Henry Winter

Manchester United’s No 6 shirt has been worn by such distinguished servants to the club as Gary Pallister, Martin Buchan, Nobby Stiles, Jaap Stam, Duncan Edwards, Wes Brown amongst others. It’s now worn by Lisandro Martinez, who embarrassed the club again today #MUFC

Rogers and Palmer will get the headlines but Lavia deserves huge praise for dominating midfield, pressing, passing, winning the ball for Rogers’ goal. Offers all the physicality, mobility and determination lacking in Manchester United’s midfield. MOTM imho. #CHEMUN #CFC

Manchester United fans defiant. Manchester United players defeatist. One day, United players will take responsibility, and will play with the commitment of their fans. Carlos Baleba, Harry Maguire and Lisandro Martinez failed to react for Chelsea’s first. Martinez so unprofessional for Chelsea’s second goal, elbow, second yellow, pen, shocking behaviour. Michael Carrick has his flaws but he’s been let down by his players. United fans have been let down by their players. United can change the head coach but they have to change many of the players, recruiting stronger characters. Players who take responsibility, who care for the club. #CHEMUN #MUFC

Lisandro Martinez could be in trouble here, first a foul on Rogers, then an elbow on Fofana. Brainless. #CHEMUN

Jamie Carragher has now apologised to Aston Villa for comments this week which were disrespectful but hardly actionable. He was wrong about a proud, historic club. Villa said last night they would “initiate legal action” against Carragher for what they described as his “unacceptable insults about the Club and its fans” on his Stick To Football podcast. Carragher claimed Unai Emery would “fancy” joining Manchester United. This fed Villa’s belief/fear of institutional impediments embedded in the Premier League inhibiting their ambitions. We live in a media age where views are news. Carragher is a pundit, paid to give opinions shaped by his many experiences as a player. It’s why he’s also employed by Sky Sports, which bankrolls much of football. You may not agree with some of his views expressed in the more informal, pub-vibe podland, but he’s allowed to say them, and discourse is at the heart of being a fan. That said, Carragher certainly shouldn’t be telling Villa fans objecting to his comments to “shut the f**k up” even “in jest”, a strange way of expanding an audience. “My language this week was clumsy & wrong,” Carragher has now posted on X in his apology to Villa, the owners and fans. “I can assure Villa fans it was tongue in cheek but I can understand it’s not come across that way, so apologies. Good luck today UTV!” Whether this is from pure contrition or a reaction to the threat of legal action remains to be seen. Carragher’s view on Emery deserved challenging but by Villa’s fans not by the club, which should have risen above it, and certainly not by lawyers. You don’t need to be a diehard Holte Ender to question why on earth Emery would leave Villa for United. Emery runs the football operations at Villa, organising and inspiring the squad and team, and overseeing the successful recruitment model. United are a managerial churn machine, a dysfunctional family, with tensions between fans and board, and a squad that needs a long-overdue overhaul. Carragher also needed challenging - in a debate, not a court - about his view on a famous club who have contributed so much to the history of the game. Near the players’ entrance is the statue of William McGregor, founder of the Football League. Villa were founder members of the Premier League. Champions of England, champions of Europe, producer of talent like Brian Little, Gabby Agbonlahor, Gary Cahill and Jack Grealish, and a couple more in the pipeline. The Holte End is one of the great stands of football. Villa deserve more respect from Carragher which he now shows belatedly in today’s post. But Carragher’s suggestion that there is a food chain in football is hardly a radical thought. It’s a view, the game is full of them, and if lawyers are scrambled, and views are censored, then the whole game is the poorer.

