Mikael Silvestre Interview: Carrick Deserves His Chance At Man Utd

I don't think it's obvious because I haven't heard anything official. Look, his time at the helm of the team has been very positive. He reached the objective of qualifying for the Champions League, which is very important on the sporting side, but also on the financial side. It's very important for the club.

To be able to attract better players and to go back into potentially competing for trophies, you need to improve the squad. So, getting there was super important, and he did it with the support of the team. I think he should be given the opportunity to continue and to build something even bigger than this season.

He beat big teams this year. If you look at Michael, he's got to be given the chance because otherwise, when do you really start at the highest level?

He's proved that he can handle the team and deliver results. It doesn't matter if his name is not on the list of Real Madrid or Bayern Munich. He's got to prove his point, and I think he's equipped for it.

Even if it's natural to have question marks on whether or not he can handle the Champions League and the league, we will have our responses pretty soon.

But I think he needs to be helped in terms of equipment to improve that squad to be able to compete and have a good run in those competitions. Because there is no point qualifying for the Champions League if you go out after the group stage.

It doesn't make sense to give long contracts to managers because they stay 15 months to two years most of the time. You had Pep, you even had Klopp, Arteta, who has been there six, seven years now. But other than that, there is a big turnover.

You should start with a short contract, not a long one, and then see how it goes because there is so much fragility. You even have transfers of coaches now.

Ruben Amorim was under contract at Sporting, so a contract doesn't really mean a lot. It's expensive when you have to sack. Ruben was expensive.

Erik ten Hag's contract and then you let him go, so it's better to start with the smaller one and then increase it if everything goes well.

They've had a good run since Michael took over. However, this year they only had the league to play for. The team is not equipped to compete for four trophies, or even if you exclude the League Cup, to compete for the FA Cup, Champions League, and the Championship. It's not realistic right now, the team is not ready for it.

You need more players, and you also need players to leave to make room, as there are too many in some positions. So, it's a big, important transfer window. But the team won't be ready to compete for the title next season, it's too early.

Nobody was expecting the team to perform so well under his management. I wouldn't say he overperformed, but the results, not really the way the team played, have exceeded expectations. So, it's been a very pleasant surprise.

Casemiro will be a big miss because he showed a lot of skeptical people, pundits, that he was still capable of performing at the highest level. I don't think he can do that week in, week out, mid-week, you know. It's a bit too much, I think.

It would have been okay to keep him in the squad because I still think his experience and his key moments would have been helpful. I think he can manage his physique. But anyway, he's leaving so it will be a loss for sure.

Anderson, Wharton, Tchouameni, those players could be fitting into that role alongside Kobbie Mainoo. Manuel Ugarte is there as a back-up, but you need someone really ready to compete and somebody who knows that position really well. So I think someone who knows the Premier League would be ideal.

Tchouameni, 100% he would fit the bill at United. I think he's got the attributes and the balance with Kobbie could be, the association could be a successful one. So if he's available and the price is right, he should be on the list.

100 percent. It was a foul. If the goalkeeper connects his hands, the ball is for him to collect, but he's being pulled. His shirt is being pulled and his left hand is clearly pulled down.

So it's a foul on the goalkeeper. I think there is no other interpretation. It's not like it was his own player blocking him, it was clearly a West Ham player blocking David Raya.

So yeah, it was a clear foul and good on the referee to intervene with the VAR, and then to go and monitor and take a good look, because what a crucial moment for both clubs. So, without being biased, I think it was a fair assessment of the situation by the referees.

Alex was sitting most of the time, but then if he would stand up, something really wrong was happening. Now it's different because Mikel Arteta is pretty much 99% of the time not sitting, he's in the technical area coaching and shouting. So he's the complete opposite.

Everybody has their own style, so I think Arsene Wenger was also pretty much sitting and looking rather than standing up and on the touchline.

There is not even a 1% chance of Luis Enrique to Man Utd, we missed the opportunity to sign him. Having said that, what works with PSG might not work with Man United.

Man United is a different beast. First of all, it's the Premier League and it's a special club. I think right now, the best person to know the club and to manage these players is Michael Carrick.

Didier Deschamps played in the Premier League with Chelsea so he knows the beast but I don't see Didier jumping back straight into a club after the last campaign in the next World Cup so I think it's very very unlikely he'll be at Man Utd.

Kylian Mbappe has scored a lot of goals, so I would say he's done his part. The inconsistency, the injuries, the rebuilding, and the change of manager midway through the Real Madrid season have made it very chaotic.

Kylian couldn't do much more than he did. He's had a few injuries, one or two, but otherwise, he's delivered and scored a lot of goals, which is what you want from your number nine. I don't think he should be blamed for Madrid's poor season.

The petition doesn't make sense, they always try to find a scapegoat. I think if he were Spanish, that's also part of the problem. If he was Spanish, I don't think that petition would have gathered so many signatures.

