Manchester United are in danger of missing out on an Antonio Conte-shaped managerial switch-up, with Juventus now interested in the Italian.

The Red Devils are enduring a tough 2026-27 Premier League campaign, positioned 13th in the English top-flight standings. In Europe, things aren’t much better.

Pressure is now being piled upon Michael Carrick, who led Manchester United to a third-placed finish last season; and if they persist with the Englishman, they could lose out on Conte.

Time is running out for Manchester United in potential Antonio Conte managerial switch-up

Manchester United made unfortunate headlines after suffering a thorough beat-down at the hands of Atletico Madrid last week, after which Lisandro Martinez, whose future at Old Trafford is more uncertain than ever, made incendiary comments about the Red Devils hierarchy.

After a 1-1 draw versus an in-form Leeds United at the weekend, Carrick’s job remains under significant threat, with The Athletic writing that his place in Manchester is “beginning to feel precarious.”

According to reports, Conte, former manager of both Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, is linked heavily to take on Carrick’s position at Old Trafford, but time is running out for the Red Devils to see through this potential managerial switch-up.

Italian publication Tuttomercatoweb revealed that Juventus have been ‘alerted’ to his availability, amid a turbulent period for Conte at Napoli.

His side were defeated 1-0 by newly-promoted side Venezia over the weekend, and are positioned ninth in the Serie A standings with 10 points from seven matches.

Elsewhere, at Juventus, Luciano Spalletti’s job is under imminent threat having suffered a 3-0 loss to Lazio at home on Sunday. The club are seventh in the Serie A table, with 11 points.

The publication noted that Conte’s move to Manchester ‘never materialised,’ with the Red Devils’ hesitancy now set to bite them amid interest in the Italian from Juventus.

“The coach is complicating his life with constant experimentation, offering no certainty. He’s playing a complicated game with obscure language, when simplicity is needed,” concluded Tuttomercatoweb.

Manchester United were knocked out of the Carabao Cup in September, falling in a 3-2 defeat to Brighton at Old Trafford, despite leading 2-0 after nine minutes.

The Red Devils return to Champions League action away at Como on Tuesday, then host Bournemouth in the Premier League on Sunday, with Carrick’s job under increasing threat, and likely no Conte to step in and steady the Manchester United ship.

Sarina Wiegman has signed an extension to remain England women's manager for another two years.

The Dutch head coach was set to leave the Lionesses after next year's World Cup – but after this new deal, she will lead them to a third European Championship in Germany in 2029.

In leading England to the Euros in 2029, Wiegman will be looking to win the tournament for the fourth time in a row, having done it twice with England and once with her native Netherlands.

Sarina Wiegman looking to make history with next two England women's tournaments

“I am so happy to be able to carry on with this squad and cannot think of a better job in football,” Wiegman said after the announcement of the deal.

“Working for a world-class organisation like The FA, and alongside so many people dedicated to winning England teams and the growth of our game, excites me every day.”

England have next year's World Cup in Brazil to look forward to before they turn attentions to another Euros, as runners-up in Australia to Spain three years ago.

The Lionesses recently qualified for the second round of the play-offs to get to the competition next summer, beating Greece 8-1 on aggregate last week to set up a tie with Ukraine.

“My main concern right now is absolutely the World Cup, and helping this squad realise their potential in the years to come,” Wiegman said, adding, “We have an important job to do to confirm our place in Brazil, and hopefully we can do that and give the country another special summer to remember next year.”

Wiegman has overseen a golden era in English women's football since taking over the reins from Phil Neville in September 2021.

The national team triumphed at Wembley Stadium to beat Germany in the final of Euro 2022 to lift the Lionesses' first-ever trophy, before beating the Spanish last summer, as Wiegman became the manager in history – men's or women's – to reach five consecutive major international finals.

Should England reach the World Cup next summer, they will go into the tournament as one of the favourites alongside the likes of Spain and the United States, but with the Lionesses still in transition, it could be the final tournament for a number of familiar faces who have enjoyed recent success under Wiegman.

The draw for the World Cup takes place on December 11 at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, ahead of the Dutchwoman is looking to become the first coach to win four successive European Championships in 2029, after equalling Christina Theune's record of three with Germany last summer.

Wiegman has a 70 per cent win record as England manager, with 58 victories from 82 fixtures and just 11 losses in her five years in charge.

The seismic impact of Manchester City’s guilty verdict on 114 of their 115 charges will reach as far and wide as arguably anything in football history, including the legacy of Pep Guardiola. 

The former Manchester City boss made his first return to the Etihad Stadium following his summer departure for their 4-2 loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Tuesday night. The timing of it was not lost on anyone. 

Regardless of whether or not City somehow get off on appeal or a technicality, the Catalan will be forever tainted and surely can’t allow this to be the final act of his managerial career. Amid the infinite questions surrounding the case, sanctions and everything else, one is: what’s next for Guardiola?

Manchester City's charges cloud Pep Guardiola's whole career

First will be the continued full support of City and everyone connected to the case. In the days after the news that rocked the game, he made it crystal clear where he stood on the issue and backed up by sitting behind the embattled and shamed duo of Khaldoon Al Mubarek and Ferran Soriano on Tuesday night. 

While that may seem incredibly hypocritical given he regularly said he would accept any verdict and once claimed, “If you lie to me, the day after I am not here. I will be out, and I will not be your friend any more”, it’s not difficult to see why Guardiola has taken this stance. 

If he were to admit to City’s guilt on committing industrial-level financial cheating from 2009 to 2018, he would be admitting that every single one of the 20 trophies won in his 10 years at the club – including six Premier League titles and a Champions League – were tainted, tarnished and totally irrelevant. 

Given he spent three more years at City than he did at Barcelona and Bayern Munich combined, it would be effectively erasing close to 60 per cent of his time on the touchline regardless of the obvious brilliance of both his coaching and his teams. 

And that’s before we even get started on what might come from the ongoing Negreira case centring on payments from Barça to the former vice president of Spain's Technical Committee of Referees. Safe to say, it’s been an autumn of discontent for Guardiola. 

It’s unlikely to get any better for him in the winter months as the appeal plays out, with City’s chances of a reprieve looking slim at the absolute best. He’s already set for a year out of the game, having turned down the Italy national team job citing rest and personal reasons. 

At 55, he should theoretically have plenty of years left on the touchline, and for a complete football obsessive, what else would he do in the decades to come?

Guardiola has never managed a small club or one with limited resources, which is often held against him when compared to his three greatest career rivals, Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and Jurgen Klopp. 

All three near-built clubs from the ground up, restored them to their former glories and won the biggest prizes in the game without the biggest budgets. It’s a somewhat harsh appraisal of Guardiola given he started with Barça and quickly became the most in-demand manager on the globe. Los Cules may have won the Champions League just two years prior to his arrival but the transformation was remarkable. 

There’s also the irony that any idea of Guardiola doing that now is near-impossible, more than a little bit in part due to the state ownership of City and PSG and everything that comes with that. The game is completely distorted with a European Super League of finances long in place. 

Serie A’s demise has come alongside that, presenting potential landing spots for Pep. His European playing career did end in Italy – not without its own scandal – so he clearly has an affinity for the peninsula. Entertaining the Azzurri job spoke further to that. 

The great task there is restoring either Juventus or Milan to the top table. Both clubs, fittingly, are full of drama, so would suit Guardiola’s ongoing arc. There’s been no Italian Champions League winner since Mourinho with Inter Milan in 2010 and Juve have lost five finals since last lifting the trophy 30 years ago. Talk about a career mode challenge.

A return to Barcelona can never be ruled out, while making Manchester United great again would be the perfect next bizarre storyline for the ever-developing Premier League soap opera. 

We can rule out the Spanish job on account of their ongoing dominance and possibly his own Catalan ties. Brazil and England are the two biggest jobs and tasks, and Guardiola has been linked to both jobs. It would require either Carlo Ancelotti stepping down or Thomas Tuchel failing to win the Euros in 2028. Neither is too far-fetched. 

Whatever may come for City in the coming weeks, months and years, it will always be attached to Guardiola no matter the level of his greatness. What comes for him may be the sport’s next big plotline. 

Michael Carrick brought a veneer of calm to Old Trafford last season, but that has disintegrated in rapid fashion this season.

His tenure as permanent Manchester United boss is being defined by an unruly, factional dressing room coming apart at the seams.

Tuesday night’s dispiriting Champions League defeat to Atletico Madrid has extended the team's winless run to five matches, and sparked a civil war.

Michael Carrick is unlikely to inspire his Manchester United players to victory

Man United are floundering - what else can be said about a paltry return of two wins from nine matches in all competitions, an early Carabao Cup exit, six points from their opening six Premier League fixtures, and inability to capitalise against ten men in games versus Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur?

They are, for all intents and purposes, a team devoid of competitive edge. And on-pitch disjointedness is only half the problem. The deeper issue is cultural.

Argentine international Lisandro Martinez broke rank in the aftermath of Man United's defeat at the Wanda Metropolitano on Tuesday night, delivering a scathing public broadside against director of football Jason Wilcox and the club’s transfer strategy.

In doing so, he extinguished any lingering hope that squad unity was something Carrick could stand behind as a success during his brief spell. The defender was reportedly confronted by a teammate during the flight back to Manchester.

Navigating such turmoil demands a managerial giant, and it is not Carrick's doing or fault that the club finds itself in its current mess. He is, for all his understated dignity, manifestly not that man.

The former midfielder is neither an inspiring orator capable of galvanising disparate egos with his rhetoric, nor is he a Sir Alex Ferguson-esque autocrat who can lay down the law - he hasn't been there long enough, for starters.

Carrick’s once-praised stillness now appears passive and faced with a fractured dressing room taking pot shots at the boardroom, a gentle word is insufficient. Perhaps it speaks to Carrick's authority that Martinez felt compelled to speak out in such terms in midweek.

Carrick’s brief has completely changed, but his managerial toolkit has not. When he took the reins as caretaker in January following Ruben Amorim’s acrimonious departure, the remit was predominantly pastoral.

These were hugely talented players lacking confidence and drive, who had been tactically micro-managed to the point where many no longer cared. Carrick let them play, recalled certain players and allowed them the time and space to do what they do best.

He soothed bruised egos, simplified the instructions and put an arm around the wounded. Lo and behold, it yielded that most famous of textbook interim bounces, and he steered the club to a third-place finish. The pressure was off, the season had already been mothballed. With the benefit of hindsight, the hierarchy's message to Carrick over the summer should have been a firm handshake and 'thank you for your efforts, but we'll take it from here', before hiring a managerial heavyweight.

Now, though, he's the permanent man, albeit probably not for much longer.

The honeymoon is long over, and the pressure cooker has been turned up to eleven. Managing Manchester United through stormy weather requires ruthlessness, authority, ideological clarity, and the rare ability to inspire footballers to run through brick walls. That hasn't happened.

National reports are already detailing three-man shortlists to replace him, touting Brighton's Fabian Hurzeler alongside Antonio Conte and Julian Nagelsmann. The writing is very much on the wall. Carrick may retain personal affections of the Old Trafford faithful, but goodwill does not heal a fractured culture. The dressing room has reached a point of no return, and Michael Carrick is not the man to glue it back together.

Thomas Frank could be about to make his grand return to management – and damage goodwill at Brentford.

The Dane took the Bees to the promised land in lockdown, winning promotion to the Premier League via the Championship play-offs in 2021, with the club remaining in the top tier ever since.

Frank left the Gtech in 2025 for a new challenge in the capital, swapping Brentford for Tottenham Hotspur in a disastrous few months leading the Lilywhites towards a relegation battle – but now, he appears to be close to a new job.

Thomas Frank is the leading contender to manage Brentford's local rivals… Fulham

With no win in their first six fixtures Fulham are enduring a torrid start to the new season under Alvaro Arbeloa, with this weekend marking a new nadir for the Spaniard.

The Whites managed to surrender all three points on the road to Ipswich Town from a winning position that they held until the 88th minute, leaving them rooted to the bottom of the table below Spurs.

According to talkSPORT, Fulham have identified Frank to take over – with Arbeloa answering a question over the weekend relating to the pressures of his job with a quip that has only riled Craven Cottage goers further.

“Maybe you don’t know me but I played for the best team in world: I have coached the best team in the world,” he said, referring to two stints at Real Madrid as a player and 28 matches in charge of Los Blancos last term following the sacking of Xabi Alonso.

Frank has been out of work following his exit from Tottenham last season, aside from appearing as a pundit on the BBC's coverage of the World Cup over the summer – but should he make the move Thames-side, he may well burn bridges further closer to Kew.

The 53-year-old is regarded by Brentford fans as a legend, but with the club sharing a rivalry with Fulham, that status may be tested.

In recent seasons, there haven't been many players who have turned out for both West London outfits, with Fabio Carvalho the standout example of a Cottagers academy product who lost the adoration of the club that developed him after signing for Frank.

Reiss Nelson was the last player to represent both clubs, playing for the Bees on loan last season after a season under Marco Silva on loan at Fulham in 2024.

Fulham face their second of three promoted teams in a row this weekend, as Premier League action continues with Craven Cottage welcoming high-flying Hull City to the banks of the Thames.

Eddie Howe has rejected the chance to return to football with a Champions League club.

The 48-year-old arrived at Newcastle United as the first manager hired by the club's new Saudi Arabian ownership, and took the Magpies from a relegation battle midway through his first campaign to the Champions League at the end of his first full season.

Having lifted the Carabao Cup in 2025 – ending Newcastle's 56-year wait for a trophy and becoming the first English manager to win a major honour in 17 years – Howe side struggled, however, last term, with the Toon boss departing after five years at the helm.

Eddie Howe has turned down a major approach

FourFourTwo understands that Howe's departure from Newcastle was far from a snap decision, with the former defender considering his exit at times last season.

With the likes of Anthony Gordon, Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali all sold for big profit over the summer – with Tyneside mainstays Kieran Trippier, Callum Wilson and Nick Pope also phased out – Howe decided to walk of his own accord, paving the way for Matthias Jaissle to oversee the transition.

According to TEAMtalk, Lens in Ligue 1 have since approached Howe over taking the job at Stade Bollaert-Delelis.

After taking Le Sang et Or to second in the table last term – and a place in the Champions League league phase – manager Pierre Sage departed to replace Oliver Glasner at Crystal Palace.

TEAMtalk's report states that prior to owner and president Joseph Oughourlian hiring interim boss Yannick Cahuzac to take the Lens job on a permanent basis, Howe was approached to see if he was interested in returning to football – which he wasn't.

The former Bournemouth boss is back on the south coast after five years in the northeast, enjoying time with his family in a similar sabbatical to the one he took after parting ways at the Vitality Stadium.

Howe's second spell in Dorset saw him take the club he represented from the third tier to the Premier League in just three-and-a-half years – and after an eight-year stint culminated in a final-day relegation in lockdown of 2020, Howe stepped aside for assistant Jason Tindall to take charge in the Championship.

The Amersham-born gaffer spent almost a year and a half out of football, travelling around Europe to watch other coaches – including future Dean Court successor, Andoni Iraola – and when he returned to the game with Newcastle, he appeared to have switched tactically from his trusted 4-4-2 to a more modern 4-3-3.

Howe is still a legend on the south coast, having taken charge of the Cherries in 2008, saving the club from almost certain doom after they were deducted 17 points in League Two when he guided them to safety from relegation, before earning promotion to League One in his first tenure in charge of the club.

A wounded Newcastle will look to bounce back from a 4-1 defeat last night to Coventry City, when they host Aston Villa at St. James' Park this weekend, as Premier League action continues.

Manchester United are in talks with Antonio Conte to take over as manager.

That's according to one report, with the Red Devils already planning beyond Michael Carrick, who took the club to third in the Premier League last season but has picked up only six points from the opening six games of this campaign.

Carrick only signed a permanent contract with Manchester United over the summer and oversaw a summer rebuild – but with the club already 12 points off the league summit, Antonio Conte is looming in the background.

Antonio Conte has teased his desire for the Manchester United job already

In an interview with The Athletic, Conte appeared to soft-launch his return to a big European club, hinting that he wanted his next job to be somewhere not “just to take part, but to compete”.

“There are many clubs that have, in some way, lost sight of their history,” the Italian said. “I would like to go to one of those clubs to dust off that history and make it shine again.

“Clubs where there is pressure, where, ultimately, you know very well that you are not going there just to take part, but to compete.”

Italian outlet Tuttomercatoweb have followed up on reports that Conte is in talks with Manchester United, noting he is “reaching an agreement”, which suggests the two parties won't have trouble striking a deal.

Conte most recently took charge of Napoli in Serie A, delivering the Partenopei's fourth Scudetto, leaving a season later.

The Lecce-born coach hasn't managed a club for longer than two years since his silverware-laden spell in Turin with Juventus over a decade ago – but in the time since, he has been at two separate Premier League clubs with a degree of success at both.

In 2017, Conte became just the second manager to win a league title against Pep Guardiola when he lifted the Premier League with Chelsea, revolutionising English football at the time with his back three.

Conte left Chelsea in 2018 after lifting the FA Cup in a poorer second season but returned to English football three years later to take Tottenham Hotspur into the Champions League after arriving midseason.

In the interim, he lifted another Serie A title with Inter Milan.

United travel to Atletico Madrid tonight, as Champions League action returns this week.

Celtic are reportedly keen to lure Everton manager David Moyes back to Glasgow, according to journalist Alan Nixon.

The Scottish champions are said to have placed the 63-year-old on their radar as they prepare for a potential leadership transition at Parkhead.

While Martin O’Neill’s return to the Celtic dugout provided an experienced, steadying hand, the 74-year-old was never viewed as a long-term managerial fix. O’Neill’s second stint in Glasgow has always lacked long-term viability, and with the veteran coach acknowledging that a more permanent appointment is required, the Hoops board are actively assessing their succession plan.

David Moyes' final season at Everton?

Moyes has reportedly emerged as a candidate largely due to the sudden change of circumstances on Merseyside.

Toffees owners The Friedkin Group have put Everton up for sale, seeking a full withdrawal less than two years after completing their takeover.

Speaking last week, Moyes was candid about his frustration with the American consortium's retreat.

