How should Manchester United react to Pochettino sacking?

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Tottenham have confirmed they have fired manager Mauricio Pochettino.

The Times reported when Jose Mourinho was sacked that Pochettino was the man Ed Woodward wanted to replace the Portuguese and he is now available.

And that could cast a shadow over Manchester United’s season, if Ole Gunnar Solskjaer starts to struggle again. The Argentine’s presence in the background could be keenly felt.

But Woodward has just given his backing to the Norwegian’s long-term Old Trafford project (ESPN) so swooping now would make for poor timing.

Tempting as a swoop may be, the timing is wrong

Woodward said: “Our ultimate goal is to win trophies, playing fast, fluid, attacking football with a team that fuses graduates from our academy along with world-class acquisitions.

“We know this will not be achieved overnight, however we have made investments across the club that we believe have set us on the right path.”

There has been a glaring absence of forward planning at Old Trafford since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure.

Managerial and player recruitment has been made on the basis of who is available at any given time as opposed to as a result of careful, meticulous research.

That was the case for Louis van Gaal when Jose Mourinho was sacked mid-season in 2015 and while Pochettino appears to have been a more long-term target, a swoop now would shatter any illusion that United are doing anything more than bouncing from one approach to the next.

Real Madrid and Bayern Munich may take the decision out of United’s hands.

This development is poorly timed for United, and Pochettino’s lack of success should not be ignored.

He has never won a club trophy, and frankly he has looked like a manager in need of a break.

If Solskjaer is making positive progress, throwing it away for a pre-conceived idea Pochettino is better could be another error.

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