Manchester United head coach Michael Carrick has brushed aside suggestions that his position is under threat, insisting it will take far more than a couple of poor results to unsettle him at Old Trafford.
United were beaten 3-2 at home by Brighton in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, having led 2-0 at Old Trafford. That defeat followed a 1-0 home loss to 10-man Manchester City on Sunday. Carrick’s side had also gone down 2-0 at Hull on the opening day of the season and conceded a late equaliser at Everton at the beginning of the month, results that have brought the head coach under scrutiny. He was reminded before Sunday’s visit to Fulham that his predecessors, Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim, were sacked after 30 months and 14 months respectively in the job.
“It will be a lot longer than one or two games of results,” Carrick said of the point at which he would come under pressure from United’s hierarchy. “It’s irrelevant for me. I know the club, I know the role, I know what’s expected here in terms of playing at a certain standard.
“In terms of the future and ownership and how long I’ve got, it’s totally nothing, it’s ridiculous to think that way in the position I’m in: it’s just not on the radar. It’s two or three games we haven’t had certain results. We’ve got to perform and we’ve got a lot of games to plan for.”
Carrick said he was comfortable taking responsibility for his team’s performances. “That’s why I’m here. It’s my responsibility, I’m fine with that,” he said. “It’s not a blame game. We always search for things to look at and find the blame, sometimes it gets too much. Blame me, it’s no problem, but it’s not about blaming people. It’s about finding solutions. It’s a collective thing. I know where we want to go and we want to get there fast. We don’t like losing matches, but it doesn’t affect what we do next.”
Asked whether he needed to show more emotion on the touchline, the 45-year-old replied: “I need to show more emotion? In what way? What do you want me to show?”
Away from the first team, 15-year-old JJ Gabriel travelled to Barcelona on Friday for discussions over potentially joining the club, with United understood to have found out via the media despite the teenager being registered with them. Gabriel told United on Tuesday that he wanted his registration rescinded because he wishes to join another club, and Real Madrid have a firm interest. It is understood Gabriel and his advisers travelled for preliminary talks with Barcelona. Carrick said: “The situation will work itself out, whatever way it’s going to work itself out. Making sure he’s OK is the important thing.”
At Arsenal, Mikel Arteta has praised Max Dowman’s “extraordinary” transition from schoolboy to first-team squad member and backed the teenager to make more of an impact this season. Dowman became the first 16-year-old since Wayne Rooney in October 2002 to score twice for a Premier League club in Arsenal’s Carabao Cup victory over Ipswich on Tuesday, having burst on to the scene last year. It was his first appearance of the campaign, having been an unused substitute on four occasions as Arsenal have won all seven of their fixtures.
Dowman, who has trained with Arsenal’s first team since he was 14, completed his GCSEs in the summer and will study for a BTec qualification after deciding against taking A-Levels. Arteta said the club were still carefully managing his development after a couple of years of balancing his studies.
“It’s not easy,” the Arsenal manager said. “That’s what tells you about the craziness of the age and the environment he still lives in with the demands and the competition he needs to face during the week. But the way he has handled it, him and the family, it has been extraordinary. If he is here, he has to be here in all conditions and we cannot treat him differently in many aspects.”
Dowman is in contention to be on the bench against Brighton on Saturday as Arsenal attempt to make it eight successive victories to start the season for the first time since 1903. Arteta is convinced more opportunities will follow. “That’s the best way to knock on the door: to do it on the pitch, not in the office,” he said. “What Max did the other day, alongside all the players as well, that haven’t played that many minutes, it was really impressive.”
Premier League regulations do not allow players under 17 to be sent out on loan, but Luton are understood to have registered an interest in Dowman, who was coached by their manager, Jack Wilshere, when he played for Arsenal’s under-18s. Dowman turns 17 in January, and Arteta said it was possible he could be allowed to leave then, although his immediate future is at Arsenal.
“We haven’t really listened to any of the possibilities because we were crystal clear that we wanted to have him in the squad, that we wanted him to be part of the pre-season and then start to see where we are from there,” Arteta said. “We will evaluate every six months, where we are and what is the best thing for him to do and then make the right decision. It depends on a lot of factors – what he needs and what the team needs as well, the availability we have in the squad, the minutes that he is playing and the qualities of those minutes. We have to be open but now the focus is to be here and to impact the team.”
Tottenham head coach Roberto De Zerbi insists Sandro Tonali is not feeling the pressure of his price tag despite a mixed start at the club. The midfielder became the most expensive player in Spurs’ history when he joined from Newcastle for £92.5m in the summer, with De Zerbi making a big play to sign him amid interest from Manchester City and Arsenal and delivering a two-hour sales pitch to his fellow Italian, outlining how central he would be to his plans and what he could expect from the fans and the team’s style of football.
Tonali has started all four Premier League games this season, in which Spurs have drawn twice and lost twice without scoring, and has produced underwhelming defensive numbers while creating only three chances. De Zerbi said he had spoken to the 26-year-old about the weight of the price tag and claimed the player “doesn’t feel the pressure about that”, pointing to Tonali’s first season at Milan in 2020, when he took time to adapt before becoming one of the most sought-after young midfielders in the world once he settled there.
“The adaptation has been not so fast” at Tottenham “but it can happen,” De Zerbi said. “It is not so easy to change city, to change everything, for the players. Sometimes the adaptation is immediate, sometimes you need more time.”
Tottenham’s struggles in front of goal have not been helped by Tonali’s inability to create chances for the forwards. The goalless draw against Everton was the first in 140 games at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and following a 0-0 against Nottingham Forest, Spurs equalled their tally of goalless games from the previous 181 matches. The last time they recorded three or more consecutive goalless draws in the league was 25 years ago under George Graham, when they went to four. It is a remarkable run, especially after a summer spend of more than £300m, that leaves Spurs in 17th going into Saturday’s game against Aston Villa, who have also struggled after a summer of major change. De Zerbi maintained he is happy with Tonali’s performances even though he believes they can improve, describing him as “a complete midfielder”. “His physical characteristics are to play box to box but he started his career as a playmaker,” he said. “He’s good enough with the ball, he’s good enough without the ball.”
At Leeds, Daniel Farke said Dominic Calvert-Lewin was “like a good wine” after the in-form striker’s call-up into Thomas Tuchel’s England squad. The 29-year-old has been included for the Nations League matches after scoring four goals in six appearances in all competitions this season, and was given a standing ovation by Leeds fans as he was withdrawn late on in Monday night’s 4-1 win against Newcastle at Elland Road.
“Dominic is like a good wine, getting better by the year,” Farke said. “Physically, he’s on a top level and his pace is more than good enough I would say. He’s a very complete striker.”
Calvert-Lewin arrived at Leeds on a free transfer from Everton in August last year, and Farke ranked him among his best signings. “At Leeds, while I’ve been here, we’ve made many top signings on a low budget,” he said. “When I think about Joe Rodon, Ethan Ampadu, Ao Tanaka. It’s difficult to compare because as a striker you have a different role. But he’s definitely one of our better pieces of business. If you come as a free agent it doesn’t mean it costs no money because there’s a salary. But we believed in him when perhaps not many were doing this. He also believes in himself and he believes in Leeds United, so I would say he was a perfect fit.”