Ornstein latest: Who will survive 'sacking season'?

David Ornstein (0:01)

The Athletic FC.

Emma Paton (0:07)

The November international break is almost upon us, and it usually means one thing, sacking season. So who are the managers feeling the pressure, and who will get more time to turn things around?

Hi, everyone. I'm your host, Emma Paton, and guess what? Our regular Tuesday Club is back. This feels good. I can't lie. We have got the Athletic FC correspondent, David Ornstein. Hello.

James Horncastle (0:32)

Good to see you guys.

Emma Paton (0:33)

Welcome back. Of course, our senior football writer, James Horncastle. Hello.

James Horncastle (0:37)

Great to be with you all.

Emma Paton (0:38)

It feels so good to have you both in the studio.

James Horncastle (0:41)

How was Safari?

David Ornstein (0:42)

Unbelievable. We've just been speaking about it for longer than I think we'll be recording the pod. Sensational.

Actually, I was going to say I don't want to bore our listeners, but if we did a pod on that, I think it might hit record numbers. It was just mind-blowing. Safari, go do it.

Emma Paton (0:58)

Maybe we should do one on that. How have you been? You've been over in Milan?

James Horncastle (1:02)

I was in Milan, yeah, for the launch of the new stadium.

Emma Paton (1:05)

Chatting to a few legends here and there.

James Horncastle (1:06)

I did. It was very nice, actually. I got to spend time on Sunday morning with Ricky Kaká. Oh, wow. Name dropper.

He was in town because he was inducted into the Hall of Fame with AC Milan. He brought his Ballon d'Or with him, which is much smaller than the one that Harry Kane got presented with last week. But what a guy in terms of shows that you can have a charisma and an aura but be really quiet.

There was a guy from BMW in Italy who was there, and he went up to Kaká and he said, I remember when you moved to Milan and your dad came to the dealership and basically said, and I said to him, shall we get Ricky a new BMW X5? The dad said, no, you must give Ricky a second-hand car because he needs to keep his feet on the ground. His feet have always been on the ground.

David Ornstein (2:02)

That's amazing. Less is more.

James Horncastle (2:04)

Exactly.

David Ornstein (2:05)

Even the Ballon d'Or is smaller than it was now. Why is the Ballon d'Or bigger now?

Emma Paton (2:11)

Everything is just getting bigger.

James Horncastle (2:12)

No, everything is getting smaller.

David Ornstein (2:14)

Toblerone is reducing in size.

James Horncastle (2:16)

Chocloude-wise, yeah.

David Ornstein (2:18)

But he was a player of the highest caliber, but maybe without the bombast of some of the other star names.

James Horncastle (2:25)

He was the last player from Serie A to win the Ballon d'Or. It was 20 years ago. Last Brazilian to win it.

He was the last guy, I suppose, before that Ronaldo and Messi era started, which went on for what felt like an eternity.

Emma Paton (2:39)

Right. Today, we're actually going to be talking about managers under pressure and we have, of course, got to start with Manchester United boss Michael Carrick, who is certainly feeling it after yet another miserable defeat, this time a 2-0 away loss at Chelsea.

They are now without a win in nine across all competitions. Our United correspondent Laurie Whitwell has reported that the club's hierarchy had planned to get to the November international break before having to act on Michael Carrick's position. What is your reading on the situation?

David Ornstein (3:12)

Well, that reading could change because on the day of recording this, Man United host Romer in the Champions League, I'm sure will come on to speak about it and things could get better or worse as a result of that.

I think United resolved when they decided to keep Carrick on for the time being, that he would get the three matches leading to the November international break. Of course, that could change if there was a brutal defeat and some catastrophic, in relative terms, developments on the football side and with the squad. I don't think Chelsea met that criteria, even though it was a bruising defeat. It was a very impressive first half, but what came off the back of it was continued support from the fans singing Michael Carrick's name. I didn't detect any change in that approach that he will get three games. The second of those is tonight and then a massive one on Sunday, just before the international break, the final fixture of the Premier League weekend at home to Aston Villa and that could be decisive, you imagine. It'd be naive of us to think Manchester United weren't doing work in the background due diligence on potential replacements. If a change is going to be made, any club should be doing that in this position. It's their duty.