‘Michael Carrick will be given time to turn things around’ and ‘the hierarchy do not want to rush next steps’ should be read and digested for what it really is: an indecisive club without any succession planning or contingencies because it doesn’t have clarity of identity in the first place. A club that often takes the cheap instead of the smart or right route because of the crippling Glazer debt, plus decision-makers who are never aligned - except in their own self-preservation. And it ends up costing more. It explains the chaotic nature of lurching from one coaching philosophy to its extreme, to revisiting candidates that were on the agenda - some as far back as 2019 - that were already ruled out, to having a shortlist of options with nothing in common to take over a mishmash team that has suffered from horrid squad planning; both in incomings and exits. Blame the players, blame the name in the dugout while the people who brought them to Manchester United, kept them, created the absolute opposite of a culture of excellence are allowed to rinse and repeat.

So Michael Carrick stays for now, according to reports. Good – because he cares deeply about the Club and, whatever his limitations as a manager, Carrick is not the real problem at United. The problem patently lies in recruitment/ownership. Recruitment needs addressing with a clear-out and proper investment in players with the right character as well as the right ability (and in the right positions, starting with defence). But the concerns are obvious. Will the players who doubt him raise their game? What will happen if they surrender again, this time at Chelsea? Will Bruno Fernandes start or remain captain? Is it also simply a case of the club playing for time while they pursue potential successors? It seems an uneasy truce, a temporary ceasefire. Let's hope the players, whatever they think of Carrick, look in the mirror, realise they are very much part of the problem, take responsibility and fight for the cause. United players owe it to the fans. #MUFC

🚨Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is starting to sell his soccer club empire OGC Nice is close to being sold, and Swiss Super League side, FC Lausanne has just been put up for sale

2 in a couple of minutes have Roma level. A good game this

A lovely back post header from Scotty putting Napoli 2 up.