Mauricio Pochettino quickly stops a Man Utd tradition that managers have kept for years.
Manchester United made the decision earlier this week to part ways with Michael Carrick as the club’s manager, and they’ve brought in Mauricio Pochettino to take over. The Argentine has been linked to this job for many years, ever since Sir Alex Ferguson retired over a decade ago.
United is a club with a lot of history, with great managers like Ferguson and Matt Busby. Now, it looks like Pochettino might change some long-standing traditions as he settles in at Old Trafford.
Pochettino’s first game in charge will be against their big rivals, Liverpool, which will be a tough challenge—especially since he’ll still be involved with the United States national team in the week before the Premier League match.
As he gets ready to lead the team, Pochettino is also preparing his coaching staff and will be bringing his son, Sebastiano, who was the fitness coach for the U.S. team. Under Carrick, the team didn’t have a dedicated fitness coach, and that showed on the pitch, where the players struggled with running and intensity during his 15 games this season.
United ranks quite low in the Premier League for distance covered and top speeds this season. Carrick had Charlie Owen as the fitness coach, who was promoted internally back in 2019 by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Owen’s fitness sessions were approved by Erik ten Hag’s former assistant and the players themselves, according to reports.
When Ruben Amorim was in charge, he changed the training schedule to make sessions lighter as matchday approached to keep players fresh. He brought along his own fitness coach from Sporting Lisbon, Paulo Berreira. Big-name managers like Jose Mourinho and Louis van Gaal also had their own fitness experts.
One big change for players now is that after matches, they’ll have recovery sessions the next day at training. It seems Carrick used to give players the day off instead.
Pochettino was linked to the job after his time at Tottenham, but the club went with Ten Hag because of the Dutch coach’s work with Ajax. The Argentine wasn’t linked to the role again for a few years until after United won the FA Cup in 2024.
Some fans are frustrated that the club had to pay to bring Pochettino in now when they could have signed him for free after the World Cup. Instead, they chose Carrick at the time, but now Pochettino has stepped in after only 10 Premier League games under Carrick’s leadership.