"Yeah, I was surprised, they only came in a year and a half ago," Moyes said. "Most owners come in for a lot longer than that.

"We were all expecting them to be here for 20 to 30 years, however long it may be. But maybe the way things worked out over the transfer window, I probably had seen through it a little bit before that."

Having already endured a punishing summer transfer period in which the Toffees finished the window with the Premier League's leanest squad, selling off key players late in the day, the prospect of navigating a protracted takeover battle holds little appeal at this stage of Moyes' career.

Boardroom churn theoretically makes a return to Glasgow more enticing. Moyes has deep roots at Celtic Park, having come through the club's ranks as a young defender between 1980 and 1983, earning a Scottish Premier Division winner's medal under Billy McNeill. Despite over two decades managing at the top level in England, Moyes has never managed a club in his native Scotland.

Celtic could provide Moyes with a realistic chance of winning consistent silverware during his twilight managerial days.

While a successful season on Merseyside currently amounts to mid-table stability, Celtic guarantee title challenges, cup runs and European football.

At 63, stepping away from Premier League firefighting to lift trophies at his boyhood club might prove an offer impossible to refuse.

This afternoon, two clubs with a fierce rivalry will do battle against the backdrop of one of English football’s most shocking cases of cheating in recent memory.

One set of fans will relish the opportunity to remind their opponents that they are morally corrupt - perhaps in slightly different words - while the other will stand in defiance behind their club, despite their shattered reputation.

But this isn’t about Liverpool’s clash with Manchester City, who play their first game since they were found guilty of breaching Premier League financial rules. This is about Southampton’s derby against Portsmouth and one man in particular: Saints manager Tonda Eckert.

Tonda Eckert's Spygate ruling comes at the perfect time for Southampton

Clearly, the Spygate scandal that saw Southampton expelled from last season’s Championship play-offs is nowhere near the same level of severity as the case involving City, who continue to deny any wrongdoing and have appealed the verdict.

But the strength of feeling between the two sets of fans at St Mary’s today will certainly match - and probably exceed - the hostility at Anfield.

The South Coast derby comes four days after Eckert escaped serious punishment for his role in Spygate, following an FA hearing last month.

An independent commission handed the Saints manager a six-week ban from all football and football-related activity, suspended until the end of the 2027/28 campaign, as well as a £28,000 fine and a reprimand, after he admitted that he ‘directed and/or authorised the observation of training sessions’ of three Championship opponents - Oxford United, Ipswich Town and Middlesbrough - last season.

The Boro incident occurred 48 hours before the sides met in the first leg of their play-off semi-final in May, when Southampton intern Will Salt was caught filming Kim Hellberg’s team and the story quickly became headline news.

Having beaten Middlesbrough over two legs, Saints were then expelled from the play-offs by the EFL and received a four-point deduction that came into effect this season. The club were denied a play-off final against Hull City and the potential £200m windfall that comes with promotion to the Premier League, but the strong punishment sent a clear message: spying on opponents is not worth the risk.

Everyone at Southampton, including players and fans, paid for the actions of a few members of staff. Eckert also suffered considerable reputational damage, but it seems inexplicable that the man who took ultimate responsibility for Spygate will not miss a single game considering that managers receive touchline bans for back-chatting to referees.

The 33-year-old was described as an “exceptionally impressive” witness by the independent commission and expressed “genuine contrition” for his actions. That may be true, but it doesn’t absolve him of blame.

The independent commission initially recommended a four-month ban from football, while the FA requested three months. But after applying various mitigations, including Eckert’s remorse, the impact on his career prospects and the knock-on effect for the club and the fans, it was reduced to this pathetic suspended sentence that he will ultimately never serve, as he will surely not make the same mistake again.

The verdict dilutes the message sent in May by the EFL, opening the door for managers to escape serious punishment in the event of another Spygate if they plead their case well. It also emboldens Southampton in their belief that they were harshly treated when they were kicked out of the play-offs.

That attitude was clear in the club’s statement responding to the verdict, in which owner Dragan Solak said: “The FA process has been a positive experience…the same cannot be said for the EFL process, and the way they have subsequently treated us is not something we will forget.”

Eight minutes after the statement was published, Saints posted a video on social media of Eckert celebrating with fans after a game, captioned “Just don’t think you understand” - lyrics from the terrace chant sung up and down the country. It felt unnecessarily triumphalist on the back of an embarrassing episode for the club.

In many ways, the verdict could not have come at a better time for Southampton. The South Coast derby is the biggest game of the two clubs’ respective seasons and Saints are aiming to end a winless league run against Portsmouth that stretches back to 2004.

The atmosphere will be highly-charged regardless, but it will go up another couple of notches when Eckert walks out of the tunnel and receives a hero’s welcome. Southampton fans would have feared the impact of the German being banned days before facing their arch-rivals, so his presence on the touchline will feel like a victory.

They now know they have one of the brightest young managers in the country leading them for the rest of this season, which not only brings obvious benefits on the pitch but also a psychological boost, as they would have feared months of uncertainty if Eckert was banned.

Similarly, do not be surprised if the siege mentality demonstrated in Solak’s statement lasts beyond this weekend. Southampton clearly believe they were unfairly denied their shot at promotion last season and many - but not all - supporters will feel the same way. It is not hard to imagine Saints framing this season’s bid to reach the Premier League as two fingers up to the EFL.

Southampton do not need any extra help in their promotion push. Eckert is a talented manager and has some of the best players in the league at his disposal, including Daniel Peretz, Leo Scienza and Cyle Larin.

They were strong favourites to win last season’s play-offs before the Spygate saga and would start this weekend fourth in the Championship without the points deduction. Even accounting for those lost points, Saints should finish comfortably inside the top eight and are likely to challenge for the top two.

Now, thanks to the failure to sufficiently punish Eckert, they have another edge in the promotion battle - and that feels wrong.

Alexander Isak of Liverpool is a doubt for Andoni Iraola this weekend, as the Reds take on Manchester City.

This is the first time that the Citizens will play again in the Premier League, after an independent commission found them guilty of all charges related to breaches of the competition's financial rules over a nine-year period.

And with Liverpool the obvious victims in a number of those title races, fans are now sweating over the availability of star striker Isak to lead the line.

Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola rules Alexander Isak out of the Manchester City clash

Isak pulled out of international duty through injury – with Iraola delivering bad news not just on the Swede's injury, but his potential replacement at centre-forward.

“Alex Isak and Cody Gakpo will not play the game,” the Basque revealed in his pre-match press conference. “They are not ready.”

“Unfortunately for us, both got injuries during the international break. As a club manager, you are always waiting until the games end, that the doctor doesn't call you and then gives you bad news. But in this case we've been unlucky with Alex and Cody – both of them are injured and they are not going to be involved on Sunday.”

The former Bournemouth gaffer added that Gakpo had suffered an ankle injury, while Isak had picked up a knock to his thigh.

“They both don't look like long term – we will be analysing day to day,” Iraola said. “But they are not going to arrive on Sunday.”

With Isak having picked up over a dozen injuries since moving to English football and Hugo Ekitike also out with a long-term injury, Iraola may have to resort to using Bradley Barcola as a striker, or throw in Jason Koumas up top.

There is good news for Reds fans, however, in the shape of Jeremy Jacquet, who has been exceptional since arriving at Anfield in the summer and celebrated making his first senior appearances for France over the international break.

“Yeah, he's fit, he's ready to go," Iraola said of the defender. “I think he didn't play with the national team [in the] last game because of protection.”

Federico Chiesa, meanwhile, is back in training.

Liverpool's clash against Manchester City this weekend is on this Sunday, as Premier League action resumes after the international break.

Erling Haaland is a doubt for Manchester City this weekend, with the Citizens making the short trip to Liverpool.

This is the first time that Man City will play again in the Premier League following an independent commission finding the six-time champions of the competition guilty of all charges related to breaches of the Prem's financial rules over a nine-year period.

With Haaland having picked up a knock while in action for Norway, there's a chance that the Scandi striker may have to sit the game out…

Manchester City fitness update given on Erling Haaland

Haaland was withdrawn by Norwegian boss Stale Solbakken against Norway during a clash with Portugal, with Solbakken later explaining that “extreme strain” had forced his talisman out of the contest.

The 26-year-old started all four matches for his country over the break – but speaking in his pre-match press conference, Enzo Maresca revealed that he would be “ready for Anfield” and the ferocious atmosphere that awaits his team.

“He’s good,” the Italian stated. “He went to Marbella, had two or three days off, played golf, [and recovered].

“[Haaland is] ready for Anfield. He’s good, thank you. It was good [to see him again]. The players were thinking again about their national team, some days off and then go again. It was good.”

Haaland is in red-hot form for City this season, having scored five in five games in the Premier League – which the Sky Blues have won all of – and notching a brace in the opening Champions League fixture against Porto.

While Maresca doesn't have a natural replacement for Haaland as a target man, the availability of his centre-forward does mean that he's avoided a potential crisis in attack.

Likely deputy Antoine Semenyo faces a late fitness test to compete at Liverpool this weekend, while Phil Foden is suspended, following his red card in the Manchester Derby last month.

Maresca's only other injury concern sees Nico O'Reilly face a late fitness test, too, with the full-back pulling out of England duty in the last couple of weeks.

With Paris Saint-Germain at home next week in the competition's second matchday, City have an unenviable first couple of games back following the news of their charges.

City's trip to Anfield this weekend is on this Sunday, as Premier League action resumes after the international break.

Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca has addressed his future following the recent bombshell surrounding the club.

Last month, an independent Commission found Manchester City guilty of all charges related to breaches of the Premier League's financial rules over a nine-year period, with Chief Executive of the Premier League, Richard Masters, claiming that, “The club systematically broke Premier League Rules for nearly a decade,” in an explosive statement.

It has since been suggested that City could be punished with points deductions, transfer bans or even expulsion from the league, leaving several of the club's highest-profile figures uncertain around their futures.

Enzo Maresca claims, “We are predicting the future” when asked about Manchester City charges

Maresca only took over at the Etihad Stadium over the summer, returning to the club that he coached at under Pep Guardiola to replace his former mentor in the dugout – but when asked about his future in Manchester, he was bullish and insisted that his employers would win their appeal.

“I would like to speak about this when we win the appeal,” the Italian answered. “For now, it makes no sense to speak about it because I don't know anything.

"I understand why you are here because you would like to hear something, but no. I completely trust the club in this moment, in the future, always.”

City confirmed last week in a statement that they have launched their appeal, describing the charges as an “opinion” and reiterating, “The Club is innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League and a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all of its positions, relating to this case.”

The 46-year-old was therefore understandably reluctant to discuss the situation, saying that instead, he was “worried” about his side's upcoming trip to Anfield.

"What would happen if the appeal is won? We are predicting the future. I'm worried about tomorrow and the Liverpool game. I can't say what happens in the future.

“I think it's important for all of us to respect the process. An appeal is ongoing."

Maresca joined City as a coach in 2020 after serving as an assistant at West Ham United – meaning that he wasn't present at Eastlands during the period in which City have been accused of breaking Premier League rules.

He stepped up to an assistant role under Guardiola for the 2022/23 Treble-winning season before leaving the club that summer to take Leicester City back to the Premier League.

City travel to Liverpool this weekend when Premier League action resumes after the international break.

Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho has opened up about his supposed falling out with Kylian Mbappe.

Ballon d'Or hopeful Mbappe may have recently picked up an injury, but has spent the recent international break courting media attention, first by allegedly visiting a Parisian nightclub and then by posting a photo of himself riding a bicycle, against his manager's wishes.

With rumours suggesting the Galactico could be on Liverpool's radar ahead of a potential move, however, Mourinho has addressed an apparent 'bust-up' with the Real Madrid player, in comments relayed by TEAMtalk.

Jose Mourinho on Kylian Mbappe: 'it was made to look as though he was riding in the Tour de Suisse'

“[Mbappe] came here after the injury and was diagnosed,” Mourinho confirmed in a press conference, before noting that the Frenchman had “an outpatient consultation” over a knee issue.

“There’s a hunt for problems,” the Special One continued. “As if the real problems football has faced in recent weeks weren’t enough.”

“First, the nightclub that wasn’t a nightclub – it was a venue for a private Paris Fashion Week event. Then, the bicycle incident in Switzerland, at a hotel made up of small cabins.

“The bicycles were simply there to get around the communal areas of a quiet hotel, yet it was made to look as though he was riding in the Tour de Suisse.”

The 63-year-old then turned to Madridistas to “read between the lines” and “be fair and intelligent” when reading stories of their star striker.

“I promise the Bernabeu that when a player doesn’t behave like a Real Madrid player 24 hours a day and doesn’t fulfil his obligations, you won’t see that player on the pitch or on the bench – he’ll be on the bench,” Mourinho continued.

“Mbappe will play tomorrow, and that’s because I’m sure he hasn’t let Real Madrid down.”

Real currently lie fourth in La Liga after seven games, having lost twice already this season to Real Betis and city rivals Atletico Madrid – who are both ahead of them in the table.

Barcelona top the table with seven wins from seven and 24 goals scored already, having netted a further five in their first Champions League outing of the campaign against PSV at Camp Nou.

Mbappe is valued at €200 million by Transfermarkt.

The managers of Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are the first two who were appointed in 2026. They’re already right in the middle of the list of Premier League bosses from longest serving to shortest, and they’re already under pressure.

Michael Carrick and Roberto De Zerbi collide on Saturday, six matches into the new Premier League season. According to some markets, they’re the two favourites to be the next manager in the division to be sacked.

It’s difficult to argue against those odds. Man United and Spurs are clubs with pedigree and a certain weight of expectation, but also with differing degrees of underperformance having dogged them in recent seasons.

Man United’s form will improve unless they invite further chaos

Big clubs and bad results make for a treacherous path for managers, to put it mildly, and Man United won one of their first five league matches this season. Spurs, bottom of what may or may not pass as the Premier League table, only have two draws to show for their efforts.

On that basis alone, Carrick and De Zerbi must be among the favourites for the chop. The only other winless managers are Alvaro Arbeloa of Fulham and AFC Bournemouth’s Marco Rose, both drafted in when their predecessors were poached and in their very early days in charge.

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Results matter most when there’s a lack of hard evidence that a manager will turn them around.

Aston Villa and Coventry City are both in the bottom five thanks to four-match winless runs out of the gate. Unai Emery has been in his post longer than every other Premier League manager but Mikel Arteta. Frank Lampard, meanwhile, is striding towards two years at Coventry.

Both have earned time and patience. It’s a different tale for Carrick and De Zerbi even before the chasm between expectation and reality at their clubs is taken into account. It makes sense that they’d be the favourites for the sack. That doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be premature if it happened.

Man United and Spurs meet in their sixth Premier League games of 2026/27. It’s nearly the middle of October.

It’s both early in the season and not, and it’s surely obvious to everybody that the transfer window being open until September and an extended international break arriving before the end of the same month makes for a disrupted opening.

Losing to Spurs would leave Man United winless in four and Carrick would be nudged closer to the exit if his current team somehow contrived to lose at home against his old one, but the inevitable noise about him getting the boot should be left at that.

Their squad is better than one win in five. That’s a criticism of Carrick’s start in 2026/27 but it’s a reason to be optimistic, too. There are players in his team, leaders, who are good enough to get things moving.

There was a bounce factor in Man United's climb to third last season, the suggestion being that a simplified brief, a breath of fresh air and round pegs in round holes were all that was needed to unshackle the faltering talent.

It’s too soon to write that off as the limit of Carrick’s abilities. He was there for half a season and sharp enough to turn that theory into practice, for starters, even if the first taste of adversity in his second spell in the dugout is cause for concern.

A club of Man United’s heft is likely to be its own biggest threat almost by definition. When the Red Devils are right on and off the pitch, they take some stopping.

They need stability. They need to keep their cool. Carrick won’t and shouldn’t be backed indefinitely, but five and indeed six matches into a new season is no time to risk a gunshot to the toes.

Doubts over De Zerbi are warranted but must be considered in context

Carrick welcomes Spurs to Old Trafford on Saturday and will face their manager for the second time in his young head coach career. De Zerbi’s Brighton & Hove Albion won 5-1 at Middlesbrough in the FA Cup nearly four years ago but his struggles in the early part of 2026/27 are there for all to see.

He’s hardly the only Spurs manager that can be said about. Consecutive seasons of finishing just outside the relegation zone can’t just be left behind as if they were no big deal and even a big-spending summer is no guarantee of a reset to some forgotten norm.

Spurs have become a tough gig, but while FourFourTwo can’t be sure De Zerbi is the man to turn them around, it’s going to take a lot longer than five or six Premier League matches to be convinced that he’s not.

De Zerbi had a different target to aim at over a shorter period than Carrick when he was parachuted in last season, but he too did what was required of him. Both of them did the job that was asked from a challenging starting point and both of them have had to plan around significant disruption along with 18 other Premier League managers.

Regardless of Saturday’s result, it’s too soon for the losing manager to be dismissed. Both clubs need to hold their nerve, at least for now, because their bosses have both delivered more already than their predecessors.

Too soon doesn’t mean wrong, however. It just means too soon.

Had his team beaten a desperately out-of-form Fulham at Anfield, rather than one of the worst 0-0 draws you’re ever likely to see, Liverpool would be second in the Premier League table after the opening five games, behind only 100-per cent-pacesetters Manchester City.

It’s City who arrive at Anfield as domestic football returns this weekend, and it’s set to be an interesting atmosphere following the Premier League’s finding of the visitors being guilty of 114 financial breaches. That Liverpool were arguably the team most cheated by City’s breaches adds to the timing of the fixture on Sunday. Anfield will provide some 'welcome'.

But while much of the pre-match talk will focus on the ongoing fallout from the guilty charge, and the views of Liverpool supporters, this three-week pause on domestic football has given us time to review what's changed at Liverpool since Iraola's appointment - and there's plenty.

#1: Alexis Mac Allister is Iraola’s first-choice midfielder

Few players’ form represented Liverpool’s struggles last season more than Alexis Mac Allister’s. The narrative became that the Argentine’s leg’s had seemingly gone, struggling for speed in the middle and easily turned and ran in behind. It was a narrative that certainly passed the eye test, and most supporters wouldn’t have been too fussed had the 27-year-old departed in the summer.

