Sport with Daniel Hussey: Mauricio Pochettino eyes Man United job

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

The Hard Shoulder, with Ciara Kelly and Shane Colman. On Newstalk, with Ciara.

Ciara Kelly (0:08)

Now we're joined by sports journalist, Daniel Hussey, to go through all the latest sporting action. And Daniel, I suppose there's only one place we can start, and that is Manchester United. The soap opera, the farce, that is Manchester United.

Daniel Hussey (0:22)

Yeah, it looks like Mauricio Pochettino is the front runner for the Manchester United job, and United will potentially be looking to get rid of Michael Carrick. It did strike me, though, that Manchester United are probably the only club in the world that would go after an international manager during an international break. So it just, the irony wasn't lost on me anyway. But Pochettino is probably at the peak of his powers 2018-2019, probably should have won that league, the Leicester won in 2016, and then that Champions League final in 2019 And since then, it's been PSG, it's been Chelsea, it's been the USA. So it's sort of been a little bit of a downward spiral, it's obvious they were good in the World Cup until Trump got in the way with the Balagan situation, he would say.

Ciara Kelly (1:02)

Yeah, he didn't have a good time at PSG, he didn't have a good time at Chelsea. It's an odd choice, isn't it?

Daniel Hussey (1:08)

It just felt like the right choice four, five, six years ago. And now that they're going for it now, I guess given who he's up against, judging by the reports.

Shane Colman (1:17)

Do you think managers will want to take on Man U? I mean, they're a bit all over the place, they're not what they were.

Ciara Kelly (1:24)

I think there was enough, I think Eddie Howe would have taken the job, and I think he might have been a better choice.

Daniel Hussey (1:30)

I'd say between Pochettino and Howe, there's not much in it again. I think Pochettino's track record is better than Eddie Howe's, but Eddie Howe's is more recent. I think that's all to me to debate there. I think you want to be the manager that ends that 13-year cycle since Alex Ferguson left, but we've seen some great managers go in there. Now, I would say a lot of them have gone in either, like Jose Mourinho, when he came in, he was sort of past his best as well. So they're probably looking for a guy at the peak of his powers and they're not going to get him here with Pochettino. I think Poch, probably a few years ago, was the man and maybe he isn't now. No, he is that big personality they need. And from Pochettino's point of view, he would think he can potentially change this.

Shane Colman (2:04)

Yeah, I'm sure there's lots of people that would be wary of going in and being more grist to that mill. Daniel, Ireland match is coming up this week, of course, with Austria and Kosovo.

Daniel Hussey (2:13)

Yeah, we've got Austria Saturday night and then we got Tuesday, Kosovo and the Aviva. And it's actually an opportunity for Ireland to get out of the UEFA Nations League B. It's a Nations League division we've been in since the inaugural Nations League. No matter what we do, we actually just stay in Nations League B. If we finish second, we go to a playoff, potentially to get to A. And if we win the group, obviously, we end up promoted to Nations League A. Whether we want to get there or not, that's a matter of debate given the teams in there. But I think B is probably our level at the moment. But where this team is potentially wanting to go in the future, it is actually a massive opportunity over the next week or so. If they can maybe get a point in Austria and be Kosovo home, India Viva on Tuesday.

Shane Colman (2:49)

It is, of course, clashing with the Rugby.

Daniel Hussey (2:51)

So we've got quarter eight Saturday night. Maybe not everybody knows. It's listening that quarter eight we've got Austria versus Ireland. But of course, we have ten past eight Ireland versus Fiji in the Aviva. Now, I would say Nations League Games are more set than the Nations Championship in Rugby, but it just seems like a bit of a missed opportunity, a bit of an own goal that the RFU or maybe the FAI, more so the RFU, I would say didn't push back given there's kickoff slots throughout the weekend from Friday to Sunday, and there's no reason I can think that they couldn't have made the case.

Shane Colman (3:21)

Had to be on that slot.