Can’t believe there are no goals. Better display from Manchester United, more urgency and pressing, showing more character, getting chances, need to keep targeting Fofana. #CHEMUN

Wesley Fofana cost £70m. #CHEMUN

This is about players’ character now, not simply about Carrick. Manchester United players owe it to their fans to show the right character at the Bridge today. It’s about standards. #MUFC

Jack Grealish is talented, big-hearted, incredibly likeable but he’s 31, unwanted by his main employer, has now let down his loan club and risks letting his career drift. It’s sad to see. At his best, with the ball at his feet, Grealish is a true entertainer, always trying to make things happen in the final third with his balance, dazzling footwork and sense of adventure. He’s generous off the field, helping many causes, the latest a £10,000 donation to a Southport family whose Evertonian dad has cancer. Grealish is genuine. But all these uplifting elements to his personality and playing ability are overshadowed if there’s not total dedication to his demanding profession. That’s time-keeping, refuelling correctly etc. Grealish risks wasting his talent, a special talent. Whatever the nature and scale of the disciplinary breach at Everton, reportedly missing training, Grealish has let down a manager in David Moyes who gave him a chance and is short of players anyway. Grealish has an ability to keep possession under pressure that Everton usually could do with but they beat Newcastle United without him to reach the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup. He's let down team-mates and fans. Do Everton need Grealish? Left wing, now left out. His replacement, Tyrique George is a completely different player, quick but raw. George is developing under Moyes (and Lee Carsley with England Under-21s) and an experienced manager clearly feels he can trust him more. George is 20 with his best days ahead of him. Grealish should be doing everything to prove his best days aren’t behind him. He should be fighting hard to keep Father Time and young challengers at bay. Grealish, as he showed last season before injury, could have a significant role to play, could bring some magic to Everton’s flanks, but he’s wasting that chance. He should look at the whole-hearted performances of the likes of Jordan Pickford, James Tarkowski, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and James Garner and want to be part of these band of brothers. Look at the way Hayden Hackney has been assimilated into a strong dressing-room - and impressed last night. There are good people around the club if Grealish needs help in any way. So what next? Grealish will be costing Everton a lot in their share of his Manchester City wages. Pictures from Finch Farm training will be eagerly awaited as will any involvement in Monday’s Premier League visit to St James’ Park. So where will Grealish go next? He did brilliantly getting Aston Villa into the Premier League, and did the Treble at City. He’s achieved much but could achieve more with that talent. His City contract expires next summer. He’s stuck on 39 England caps, and won’t feature even on the fringes of the conversation when Thomas Tuchel announces his squad next week. He’s now at a crossroads. Let’s hope likeable, gifted Grealish takes the right road, the one demanding total focus. #EFC

Rest In Peace

This is really poor by @FA. The governing body is supposed to protect players. It should be disputing this regulatory commission verdict by members drawn from the FA judicial panel. Max Dowman could have suffered a bad injury to his standing leg from a dangerous challenge which went unpunished. Arsenal 16-year-old shouldn’t have reacted but his frustration was understandable. Some other players might have rolled around and ensured a bad challenge was punished. Dowman didn’t. He doesn’t stay down. The FA should have shown some understanding towards Dowman. Instead, it has suspended him for three games. FA priorities all wrong: tolerating a poor challenge and some weak refereeing but punishing a kid who objected to a bad challenge that could have dealt him a serious injury. Protect players. #AFC

Joe Gomez and Wesley Fofana. Two players, two stories. Column. #LFC #CFC henrywinterfootball.substack…

Another very promising performance from Trey Nyoni. Nurtured by Leicester, now flourishing at Liverpool. Unfazed facing Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia of Chelsea last night. 19-year-old midfielder, impressing at 6 (can play 8), and clearly trusted by team-mates to take the ball under pressure. Kept taking up intelligent positions, occasionally splitting centre-backs or dropping into space for a pass from Virgil van Dijk. Composed distribution encouraged further by Andoni Iraola, who wants Nyoni to be progressive in his passing, picking out the forwards when opportunity shows. Nyoni's qualities also include balance, press-resistance and fearlessness. Some well-timed interventions, including on Morgan Rogers, then turning away with the ball from Lavia. Dummy to deceive Valentin Barco. Impressed in pre-season, developing well under Iraola, good alternative to Ryan Gravenberch when required. Also progressing through England age-groups: 16s, 17s, 18s, 19s, 20s and called into 21s earlier this month. Nyoni only 19, still developing and will learn so much around Van Dijk and others. Hugely promising future. #LFC

Joe Gomez - what a penalty. Emphatic. Wesley Fofana - what a poor penalty. Into the Kop. Crazy shootout. Liverpool through. #CarabaoCup #LIVCHE

