Recruitment and the project
I argue that recruitment fails when there is no tactical plan behind it, so the club overspends building frantically for whoever is in charge and keeping Carrick becomes only half a decision, while the assets it already has, like Rashford, are wasted.
The posts
- Opinion Carrick's struggles don't vindicate Amorim or Ten Hag The nostalgia for the previous two managers ignores that their problems were ideological, not executional, and that recruitment was built around the same flaws.
- Opinion United are repeating their Hojlund mistake with Sesko Bought for direct GK to CF progression and duels for long balls, Sesko is now used as a deep passing outlet in an unbalanced team.
- Opinion End of Pep paradigm and recruitment at top clubs With the tactical era that shaped two decades now fading, sporting heads and managers are far less certain about which direction to build their squads in.
- Opinion The Carrick decision The results justify continuity, but without tactical knowledge and authority above the manager, United risk repeating the ETH and Amorim pattern.
- Opinion Losing Rashford is the club's failure United failed to maximise an asset through constant changes in managers, game models and roles, and the end result is what matters.
- Longform Do players make the tactics or do tactics make the players? Why the idea has to precede the personnel, and what Ten Hag's refusal to commit to one approach costs United in recruitment, coaching time and identity.