But an impressive showing with Argentina at the World Cup showed that Mac Allister still has plenty to offer, something Iraola quickly identified, too. Mac Allister is now undoubtedly Liverpool’s first-choice midfielder, ousting Ryan Gravenberch in the position alongside Dominik Szoboszlai.

#2: Dutch duo are very much out of favour

Gravenberch started in Liverpool’s first game of the season, partly because of Mac Allister’s later return to pre-season, in a game where the midfield was completely exposed for both of Newcastle’s goals.

Since then he’s started just one of the six games - that being the dour 0-0 with Fulham when he was hooked after an hour.

It’s a similar story for Jeremie Frimpong, who didn’t play a minute for the Netherlands during their four games in the international break.

Frimpong started the two opening games of the season, before Ronald Araujo had arrived and settled in. Since then his only start has been in the Carabao Cup.

#3: Iraola is ruthless in addressing issues

The dropping of Gravenberch and Frimpong shows how quick Iraola is at not only identifying the issues, which had been apparent long before he arrived at the club, but also in addressing them and finding a solution.

Frimpong isn’t a right-back. Arguably he isn’t a winger either. He’s a wing-back. Liverpool don’t play with wing-backs. He’s a player who isn’t needed and who Liverpool should be looking to replace with somebody who suits the squad’s needs.

Meanwhile, Araujo provides a far more solid and reliable option. In fact, Liverpool haven’t conceded a goal in the 285 minutes he’s played in the Premier League!

Having Araujo as a less attack-focused full-back allows Milos Kerkez greater license to get forward on the opposite flank - which is the opposite to how Arne Slot used him for large parts of last season.

#4: Wingers are vital to Iraola’s identity

While a specific right-winger to replace Mohamed Salah eventually wasn’t acquired in the summer, the additions of Victor Munoz and Bradley Barcola provided Iraola with a strong group of wingers.

With Cody Gakpo and Rio Ngumoha, the squad includes four wingers, who Iraola has said will all have to get used to playing on the left or right, depending on the opposition and specific approaches in-game.

The further pursuits of Ismaila Sarr and Yankuba Minteh would have given Iraola more balance, with Barcola and Minteh or Sarr then being the first-choice options, Gakpo departing, and Munoz and Ngumoha providing the depth.

What’s apparent is that Iraola likes to have strong options from the bench to change the game, that primarily is his wingers, especially given the current lack of options to replace Alexander Isak.

Once Hugo Ekitike returns sometime in winter, it will provide an interesting new option for the Basque boss.

#5: More rotation will be required

Iraola was unlikely to select a much-changed lineup for his first-ever game as a manager in the Champions League, against a strong Atletico Madrid side, at Anfield.

But the result of making just two changes in that hard-fought 2-1 win against Atletico (both those being the wingers), was the desperately energy-devoid showing against Fulham three days later.

Clearly, for Iraola’s high-energy, pressing style to work more often, more rotation is required until players are capable of doing so midweek and weekend.

This is, after all, Iraola’s first time managing in Europe’s elite competition and having four competitions to play in.

Yet another tough Carabao Cup draw, at home to Chelsea, hardly helps things.

#6: Youth will get chances

Despite the need to get wins on the board early on, Iraola has shown that youngsters will get their chances. Trey Nyoni is a player many supporters would like to see get more opportunities in the league, having been marginalised last season under Slot and seeking a loan move away until Iraola’s arrival.

Iraola made 10 changes to the Carabao Cup lineup against Tottenham, with Nyoni and James McConnell in midfield and Lewis Koumas up front. Koumas’ energetic cameos in the league have also endeared him to supporters early on. His versatility makes him a useful squad player.

With nine games in 29 days after the international break and before the next one in November, Iraola will need to utilise his squad and that includes youngsters such as that trio. A Champions League tie away to LASK next week should provide the first opportunity to make some rotations, especially after what is likely to be an energetic match against Man City at Anfield on Sunday.

In the new format of the Champions League, finishing high up the league stage appears to offer little reward - provided you finish high enough to avoid the play-off. So there is no need to be playing a ‘best XI’ in all league games.

For example, Iraola needs to learn that an away match against Brentford is higher priority than LASK in the league phase. After all, Liverpool’s bread and butter is the league campaign. And European exploits can always be salvaged with a strong bench or winning later league stage games.

#7: Iraola has embraced everything Liverpool

The Spaniard’s first message upon his arrival on Merseyside was to tell fans how he wanted “to become one of you.”

He spoke of wanting to sightsee in Liverpool and immerse himself in the club and the city. Such words were welcome after reports of his predecessor not quite adopting that approach of ‘all in’, especially with regard to the Academy.

Praise for Iraola has been effusive from Under-21s coach Rob Page. “He has been excellent, and the staff,” said Page, referring to Iraola and his assistants of Pablo de la Torre, Tommy Elphick and Shaun Cooper.

This extended international break has seen Iraola working with the small group of first-team players not away with their country, plus some of the Under-21s. “The boss has had them in training,” explains Page. “They’ve worked hard. Our lads (U21s) last week went over for four consecutive days with him.”

After supporters become more accustomed to images of Slot on holiday during international breaks, that Iraola has been busy at the training ground hasn’t gone unnoticed.

He’s also been spotted in the city, posing for photos with kids at a GOALS soccer centre, having moved his family to just north of Liverpool, close to where Jurgen Klopp resided.

Again, after Slot opted to live near to Manchester airport and was often spotted in Selfridges in the Trafford Centre, it makes for a refreshing change.

Iraola appears to understand what it means to be the figurehead of a club like Liverpool, where every word and every moment, on and off the pitch, is perceived and interpreted by passionate and emotive fans.

Ian Wright has claimed the relentless effort required to compete with Manchester City ultimately 'broke' former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.

Wright was speaking on ITV Sport’s coverage of England’s international fixture against Czechia on Tuesday evening, shortly after the Premier League released an official statement confirming an independent commission had found Manchester City guilty of 114 financial charges.

The ruling, which addresses breaches spanning nine seasons between 2009 and 2018, arrives before Man City's first trip following the international break - a visit to Anfield to face Liverpool.

Wright: Competing with Man City 'broke' Jurgen Klopp

Reflecting on the title battles between City and Liverpool during the peak of Pep Guardiola and Klopp's managerial rivalry, Wright highlighted the emotional and physical toll inflicted on the German manager, whose side accumulated extraordinary point totals only to repeatedly finish second.

"It is quite appropriate for them to be going to Liverpool [next] because you have to say in that four in-a-row [time], Liverpool were the team that were chasing them down," Wright told lead presenter Mark Pougatch.

"You look at what [Jurgen] Klopp went through with that team and what Klopp went through himself to try and beat that [Man City] team to try and break them. And in the end, it probably broke him and it's been done wrong, in an illegal way. It's so sad. It's going to keep getting deeper, it's going to get so litigious now, I think it's going to go on so long, Pougs – it's so sad."

Klopp departed Liverpool at the end of the 2023/24 season after nine years on Merseyside, admitting he was running out of energy to continue managing at the highest level. During his tenure, Liverpool pushed City to unprecedented standards—most notably losing the Premier League title by a single point in both the 2018/19 and 2021/22 campaigns despite accumulating 97 and 92 points respectively.

Wright’s comments reflect a growing sentiment across the game that Liverpool's achievements under Klopp were unfairly compromised if City's domestic dominance was achieved through financial breaches.

However, Wright warned that the fallout from the guilty verdict is only just beginning. With Manchester City maintaining their innocence and preparing an appeal against the ruling, the former England striker expects an extended legal process that will continue to cast a shadow over English football.

Anfield will be a cauldron when Man City visit after the international break, carrying the weight of an unavoidable narrative. The game is scheduled to be played at 4:30pm on Sunday, October 11.

Roberto Mancini claims the club 'are not guilty' and insists that allegations regarding a secondary contract during his tenure are 'not his problem.'

Mancini, currently in his second spell as manager of the Italian national team, addressed the media ahead of Italy’s Nations League fixture against Turkey. When asked about the reported findings and his personal involvement in the long-running case, the 61-year-old offered a defence of his former employers.

"I don't think they [Manchester City] were found guilty," Mancini said. "It's not an issue that concerns me. It's nothing new because this has been discussed for the last four or five years."

Roberto Mancini: 'It's not my concern, it's Manchester City's'

Mancini’s comments come directly after reporting last week revealing that an independent commission had reached a verdict in the landmark case.

The Premier League charged Manchester City in February 2023 following a five-year investigation. The 115 alleged breaches, spanning a nine-year period between 2009 and 2018, centred on accusations that the club failed to provide accurate financial information, disguised owner funding as commercial sponsorship income, breached Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) as well as UEFA Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations, and failed to cooperate with the league's inquiry.

"Manchester City has not been found guilty, and on the double contract it isn't my concern. It's their issue, not mine," Mancini added.

The Italian is implicated in one of the primary allegations. Appointed in December 2009, the point at which the alleged financial discrepancies began, the Italian spent four years in the Etihad Stadium dugout, famously guiding the club to their first Premier League title in 2012.

However, investigation findings allege that City operated an off-the-books payment structure to supplement his managerial wage.

While officially earning £1.45 million per season from Manchester City, Mancini reportedly signed a secondary contract with Abu Dhabi-based club Al Jazira, which is also controlled by Man City owner Sheikh Mansour. The arrangement allegedly paid the Italian coach an additional £1.7m (€2.03m) annually for a minimum of four days of consultancy work per year. The Premier League argued that this structure was used to conceal full manager remuneration, artificially lower City's official operating costs, and circumvent financial regulations.

Despite the reporting surrounding the guilty verdict on 114 counts, Manchester City have maintained their innocence throughout the proceedings and are widely expected to launch an appeal once formal sanctions are determined.

In the wake of the news, Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak issued an open letter to supporters, adopting a defiant stance regarding the ongoing legal battle.

"The Premier League process still has a long way to run, and our confidence and intent in proving the Club's innocence is just as strong as when this began," Al Mubarak wrote. "While some people have been quick to reach their own conclusions, and there is so much noise swirling around us, nothing has changed. There remain many who want to undermine the momentum of our Club. We will not give them that opportunity."

With potential penalties ranging from substantial financial fines and points deductions to potential expulsion from the top flight, the eventual resolution of the case will send shockwaves through world football. For Mancini, whose managerial legacy remains tied to City's breakthrough era, the ongoing battle is one he prefers to view from afar.

Alan Pardew admits that things got off to a rocky start at West Ham United - but ultimately left the club with few regrets by the time he was done there.

The former Hammers boss took the reins in October 2003 following Glenn Roeder's dismissal a couple of months earlier.

Pardew's departure from Reading proved to be lengthy and acrimonious before he got to East London, however, with the Royals unwilling to allow their manager to leave to take the West Ham job.

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"We went to Cardiff three times during my time there"

Pardew told FourFourTwo: "I was put on bloody gardening leave for three months. The Reading owner, John Madjeski, wouldn’t strike a deal with West Ham even though they were willing to pay up the remaining time on my contract.

"Football-wise, I actually went from a team who were doing better than West Ham at the time.

And the problems on continued from there: "I inherited quite a few problems at Upton Park with the likes of David James and Jermain Defoe making it clear they wanted a move following relegation.

"I had to change things around and tried to do what I’d done at Reading by recruiting hungry young players such as Marlon Harewood and Nigel Reo-Coker."

Pardew's Hammers lost in the play-off final to his former club Crystal Palace at the end of his first season in 2004/05.

But West Ham went one better the following year, earning promotion after returning to the Millennium Stadium for another play-off final. This time, they prevailed over Preston North End.

A solid 9th-place finish and a FA Cup final defeat to Liverpool in 2006 after that late Steven Gerrard equaliser was the pinnacle for Pardew. A dreadful start to the following campaign despite the signings of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano saw him dismissed shortly before Christmas.

Pardrew reflects happily on his time at Upton Park on the whole, though, saying: "We had some great moments there.

"We went to Cardiff three times during my time there because Wembley was closed – two play-off finals and the FA Cup final vs Liverpool.

"The supporters loved those trips to Wales!"

The London Stadium was just 12 miles down the road as Dagenham & Redbridge netted their third past second-placed Wrexham in May 2022, but for those travelling Red Dragons, it will have felt like a lifetime away.

Phil Parkinson’s side pitched up at The Chigwell Construction Stadium that day with a dream, and a reachable one at that.

They were three points behind Stockport County in the National League – the fifth tier of English football, which holds only one automatic promotion spot to the Football League – but with a superior goal difference. Dagenham were eighth in the league, with the Hatters up against fourth-placed Halifax Town.

Phil Parkinson has already proved he's a mood-turning master

Dave Challinor’s table-topping side were prone to a wobble; in the last game, they’d let the Welsh side right back in, losing 3-0 against Parkinson’s men, in what felt like a potential title decider, just weeks after being dumped out of the FA Trophy at the same venue. Stockport were bruised, and Wrexham were on the up.

Plenty fancied Wrexham’s chances that day, despite not starting in the driving seat. Dagenham had to release a statement leading up to it, offering 300 extra tickets to away fans while pleading with them not to attempt to get in the home end. Excitement was bubbling over. It was certainly going to be a close run-in, wasn’t it?

Er, no.

The Red Dragons were battered off the park, losing 3-0 as Stockport banked a history-making 2-0 win against Halifax. The deflation for Wrexham carried through to the FA Trophy final at Wembley (a 1-0 loss to Bromley) and the play-offs, coming off second-best in a 5-4 game of hot potato with Grimsby Town.

Just like that, their season was over, with nothing to show for the incredible fight they’d shown through the latter part of the season and the hefty investment supplied by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac.

So why are we talking about this over four years after the fact? Partly because we all know what happens next in Wrexham’s story, and it shows just how quickly things can change for the better.

Of the group that travelled down to Dagenham that day, only Max Cleworth and Parkinson himself remain at the club.

The Wrexham boss has found himself in one of the tougher moments of his five-year reign at the beginning of this season. The lowest ebb came as they realised what would have one day been a dream: instead of travelling to the capital for the likes of The Chigwell Construction Stadium, it was the London Stadium for a league game. Well, it was a dream at kick-off, which quickly descended into a nightmare as Jarrod Bowen netted the Hammers’ first, followed by five of his mates also sticking one each past summer signing Anthony Patterson.

“We can do better, and I can do better,” a forlorn Parkinson said in a post-match interview with Sky Sports. “I think the word accountability is important for myself and all individuals as well.”

He cut a figure that you have no doubt seen before: looking down at the floor, blaming himself and admitting his side simply weren’t good enough on the night. A reluctant, withdrawn acceptance that maybe, after such an incredible journey, his spell was running out of steam.

The season prior, they’d been in the play-off places with one game left to play, heading into that final day level on points with Hull City. The Red Dragons drew with Middlesbrough, as the Tigers beat Norwich City, pipping them to the last play-off spot and then going on to win the end-of-season contest. As Wrexham were mulling over this West Ham defeat, a day later, Hull were holding Chelsea to a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge. Fine margins expand quickly in football.

Looking at it through that lens, there has been an understandable deflation around the Racecourse for much of the beginning of this term, and fans travelling home from West Ham that evening were no doubt feeling it. Faith in Parkinson is high, and perhaps restoring with their most recent win against Southampton, but it’s nights like West Ham when doubts creep in and can take hold.

Those with slightly longer memories will understand the immense rallying power Parkinson possesses, though.

After that crushing miss in the National League in 2022, he picked his squad up, dusted them off and blitzed the competition the following season, racking up a record-smashing 111 points.

That season for Wrexham was the catalyst. Second place in League Two (enough to go up automatically here) followed, and they repeated the trick in League One, famously marking back-to-back-to-back promotions. Yes, Parkinson has been backed financially, but so have others with much less to show for it. It still took some doing, especially from such a dispiriting 2021/22 season.

Thankfully, the two movie stars with their hands on the purse strings appear to be among those with long-term memories, and have not been afraid to double down on their support.

“Phil has shown over and over again that he can win at every level so far,” Rob Mac told The Wrexham Podcast earlier this month, “so I don’t see why he doesn’t have as much room as he can possibly have over the next few years to continue to prove it.

“Phil has earned a lot of wiggle room.

“When I look at how quickly managers are fired, not just in English football, in the sport, all of the world, every league, managers are fired so quickly.”

Firing Parkinson would by far be the biggest and most emotional call the Wrexham hierarchy have had to make since they took over, and Mac confirmed in that same podcast that he wouldn’t be afraid to do it, if the situation called for it.

It may yet come. They may feel they need a bit of Premier League experience in the dugout to take that next step, but Mac noted that situation has not been reached yet. And he’s right.

Following that loss to West Ham, the Red Dragons were just one point off where they found themselves at the same stage last season, getting back to winning ways a week later with that home win against the Saints. Yet more evidence of the manager’s bouncebackability, and a sign that things are not as bad as they’ve felt at certain stages.

Outsiders may ask how you recover a squad’s mood after that huge miss last season, and how you erase the memory of a 6-0 drubbing on what should have been a special night. Anyone who’s followed Parkinson’s career for any length of time will simply point to his record.

Germany manager Jurgen Klopp has come out in defence of his former Liverpool captain over criticism by the Dutch press.

Reds skipper Virgil van Dijk has been involved in a spat with reporters in the aftermath of the World Cup, where the Netherlands were beaten on penalties by Morocco in the round of 16.

There were suggestions that Van Dijk was involved in a tactical decision made by head coach Ronald Koeman, whose replacement, Xavi, will lead the Dutch for the first time against Klopp and Germany on Thursday.

Van Dijk 'singled out' over World Cup exit

Van Dijk denied the claim when he spoke to the Dutch media ahead of the start of their Nations League campaign, describing the accusation as 'nonsense' and reminding reporters that World Cup matches are won and lost as a team.

In his own pre-match media duties, Klopp leapt to the defence of his former captain, comparing the Dutch press to their German colleagues.

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"Our German journalists are pretty good [at being critical] too," said the new Germany manager, who replaced Julian Nagelsmann after the World Cup.

