GRAEME SOUNESS: Man United is a vipers’ nest of disrespect – they have always had trouble keeping their players grounded and need some real men back in the dressing room

Firstly, I can only apologize for once again discussing Manchester United’s plight.

I feel sorry for manager Ruben Amorim because I firmly believe he has walked into a viper’s nest. And everyone at the top of the club and every supporter who walks through the gates of Old Trafford must believe in him if he is to succeed.

He has spoken this week about relegation and the club needing a shake-up, all against the backdrop of certain players going out of their way in training and disrespecting the manager. From timekeeping to posture to every part of your training regime, such as when you play in small practice matches, try to emulate match days and play with intensity. It’s not a switch you can flip when it suits you.

I spoke last week about the example set by Bruno Fernandes and I hear that Alejandro Garnacho is dissatisfied with the manager. Can anyone remind me who he is? The last time I looked, he was just a twenty-year-old boy. Someone who is just one step higher, on a ladder with ten rungs. Who are you? He acts like a ‘wrong one’ on the football field and unless he changes, he has no chance of realizing his obvious potential.

If I go back to my generation and before, Manchester United have always struggled to keep players on the ground.

Back then it was always about ‘who is the next George Best, the next Denis Law or the next Bobby Charlton…’ There have been good players, but whether it is the weight of the jersey or the admiration they getting it too early, that didn’t happen. It doesn’t happen for them.

Premier League teams are forced to pay fortunes to children because, if they don’t, someone else will. But you are only investing in potential, and more often than not, if you give a young man too much, he will soon sit in his armchair and never fulfill his potential.

I never tire of highlighting the value of having good senior professionals in your dressing room, but there has been a drought of real men at Manchester United for over a decade.

In general, a coach can work with his group of 25 players four days a week and they are busy with the game on match days. In a normal week, a manager might be in his company for two hours a day, four days of that work week. How much individual attention can he possibly give them?

And that’s why you need good senior professionals to help. Dig up others when they don’t meet the standards needed if you want to win trophies, and just give these young men time and advice given the distractions in today’s modern game.

They play a huge role in getting the message across and setting standards so that there is less finger pointing and more looking in the mirror on match day.

Where are the higher-ups here? Fernandes? Is that the best you can do?

United fans will remember when Sir Alex Ferguson called Paul Scholes into retirement at the age of 37 and kept Gary Neville around his expiration date, simply because they were two fantastic types who would have trained every day as if it were the last session they had ever done. had. What an example for young players making their way in the game.

For too long, current United players have accepted mediocrity. You feel like it’s a locker room where people go ‘it’s not my fault’.

Right now it’s really hard to watch the 75,000 people who show up for their team every other week; when United concede a goal they just shrug their shoulders, always looking for someone else to give them the answers. That is not the behavior of big players. They need to show what they are made of, and not hide like they are now.

Is football a reflection of society in which no one today wants to take responsibility for their actions?

When I came to Liverpool it was a tough school. I was in a locker room with characters like Emlyn Hughes and Tommy Smith, they never let you be sloppy in training. The coach Ronnie Moran had the biggest influence on my career, but the only time he gave us a pat on the back was when we physically had some silverware in the locker room.

We often said: ‘You’re only happy when you’re unhappy, Ronnie.’ And he looked at us and shook his head and said, ‘You should have seen the players we had in the past, son.’ At that moment you always got the feeling that you were inferior to the players who had come before you, individually and collectively. But I’ve always seen it as a motivation to get better.

Apart from a few occasions under Ron Atkinson’s reign, I don’t remember United challenging us at the top, yet they made all the headlines week in, week out.

Too many United players are too quick to be put on a pedestal and start to believe what is written or said about them. But it’s not that fun to read now. They are our Bayern Munich, because in Germany they are called FC Hollywood.

When many of this squad have finished playing, they will look back and realize what a privilege it was to play for United and they will do so with regret – regret at why they didn’t take more advantage of the opportunity when they had it.

They are doing the club a disservice.

Only injuries can hold Slot’s Reds back

The stars continue to battle for Liverpool’s next league title, but Arne Slot will be thinking about worst-case scenarios going forward.

Losing Virgil van Dijk or Mo Salah to major injuries would have the biggest impact. Or if it was announced that two of them plus Trent Alexander-Arnold would be leaving at the end of the season, it would sour the atmosphere in that dressing room.

I wouldn’t worry about losing form because Liverpool have so many goalscorers in the squad, which means they don’t have to play well to win football games.

But we have seen the damage done to Manchester City by losing Rodri and, in part, Kevin de Bruyne, who abdicated his throne as the country’s best midfielder. I even fear that De Bruyne will never again achieve the level of performance he achieved in the past. It’s not all down to those two, but their absence has played a huge part in why many in City’s dressing room no longer believe in it.

For Liverpool, despite all the good cover they have in the centre-back position, Van Dijk has to play because he makes those around him look so good. And Salah has the best attacking stats of any player in the Premier League at the moment, so he would obviously be missed.

Personally, I wouldn’t criticize Alexander-Arnold if he left for Real Madrid.

He is a Scouser who has only played for Liverpool. He did this successfully and provided excellent service. I understand why he would be tempted. He may want a new challenge and Real Madrid is the only club he can leave for. However, he will leave to join less talented players at Real.

If the Champions League final were to be played this month, as it stands I would have to say Liverpool have no one to fear, but in football terms May is still a long way away.

Football is the craziest sport. On Sunday we’ll see Liverpool, free-scoring, full of beans, against Manchester United, miserable and feeling sorry for themselves. I imagine Ruben Amorim will tell his players that there is no better way to kick-start their season than a win at Anfield.

For Arne Slot, it is ‘unexpected that the very best of Manchester United will appear’. We may expect another victory for Liverpool, but this match continues to surprise.

Lopetegui falls short

I expected Julen Lopetegui to do well for West Ham this season, but looking at them I feel like some of his players are selling him short.

His players’ half-hearted defense against rampant Liverpool last Sunday was perhaps indicative of the attitude he faces. Since he’s already had one or two flare-ups, I suspect he’s struggling with how strong he can be in confronting or criticizing those players without completely losing the locker room.

The main reason I quit at the age of 53 was that my personality did not lend itself to the direction football management wanted to take. I found it hard not to lose it with players who didn’t share my attitude towards not losing a match.

That’s why it’s never been more important to have trusted senior professionals in your dressing room, acting on your behalf and communicating the importance of every moment you come to work. The last thing Lopetegui needed was to lose his very best, Jarrod Bowen, to injury.

Still too early for Chelsea

Chelsea’s drop in performance in recent weeks is only to be expected with the young squad they possess.

They did so well that I bet it surprised even those at the top of the club. It is not the physical challenge that they will find tough, but the mental challenge of playing the cup final every week.

For his part, Enzo Maresca has consistently downplayed their prospects for challenges, as evidenced by Enzo Fernandez and Cole Palmer. That was always the message we got at Liverpool: be modest and play it down when you talk to the press. But I know privately, behind the dressing room door, that as a player you want your manager to tell you that he believes in you and that you can win this competition.

I believe it’s too early for this Chelsea team, but they’re still hoping the rest make a mistake.