Three days to fix a crisis: Pochettino’s Old Trafford welcome is a trip to Anfield
If you were designing the worst possible start to a new job, it would look a lot like this. Mauricio Pochettino has been unveiled as Manchester United’s new head coach, and his reward is a visit to Anfield with barely half a week on the training ground. From where we are sitting, the timing could hardly be better for Liverpool.
United moved quickly. Michael Carrick was dismissed on Thursday, and by Friday the club had confirmed Pochettino on a contract that runs until the summer of 2029. They have reportedly paid in the region of £7.4m to prise him away from his role in charge of the United States national team.
How United ended up here
The numbers tell you everything about why the change was made. United sit 18th with eight points from their opening ten league games. Across all competitions they have won just three of fifteen matches, and only one of those victories came in the Premier League, a 5-2 win over Ipswich back on 30 August.
Read more: Craig’s Column: Liverpool Cannot Give Virgil Van Dijk Another £400,000-A-Week Contract
Carrick’s final game in charge captured the mess perfectly. A 4-4 draw at home to Aston Villa, rescued only by two goals in stoppage time, was thrilling for the neutral but alarming for anyone hoping to see a team with structure. He had stepped in after Ruben Amorim left in January, earned a permanent two-year deal by steering the club into the Champions League, and is now gone after fifteen games of that contract.
A brutal schedule for the new man
Pochettino still has unfinished business with the United States, who face Haiti in the Concacaf Nations League quarter-finals on 14 and 17 November. Only after that does he formally start at Old Trafford, meeting the squad midweek and taking his first session on Thursday before travelling to Merseyside for the game on Sunday 22 November.
That is no time at all to introduce a new system. Realistically, the best he can hope for is to make United harder to beat: shorter distances between the lines, a clearer shape, fewer self-inflicted wounds.
Our take on the Anfield clash
Pochettino knows English football well after spells at Southampton, Tottenham and Chelsea, even if his trophy cabinet here remains empty. He came close at Spurs, losing finals in the League Cup and Champions League, and did pick up league and cup silverware with Paris Saint-Germain. He will talk about intensity, attacking football and developing young players, but none of that matters next weekend.
What matters is that Liverpool face a side low on confidence and short on preparation. New-manager bounces are real, and we should expect a more disciplined United than the one that shipped four against Villa. Still, this is a chance Iraola’s side must take.
More: Liverpool FC News →