"I haven't really followed the Dutch press, but I assume you weren't happy with the elimination. Then the captain gets more criticism too.

"Virgil has had a lot of great moments in his career and also a few lesser ones. Because he is not only physically present, but normally also because of his performances, I can imagine that he gets singled out a bit."

Nobody in football knows Van Dijk better than Klopp. The defender played 270 times under Klopp for Liverpool, where they won the Premier League and Champions League together.

Xavi's first Dutch squad also includes Ryan Gravenberch and Gody Gakpo, who were managed at Anfield by Klopp, and newer Liverpool arrival Jeremie Frimpong. In all, 10 of the Dutch players have been drawn from the Premier League.

Thursday's match in Amsterdam is the first meeting between the Netherlands and Germany since the last Nations League competition. Germany won their home fixture after a 2-2 draw in the Dutch capital.

The Netherlands' last win against the Germans was a 4-2 victory in a European Championship qualifier in September 2019.

Van Dijk captained the team in Hamburg and they went on to lose to the Czech Republic in the round of 16 of EURO 2020.

Arsenal very nearly signed one of Unai Emery's most trusted generals, alongside bringing the Basque to N5 in 2018.

Emery took the Gunners job following the departure of club legend Arsene Wenger after 22 years in the hot seat – but failed to elevate a flailing Arsenal, finishing fifth in his first season and losing the Europa League final 4-1.

Now, in comments made to Mucho Deporte via a report from Sport Witness, Emery's right-hand man at Sevilla and Aston Villa, Monchi, has explained how fate very nearly brought him to the Premier League sooner.

Monchi opens up on botched Arsenal move - and subsequent “friction” with Unai Emery

Former Sevilla goalkeeper Monchi stepped into the Director of Football role at the Andalucian club in 2000 and helped to build a dynasty at the club, capturing seven Europa League titles over the years.

Emery was responsible for three in a row, forming a close partnership with his director, as the pair developed an astonishing formula for buying untapped talent and developing them into European stars.

“Once I had decided to leave Roma (in 2018), Unai called me about going to Arsenal,” Monchi says now.

“I was on the verge of going. But amidst the whirlwind of exchanging contracts with Arsenal, Pepe Castro [of Sevilla] called me. Just as he had helped me leave for Roma because I asked him to, I couldn’t say no to that call.

“It caused a bit of friction with Unai – because he was very excited, as was I, about me going to Arsenal – but I came to Sevilla instead. I am incredibly grateful for that second spell and that opportunity in Sevilla, even though those were four difficult, complicated years.”

Things didn't go to plan for Emery at Arsenal, who was sacked in November of his second season, with Raul Sanlehhi and Sven Mislintat largely responsible for the recruitment during the now Aston Villa manager's first stint in the Premier League.

While things certainly improved for Arsenal under another Basque in Mikel Arteta, Emery landed on his feet again, too, winning a fourth Europa League title with Villarreal before repeating the feat in the Midlands – where Monchi would link up with him once more.

“The Unai I know from Sevilla is nothing like the Unai I’ve come to know in Birmingham; he is a much better Unai, because he is someone who is always striving to improve,” he concluded.

“He is deeply inquisitive about football – obsessed with video analysis, imagery, and match preparation – and a coach who has almost always been successful.”

Arsenal take on Leeds United when Premier League action resumes after the international break.

Manchester United have confirmed it cost the club in the region of £8.2 million to sack Ruben Amorim and his backroom staff earlier this year.

As reported by the Manchester Evening News, the “exceptional items” in the club's latest financial results primarily reflect the severance packages for the Portuguese coach and his assistants.

Amorim was dismissed in January after a 14-month spell in charge, during which he struggled to get a tune out of his star-studded squad.

Ruben Amorim sacking cost Manchester United £8.2 million

Initially, the club faced a possible £16.7 million compensation bill, however, Amorim’s subsequent appointment at AC Milan this summer is believed to have activated a reduction clause in his contract, halving the final compensation payout to £8.2 million.

Following Amorim’s exit, Michael Carrick stepped up as interim boss, sparking a late-season revival that successfully guided the Red Devils back into the UEFA Champions League. Rewarded for his dugout - and most likely balance sheet - heroics, Carrick was officially handed the permanent managerial role over the summer. But, the honeymoon period appears to be over.

Assuming Carrick is currently on a contract similar in value to his predecessor's, the club is effectively investing £1.17m per match under their new permanent head coach.

Since the 2026/27 campaign kicked off last month, Carrick has taken charge of seven competitive matches, winning just two, including none of the last three.

The campaign began with a shock 2-0 defeat away to newly promoted Hull City. While Man United bounced back with a resounding 5-2 victory over Ipswich Town at Old Trafford, they were quickly frustrated by a 2-2 draw against Everton in early September.

A 4-0 Champions League triumph over Azeri champions Sabah FK was nothing more than the expected outcome, but the momentum was short-lived by a painful, and perhaps unjust, 1-0 derby defeat to Manchester City at Old Trafford.

Things went from bad to worse just days later when Carrick's side collapsed in the Carabao Cup, squandering a lead to lose 3-2 against Brighton & Hove Albion. Most recently, the squad could only salvage a late 1-1 draw against Fulham at Craven Cottage.

With just one win in their first five Premier League outings and an early exit from domestic cup competition, the pressure is mounting on Carrick.

Manchester United executives will be praying their investment in and commitment to his leadership begins to yield better results, or else they may find themselves facing yet another expensive managerial restructuring.

Tottenham Hotspur are considering sacking Roberto De Zerbi, after defeat to Aston Villa at the weekend.

That's the shock new report emerging following five games in the Premier League without a win, and the Tottenham board starting to worry after significant outlay to improve the squad over the summer.

With De Zerbi recently calling the Lilywhites the most “fragile” team he has ever managed at the weekend, Spurs' next fixture against Manchester United could be pivotal in both dugouts.

Tottenham Hotspur looking for a change already, following Roberto De Zerbi's disastrous start

De Zerbi was hired by Tottenham in March to steer the club away from relegation and was given apparent carte blanche over the summer to reshape his playing squad after successive 17th-place finishes.

Disposing of the 47-year-old so soon into the campaign would thus come as a shock – not least because Thomas Frank was given until February of this year as manager, despite overseeing just 13 games in 38 matches in all competitions – but the atmosphere in N17 appears to be souring already.

Spanish outlet Fichajes have reported that Spurs are already on the hunt for De Zerbi's successor, though his contract complicates the situation.

The Spurs boss has a deal that runs until 2031, with no break clause, meaning that it would cost tens of millions to part early from the agreement – but following comments at the weekend, De Zerbi is clearly unhappy with his situation.

Speaking to talkSPORT after the final whistle on Saturday, the Italian noted that “the leaders have to be stronger”, but that “I do not have all the answers”.

“It's difficult to explain because, in my career, 14 years as a coach, I've never seen one team like us," he said.

"So fragile, so inconsistent. You're good, or you're bad. You can't be very good in the first 30, 40 minutes, and then concede like this in this way. It's tough to accept for me.

“Maybe the communication between the players [is the problem], maybe the leaders have to be stronger," he added.

“We need leaders to drive and lead the team. With Newcastle it was the same, in Liverpool it was the same, with Everton it was the same: we have to find the solutions.”

Spurs take on Manchester United when Premier League action returns in October after the international break.

Snoop Dogg, Luka Modric and Martha Stewart aren’t used to being upstaged, but Swansea City fans have a new hero whose feats in South Wales are putting even the club’s celebrity co-owners in the shade.

Vitor Matos was appointed head coach of the Championship side last November, when they were 20th in the table and at risk of being dragged into a relegation fight. He guided Swansea to a top-half finish last season and has them among the early pace-setters this term, with supporters dreaming of a return to the Premier League.

The Portuguese, 38, is quietly doing one of the best managerial jobs in the top four divisions. If you weren’t aware of him, remember the name - because it surely won’t be long before he is in the Premier League, with or without Swansea.

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Why Vitor Matos is one of the brightest young coaches in the EFL

Born just outside Porto, Matos is said to have been inspired to go into coaching by Jose Mourinho’s success at the Portuguese giants. He was in his mid-teens when ‘The Special One’ led Porto to the UEFA Cup and Champions League in 2003 and 2004 respectively.

After starting out at local clubs, Matos joined Porto in 2011 and progressed from Under 9s coach to assistant manager of the club’s B team, via a two-year spell in the youth set-up at Chinese Super League outfit Shandon Luneng.

At Porto he met Pep Lijnders, who also rose from the academy to the senior set-up before joining Liverpool in 2014. When the Reds needed a new elite development coach in 2019 - a role Lijnders held before becoming assistant manager - Matos got the call.

Then-manager Jurgen Klopp told Liverpool’s official website at the time: “[He’s] a really great guy, an outstanding coach. Young and experienced, you don't get that a lot. A kind of guy who is used to six or seven sessions a day. He is smart, his English is very good – which is obviously important – and he has worked at different clubs.”

Matos spent five years acting as a bridge between the academy and the first team at Anfield, helping to develop the likes of Curtis Jones, Jarell Quansah, Neco Williams and Harvey Elliott, before becoming Lijnders’ assistant at Austrian side RB Salzburg in summer 2024.

He left when Lijnders was sacked the following December and was appointed head coach of Portuguese second-tier outfit Maritimo in June 2025, only to be poached by Swansea just 12 games into his tenure.

Matos’ backstory is relevant as it helps explain why he is a good coach. He has worked in multiple countries, trained players of all abilities and ages, and learnt from some elite managers. When you consider that Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta and Manchester City counterpart Enzo Maresca both worked under Pep Guardiola and are now managing the two favourites for the Premier League title, it is no surprise that Matos is thriving after spending five years with Klopp.

Maritimo’s metrics under Matos reportedly brought him to Swansea’s attention and he is said to have impressed influential figures at the club, including Modric. Despite all that, the Swans undoubtedly took a risk in appointing a coach with no Championship experience to lead them away from relegation - but that risk has paid off handsomely.

After losing his first two games, Matos won five of the next seven to guide Swansea clear of the drop zone. The club didn’t make a notable signing in the January transfer window but still picked up the 10th-highest points total in the Championship between the manager’s arrival and the end of the season. They finished 11th with largely the same group of players that were floundering earlier in the campaign, which is always a sign of a good coach.

Swansea did spend money this summer, when they announced they had started working with data specialists Jamestown Analytics, co-founded by Brighton & Hove Albion owner Tony Bloom. Jamestown has played a key role in the success of Brighton, Hearts and Italian side Como, among others.

The Swans signed players from Austria, Belgium, Portugal, Scotland and Sweden for more than £20m combined, but continuity has been key to Swansea’s early-season form. In fact, the club’s top five players for both starts and minutes played across the opening seven games of the Championship campaign comprised three who were there last term - Josh Tymon, Lawrence Vigouroux and Marko Stamenic - plus Stephen Welsh, a free signing this summer, and Filip Lissah, a 21-year-old academy graduate who had made one substitute appearance before last month.

Ten of the 16 players who appeared in the 3-1 win over Burnley on September 12 also featured in Matos’ first game in charge. After beating the Clarets, the head coach praised Brazilian forward Ronald, who has had a disappointing two-and-a-half years at the club but provided the assist for Swansea’s third goal. It illustrates again how players who were previously underperforming have thrived in Matos’ favoured 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 system, where the team are encouraged to press high - an approach shaped by his time with Klopp.

He has also had to deal with losing key centre back Cameron Burgess to a season-ending Achilles injury on the eve of the campaign, as well as the summer departure of influential midfielder Ethan Galbraith.

Matos was named Championship Manager of the Month for August, but his success can be measured over his entire tenure. Ahead of last Saturday's trip to Lincoln City, he had averaged 1.65 Points Per Game across his 37 league matches, which translates to 76 points in a 46-game season - enough for a play-off spot. Despite this, Swansea’s form has largely gone under the radar, perhaps because they never troubled the play-offs last term, or because this season is still in its infancy.

In an open Championship promotion race, there is no reason why Matos’ side can’t reach the play-offs, especially with eighth place now enough to qualify. That would be a terrific achievement for a club who had regressed to mid-table mediocrity since losing the play-off final to Brentford in 2020/21.

But even if Swansea’s promotion push falls short, Matos’ personal bid for the Premier League surely won’t end there. Having quietly gone about his business in South Wales, it is only a matter of time until top-flight clubs start to take notice.

When any team is successful over a sustained period of time, it is natural to start taking it for granted.

For the likes of Liverpool in the 1970s and 1980s, and Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson, it reached a point where you simply couldn’t imagine them not winning.

While it is admittedly a stretch to compare these all-conquering sides to a club who have never lifted a major trophy, nor even qualified for the Champions League, there is a similar phenomenon surrounding Brighton & Hove Albion.

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Why Fabian Hurzeler isn't getting the credit he deserves

Mentioning the Seagulls in the same breath as those teams may sound ridiculous - particularly if you support Crystal Palace - but the south coast outfit are an era-defining club in a different way.

For the best part of a decade, Brighton have been the model club of English football. Under the ownership of Tony Bloom, Albion have risen up the pyramid and become an established Premier League side through a mix of data-driven recruitment, exemplary player trading and smart managerial appointments, while boasting a state-of-the-art stadium and top-class training facilities.

It is now expected that every unknown player they buy for next to nothing will be sold for a huge profit, following in the footsteps of Moises Caicedo, Carlos Baleba, Jan Paul van Hecke and many more.

It is now expected that the next manager they appoint will raise the level of the team, in the way that Graham Potter built on the work of Chris Hughton, and Roberto De Zerbi built on the work of Potter.

It is why everyone expected Fabian Hurzeler to be a good fit when he succeeded De Zerbi in summer 2024, despite the German being just 31 years old at the time, making him the youngest permanent head coach in Premier League history.

But De Zerbi was a hard act to follow. The Italian is a tactical innovator, hailed by Pep Guardiola as “one of the most influential managers in the last 20 years”, and led the Seagulls to sixth place in 2022/23, the highest finish in their 125-year existence.

Furthermore, in the era of Squad Cost Ratio and Profit and Sustainability rules, there is something of a glass ceiling for those outside the Premier League elite, as Aston Villa and Newcastle United - clubs with far richer histories than Brighton - have discovered.

As a result, the bare facts suggest Hurzeler has not taken Brighton to another level in the same way as his predecessors. Under the German, the Seagulls have not matched or bettered their sixth-place finish of 2022/23. That saw them qualify for the Europa League, something Hurzeler is yet to achieve. They haven’t reached the semi-finals of a cup competition, as they did under De Zerbi in the 2022/23 FA Cup.

The De Zerbi factor and the way it helped further raise expectations of Brighton means that Hurzeler isn’t getting the credit he deserves, externally at least. But dig a little deeper and it quickly becomes clear that he is doing an excellent job.

The former St Pauli boss has led the Seagulls to successive eighth-place finishes, which last season was enough to secure a place in the Conference League (they would have also qualified in 2024/25 if Palace hadn’t won the FA Cup).

Meanwhile, the Seagulls’ points tally of 61 in Hurzeler’s first campaign was only one shy of the 62 that saw them finish sixth under De Zerbi two years earlier. The 33-year-old also boasts a better win percentage than the Italian over a near identical period: 44.2 per cent across 95 games, compared to 42.7 per cent in 89 matches.

There were other eye-catching statistics doing the rounds after Brighton hammered Coventry City 5-0 last Sunday. In the first four rounds of matches, the Seagulls were the best-performing team in the Premier League for goals scored (13), Expected Goals (10.05), big chances created (19), crosses (107) and shots on target (24, which was the joint-highest tally). They were also equal second for shot conversion rate, at 16.7 per cent.

You could argue that Hurzeler’s side have had a favourable set of fixtures, playing Villa and Coventry at a good time and facing a Chelsea side who have been leaky defensively. Meanwhile, a high shot conversion rate that has them overperforming their xG suggests they have been unsustainably clinical.

But Brighton’s attacking numbers are even more impressive when you consider that Hurzeler has had to completely revamp his forward line in the early weeks of the campaign. The Seagulls sold Danny Welbeck to Chelsea this summer, while Kaoru Mitoma, Yankuba Minteh, Jack Hinshelwood and Georgino Rutter have all missed games due to injury.

As a result, Hurzeler has been fielding a front four of Charalampos Kostoulas, who made just two top-flight starts in 2025/26, Malick Yalcouye, who spent the past two seasons out on loan, Maxim De Cuyper - a full-back by trade - and Diego Gomez. That quartet boasts six goals and three assists between them this term.

It is only seven months since some Brighton fans wanted Hurzeler sacked during a run of one win from 13 league games. Those results would put any manager under pressure, but context is key: when that run began last December, the Seagulls were fifth in the table. When it ended, they were 14th. The club didn’t finish higher than 15th in their first four seasons back in the top flight - another indicator of how expectations have been raised.

Hurzeler turned it around, but the achievement of returning to Europe was overshadowed by Bournemouth and Sunderland ending the campaign in sixth and seventh respectively, which were bigger stories than another top-half finish for the Seagulls.

The season before, Nottingham Forest’s seventh-place finish and Palace’s FA Cup triumph grabbed the headlines. Those were both shocks, whereas eighth was simply par for the course for Brighton.

It feels like Hurzeler needs to lift the Conference League, reach a domestic cup final or qualify for the Champions League for the job he is doing to be fully appreciated.

Achieve any of those and it would rank as one of the greatest seasons in Brighton’s history - maybe then he will step out of De Zerbi’s shadow.

It's fair to say things haven't been terrific for Manchester United so far this season.

Comfortable wins against Ipswich Town and Sabah aside, they've lost to newly promoted Hull City, drawn with Everton's massively depleted squad and lost a Manchester derby against a City side playing with only ten men.

However, Wednesday evening's home collapse against Brighton and Hove Albion might have been the lowest point of the campaign so far, and it was entirely self-inflicted.

Carrick needs to look at his decision making

It was the first time since 1976 that United had lost after taking a two goal lead at Old Trafford, a record that Michael Carrick will now have on his CV for the rest of his career, and the blame has to be put squarely at his feet.

