Composite image of Angie Postecoglou, Erling Haaland and Ruben Amorim. Photography by Carl Riesen/Getty Images Photography by Carl Riesen/Getty Images and Michael Regan/Getty Images and Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
In his exclusive column for CaughtOffside, former Aston Villa striker Stan Collymore discusses some of football's biggest talking points, including why Ruben Amorim was right, why Ange Postecoglou shouldn't be so gullible and more.
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Robin Amorim's honesty is justified
Robin Amorim's honesty is welcome. I don't think what he said was out of order, I think it was refreshing.
Jose Mourinho was honest. David Moyes et al. If you go back to the post-Ferguson era… all managers since then will have had moments in press conferences where they told the truth.
I think the interesting thing is that it's so stark with Amorim. Of course the press will jump on the phrase 'this is the worst Manchester United team ever'.
It's not unlike what we wrote in our column a few weeks ago.
If you look at a Manchester United team, man to man, how many players will pundits or football observers keep?
I would say everyone was on sale and I don't think a lot of people would flinch from that.
The truth is that you cannot guarantee that Imad will be the title-winning player, for example. Maybe he will continue to do so, and Manchester United will hope that is with them, but it is just one of many peripheral arguments about players who are currently in good form and could easily regress from their form.
The biggest problem at Manchester United is Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the ownership of the club.
It changed a lot of people and processes, but I think the messaging was reflective of the government. 'We're going to do this. We aim in a straight line. We're looking to grow the economy, but the statistics right now don't really support that.
Fans were hoping that someone would come along and blow the doors off without necessarily spending fortunes, and that they would have some kind of strategy by which everyone at Manchester United Football Club would feel appreciated.
This has not been the case and, dare I say it, Manchester United is a bit 'austere-lite'.
Anyway, Robin Amorim for me is the right man for the job. He is a very good coach, young, talented and progressive, and he has proven that at Sporting.
He should certainly be given the opportunity to succeed over multiple transfer windows before a judgement is made.
Erling Haaland's contract with Manchester City makes sense on all levels
Erling Haaland signs a 10-year contract.
Ten years, two years, one year, it makes no difference. All it does is give the player the whip hand.
Winston Boogaard all those years ago at Chelsea, was earning £40 or £60,000 a week and had no intention of moving anywhere. They didn't want to take him out. He did it and Erling Haaland can do it.
I think there are some basic components to think about as well. First, is the player happy? Secondly, he would get the kind of money that was made a little bit of Saudi money, and why go to Saudi Arabia if you are of his age and ability?
I think Manchester City will look at it and say if we lose him to Real Madrid in a few years, we'll probably have saved ourselves £300m/£400m in the grand scheme of things.
how?
Think how much it would cost them to buy Erling Haaland two or three more times? The answer is that it's somewhere between £150m/£200m per transfer, so if you add that up, it's somewhere in the region of £400m/£500m.
Let's assume the contract value is £700m/£800m. If he leaves before the end of the matter, it means they have already made a solid, sound financial decision that, even in the crazy world of football, makes good business sense for them.
They are not paying all the amount upfront either, it will be paid over a long period of time, and this will of course help them with the PSR.
I don't think it's just about PSR either, but it would be a nice bonus in these times when other clubs like Villa, Newcastle and others have to look at every incoming transfer and every outgoing transfer.
For Manchester City Football Club, it's simple. A world-class goalscorer that guarantees you 25 goals plus one season. There is no other striker like him and it is a deal that saves them money. There is no thinking.
Ange Postecoglou's Spurs need to learn… fast
Do I like Angie Postecoglou? Yes I do. Do I like the way he plays football? Yes I do.
When I was a child and then as a professional footballer, I wanted to play attacking football. That's what it was all about. I wanted to be a striker, that's why I loved running with the ball and scoring goals, with my left foot and my right foot.
Now, obviously at a place like Celtic or in Japan, it would be easy for Anji to succeed, but you have to admit that in the Premier League these days, you can't be 'Kevin Keegan in Newcastle MKII'.
I don't think Ange's style of play, as “entertaining” if you like, is conducive to anything other than four, five or six match segments of great results and then two or three really painful games.
Their current predicament isn't just about injuries, and I really like this guy. I think there's something really nice and touching about his style of football, although I don't want to sound condescending, but he's incredibly naive in the Premier League.
He has to get his fundamentals right. Set-pieces, defensive set-pieces, attacking set-pieces, second balls and the dirty stuff you can still hide under the veneer of being a complete football team.
Time will tell how good Angie Postecoglou is, of course.
Everyone wants to go out and play these days, and he's not going to reinvent the wheel at Tottenham or the Premier League.
This season, he could still use the multiple injury excuse, but if we get closer to Christmas 2026 and Spurs are in the same boat as they are now, I think the club will look to pull the trigger. You cannot continue to not learn from mistakes.
Tottenham is considering kidnapping Manchester United!
I think the real issue in the room is whether Daniel Levy will leave Tottenham Hotspur because I think he should.
I think that, as chief executive, he has succeeded in infrastructure projects, has a fantastic training ground and a fantastic stadium, but has failed spectacularly in running the football departments of the club.
A mixed bag in the Champions League could benefit Man City in the Premier League
Another win for Liverpool, another win for Arsenal… They are in a really good position in the top eight, and their fate is in their own hands. Quite simply, they won the next game and finished in the dust – avoiding the playoffs.
Unai Emery was disappointed with Aston Villa's defeat to Monao, while Manchester City remain a struggling Ferrari team at the moment. They are back on track in the league for the most part, and people are starting to smile again.
I always think people can look too much into tactical issues, but I can guarantee that City did nothing different to what they did tactically and during training sessions.
What happens is that confidence starts to dip a little bit, an injury or two pops up, and everyone looks at each other and says “Who's going to stand up and be counted?” Before you know it, you find yourself in a spiral of loss, and it just becomes nothing.
So, the engines in the Ferrari Testarossa have been changed, but there are still one or two tuning problems.
Now, would it be worse if Manchester City were eliminated from the Champions League? They've won everything there is to win, and if they're out of contention this season, who cares? They will continue to do so throughout Sheikh Mansour's tenure with Manchester City Football Club, so you look at it and say 'what a great opportunity'.
everyone; Arsenal, Liverpool et al may qualify and will play more games, likely have more injuries etc. City can only focus on the Premier League.
A few weeks ago I was dying to say can Manchester City win the league? It's ridiculous, isn't it, unthinkable… but if they have a clear run in the league, those six to nine points between them and Liverpool, when the race comes, is not an impossible target to reach.
All it takes is for Salah, Odegaard and Rice to be injured.
