpool because there is no suggestion he’s unhappy there.
“I reported over the summer that Ngumoha was actually Bayern Munich’s top target at one point to strengthen in the wing position. They’d done quite a lot of work on it, but it didn’t develop. Liverpool had no interest in trading him. RB Leipzig were another club credited with interest. What will be really interesting is to see how much game time he gets at Liverpool, because wingers are the big thing for Andoni Iraola.
“You would expect him to be a real asset for them. Let’s see how it develops.”
Emma Paton: Come January, can you see Arsenal trying to upgrade their forward line?
Ornstein: “Well, they’ve given themselves the opportunity to, because (in the summer window) they didn’t go beyond the signing of Christos Tzolis. But he was really a replacement for Leandro Trossard (who moved to Besiktas).Gabriel Martinelli (who subsequently went to Al Hilal) wasn’t replaced.
Martinelli has transferred from Arsenal to Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia (Abdullah Ahmed/Getty Images)
“Gabriel Jesus (now at Barcelona) wasn’t replaced. Ethan Nwaneri has gone out on loan to Borussia Dortmund, though there is a recall option there. Although, they’ve got to be very careful on the financial side of things — they seem to be quite close to the line on the UEFA financial rules — so I don’t know how much they can do.
“But the fact they and the owners were willing to finance moves for Vinicius Junior, if he had been keen on it, for Julian Alvarez, if he had been keen on it, for Morgan Rogers, if he had decided to go for them and they were willing to pay the transfer fee, suggests that there is some capability of doing something.
“They’re an attractive proposition, given that they’re reigning Premier League champions, (last season’s) Champions League finalists. I could see something happening because they wanted to — I thought they needed to — in the summer and they didn’t. But that’s not to say something is happening. I don’t know of anything brewing.
“They don’t look like they need it, but you could see a world in which they could need it because of injuries. They’ve been relying on Kai Havertz to lead the line. Viktor Gyokeres has barely played (this season), but the key for them is to keep people fit.
“One of the intriguing things, whether it be January or next summer, is: who is going to be the Arsenal attacking recruit to help take them to even greater heights?”
James L asks: What are Ipswich Town and Hull City doing to get results that Coventry City aren’t? Was Gary O’Neil a better pickup by Ipswich as their new manager than many predicted?
Ornstein: “I really like Gary O’Neil. He did a pretty good job at Bournemouth, at Wolverhampton Wanderers, at Strasbourg, and I speak to a lot of people that know way more than me about football and coaching and management, and who have spoken to O’Neil, know him and seen him present in job interviews, and they think he could be one of the best coaches in the future. They rate him extremely highly. So I’ve not really been given cause for much doubt with him, and I thought that it was an ideal replacement for Kieran McKenna at Ipswich.
“Hull are a completely different case altogether because owner Acun Ilicali is like no other, and head coach Sergej Jakirovic has done really well there, but in a completely different way from O’Neil.
“Frank Lampard’s had a bad start, and it will be really interesting to see how things develop. From what we saw and heard over the summer, Lampard was not entirely convinced that he wanted to stay on at Coventry, despite bringing them up to the Premier League, which would sound a shock to a lot of people.
“He was looked at by clubs like Crystal Palace, not for the first time, despite being in position with Coventry. And he thought about it. He would have seen McKenna. They have the same agency that looks after them. McKenna came up to the Premier League with Ipswich (in 2024). He was spoken to by clubs like Manchester United, Brighton, Chelsea, and more. Tottenham were linked with him too.
McKenna left Ipswich in June, having got them promoted to the Premier League for the second time in three years (Nigel French/PA Images via Getty Images)
“But he stuck with Ipswich, and they ended up coming back down. And when he came back down, he did have interest. I think Newcastle had him high in their thinking, but not the same level of interest as before.
“Did relegation harm him? Was he prepared to go back in for a second bite at the Premier League if he wasn’t sure that Ipswich had maybe recruited well enough to do better than they did last time?
“Lampard would have been having those considerations — ‘Have Coventry recruited well enough and put themselves in a position where we can compete to stay up this season? And if not, how badly will it harm my career and reputation?’ He obviously decided to embark upon it.
“The difference at Ipswich and Hull is that they’ve been here before. Sure, Ilicali hasn’t been here before, and he’s loving life in the big time and the transfer market. But Hull have been up before. There are people at that club that know how the Premier League works. So do Ipswich. They came back down. They probably learnt from their errors. They’ve got very ambitious and wealthy owners, but Coventry are there for the first time in a long time.
“They don’t have the level of wealth within their ownership — as committed and as invested as Doug King has been — that the others have. And maybe, in a harsh way, this is an experience they’ll learn from, and the Coventry fans are so enthusiastically behind them, irrespective of what’s happening.
“Don’t get me wrong, Frank Lampard, Coventry, will try to turn this around really soon. Maybe we’ll look silly for saying something like this. But I don’t think it’s so much what O’Neil and Jakirovic are doing that Lampard isn’t necessarily. Those clubs are maybe better set up at the moment, which is no disrespect to Coventry, Doug King, Dean Austin as sporting director — it’s more the stage they are on in their journeys.”