His team selection, chiefly a second-string outfit with a couple of first-teamers thrown in, wasn't anywhere near strong enough, and so it proved.

Granted, the problems at Man United aren't entirely Carrick's fault, there were definitely positions that needed to be bolstered during the summer that were ignored by those in charge of recruitment, but he isn't helping himself with team selections like the one against Brighton.

First of all, the inexperienced centre back duo of Leny Yoro and Ayden Heaven was clearly a huge gamble, with neither particularly experienced or dependable enough to play without the support of a trusted guiding hand alongside them.

The lack of cohesion and understanding between the two was clearly on display for Brighton's equaliser when they were split as easily as Carol Vorderman tackling two divided by two.

Further baffling choices were seen behind the two defenders, with Karl Darlow getting his Red Devils debut. Given that Man United's next game isn't until 4:30pm on Sunday, was Senne Lammens really going to be tired from playing on a Wednesday night?

Darlow was very easily beaten for Brighton's first, which changed the complexion of the game right before half-time, while getting a grip on his inexperienced defenders was a distraction he struggled to cope with. Given the pressure Carrick finds himself under at such an early stage in the season, these choices look like unnecessary risks to be making when it ought to be imperative for him to start building momentum and picking up wins where possible.

Though a club of Manchester United's size should have loftier ambitions than the Carabao Cup, it is a winnable piece of silverware that is now off-limits for this season.

But the Premier League and Champions League are also beyond the realm of possibility for them this season, and likely will be for the foreseeable future, so any trophies should be welcomed.

Instead of taking it seriously, Carrick gambled and lost and has now further limited how much he can achieve in this campaign, while also increasing the amount of scrutiny he will be under from here on in.

His rested players need to perform against a struggling Fulham side this weekend, or things could turn nasty barely half way through September.

Given how much they've struggled so far, it wouldn't be wise to bet on them to succeed.

It took a while to take him out of the microwave but Ruben Amorim was cooked as soon as Manchester United were knocked out of the Carabao Cup at the first opportunity last season.

Man United were beaten by Grimsby Town on that occasion. Their third round exit from the same competition on Wednesday night was a major blow to Michael Carrick as he seeks to give lie to the idea that a football club should never appoint a caretaker manager on a permanent basis.

Losing to Premier League opposition in a cup game is just a hazard of the job, but throwing away a two-goal lead at home against Brighton & Hove Albion and not even getting to penalties was a bitter pill to swallow after a less-than-stellar start to the league campaign.

Next permanent Manchester United manager odds

United won just one of their first four league fixtures, the kind of drop in run-rate from the second half of last season that's bound to attract scrutiny after the Red Devils invested heavily to reinforce the midfield.

Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans both started the Carabao Cup game at Old Trafford but were powerless to halt United's collapse from 2-0 up to 3-2 down. Consequently, Carrick is having one of those days where it's best to avoid the internet.

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As the bookmakers slash the odds on Carrick becoming the first Premier League manager to face the sack this season, related markets on who would replace him as United's next permanent manager have gone into overdrive.

Based on an average of the various markets already available, the favourite is former Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe at 6/4 – an English boss with lots of Premier League experience but likely to be a divisive choice among United fans.

England manager Thomas Tuchel is available around 7/2 in the betting but not, the FA would say, available to move back into the club game after previous spells that included Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich.

Somewhere around 4/1, you'll find another manager whose most recent job was in international football. Julian Nagelsmann left the Germany job after the World Cup this summer and remains out of work, but is a less attractive offer following his performance over the summer.

Antonio Conte is listed around 9/1, while Gareth Southgate and Kieran McKenna – both available – are at odds of 15/1 on average.

Darren Fletcher leads the inevitable group of former Red Devils players, with 20/1 on offer if you think he'll get a chance to reprise his caretaker role on a permanent basis.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Gary Neville and Wayne Rooney are also on the list along with former United managers Ralf Rangnick, David Moyes and Erik ten Hag. Their odds are appropriately long.

Other potential candidates with marginally more convincing odds include Carlo Ancelotti (20/1), Fabian Hurzeler (25/1), Mauricio Pochettino (25/1) and Diego Simeone (50/1).

Pressure is mounting on Michael Carrick at Old Trafford following Manchester United’s Carabao Cup exit to Brighton.

The 3-2 defeat, which saw the Seagulls come back from a 2-1 deficit, has prompted bookmakers to drastically slash odds on Carrick's dismissal.

Another defeat adds to what has been a tricky start to Carrick’s first full season as permanent manager. With the Red Devils languishing in 13th place in the Premier League table after picking up just four points from their opening four matches, an early cup exit leaves the club fighting on fewer fronts when silverware could have papered over the cracks of an otherwise sub-standard season.

Michael Carrick sack odds

In response to the defeat, Sky Bet has priced Carrick at 10/3 to be the next Premier League manager to leave his post, down from his 33/1 pre-season standing.

The former Middlesbrough boss was 11/1 in the same market at the start of September, and 15/2 prior to Wednesday's elimination.

Bookmakers have also priced the ex-Man United midfielder at 5/2 to leave the Old Trafford hotseat before Christmas Day.

And for those punters bullish enough to back an immediate exit, Carrick is 6/1 to be sacked before the end of September or during October. November, meanwhile, represents the shortest individual month for his potential departure at 7/2.

The road ahead offers little relief for the under-fire boss with Sky Bet offering 10/1 on Manchester United to lose their next two Premier League matches against Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur.

Should their poor form snowball further, odds stretch to 50/1 for four straight league defeats - which would encompass losses to Leeds United and AFC Bournemouth - and 100/1 for five consecutive Premier League defeats.

Bookmakers haven't completely written off the former England international, though. Carrick remains 2/1 to weather the storm and remain in charge until the end of the season.

However, with patience wearing thin among supporters and Man United already drifting from the top four race, upcoming fixtures will prove crucial in determining whether Carrick can stabilise the ship or become the latest managerial casualty in Old Trafford's turbulent post-Sir Alex Ferguson era.

Man United are away at Fulham on Sunday, 20 September in the 4:30pm kick-off on Sky Sports.

Their next league match after that comes following the extended September-October international break, at home to Tottenham Hotspur on October 10.

Roberto De Zerbi has seemingly begun pointing fingers at his Tottenham Hotspur squad, citing their sub-par fitness as a reason for their drab start to the season, following last weekend's 0-0 draw against Everton.

The Toffees played their part, operating an effective man-to-man marking structure that helped extended Spurs' barren, goalless start to the new Premier League season.

Despite overseeing a £350 million summer spending spree designed to fire Spurs back into the Champions League, De Zerbi watched his side draw yet another blank this past weekend.

Spurs players 'not fit enough' despite full De Zerbi pre-season

Tottenham have now failed to find the back of the net in their opening four league fixtures of the 2026/27 campaign. Rather than taking tactical responsibility for his team's lack of a cutting edge, some may take the view that De Zerbi has opted to pass the buck.

Speaking to Sky Sports following the final whistle at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Spurs boss shifted the focus away from his own setup and directly onto the application of his players.

"The physical condition of the team is not the best," De Zerbi claimed when pressed on his side's attacking struggles.

It is something of a deflection from the manager keen to explain away an unexpected start to the season.

De Zerbi did suggest he felt the team played well on Merseyside, referencing the number of times they entered the Everton penalty area, but was frustrated his players did not take enough shots. Choosing to cast blame onto the physical state of the dressing room, as well as individuals' decision-making, is certainly a choice when this is a dressing room he spent an entire pre-season preparing physically and tactically.

What makes De Zerbi’s comments particularly concerning for Spurs fans is how familiar they sound.

Just seven months ago, back in February, former boss Igor Tudor made similar comments. The Croatian accused a fatigued Tottenham squad of lacking basic fitness and desire during a torrid run of form. Tudor’s public assessment subsequently alienated key players, ultimately accelerating his exit, leaving a toxic atmosphere in north London.

De Zerbi was brought in to lift that gloom, and achieved that during the latter part of last season by rebuilding player confidence, none more so than Dutch defender-turned-skipper Micky van de Ven.

But as the pressure mounts, he appears to be pulling from the same playbook of excuses as his predecessor.

Leaning on fitness issues after just four games is something of a red flag. If the Italian cannot figure out how to integrate £350m worth of new talent and get Tottenham firing in front of goal, the blame game will do little to save him from difficult conversations with his superiors, and crucially, maintaining the good will of fans.

Michael Carrick has wanted to be Manchester United head coach ever since he played his 464th and final game for them aged 36 in 2018 and moved into coaching.

Aware of Carrick’s desire to become a coach, Man United’s then-manager Jose Mourinho presented him with a whistle and a role in training. Now, actually being in charge is more than a job to Carrick.

He cares deeply about the responsibility, which is why defeat in the Manchester Derby, the manner of the loss and the result itself will hurt deeply.

HENRY WINTER: 'Michael Carrick is hurting after Manchester Derby defeat'

Carrick is a composed character, a very measured individual, reflecting his thoughtful playing style. But it was easy to detect his hurt in all the interviews he conducted afterwards. It was in his eyes, in his tone and in the words themselves. It was easy to sense his frustration and anger at VAR’s failure to consider that Enzo Fernandez was impacting on Lisandro Martinez and Senne Lammens and therefore offside.

“If that's the interpretation of not interfering in the game now, that's really worrying for me,” Carrick told the BBC. “It's a staggering explanation.” Man United received an apology from Pro Ref that the officials got it wrong. He was let down by VAR.

It’s what Carrick said next that needs scrutiny. “The decision isn't going to change the season, but it's had a major impact on the game,” he said. Two things: firstly, on it “could change the season”. It does. It whips up more doubt around Carrick so early in this season. He deserved the job after steering the club back into the Champions League. Owners will always consider that the first priority in a season because of the £100m attraction.

Carrick also got the job because of the absence of heavyweight alternatives. Potential candidates such as Julian Nagelsmann hardly enhanced their reputations at the World Cup.

Some perspective is required, patience too. Of the new managers at the bigger Premier League clubs: Enzo Maresca was given a vastly superior squad to Carrick, so life was always going to be smoother for the new City leader; Xabi Alonso has a defence to sort out at Chelsea; and Andoni Iraola is taking time to impose his ideas on Liverpool.

Roberto De Zerbi did well to keep Tottenham Hotspur up last season, but they are struggling in 17th despite spending £344m. Unai Emery is having to do a rebuild at 19th-placed Aston Villa, who have one point from four; there is increased scrutiny on Emery as these are, by and large, all his recruits.

All of these are good managers and deserve time. The ever-quickening news agenda and hunger for headline content doesn’t help.

There should be a desire to support a home-grown coach like Carrick (and full transparency, I helped him write his 2018 book). I know how much he genuinely cares about his club, the staff, players and fans. But Carrick does deserve scrutiny. He mentions, secondly, the goal having a “major impact” on the game, but the bigger impact was United’s failure to exploit their numerical advantage when Phil Foden was sent off after 23 minutes.

There has to be sympathy for Carrick over the City goal and the club’s failure to give him the defenders, especially full-backs, that he needs. Diogo Dalot and Patrick Dorgu are simply not good enough. Their flaws, such as failing to clear properly, had a “major impact” on the game. But Carrick’s in-game management wasn’t good enough. He’s not to blame for Bryan Mbeumo wasting an inviting chance late on, but Carrick was outwitted by Maresca, whose changes were far more intelligent and productive. Iliman Ndiaye came on for Rayan Cherki at the break and, along with Antoine Semenyo, stayed high and stretched United. Maresca’s boldness paid off.

Carrick, bafflingly, waited for 45 minutes after Foden’s exit to sharpen his attack with Benjamin Sesko. Until then, Carrick preferred the false 9 approach of Matheus Cunha. Sesko replaced Youri Tielemans, with the No. 10 space becoming crowded with Cunha and Bruno Fernandes (who did drop slightly deeper). Why not keep the balance and withdraw Cunha, not Tielemans?

If Carrick has concerns about Sesko’s match sharpness or his quality, then he could simply have switched Marcus Rashford and Cunha. Set City another challenge. Unleash Rashford’s pace through the middle. Cunha also enjoys that left-sided No. 10 role, albeit tucked in more than Rashford.

The sight of Foden going off so early at Old Trafford should have been the signal to go for the jugular. Seize the moment. Go for victory even more. Attack, attack, attack. Get a psychologically important win, not only vital for local pride but also to disperse some of the clouds gathering during United’s unconvincing start to the season. Only Kobbie Mainoo rose to the challenge. Carrick didn’t do enough. He can reflect and learn. But also, it’s far too early in the season for knee-jerk reactions. As with other managers, Carrick deserves time.

When a football manager has little or no budget to work with, their other skills are brought to the fore.

That was certainly the case for Steve Coppell during his first spell as Crystal Palace boss, when his tenure was built on necessity, ingenuity and the ability to spot talent where others weren’t looking.

With little money available, Coppell was able to sign and transform a collection of relative unknown players into household names, and would come agonisingly close to landing the club’s first major honour and to playing European football.

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Coppell on losing Ian Wright

The likes of Ian Wright, Alan Pardew and Gareth Southgate all made a name for themselves under Coppell, who admits that he had to think outside of the box.

“First and foremost it was a necessity,” Coppell recalls to FourFourTwo. “When I first went to Palace we had no money. My first year in management was the blind leading the blind. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing.

“We made our training ground open to non-league managers and they became our scouts. Ian Wright was a no-brainer. All the non-league players had an ‘I’ll-show-them’ mentality and that’s what we were looking for.”

Ian Wright was the figurehead for how Coppell was able to create a new culture around the club. But after finishing third in 1991, the striker would depart in what Coppell sees as a defining moment for Palace.

“Almost immediately Ian Wright went to Arsenal,” Coppell continues. “We had a great relationship with Ian and he could have left a couple of years before but agreed to sign a new deal. He’d done well by us but we both knew the situation and we weren’t going to stand in his way.

“To a certain extent that was a real body blow – I really do think we could have been one of the big boys for a couple of years.

“For your best player to leave to fulfil his ambitions sends a message to the other players. It became a difficult couple of years.”

As a player, Coppell earned 42 England caps and, following his success in the Palace dugout, his name was soon bandied around as a potential successor to Three Lions boss Graham Taylor in 1993, following England’s failure to qualify for the following summer’s World Cup.

“On occasion I was mentioned, but never approached,” Coppell recalls. ”It never really interested me that much.

“The Palace job was massive and so intense that I think I would have been unfulfilled as a national team manager.”

Turkish media are reporting that Super Lig side Trabzonspor have held talks with Pep Guardiola, as the club look to go from strength-to-strength after signing Liverpool legend Mohamed Salah.

The pair faced off for almost 10 years in the Premier League, with Salah taking the English top-flight title from Guardiola’s Manchester City twice in that period.

Now, it appears that the Egyptian and the Spaniard could join forces in the Super Lig, with Turkish media reporting that Guardiola has been offered a €13 million salary to manage Trabzonspor.

Pep Guardiola could join forces with Mohamed Salah in shock Super Lig move

Despite a productive start to the season from Salah — striking four goals, and claiming an assist, in three Super Lig starts — Trabzonspor endured a devastating Europa League crash-out.

That arrived through Ferencvaros, who decimated Salah’s side 5-0 (agg.) in their Europa League two-leg qualifier. In the aftermath, then-manager, and former Trabzonspor player, Faith Tekke resigned on the spot.

The board rejected Tekke’s resignation, who lost 2-1 in his following fixture versus newly-promoted side Amed, away from home. He was then allowed to leave; now, according to Turkish news bulletin Gusholder Haber Bulteni, the Super Lig side has held talks with Guardiola.

In Trabzonspor’s first match since Tekke’s departure, they dismantled Genclerbirligi in a 5-0 romp at Papara Park. Goals came through Paul Onuachu, Ernest Muci, Salah, and new signing Franculino Dju.

In their pursuit of the Super Lig trophy — which Trabzonspor have additional motivation to achieve this term, with Galatasaray gunning for an unprecedented fifth successive Turkish top-flight title — Salah’s men appear to have turned, stunningly, to Guardiola.

The report from Gusholder Haber Bulteni has since been relayed online by Trabzonspor media, and other Turkish outlets.

In FourFourTwo’s view, the Spaniard is exceedingly unlikely to make the Super Lig move; however, it could be one to keep an eye peeled for. Having won virtually everything there is to win, and Trabzonspor emerging as a serious economic power in Turkey that could, under the right guidance, dominate the Super Lig in coming years, their project might appeal to Guardiola.

In 2022, Trabzonspor won their first top-flight title since 1984. A total of 78 clubs have competed in the competition, with only six winning it, and Salah’s side have claimed the fourth-most, with seven.

Galatasaray have 26, Fenerbahce hold 19, and Besiktas have lifted 16 Super Lig trophies. If any club is capable of disturbing this Istanbul-based dominance, it is likely to be Trabzonspor, and they are currently well-positioned to do so.

With Guardiola having taken Manchester City from relative Premier League minnows, to winning the second-most titles in the competition’s history, he could be enticed by a similar story playing out in Turkey, under his leadership.

The salary offered could pose issues, with the Spaniard reportedly having earned over £20 million annually in England. In contrast, €13 million to manage in Turkey appears drastically less appealing.

While this remains a vastly distant possibility, who wouldn’t like to see Guardiola and Salah work together, if just for a season, with their footballing legacies already stamped?

Fulham are facing the prospect of losing their opening four Premier League games of the new season this weekend, which would spell bad news for Alvaro Arbeloa.

The Spaniard is fast emerging as the frontrunner to become the Premier League's first managerial casualty of the new season.

A winless start to the campaign has plunged Fulham into crisis, leaving the former Real Madrid interim boss fighting to salvage both his authority and his job ahead of a weekend trip to face Liverpool.

Alvaro Arbeloa on the brink at Fulham

Having replaced Marco Silva over the summer, Arbeloa was heavily backed by the club's board during the transfer window.

The 43-year-old tapped directly into his former employer to reshape the squad, securing moves for Real Madrid trio Cesar Palacios, Gonzalo Garcia, and Manuel Angel.

However, due to Arbeloa’s tactical tweaks and, on the surface at least, a clear preference for his ex-Bernabeu recruits, he has alienated established figures within the squad.

