BURNLEY’S SALUTE TO ‘GIANT’ JIM
ON UNITED’S LACK OF LEADERS: WHERE was Paul Pogba at Brighton? There’s lack of leaders in the team, that’s why we thought he might be the ideal candidate to be that man. But Pogba wasn’t there on Sunday. He had another really poor game. He’s so inconsistent. Romelu Lukaku can do it and win games for you. Anthony Martial can do it, but how long was he on for? 55 minutes? An hour? He got one ball down the left-hand side in the first half. And he absolutely flew past their right-back. I can’t remember another time when United got the ball to him. As a midfield player for United, your job is to get the ball to your best players who can hurt the opposition. But the United midfield players could never do it. They couldn’t get a ball in to Lukaku, they couldn’t get a ball in to Martial and they couldn’t get a ball in to Marcus Rashford when he came on. ON WHY MOURINHO WILL BE GONE BY CHRISTMAS: sacked I’M expecting the manager to get before Christmas. with this dourness If Jose Mourinho’s going to continue this attitude is not and this moaning, then people say to change it. getting us to the top. So we need He looks fed up and it It just seems same old, same old. playing negative stuff. is reflecting in performances. He is you’ve had As a player, you come back for pre-season, You’re excited and a break and you’ve missed football. negativity and dourness you’re eager. To then find a lot of like it could be a around the place is not great. It looks long slog for United this season. the best from the I don’t think the manager is getting attacking players. This team has some unbelievable the front foot enough. talent, but I don’t think they’re on enough tempo I don’t think they’re playing at a quick enough. They give and I don’t think they move the ball organised. teams a chance to get back and get forward, it’s a Mourinho has so many options going wants to play. shame he wants to play the way he title race against a It didn’t work in the Premier League rampant Manchester City last season. to learn from your If things aren’t working you have He needs to change but mistakes and change something. to alter his approach. he just seems to be too stubborn that. ON UNITED’S POOR ATTITUDE AND LACK OF FIGHT: DEFEND poorly and it becomes infectious. On the ball they were making mistakes. Yes, Paul Pogba did make some to fundamental errors, but he kept trying one. make things happen. He was the only We’re talking about top-quality players to not getting the basics right – failing ball in. pass the ball 20 yards or cross the the But more importantly for United, body language wasn’t great and the at simple basics weren’t there – sprinting a high intensity, running about, making some tackles. The only yellow card was Anthony Martial. I’m not condoning every player but at going out and kicking everybody, least show some passion. Now whether it’s the manager’s tactics you don’t like or not, you have a responsibility to yourself and to your too team-mates. And too many of them, their many of those players, did not give all – and that is indefensible. ON WHY UNITED’S DEFENCE IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH: THERE’S no doubt that before the first game of the season, United needed one or two authoritative new centre-backs. Jose Mourinho, in his own words, gave the list and it wasn’t delivered. For whatever reason – maybe they were too expensive, they didn’t fit the club’s philosophy or players weren’t available. You knew full well that once Manchester United hadn’t signed those players that the current centre-backs were going to be under big, big pressure. There’s nothing worse for a player in a dressing room than having the club in public talking about players they haven’t got, and players in certain positions that they want to bring in. What does that do to the confidence of the players who are at the club? Not a lot. What we saw at Brighton are two players in Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof who are lacking confidence a little bit. Or maybe they aren’t quite good enough. BURNLEY paid tribute to Jimmy McIlroy as their “greatest-ever player” and “a giant” after he died, aged 86. The Northern Irishman played 497 games for the Clarets and was part of the legendary 1960 title-winning side. McIlroy (below) scored 131 goals in a golden 13-year spell at Turf Moor after joining as a 19-year-old from Glentoran. The Clarets tweeted: “The club is deeply saddened to learn of the death of our greatest-ever player. A giant of a man. Rest In Peace, Jimmy.” McIlroy was sold to Stoke in 1963 and ended his playing days at Oldham, later becoming a journalist. Awarded an MBE for his services to football and charity in 2011, he remains part of the fabric of Burnley FC where a stand bears his name.