Michael Carrick is in positive mood, focused, and determined to turn Manchester United fortunes around. But the club he loves, United, is divided. Christian Purslow & I examine recruitment and ownership issues @FootyBoardroom #MUFC youtu.be/FMNsmoZNDR8 open.spotify.com/episode/6ZI…

Max Dowman: some thoughts. A little bit of understanding and support would not go amiss for a targeted teenager who wants to play the game the right way, who doesn’t roll around on the ground when struck by a bad challenge, and he gets hit by a few. Officials take note. Coaches take note. There’s a balance with young talents of toughening them up physically and mentally while protecting them. There's a balance between admonishment for a mistake and encouragement to learn. Everyone wants to see Dowman fulfil his huge potential and develop into a major player for Arsenal and, eventually, England. Dowman is a special young talent, still only 16, still with the ink drying on his GCSE papers. He's still a kid, still learning. There have been (premature) calls for Dowman to be fast-tracked into England Under-21s, even the seniors. A month ago Thomas Tuchel and Lee Carsley conferred on Dowman and sensibly agreed his development would best be served by games with the Under-19s. “Max is always in the conversation because of his talent,” Carsley said. That talent has seen Dowman become the Premier League’s youngest ever goalscorer, become the youngest player in the Champions League, and also get targeted. He gets a kicking, nine times in an Under-19s international against Spain last year. On returning to Arsenal, Dowman was encouraged by his manager Mikel Arteta to learn from Bukayo Saka about the art of dealing with such aggression. It was all about avoiding contact and “to learn when to release the ball”. Arteta also praised Dowman’s “football IQ” with the “super smart” way he makes decisions, praise indeed. It’s impressive in one so young. His two red cards this month, one for England Under-19s against the USA behind closed doors in Marbella and now for Arsenal against Fleetwood Town, need placing in context. Trend or blip? Dowman, who usually has a composed temperament, suffered a number of robust challenges from the USA when he snapped and put in a strong challenge of his own. Some of those present in the game felt it was only a yellow. Dowman's not a petulant player, but his frustration spilled over at the aggression put in on him. Similar to last night. There were some robust League Two challenges going in from Fleetwood players on the English champions' winger, testing his temperament, and after 85 minutes he reacted. The focus was on his silly kick out towards Harrison Neal, a soft red but still a red under the Laws, when the focus should also have been on Neal’s challenge which could have injured Dowman. No card was issued against Neal. Michael Salisbury is an experienced referee, 16 years on the list, including now five years in the Premier League. Like all officials, Salisbury has a duty of care to all players to ensure they are not put at risk by bad challenges. Neal got the ball but the force and pace of his follow-through endangered Dowman, whose standing foot was momentarily trapped. Dowman, any player, deserved some protection from challenges like that. He also deserved some compassion from Arteta. It’s one thing having strong words in passing if a senior player was trooping off, red-carded, down the tunnel. But Dowman is 16, probably still fuming with the tackle on him, and frustration at dismissal and inevitable feeling of letting the team down. Dowman didn’t need the most important person in his professional life, Arteta, to compound his misery with a frosty few words as he headed towards the tunnel. He's 16. He wasn't being petulant. He was reacting to a bad challenge. Maybe Arteta was trying to make the point again about Dowman having to withstand such tackles, and not reacting. Arteta told reporters after the game that he had spoken pre-match to Dowman and the other players of the need for emotional control in such an intense occasion. Fair enough, Dowman will learn. Whatever Arteta's frustration, it felt harsh and small-minded by such a successful, established manager. Officials take note too. It’s worth recalling that Arteta’s club contacted the authorities when they felt Saka was being targeted with bad challenges. Talents - all players - deserve protection. #AFC

The Hand of Cod. Good save from Fleetwood keeper Jay Lynch. Hate those stuttering pens, though. Poor from Bruno Guimaraes. Contrast to the Fleetwood pens, calm, expert. Arsenal out. Congratulations to Fleetwood Town #CarabaoCup

Heavy challenge by Neal on Dowman, welcome to L2 tackling, probably given as a red in PL, could have trapped Dowman’s planted leg. 16-year-old reacted, kicked Neal, sent off, can’t complain. Not a lot of sympathy from Arteta. Disappointing. Kid could have done with some support.