Alex Iwobi has found himself displaced from his natural wide role and redeployed into central midfield, a move widely understood to accommodate Palacios on the wing.

Meanwhile, £34 million midfielder Emile Smith Rowe has seemingly been marginalised, featuring off the bench for a combined total of just 25 Premier League minutes across Fulham's three opening defeats.

Internal friction is growing with Brazilian winger Kevin, too. As reported by Saturday White Fever, Fulham find themselves with an ultimatum just four weeks in to the new season.

Kevin, the club's record signing, and Arbeloa are believed to have fallen out over the ex-Shakhtar Donetsk man's playing time. He has accumulated a mere 24 league minutes this term, and was left as an unused substitute during last weekend’s loss to Crystal Palace.

The immediate aftermath of that Palace defeat saw Kevin take to social media to post a cryptic message which read: ‘no speak, no hear, no see’. This post has been universally interpreted as a protest against Arbeloa’s team selection and possibly his management style, too.

It is now understood that Kevin is expected to seek an exit from Craven Cottage during the January transfer window unless the board opts to dismiss Arbeloa before then.

Alarmingly, the discontent is not isolated to one individual, either. In what appears to be a coordinated effort, both Iwobi and Smith Rowe have scrubbed their official Instagram accounts clean, wiping all historical posts depicting them in Fulham colours.

With a dismal record heading to Anfield, Arbeloa's gamble and squad management has backed him into a corner.

Should Fulham suffer another damaging defeat against Liverpool, or if the team produces another lifeless display, the board may be forced to act.

The manner of performance on Merseyside could well prove terminal for the manager's brief tenure in West London.

Sabah manager Valdas Dambrauskas has an unusual curriculum vitae.

Manchester United's first opponents after securing a return to the Champions League are one of four teams playing in the competition for the first time, and Dambrauskas will go head-to-head with United boss Michael Carrick at Old Trafford on Thursday.

Sabah are first-time champions of Azerbaijan and the route Dambrauskas took to get them there was circuitous to say the least. The Lithuanian, 49, even counts Man United themselves among his former employers.

'To come from Lithuania and be given that opportunity was a huge step for me'

Dambrauskas and his girlfriend, later his wife, moved to England after he won the equivalent of £725 on a Lithuanian television game show based on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

He enrolled on a sports science and coaching course at London Metropolitan University and soon found he needed to top up the funds if his coaching education was to continue. He secured an interview for a job with Man United's soccer schools programme.

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"After we’d paid for our flights and accommodation, we had money left to cover our expenses for just one month, so I needed to get a part-time job urgently," Dambrauskas told FourFourTwo.

"At the time I still couldn’t speak English properly, but they liked me because of my personality and I got the job. To come from Lithuania and be given that opportunity was a huge step for me."

Dambrauskas went on to work with Brentford's Centre of Excellence and as the manager of Kingsbury London Tigers, now London Tigers, who were then competing in the Spartan South Midlands League.

"That was a fantastic experience – all of my jobs were part of a great learning process, up to 2014 when I got my first chance as a head coach back in Lithuania," he said.

It was the doomed Ekranas who gave him that opportunity. They went bust the next year, only reforming in 2020. Dambrauskas has since managed in Latvia, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, Hungary and Croatia. He's a league champion in three countries.

True to form, Dambrauskas' Sabah needed to take the long way round in the Champions League.

Starting in July, with the World Cup still rumbling on, the Azeri champions beat Welsh side The New Saints in the first qualifying round before seeing off KuPS and AGF to set up a play-off against Israel's Hapoel Be'er Sheva. They scored three goals in extra time at the end of the second leg.

After their Champions League trip to Old Trafford, Sabah will face league phase fixtures against Slavia Prague, Borussia Dortmund, Viking, Barcelona, Villarreal, Napoli and Arsenal.

Ex-Chelsea and West Ham manager Graham Potter has branded an unnamed former club of his "dysfunctional" in the comments of an Instagram post.

The current head coach of the Sweden national team is rebuilding his managerial career after disappointing spells at both Chelsea and West Ham United.

Potter posted an image of himself doing pilates to Instagram yesterday, and dug out one of his former clubs in reply to a fan.

Graham Potter digs out 'dysfunctional' club in Instagram post

The Englishman made a name for himself as boss at Brighton, where he lasted three years in the job and led the Seagulls to their highest-ever top-flight finish in 2022.

He made the move to Chelsea, where, after losing 11 games in his 31 at the helm, he was sacked inside eight months.

After almost two years away from management, Potter returned to the Premier League to coach West Ham.

In London once more, he lasted even less time, managing the Hammers from January to September of 2025.

The Englishman's side finished 14th in the 2024/25 Premier League standings, but was sacked after leading the club to a 19th-placed position after the next term's first five games.

Now manager of the Sweden national team, Potter led his side out of the groups in North America this summer, before exiting in a 3-0 defeat to previous tournament edition finalists France.

The 51-year-old posted an image of him in a pilates pose to Instagram on Thursday afternoon, which prompted one fan to jokingly respond: "Hopefully you are better at Pilates then you were a football manager."

Potter replied: "I'll try not to do Pilates in a dysfunctional place and I will be ok," with a flexed bicep emoji.

It is unclear which club the Englishman was referring to, however, the Hammers were relegated in the same season that Potter left them, while the Blues finished just 13 points clear of the drop zone in 10th last term.

Since Potter joined, Chelsea have now resorted to their eighth manager in three years, with Xabi Alonso at the helm.

Another fan commented in response: "Didn't mind the money though, did you?" to which Potter replied "absolutely not."

And when a West Ham fan wrote: "You got us relegated, you mug," the Englishman replied with two laughing emojis.

Less than two years ago, FourFourTwo sat inside the bowels of Al Ahli's inner city training ground in Jeddah, and whispers abounded. “If he loses this game, the manager might well be sacked,” one Saudi Pro League expert told us that evening, as we waited for Matthias Jaissle to arrive for his latest pre-match press conference.

Al Ahli had won only three of their first eight games of the new league season, and sat eighth in the table before the Jeddah derby with title-challenging Al Ittihad – a fixture that would attract a raucous crowd of 52,546. Given that Jaissle's club were one of the Saudi Pro League's big four – all owned by the country's Public Investment Fund (PIF) – their results were below expectation.

Back then, the main focus of our visit to Al Ahli had been the recent signing of Ivan Toney, rather than Jaissle, who was largely unknown to British audiences in October 2024. Our question was whether he could help his new frontman make England's next World Cup squad – Jaissle knew Thomas Tuchel, having played for him in the youth teams at VfB Stuttgart.

“Let's see if Thomas calls me and asks how Ivan is doing,” the smartly dressed Jaissle told FFT. “Ivan has the potential, definitely – he must deliver here to be seen in the UK, and we're doing our best to bring him into the best shape.”

Prior to this summer's World Cup, Tuchel did indeed call Jaissle to discuss Toney, revealing the “fantastic feedback” he received was enough to persuade him to pick the 30-year-old in his squad. By then, though, Jaissle could easily have been long gone as Al Ahli boss.

He did lose that Jeddah derby against Al Ittihad, a tetchy game interrupted by a sandstorm that blew dust from the nearby desert into the stadium. He avoided the sack, but was reportedly on his way out two months later after a loss at Al Kholood, with Max Allegri said to be his long-term replacement.

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That was until ultras protested at the training ground, putting up a banner declaring “Enough failure, leave!” The message was aimed at the club's hierarchy, rather than the manager. Jaissle stayed, and became an Al Ahli legend within months.

Jaissle was a central defender during a playing career that saw him help Hoffenheim to the Bundesliga for the first time in 2008, when he'd just turned 20. He'd been expected to be alongside Mesut Ozil, Mats Hummels and Manuel Neuer as part of the Germany under-21 squad that thrashed England in the final of the Euros in 2009, but damaged his ACL shortly before the tournament and would never be the same player again.

Further injuries forced him to retire in 2014, aged 25, before he got a job as a youth coach at RB Leipzig – his former Hoffenheim manager Ralf Rangnick had since become a key man in Red Bull's football project. Jaissle adopted a similarly high-pressing style, and has taken it with him ever since. After a stint as assistant at Danish club Brondby, he joined Red Bull Salzburg, led their feeder side FC Liefering to a joint-highest finish, then was handed the reins at the main club, replacing Jesse Marsch in 2021.

Working with young players such as Benjamin Sesko, Karim Adeyemi, Noah Okafor and Brenden Aaronson, he took Salzburg to a double in his first season, plus the Champions League's knockout stage for the only time in their history. They lost 7-1 at Bayern Munich in the last 16, while Jaissle was still only 33.

A season later, they went 30 matches unbeaten on the way to yet another domestic triumph. It was Salzburg's 10th straight title, but they haven't won the league since Jaissle left that summer. The German joined Al Ahli just a month after they'd been one of four clubs to be taken over by the Saudi PIF – together with Al Ittihad, Al Hilal and Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr. Jaissle's new club had been Saudi Pro League champions in 2016 but relegated since, only returning to the top flight in the same summer as his arrival.

They quickly signed Riyad Mahrez, Roberto Firmino, Edouard Mendy, Franck Kessie and ex-Newcastle winger Allan Saint-Maximin, finishing an encouraging third in Jaissle's first season – enough to qualify for the Asian Champions League.

Then came Toney's arrival, and that tricky start to 2024-25 when Jaissle so nearly lost his job. He knew the pressure he was under when we visited, but didn't let it show – remaining professional throughout, even taking time to greet visiting European media afterwards. It was hard not to warm to him.

“Things take time – the club has a long-term vision,” Jaissle told us, subtly calling for patience as he attempted to turn around results, while nodding to his ability to improve young players. “I hope we can do better by implementing the philosophy from the top down to the academy, because at some point we'll need the young talents. In my eyes, that is the right approach.

“A lot of signings were made before I arrived, so it's important as a coach that you're flexible enough to adapt to a new country, culture and player profiles. In the long run, it's important everyone is aligned, that you improve your squad and players in the way you want to play.”

Jaissle was afforded time to do that. Their progress to the knockout stage of the Asian Champions League had been a factor in him avoiding the sack – Al Ahli had a stronger second half of the league campaign, improving to fifth, then surprisingly became kings of Asia for the first time ever. The Champions League's final three rounds all take place in Jeddah, giving Al Ahli a home advantage that helped, but they still had to defeat reigning Saudi champions Al Hilal in the semis, before a final victory over Japanese side Kawasaki Frontale – conquerors of Ronaldo's Al Nassr.

Last term, while finishing third in a three-way domestic race, they went all Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest and became continental champions again. Toney was key, scoring 72 goals in two seasons under Jaissle.

When PIF-owned Newcastle were looking for a manager to replace Eddie Howe this summer, it shouldn't have been a surprise that they opted for the German. Howe will be a tough act to follow, having delivered the Magpies a first major honour in 56 years. Why have a manager who's won one historic trophy, though, when you can have a gaffer who's won two?

Jose Mourinho is set for an unexpected return to Stamford Bridge after Real Madrid were drawn against Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Champions League this season.

The Ukrainian champions have selected Chelsea’s home ground as their venue for European fixtures in 2026/27.

Shakhtar have been forced to play their designated 'home' matches thousands of miles away from home due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which renders hosting international fixtures in their homeland impossible.

Jose Mourinho can't stay away from Stamford Bridge

Having previously utilised temporary venues in Poland and Germany during recent continental campaigns, the Ukrainian side reached an agreement to stage their Champions League ties in London this year.

The arrangement was made possible because Stamford Bridge is vacant of European football this season, following Chelsea's failure to qualify for any continental competitions.

The fixture, due to be played on Tuesday, September 8, sets up a West London homecoming for Mourinho, who made a return to Real Madrid this summer for a second managerial stint at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The Portuguese manager remains an iconic figure in Chelsea's history following two spells at the club. Across his reigns in SW6, he delivered three Premier League titles, an FA Cup, and three League Cups, famously declaring himself 'The Special One' during his unveiling in 2004.

Despite managing other clubs across Europe in the years since, Mourinho has repeatedly spoken of his enduring affection for Chelsea.

"When I am in London, I meet them every day on the street. I know that is going to be a relationship forever," Mourinho previously reflected when discussing his bond with the fanbase. "They belong to my history and I belong to their history. I will always be a Blue."

While Mourinho will occupy the technical area as Real Madrid manager against Shakhtar, his presence on the Stamford Bridge touchline is likely to be the focal point of the evening. For Chelsea supporters, watching their former manager return to the pitch under the Champions League lights, even in the opposition dugout as he did last season with Benfica, will stir plenty of emotions.

The Basque province of Gipuzkoa is famous for its scenic coastline, foodie hotspots and stunning mountainous terrain.

But this small area of northern Spain, with a population of less than one million, has also become notable for producing multiple elite football managers, including four current Premier League head coaches: Xabi Alonso, Mikel Arteta, Unai Emery and Andoni Iraola.

It meant that there were more managers hailing from Gipuzkoa than from England on the opening weekend of the Premier League season, putting renewed focus on the lack of home-grown coaches in the top flight.

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Why are there so few English managers in the Premier League?

The three men flying the flag for English managers in the Premier League are Michael Carrick at Manchester United, Coventry City head coach Frank Lampard and Ipswich Town boss Gary O’Neil.

This is not a new phenomenon. Go back 10 years to the start of the 2016/17 season and there were just four English head coaches - Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe, Sean Dyche at Burnley, Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew and Mike Phelan at Hull City. It was the same number on the opening weekend of the 2021/22 campaign.

Look down into the Championship and just 10 of the 24 clubs are led by English managers. If that seems low, it may be a surprise to learn that this isn’t a new phenomenon either. Just nine second-tier teams had English head coaches at the start of the 2016/17 campaign, while there were 10 going into 2021/22.

This doesn’t include the odd manager who was born in England and represented another country as a player, but the point still stands: the number of home-grown coaches at the top of the domestic game has been low for some time.

When you look at the identities of the three Englishmen currently managing in the Premier League, you start to see why.

Lampard and O’Neil both entered the division with promoted clubs, albeit the latter was hired over the summer after Kieran McKenna left Ipswich. Meanwhile, Carrick got the United job only after a trial run as interim head coach during the second half of last season.

Despite a generally positive two-and-a-half years in the Championship with Middlesbrough, it is hard to believe that Carrick would have been considered by the Old Trafford hierarchy if he hadn’t played for the club. Similarly, go back to summer 2019 and it is unlikely that Chelsea would have hired the coach that had just taken Derby County to the Championship play-off final in his first season in management if it wasn’t Lampard, a Blues legend.

It suggests that unless you are a famous ex-player, the most likely route into the Premier League for a second-tier boss is by getting your club promoted. But none of the current English managers in the Championship are in charge of one of the promotion favourites, so that is a tall order for the current crop.

You would think that if a coach performs well enough over a long period they would get a Premier League role sooner or later, but it rarely works out that way. Just three times in the past five years has a Premier League club plucked a manager directly from a Championship job - Wolves’ swoop for Rob Edwards from Middlesbrough last season, Chelsea hiring Leicester City’s Enzo Maresca in summer 2024 (and the Italian had just led the Foxes to the second tier title), and Southampton appointing Luton Town boss Nathan Jones in 2022.

In that time, 14 different English managers have been hired by Premier League teams, but only four hadn’t previously been a permanent head coach in the division. Those were Steven Gerrard at Aston Villa in 2021, O’Neil at Bournemouth in 2022, plus Liam Rosenior and Carrick this year. Once again, two of those were big-name former players, while Rosenior came from Chelsea’s sister club, Strasbourg.

It shows that almost every avenue to managing at the top level has been closed off. So, why is that the case?

Probably the most obvious explanation, although not the only one, is that the stakes are now so high at the top of the game that clubs aren’t willing to gamble on unproven coaches. As the riches on offer continue to grow, owners of Premier League teams are increasingly desperate to stay in the division, while those in charge of Championship sides are increasingly desperate to get there.

It means that new faces rarely get to ride the proverbial managerial merry-go-round - in the last five years, Keith Andrews at Brentford and O’Neil at Bournemouth were the only bosses hired permanently by Premier League clubs who were entering their first full-time role as a No.1.

Many young coaches have spoken out about their struggle to land a job. After becoming manager of Italian Serie B side Cesena in March, former England left-back Ashley Cole said he had felt ‘discouraged by a lack of opportunities’ at English clubs.

He told BBC Sport: “They like to throw the ‘you don’t have experience’ line. And I’m like, I get what you’re saying, I agree - but how am I going to get experience?

“That’s the battle you have to fight as a number two for six or seven years - you have to take a leap of faith, but a club also has to take a leap of faith.”

Cole’s former Chelsea and England team-mate John Terry echoed those sentiments last year. “It’s really disheartening, actually,” he told BBC Sport. “I have interviewed for a few jobs myself and not got them due to my lack of experience as a number one, but having captained Chelsea and my country, I’m not sure you can do much more in terms of leading teams and people.”

Terry holds a UEFA Pro Licence, which brings us on to another contributing factor. Here, England has traditionally lagged behind other major European nations, with a Guardian report in 2017 stating that 1,796 people in this country held a Pro or A Licence, compared to 15,089 in Spain. In 2021, the FA revealed that fewer than 500 coaches had completed their Pro Licence with England Football.

With a limited number of qualified English coaches in supply, and clubs unwilling to gamble on the ones that do have the necessary badges, it is no surprise that so few are managing in the Premier League.

Contrast that with Spain, where 12 of the 20 La Liga clubs are managed by Spaniards, while the national team won Euro 2024 and World Cup 2026 under a head coach, Luis de la Fuente, who led the country’s age-group teams for almost a decade.

Meanwhile, despite Gareth Southgate enjoying relative success after being promoted from England Under 21s to senior head coach, the FA replaced him with Thomas Tuchel in 2024 to win the World Cup - insinuating that they felt no home-grown coaches could achieve that goal.

It all adds up to a wider cultural issue that starts from the top. Whereas Spain’s FA and domestic league are committed to giving home-grown coaches opportunities, that is of secondary importance in England. That mentality has been ingrained for so long that it is difficult to see it changing.

No wonder Basque managers outnumber their English counterparts in the Premier League.

