MICAH RICHARDS: Mauricio Pochettino will improve Man United

MICAH RICHARDS: Mauricio Pochettino will improve Man United but there are similarities with the dressing rooms in Paris and Manchester… he MUST be allowed to manage with freedom again

• Mauricio Pochettino’s reputation has been hurt by losing to Real Madrid 
• What happens next intrigues me but I don’t see him in charge at PSG next year
• He is being touted by some as a potential saviour for Manchester United
• For that to happen, he has to be given time like he had at Southampton and Spurs

It’s not often you watch a fantastic game of football and the overriding emotion you are left with is disappointment but that was the case on Wednesday.

What a spectacle Real Madrid versus Paris St Germain was: two of the biggest names in the world, going head-to-head in the Champions League. There was drama, there was incredible finishing from Karim Benzema but, at the final whistle, I was so frustrated PSG had gone out again.

My first thoughts were about Kylian Mbappe, who should be in the latter stages of this competition. Goodness me, he’s been out of this world this season – almost like a one-man band – and something will have gone badly wrong somewhere if he doesn’t win this trophy during his career.

I was so frustrated PSG had gone out of the Champions League again at the final whistle

My first thoughts were about Kylian Mbappe (right), who should be in the latter stages

Football, however, can be a cruel game and you only had to look at Mbappe’s face at the end to appreciate it. You don’t get endless opportunities to win the Champions League – who would have thought, for instance, 2015 would have been the last time Messi would have played in the final?

Then I started thinking about Mauricio Pochettino. As I watched the tie slip away from PSG, just like it has done in previous campaigns against Barcelona, Manchester United and Manchester City, the more I feared the implications for the manager.

When Messi signed for PSG – and they added Sergio Ramos, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Gini Wijnaldum and Achraf Hakimi – the only ambition was to win the Champions League.

Things haven’t gone to plan, with Messi only scoring seven goals in 25 games – how costly was his penalty miss in the first leg in Paris? – while injury has restricted Ramos to just 284 minutes of action.

Then I started thinking about Mauricio Pochettino (left), and I feared the implications for him 

Once Mbappe put PSG ahead on the night and gave them a 2-0 lead in the tie, I said to Jamie Carragher and Thierry Henry – with whom I was working for CBS – that Pochettino needed to make a substitution to kill things off. I believe the Pochettino we knew at Tottenham would have done so.

Watching on from the studio, I would have been tempted to withdraw Neymar and turn to Angel Di Maria. Neymar has wonderful gifts but he doesn’t defend. I suspect Pochettino at any other club other than PSG would have followed his instincts and made that call.

Carlo Ancelotti certainly made the difference. What a class act he is and he showed why class will always be permanent when making the changes at the right times to what isn’t a vintage Real Madrid team that took them through.

Perhaps had Pochettino done so, PSG would be in the last eight.

But, increasingly, it feels like he is managing with his hands tied. Pochettino, in the past, has been so good at changing games with substitutions but in Paris the stars are bigger than the manager so Neymar stayed on. Whatever repercussions follow this defeat, Neymar won’t feel them.

Watching on, I would have been tempted to withdraw Neymar because he doesn’t defend

Pochettino’s reputation has been hurt by losing to Madrid in such circumstances. It has been hurt because he has got Lionel Messi, regardless of him being 34, Mbappe and Neymar but he has not been able to change the dynamics of what PSG are – too much style, not enough substance.

When he started talking afterwards about VAR and criticising the decision to allow Benzema’s opening goal, I was surprised at what I was hearing from him. PSG were weak to concede that moment and his players needed to take responsibility. That didn’t happen.

What happens next intrigues me. PSG will win the Ligue Un again at the end of the season but I don’t see how Pochettino is in charge there next year. It all points to him going the same way as Thomas Tuchel and Unai Emery, who could not deliver the success in Europe that PSG crave.

Maybe we have wrongly over estimated Paris St Germain having seen them reach the 2020 Champions League Final and since add the likes of Messi, Hakimi, Donnaruma, Wijnaldum and Ramos.

I’m huge fan of Pochettino and I do believe, if his departure from PSG happens, that he would be great for Man United

They have surrendered too many leads at key points in the Champions League for a number of seasons.

A similar sentiment could apply to the team that many believe Pochettino will end up at next season. He is being touted by some as a potential saviour for Manchester United; if he gets the job, many envisage that that there will be a sudden change of fortune.

Will he improve them? Well, yes. I’m a huge fan of the Argentine, I have been since he first came to England and got Southampton playing so dynamically, but I worry there are similarities with the dressing room in Manchester. I saw it first-hand again last Sunday, the lack of leadership.

I’m a huge fan of Pochettino and I do believe, if his departure from PSG happens, that he would be great for United. For that to happen, though, he has to be given time and do the things that made him standout for Southampton and Tottenham.

He has to be allowed to manage with freedom again.

But I worry there are similarities with the dressing room in Manchester and in Paris right now

What a test this is for Frank Lampard and the next two home games Everton face do not come much bigger. 

Wolves on Sunday, then a Newcastle team who are now the same distance away from the final European spot as the bottom of the table.

I am nervous about Everton’s situation. I never believed they would go down but after watching them on Monday night at Tottenham, where a 5-0 defeat could easily have been 8-0, I’m less certain. 

They will hope for four points in the next two games to change the tide and give them some much needed confidence.

I am nervous about Everton’s situation and their next two home games do not come bigger

The race for fourth place is now firmly in Arsenal’s control and it is a testament to the excellent work Mikel Arteta has done that they look odds-on to qualify for the Champions League. 

It would be one of the stories of the season if they deliver – a massive achievement.

People questioned Arteta at the beginning of the season after they lost their opening games but he put his faith in young players such as Emile Smith-Rowe, Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Ben White. It was a brave thing to do and I hope that bravery is rewarded.

Micah’s… Moan of the week

I didn’t anticipate my mood dropping after the Manchester derby but that’s what happened when I saw a few suggestions I’d been disrespectful to Roy Keane during his impassioned analysis of United. 

Yes, I laughed when he finished speaking but it came from the raw emotion that was in the studio.

I’ve never seen Roy so upset by a United performance and he articulated what most people behind the goal at the Etihad would have been feeling. 

Banter is part of our game but I would never laugh to mock anyone and the idea that I’d been disrespectful to Roy is, frankly, laughable.

 I laughed when Roy finished speaking but it came from the raw emotion that was in the studio

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