It's not been the start to the season that Aston Villa would have wanted.

Just a few months on from lifting the Europa League trophy and securing a top four finish, Unai Emery's side were thumped 4-0 by Brighton and Hove Albion on the opening weekend of the Premier League season.

Just to make matters worse, the situation around Ollie Watkins has left a bad taste in the mouths of many supporters.

"Unai Emery has geared Aston Villa up for consistent success in Europe"

Emery was cryptic as to what has gone on with the England striker, saying that the reason for Watkins' omission against Brighton was 'a question for him'.

That comes after several high-profile players have already left Villa Park this summer, including Youri Tielemans, Morgan Rogers, Lucas Digne and Ezri Konsa, with Emiliano Martinez also being tipped to go.

But Peter Crouch believes that the Villa boss has already shown he is more than capable of riding out to storm and continuing to take the side on to bigger and better things over the long run.

The former Villa striker told FourFourTwo earlier this summer: "Unai Emery deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as the really elite managers, with what he’s done at Aston Villa.

"Winning the Europa League was massive, and Champions League football again is going to help them take things up another notch in the long term.

"I’m pleased for the fans who’ve suffered over the years.

"I interviewed Unai at the training ground and he’s in it for the long haul. Why wouldn’t he be? They’ve got ambition.

"They’ve built a hotel at the training ground – that’s important because they might fly back from a European game, sleep there, then do a warm-down the next day.

"He’s geared that club up for consistent success in Europe, and I think that’s what they’ll get."

Villa will find out their opponents for the league phase of this season's Champions League when the draw is made on Thursday, August 27.

Fulham will start the new Premier League season by having the neighbours round. The first Monday Night Football of 2026-27 takes Chelsea down the road to Craven Cottage, where they’ll play in a derby that will do little to indicate what’s to come for either team in the next nine months.

Chelsea have more tangible targets than local bragging rights in a rivalry so cosmopolitan that ‘local’ doesn’t mean much anyway. They’ve been going after those goals like they mean it, up to and including a British transfer record move for the hottest property in English football.

Morgan Rogers has linked up at Stamford Bridge with Xabi Alonso, the Blues’ new manager and the man on the end of the pointed backing of the club hierarchy. Alonso won’t have to deal with European football this season. He will have to deliver it, however.

Managers united in Madrid misery

The 44-year-old officially succeeded Carlo Ancelotti as Real Madrid boss two weeks after leaving German Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen, where his success was generational and indisputable.

Alonso lasted six months back at the Bernabeu, winning 24 of his 32 matches in charge and leaving by mutual consent in January. Real Madrid were four points behind leaders Barcelona with exactly half a season to play but the manager’s race had been run.

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The outgoing gaffer was succeeded from within by Real Madrid B manager Alvaro Arbeloa. He was replacing the man with whom he had played as a teammate more than any other.

After his 19 league matches in charge, he too had collected four points fewer than Barcelona. Arbeloa stood down at the end of the season and finds Alonso in the away dugout for his first Premier League match as the manager of Fulham.

Unlike Alonso’s, Arbeloa’s Real Madrid departure had been in the works for a while. Question marks over their performances in big matches that marred his half-season in the hot seat were far from baseless.

There were reports of tensions in the dressing room that came to a head when Federico Valverde clashed with Aurielien Tchouameni, and Antonio Rudiger apparently opted for the physical method to express his opinion to Alvaro Carreras.

The scepticism of Bernabéu kingmaker Kylian Mbappe made Arbeloa’s demise inevitable despite his own standing within the club.

Mbappe was more positive about Alonso, but neither the former Leverkusen boss nor Alonso's old teammate got what they’d hoped for from their respective ascensions into the top job with the Spanish capital titans.

When they press the flesh like Dillon and Dutch on the touchline at the Cottage tonight, Alonso and Arbeloa will have that in common. Real Madrid isn’t a job that cuts slack. It’s a Mourinho-sized role with Mourinho-sized ups and downs.

Same tee, different pins

There’s no point in drawing conclusions about a manager after a few months spearheading football’s greatest basket case. Some managerial personalities can pull it off. Others, well, they can’t. It doesn’t say much about them either way.

What separates the two who landed in West London this summer is the nature of their experience before they each spent six months as an egg in a cement mixer.

Alonso, as a Bundesliga champion, double winner and invincible with Leverkusen, has proven himself up to a point. Arbeloa has not. In that sense, they have at least popped up at Chelsea and Fulham the right way round.

Alonso has the chops and the more acute need to prove it. Fulham are embarking on life after Marco Silva and that comes with a very particular kind of pressure.

Youngsters Gonzalo Garcia and Cesar Palacious followed Arbeloa from Real Madrid but doubts over whether the Cottagers have done enough to account for losing the direct impacts of Harry Wilson and Raul Jimenez for nothing are entirely justified.

19-year-old striker Jonah Kusi-Asare has joined from Bayern Munich and promising young midfielder Shea Charles has come in from Southampton, but selling Sasa Lukic and Issa Diop to promoted Ipswich Town could prove more significant than Fulham would like if they don’t have their wits about them.

Alonso’s brief is a touch spikier. Chelsea dropped to a level they consider beneath them and are investing in bouncing back. Qualifying for the Champions League is the new manager’s minimum objective. He won’t be there this time next year if he doesn’t.

Whether that would make Leverkusen rather than Real Madrid the Alonso anomaly would be for Chelsea fans to decide, and their Fulham counterparts will have their say on the early-career trajectory of Arbeloa too.

Free of the Bernabéu factor, untangled from the merciless mangle that is Real Madrid, 2026-27 will help define exactly what tier of manager these former colleagues are going to be.

Their aims are different this season, but they’re starting at the same time, in the same game, under the same floodlights.

Liverpool hiring Andoni Iraola came as a curveball to some: Xabi Alonso was available for quite a while, after all.

That was the obvious choice, too. The former Liverpool midfielder had been heavily linked to take over from Jurgen Klopp, before Arne Slot was even in the conversation for the job – so when Alonso to Anfield rumours failed to materialise at the end of last season, it was assumed that the Reds would stick it out with Slot. Alonso even moved to Chelsea.

Which made Iraola an interesting hire. On the pitch, yes, he's perfectly suited to the high press that has come to define the red half of Merseyside over the past decade or so. Off the pitch, few have made the connection just yet.

Andoni Iraola didn't just join any big club - Liverpool offer a collective identity that he wants to work under

The Basque played almost his entire career at Athletic Club before sampling the Big Apple with a season at New York City FC – before heading into coaching.

In 2024, FourFourTwo met up with Iraola to talk about his journey from Bilbao to Bournemouth and how he became one of the most exciting young coaches in the world through a very particular pathway.

Athletic, famously, have a very defined identity: their ‘cantera’ policy focuses solely on developing players of Basque origin or from the region. The fanbase at San Mames, meanwhile, are openly politically active, expressing solidarity with international social and political movements. Regardless of whether you're broadly left or right in Bilbao, however, you belong to something bigger.

Rayo Vallecano – who Iraola managed before Bournemouth – are staunchly socialist. The club's prominent ultra group, Los Bukaneros, is explicitly anti-fascist, anti-racist, and pro-workers' rights. In 2014, the club and fanbase aided Carmen Martinez Ayudo, an 85-year-old local woman evicted from her home, flying banners with “The evictions of a sick state, the solidarity of a working-class neighbourhood” at the very next game.

And when FourFourTwo put it to Iraola himself that perhaps a club's identity was integral to him in football, he nodded in agreement. While careful not to use the P-word (that's politics), he made it very clear that he likes to align himself with clubs who passionately believe in something.

“I’d practically been a one-club man as a player: I stayed 16 years at Athletic Club, and I think at Athletic and Rayo Vallecano, the sense of belonging is really important,” Iraola said.

“In the end, I always ask my players to think first collectively, even if I understand that the players want to achieve a lot of things in their careers. If we work as a collective, I will look like a better manager, they will look like a better player and even the players who are playing fewer minutes will look better – because the ones that are playing will look better. I think we have to prioritise the team, and the team always comes first.

“This has always been the case at Bournemouth.”

It was Bill Shankly who once said, “The socialism I believe in is everybody working for each other and having a share in the rewards. That's how I see football, that's how I see life.” Plenty has happened politically, socially and at football grounds – both to Liverpool and within the city – since those words were uttered.

But the feeling of Liverpool's identity has always been palpable. Perhaps nowhere else in the country could a parallel of “Scouse not English” take off. The Reds bought into the collective under Klopp a lot more than some fans have with high-press priests at other clubs. It's perhaps fair to suggest that Liverpool's identity was a big reason for Iraola moving to Anfield.

Real Madrid begin their La Liga campaign on Saturday – for the first time since 2013, they’ll be under the management of Jose Mourinho.

The Portuguese boss previously spent three years at the Bernabeu, winning the league in 2012, during a time when Barcelona had both Pep Guardiola and Lionel Messi.

After a spell at Benfica last term, Mourinho was reappointed this summer by Florentino Perez, who believes he could be the man to turn things around after a difficult couple of seasons for Real Madrid.

Real Madrid great gives his verdict

Former Bernabeu favourite Steve McManaman works as a co-commentator and analyst for Disney+, who will screen Real Madrid’s opening match at Espanyol this weekend.

McManaman is fascinated by the club’s decision to rehire Mourinho, and is sure it will make the La Liga season an entertaining one.

“He’s going to have to do well,” McManaman told FFT. “That’s why he’s been brought back – it’s as simple as that, he’s got one job, and that job is to finish above Barcelona.

“With all respect to Atletico Madrid, Villarreal etc, the team they need to beat is Barcelona. They’re the strongest side, so that’s his job – to usurp them. Challenging for the Champions League is secondary.

“Hansi Flick has done the most incredible job since he’s been at Barcelona – they’re starting to get their finances in an upward trajectory, Camp Nou will bring in more and more people, therefore helping their financial situation, and with the signing of one of the world’s best players in Rodri, that will strengthen them as well, as will Anthony Gordon.

“It will be a hell of a La Liga season – it’ll be fireworks all around, watching Jose and everybody.”

Real Madrid have spent heavily to add the likes of Yan Diomande and Marc Cucurella to their squad, but Barcelona have won the title in each of the past two seasons, and McManaman knows Perez cannot afford that to happen again.

“There was a lot of criticism about them last year and they have to turn it around,” he says.

“Either you win things, or you don’t and you’re losers, aren’t you? It’s as simple as that. When it’s as cut and dry and as black and white as it is in Spain, when it’s Real Madrid and Barça, if your main rivals win, it’s a disaster.

“So it’s up to Real Madrid to sort themselves out and try to come strong. It’s going to be a hell of a contest this year.

“Barcelona were excellent last year and for all their frailties – you saw them at times and thought ‘How on earth can they keep winning?’, because they let in a number of goals – the proof is in the pudding. They’ve been winning and they’ve been successful.

“The only blot on their campaign was their loss to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, and that was circumstances, red cards etc.

“Bringing in Rodri, he will be the metronome, they’ve got the Pedris and the like around him and a new quick forward line with Lamine Yamal and Anthony Gordon, as well as Rafinha, that’s exciting.

“Expect lots of goals in La Liga this year, and fantastic football, certainly between the top two.

“I don’t want to keep saying the top two because hopefully you want to see Atletico, Villarreal and other teams challenging, but the two biggest teams have invested more than anybody this summer and look as if they’re going to be streets clear.”

ESPN on Disney+ is home to live LALIGA action every Saturday night, bringing the best of Spanish football to fans across the UK

Frank Lampard has been here before. The Premier League was his playground for nearly two decades and he was indisputably one of its greatest ever players by the time he left it behind.

He’s been here as a manager, too, with both Everton and former club Chelsea. The Coventry City boss is no Premier League novice but it’s different this time. His work at Goodison Park and Stamford Bridge had merit but the three years since his third Chelsea exit have been the making of him.

Steering the Sky Blues to promotion as the winners of the Championship in his first full season in charge was a serious achievement. Owner Doug King gave no indication in the autumn of 2024 that he felt he was taking a risk by appointing Lampard, who has repaid that confidence many times over.

Lampard is back among the big boys

Others weren’t so convinced. There are still doubters now, not least those whose interest begins and ends with the Premier League. They’ve seen Lampard deliver results in the form of promotion but the substance, the material evolution of Lampard the Gaffer in the West Midlands, remains out of view.

Expecting the same Lampard is folly. We’ve all learned a lot in three years, about ourselves and our lives and our priorities, about our strengths, weaknesses, methods and motivations.

Lampard is no different, and yet it must be acknowledged that, yes, the immediate task he faces is a difficult one.

Transfer activity has to be carried out in quantity and quality, but is impossible to complete.

City have that in common with most promoted teams but have invested heavily to bring in players they hope – with some justification – will prove shrewd acquisitions.

Carl Rushworth was their number one all along. Frank Onyeka was an easy choice in midfield after a positive loan. Gustavo Hamer is the returning hero seeking the creative freedom of home.

Loum Tchaouna and Aurele Amenda are big-money, high-potential risks; Caleb Yirenki the young superstar record buy.

King, Lampard and Dean Austin have already achieved a lot in the transfer window and there will be more to come, but Coventry will start the season at a disadvantage as a club promoted into the Premier League for the first time in the modern era. They have a world of work to do and none of it is easy.

The cost of the spotlight

Lampard returns to the Premier League as a more skilled and more experienced manager but his deftness and adaptability were developed away from the hyper-exposed top division.

It’s possible to look at Lampard’s managerial career as a series of specific challenges. Both spells at Chelsea were appointments of hopeful convenience, Derby County a mutual show of ambition, and Everton a rescue mission.

Whether or not it’s overly generous to say that he was more of a success in those roles than he’s given credit for is beside the point. Lampard did all this as a young boss, in the years when many managers are able to learn and fail and evolve away from the glare under which he was operating.

Lampard at 48 is a different kind of coaching archetype, cerebral and even studious without being yet another caricature off the one-dimensional high-performance conveyer belt. He’s dedicated but thriving, it might be said, precisely because of the respect he has for balance in life.

When advice is offered by people who succeeded in management before him, Lampard is able to take it on board without questioning his own outlook and methods. In time, he has become a more rounded manager than he was when he last took charge of a Premier League match.

Lampard has tactical ideas and plans like any other manager but doesn’t allow them to hold him back. In a Championship title race that occasionally threatened to become competitive, Lampard succeeded not as an idealogue but as a manager who found a way to build a team that finds a way.

Coventry’s resilience will be the making of their manager

The pivotal moment in Coventry’s season and Lampard’s managerial career came in February, when the injury-hit Sky Blues found themselves looking up at Middlesbrough from second place after the Teessiders logged their sixth win in a row.

Coventry, winless in three and with two wins in their last eight Championship matches, beat Boro relatively comfortable in their very next game, won six on the spin and never looked back.

The bond between Lampard and Coventry is real and their new adventure is a shared one, but all outcomes are possible amid the trials and tribulations of a promoted club. Even good managers need a fair wind in that brutal first season.

Coventry might stay up, they might go down. Lampard might last the season regardless, he might get an offer he can’t refuse from elsewhere. King might be the man to make that decision, as unlikely as it seems now.

In FourFourTwo’s opinion, the only thing we can be relatively certain about is that Lampard, one way or another, will be among the Premier League managers again next season.

Manchester United have been punching beneath their weight for some time. Ruben Amorim might not have been the most disappointing head coach appointment, just the man in the plush racing seat when the music stopped on the Red Devils’ aura.

Amorim was in the Man United job altogether too long but ultimately left them in a salvageable position last season. After a couple of matches under caretaker head coach Darren Fletcher, the club turned again to former midfielder Michael Carrick.

The brief for the interim head coach was clear enough: Get results with a team that previously couldn’t even count as high as the sum of its parts, never mind perform beyond them.

How it all went right for Michael Carrick at Manchester United

Carrick’s interim spell was a success. Finishing third in the Premier League and returning to the Champions League after a season that totalled a meagre 40 matches was an admirable achievement, albeit the influence of Bruno Fernandes simply cannot be ignored.

The outer-layer assumption is that Carrick was able to unlock United’s capabilities by engendering a sense of simplicity and freedom, most notably by doing away with a formation Amorim was smitten with but which plainly wasn’t working.

There’s some merit to that simplistic analysis.

Very good players can perform or not on their own but they can also be held back by their environment and, for very many reasons that don’t all apply in Amorim’s case, by a head coach that doesn’t suit, motivate or maximise them.

Relieving that internal pressure on a presentable playing staff by simplifying things and switching to a back four might sound obvious but isn’t just basic stuff that any incoming gaffer could have translated into results.

Carrick didn’t stroll back into Carrington in January, tell his players that back threes are for dorks and immediately defeat Manchester City by just going out there and enjoying themselves. It was an actively smart move on his part to see what he had and understand how to unleash it.

It earned United the desired outcome and got him the job on a permanent basis. With third place and a Champions League spot in the bag, he was the obvious choice.

The audition is over and it’s time to play the part

What happens now is for real and it’s Carrick’s to own. ‘Interim’ is gone. There’s no bounce, no release from loathed methods of old. The only yardstick is the same one against which all United managers are evaluated and that’s an entirely different challenge.

The power of ‘getting it’ typically doesn’t carry from one season to the next. There’s a big difference between getting it and doing it. Doing it is now the task at hand.

There are reasons to be optimistic. Carrick himself is one of them; it would be unreasonable to discount the very tangible success of last season, and it bodes well.

After all, the former United midfielder hasn’t betrayed any reason to doubt him. His team’s recovery in the second half of 2025-26 amounted to just two losses and three draws in 17 matches and included wins over City, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Liverpool, all of whom finished in the top five with them.

United have brought in some top-quality players in the transfer windows both this summer and last.

Senne Lammens, Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko are all major contributors, and the same will be expected of Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos even if supporters hope for more additions. Even prodigal son Marcus Rashford could be in line to play his part.

For Carrick, the bar is high. Qualifying for the Champions League is the baseline for United, not a target, and even that would be deemed by some supporters as falling short of expectations.

The likes of United, Liverpool and Villa can also expect to face more significant opposition from big-spending Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, neither of whom can afford another season like the last and are doing everything in their power to make sure it doesn’t happen.

We’ll find out in the early part of 2026-27 whether United are set up for success. This time last year, with plenty of money spent in the summer but holes in the team and a head coach who steadfastly stuck with methods that seemed to do more damage than just not working, they were doomed to fail

Carrick is the face of what United supporters hope will be a different experience, with players performing to their abilities and operating as a team capable of re-planting the United flag.

His first match of the new season takes United to promoted Hull City. The second is at home against Ipswich Town. The expectation will be that they win both. It’s a familiar standard that Carrick is going to have to embrace.

Ruud Gullit won one major trophy as a manager – and Dennis Wise was the captain who lifted it.

After a legendary career in which he claimed two European Cups and the Ballon d’Or, Gullit joined Chelsea as a player in 1995, then was appointed as manager a year later following the departure of Glenn Hoddle for the England job.

The Dutchman would spend around 18 months as Stamford Bridge gaffer, guiding Chelsea to the 1997 FA Cup – the club’s first major trophy for 26 years.

When Gullit managed Wise

Wise had been part of the Chelsea squad since 1990, and was 29 when Gullit took charge six years later. He’d won 12 England caps but had not been a regular presence in the Three Lions squad, and didn’t go to Euro 96.

The midfielder was sceptical about whether his new manager would be good for him.

“We clashed early on because Dennis was convinced I was only interested in fielding foreign players,” Gullit revealed.

“I told him directly ‘I want you to play to your full footballing potential, not like a wild street-fighter picking up constant yellow and red cards’.

“I invited him over to my home for a proper talk. I said ‘If you play the way I know you can play, you’ll represent the national team.’ He literally laughed at me!”

In October, Chelsea travelled to Leicester for a Premier League match, and Wise was brought off at half-time.

“Shortly after our chat, I substituted him while captain against Leicester when we were 1-0 down, and we turned it around to win 3-1,” explained Gullit, speaking on behalf of NY Sports Day. “He was furious and didn’t speak to me for two weeks!

“Eventually, a mutual friend I played golf with told Dennis he was misjudging the situation and urged him to talk to me properly. He did, and the rest is history.

“Dennis Wise was an outstanding footballer when focusing on his technical game. I gave him an ultimatum – ‘Either play the way I know you can play, or you don’t play at all, captain or not.” He chose to adapt, and he was magnificent for us.”

Bayern Munich manager Vincent Kompany is the football-minded figure who should lead FIFA in the future, according to former Belgium teammate Toby Alderweireld.

Kompany, a serial title winner as a player in Belgium and England, has also won back-to-back Bundesliga titles as the manager of Bayern, a position that comes with significant political context in the German game.

He played 47 times with Alderweireld as the pair formed part of the sturdiest and highest-quality defensive unit Belgium has ever had to offer, arguably one that should have been good enough to produce more at the base of the so-called golden generation.

‘He would be my president, always’, says Toby Alderweireld of Vincent Kompany

Former Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Alderweireld was clearly inspired by Kompany as an international teammate and remains impressed as the 40-year-old emerges as a top-level manager.

“Who would be my pick to be the next president of FIFA? Vincent Kompany,” Alderweireld told Sveacasino.

“I never thought before that he wanted to become a manager. He always talked about going on a mission to change football but maybe it’s his mission to protect football. He would be my president, always.”

Gianni Infantino arrived at FIFA after rising to become the top administrator at UEFA, but he is not regarded as a football man. He has been accused lack of true insight into the substance of football and a perceived disregard for what makes the game what it is.

In Alderweireld’s estimation, that shortcoming is a serious one. Kompany’s primary qualification for the role in the eyes of his former colleague is that he was a top player and is a fine manager who quite clearly knows football inside and out.

“It’s very important that the FIFA president is someone who played the game and knows the game,” added the former Belgium defender.

“We've all been a fan. Then we've become a football player. We know both sides. When I was a child, I went to all the away games on the bus. We're not just people who made good money out of playing in the Premier League and Champions League.

“We’re football fans too. We played the game. We know how it is. What it is to be a player and a fan.

“The one thing that's very important is that the person who's doing the talking should be a football guy because look at the World Cup. A 20-minute show at half-time? That’s where you need someone who knows football to say no.

“The most beautiful thing about the sport is its traditions. New things have their place too but we need to protect the traditions as well and that’s why you need football players, football people who have been around the game, to keep the businessmen in check.”

Neither Kompany nor Bayern Munich have commented on Alderweireld’s recommendation. Watch this space?

Poor Roberto Martinez. Wigan Athletic’s finest is in line for another of European football’s top international jobs, and there’s not an iota of excitement online from anyone: it’s all just comments about how he wasted Belgium’s great-ever generation of talent. Of how he must possess sensitive information of big-wigs at some of world football’s biggest federations. Of how if his name was Bob Martin, he’d be coaching in League One.

After this summer, few can defend his Portugal tenure and his decision to play a 40-something up front. And yes, perhaps it is surprising that Martinez – whose finest achievement in football happened within days of suffering relegation – keeps getting the biggest jobs on the continent. Though to give them their credit here, this is a forward-thinking move by Dutch football association standards, an organisation who lost their contact book about 15 years ago, but were lucky enough to still have the phone numbers of Ronald Koeman and Louis van Gaal scratched on a desk somewhere in the office, in case of emergencies, and have flitted between the two like a moth stuck between two streetlights in a cul-de-sac.

No, but seriously, the Belgium accusations simply aren’t true. Yes, they had good players. Yes, he hired Thierry Henry as a coach. But not every golden generation gets its flowers – and that one certainly should never have gotten as far as a World Cup semi-final in 2018.

Just saying that sounds utterly bananas. Thibaut Courtois in goal. Vincent Kompany leading the backline, flanked by Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen. Youri Tielemans, Mousa Dembele, Yannick Carrasco and Dries Mertens all from the bench. A front three of Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard, for god’s sake.

Were you to name the 23 best footballers to ever come out of Belgium, there’s a fair likelihood that around 15-20 of them were in that selection. That team would walk most leagues in Europe – two or three times in a row. But that’s not how tournament football usually plays out. It’s not how it’s played out for every so-called ‘favourite’ in international football for the past couple of decades.

The Belgians had been dumped out of the previous two tournaments at the quarter-final stage with a whimper. Despite the wealth of talent available to Martinez, there were chronic issues across the pitch: Martinez had absolutely nothing resembling a left-back, with Nacer Chadli crowbarred into a wing-back berth out of necessity rather than invention. At the time, that was seen as the biggest problem.

It wasn’t. Not really. A lack of central midfield options meant that Axel Witsel – playing in China, at the time – was the one constant to rely on. Mousa Dembele had missed the last few games of the season and looked way off the pace during the tournament, getting dragged off after an hour of Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante giving him the runaround in the semi. Tielemans was still just 21; Marouane Fellaini was a battering ram and De Bruyne had to play deeper at times, despite not being a double-pivot player.

Thomas Meunier was good, if not spectacular. The three-man defence, meanwhile, was fairly solid, if not ageing. The lack of pace from Kompany and Vertonghen put a lot of burden on Alderweireld’s legs. But really, all the spotlight was hogged by that attack: a get-out-of-jail trio who were surely capable of destroying all before them.

And to reiterate the point, yes, they would’ve done, had this been the Premier League. But here’s where this really gets controversial: were De Bruyne, Hazard and Lukaku really the men for tournament football?

Again, not really. They did their best, though. De Bruyne actually didn’t have a bad World Cup: he actually created the third-most chances of anyone in Russia – behind Neymar and set-piece specialist Kieran Trippier – but coming off the back of a historic 100-point season with Manchester City, we all expected him to flourish in his free role, delivering more than just the single goal he netted.

He seemed quiet: yet this would become a theme of the playmaker in knockout footbal. He’d never escape the ghost accusations when it came to European ties – he was subbed off in both Champions League finals he played through injury, which didn't help – but this was just who De Bruyne was. In the very biggest matches, he would enhance other players around him, rather than rocketing a ball into the top corner. His sole strike in 2018 came against Brazil – so he couldn’t have gone missing that much in big games – but he was more of a complementary piece when it came to international competitions.

Even Hazard was attacked with the ‘missing in big games’ cliche. The Chelsea legend netted just two Champions League knockout goals – and one was a penalty. Yet in 2018, he was absolutely magical, his performance against Brazil one of the finest of the tournament (and the 85th best of all time, according to FourFourTwo). He scored three times: you couldn’t have asked much more.

Lukaku, meanwhile, came out of the tournament with four goals and an assist, following a first season at Manchester United (yeah, that really happened). And it’s fair to say that the years have not been kind to the striker’s big game reputation, either. Despite 93 goals for his nation at the time of writing – and 26 scored against teams who have reached the top 10 of FIFA’s ranks since he made his debut – abiding memories of Big Rom at World Cups are not the braces he put up against Panama and Tunisia in Russia: they’re of his disasterclass against Croatia four years later, and his cameo roles in the States, which are fairly fresh in the memory.

2018 was right about the time that the 25-year-old was midway through his target man conversion, too. Despite his strength and build, Lukaku was never the guy to hold the ball up and bring others into play, with his first touch oft-slammed: he was at his best on the shoulder of a defender, or alongside another Martinez (Lautaro, at Inter Milan). He became a worse player when the likes of Jose Mourinho and Thomas Tuchel tried to turn him into something that he wasn’t – yet at the 2018 World Cup, he was there to run into space, to bully defenders who couldn’t handle his movement, and to take on the thankless task of stretching play for Hazard and De Bruyne to work in, since Belgium didn’t really have another top-level runner in attack.

It’s levelled at Martinez that he should have done more with that frontline, all at their peak, at the 2018 World Cup. In the years since, there’s a very good case – almost watertight, in fact – that each of Hazard, De Bruyne and Lukaku had their very best international tournament that summer.

It’s pretty well-established, too, that they lost to the better team: France were miles better in every department – and the Belgians gave them their trickiest game. The Red Devils comfortably beat England twice (in two games that didn’t matter). They outplayed Brazil; yes, they went 2-0 down to Japan, but pulled it out the bag when it mattered.

Belgium had the second-best players in the competition, and lost to the team with the first-best. But they were brilliance without balance: a semi-final was a proper achievement.

And by the time the Euros rolled around three years later, the golden generation had passed them by – Kompany had retired, Vertonghen and Alderweireld were well past their expirations and this was Real Madrid-era Hazard – yet they still didn’t disgrace themselves. Three wins in the group stage (caveated by the fact they played an understandably shellshocked Denmark after Christian Eriksen’s cardiac arrest), before beating a very good Portugal, and losing to the eventual winners. Again, was it really an underachievement? Or simply what we all expected from this group?

It’s really easy to look at talent that a team has on paper and deem them a failure for not winning something. But it’s an oversimplification to wonder why a Croatian side who have very few star names – but stars in all the right places – often do better than a Portugal side who have standout attackers that struggle to gel together; or why England looked quite so poor trying to cram Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden into a midfield, when a team like Spain are quite happy to take off a big name like Pedri in the middle for Mikel Merino, if he offers them box threat.

International football is very rarely about who has the best squad, but who has the best moments. Belgium had very few players who have consistently pulled something from nothing in the biggest knockouts: they're all league specialists. And over the course of 38 games, Roberto Martinez would’ve been chastised for not finishing in a Champions League spot, at least, with the players he had at his fingertips. Across just seven matches, he probably did well to get to the last four of a major competition with Fellaini and Witsel in his engine room.

And maybe we’ve been harsh on him. Maybe the Wigan relegation and a fairly un-notable Everton stint have shaped the worldview that this is a guy you shouldn’t hand top-level talent to. No, he’s not a world-beater. No, he didn’t work miracles with Belgium. But did you really expect him to win the World Cup with that?

Former Liverpool manager Arne Slot has released a new statement to clarify his current status.

The Dutchman won Liverpool their 20th league title in his first season, after taking the reins from Jurgen Klopp – but his team struggled in their title defence, limping to fifth in the Premier League.

The former Liverpool boss has been linked with the Netherlands job in recent days and has spoken about his next moves and “incorrect speculation”.

Arne Slot clarifies position post Liverpool

Slot was given his marching orders on Merseyside at the end of the season, following a difficult campaign in which he fell out with talismanic forward Mohamed Salah and finished the season trophyless – despite a summer spend of over £400 million.

The 47-year-old has confirmed that he had talks with Dutch football federation, the KNVB, but that he declined to take over as the Oranje's head coach from the outgoing Ronald Koeman, with the job now likely to go to Roberto Martinez.

“Over the past few weeks, and particularly the past few days, various reports have appeared regarding the vacancy at the Dutch national team, suggesting that I had withdrawn from the process after lengthy negotiations, including regarding salary and contract duration,” Slot said, via Voetbal International.

“That speculation is incorrect. We simply never reached that stage of the talks.

“At this stage of my career, I prefer to see myself on the training pitch with my players every day. Something that is simply not possible in the same way with a national team.

“I have enormous respect for the national team and for the KNVB and can only be positive about the professional manner in which the talks proceeded that week. For now, I believe that club football still has a lot to offer me.

“It would be a great honour to represent my country as national coach one day. However, this was not the right moment for me.”

Slot's success in his first season on Merseyside made him a leading candidate for the Dutch job, following an excellent spell coaching in his homeland.

The Hardenberg native achieved success at Feyenoord by winning the Eredivisie and reaching the inaugural Conference League final, only to be beaten by Jose Mourinho's Roma.

Slot left the Reds with a 58 per cent win ratio in 113 games. Liverpool take on Newcastle United when the season starts.

It has been a summer of chaos and upheaval at Newcastle United, but you wouldn’t know it looking at Matthias Jaissle as he faced the media for the first time at St James’ Park on Tuesday.

Donning a smart suit, slicked-back hair, the Magpies’ new coach began by shaking every hand in the room before taking to the stage. He is supremely cool and confident, knowing his own mind and radiating belief that everything will not only be okay on Tyneside, but that great days and nights will follow.

Yet, having arrived at the end of July following Eddie Howe’s swift departure, in just enough time to see captain Bruno Guimaraes follow Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon out of the exit door, Jaissle is under no illusions. He faces a tough task, with just over two weeks until the Premier League opener at home to Liverpool.

"A big challenge"

The 38-year-old insists he sees opportunity rather than negativity. “It is a challenge, a big challenge,” Jaissle said. “We lost big characters; this is a vacuum. Others need to step into it, either through signing these profiles or existing players. We are aware of what we need internally.”

“Always when there is a transition period, it is not time to complain. We see the chance, not the negative. We want to do our best, and we are here to support the players. There will be adjustments in the next days and weeks, but we are focused on our daily work."

“I would have loved to have started from the beginning and been involved in everything, the signings and being involved from the first day. It is something I cannot influence.

“We’ll use every day in the best possible way to improve. This is a collective task for the whole club. If we are all thriving in the same direction, it is going to be successful.”

At their best under Howe, Newcastle were a nightmare to live with, hunting every ball and overwhelming opponents with their pressing and energy. It is no secret that the words “Intensity is our Identity” adorned the walls at the training ground.

As Howe’s flame began to wither towards the end of his reign, culminating in a 12th-placed finish in the Premier League last season, so did that core principle. But as a product of the Red Bull project, a disciple of Ralf Rangnick who has won league titles at RB Salzburg and Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia, Jaissle wants to reinforce it, describing Newcastle as a “perfect fit” for his ideals.

“[We should be] front-footed, intense, aggressive and, of course, successful,” he said.

“That is why I am sitting here; the belief we have as a coaching team, the identity of Newcastle United is linked closely together [to that]. It is a perfect fit in my eyes. It is going to be exciting.

“Football is really complex. We can press, why are we doing that? To get the ball, and then you need to have solutions and be smart. You have to have your identity, how we want to play, vertical, we want to score goals, but it depends how the opponent is playing, it is about adaptation as well. We need to use their weaknesses and our strengths.”

Jaissle also believes his relationship with England boss Thomas Tuchel could be important as he settles into Premier League life. They go all the way back to the early days of his playing career, and Tuchel influenced his coaching journey, too.

“The connection is there, it has been a long connection,” he smiles. “He was my coach when I was a youth player in Stuttgart. He is an amazing coach; I really admire him and appreciate him a lot – what he did and will do in the future. He is really special; I am looking forward to getting insight from him about the league.”

His persona on the touchline is at odds with the man sat in the chair at the front of the room. He says he is passionate, emotional and will not change that.

There were no promises of a long-term vision, and some fans could be forgiven for asking wider questions of the Saudi-backed project. But, ultimately, if first impressions say anything, Matthias Jaissle certainly believes he will leave his mark on Newcastle.

Liverpool can certainly challenge for the Premier League this season.

That's the view of former Reds striker Michael Owen, who says that he's been impressed by Andoni Iraola and that the Basque simply needs time at Anfield to show what he's capable of.

With Liverpool entering a new era, few are predicting the Premier League title to return to Merseyside – but Owen says it's “possible”.

Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola needs time to implement his own style, says Michael Owen

Liverpool were disappointing last season, with Arne Slot losing his job as a result of a fifth-place finish, despite winning the title 12 months earlier.

Speaking to FourFourTwo, Owen – who now helps UK gamblers compare online casinos as the British ambassador for Casino.org – believes that Iraola has a “building job”, and says he's impressed by what he's seen at Bournemouth.

“He has proven at Bournemouth that he is a top manager and has an excellent style of play,” Owen tells FourFourTwo.

“I have been very impressed when watching Bournemouth play and I hope this can be translated to Liverpool next season. It’s a rebuilding job for sure with Salah leaving and the way Liverpool ended last year and the style of football as well.

“So it’s a big job indeed and the pressure is on, as Bournemouth, with respect, are not as a big of a club as Liverpool, so he will need to look to implement a style of play quickly for the team to start winning.

Despite the size of the task at hand, however, Owen says that he's been so impressed with the style of play on the south coast that he believes that his former side could challenge for the title again.

“From the way Bournemouth played, if you can deliver that at Liverpool, with the quality Liverpool have now and can bring in, then it’s possible to begin to challenge again for sure,” he says.

Liverpool take on Newcastle United in the opening game of the Premier League season.