It's pretty bad from the Madrid fans to do that when you know he scored so many goals. What else do you want? He can't be at the back, in midfield, and in goal at the same time. He does his job up front scoring goals.

Mbappe in the Premier League? It could happen. The Premier League is still the strongest of the top five. Right now, no, I don't see this happening. He still has a long contract at Madrid. It will be important to reinstate Madrid to the top of La Liga and the Champions League next season.

But who knows in the future? He could play anywhere, including Arsenal or Man Utd.

Dusan Vlahovic has had some injury concerns, which is worrying because playing for United, you need to be available, especially as the number nine. It's not like there are many options at United right now, so this needs to be checked thoroughly, as you can't afford to sign someone who isn't available to perform.

Jean-Philippe Mateta? I don't think so. United is another level. Even if he was potentially in the frame for the World Cup, I don't think he's at the standard for Manchester United. If the club is improving, you need someone who is proven, probably a proven goalscorer, to come in and compete with him.

We missed out on Robert Lewandowski and Harry Kane. So, yes, there aren't many possibilities.

I think Marcus Rashford is better off staying at Barca. Worst case scenario, if he was to come back, I think Michael Carrick could fit him for sure into the squad. No question. But I don't think he's, as Marcus said, would be in the best place, to be honest.

So hopefully they find a solution for him to make a permanent move. Rashford for Arsenal? Look, you have Martinelli, Trossard. First of all, if you take another one, you have to make room. So you have to solve this first.

Marcus' performance this year shows that he can still compete at the highest level and win trophies. He's won La Liga. I'm very happy for him.

Ethan Nwaneri leaving Arsenal for Chelsea, I don't think it makes sense to sell the boy to a rival in London, even if they have signed Noni Madueke, but I don't know.

Some strange things happen in football and you need to balance the books sometimes. So, if Chelsea is ready to pay a high fee for him, this could happen because they might need someone in that position.

To talk about his own development, though, do you think Arsenal is probably a better place for him than Chelsea? Obviously, we know it's hard to get minutes at Arsenal, but we've seen a lot of young players at Chelsea with the same issue at the moment and struggling to get the minutes they'd like.

When you have the captain, Bukayo Saka, there, with Madueke, I think for Nwaneri, he needs to find the right fit for next season and get minutes, so I don't think Arsenal is the best place for him either.

Enzo Fernandez would fit in at Arsenal, for sure. However, I don't think there is a need. We are talking about youngsters needing space to develop.

You have Myles Lewis-Skelly who's been playing that position lately. So, if you sign Fernandez, you really send the wrong message to Arsenal Academy players.

They've got quality in that position with the likes of Lewis-Skelly and Declan Rice. Yeah, it doesn't make sense to go after Fernandez this summer.

Gabriel Martinelli might be the one who wants to trigger a transfer because of the game time. He's a Brazil international, he wants to play, and Leandro Trossard gets more game time than him. So, he could be looking elsewhere because he's been there a long time as well.

So, leaving after winning the league would be good timing for him, maybe a good decision, but he needs to find the right place, and then you need a replacement. Other than that, I don't see an obvious position where there is a need to go and buy.

If Martinelli was to make space, then Bradley Barcola could definitely be one that should compete with Trossard. Still, some parts of his game need to improve.

That's why he's not a regular in the Champions League, but he's got so much quality.

If he improves his finishing, then he would become a complete player because in terms of 1v1 and creating space for himself and delivering assists and key passes, he is very impressive, very difficult to defend against. That would be interesting.

Given the remaining fixtures for Arsenal and Manchester City, City should win the league, although it's not 100% certain.

In the Champions League final, the PSG offensive line is very impressive. They have goals in every player, even in midfield, and the return of Fabian Ruiz from injury is a boost.

You can understand why Arsenal would have preferred Bayern Munich, as Bayern have conceded a lot of goals, which is not the case for Paris. Paris has been defending much better as a unit.

However, Paris is also the team that won the tournament last season, destroying Inter Milan in the final. Arsenal definitely won't have the upper hand in that fixture, but over 90 or 120 minutes, they can do it.

It won't be one-way traffic. Hopefully, it will be an entertaining final. I am going to Budapest. I think it will be tight because it's Mikel Arteta versus Luis Enrique, which means they're going to be studying each other before the final.

Both teams like space, so the game plan will be to reduce quick transitions and avoid so much space. I think we can imagine the game will be tight. I could see it being 1-1 or 2-2 and going to penalties.

Gabriel gets the headlines because he's more of an offensive threat. I mean, William Saliba has scored one, but Gabriel is definitely more dangerous attacking-wise on set pieces, so there's more noise around him.

But Saliba's performances have been solid. You know, all his statistics are very high, so he deserves a lot of credit too for where they stand at the moment, for sure.

He had trouble maybe in one, I can remember one or two games, but other than that, it's been eight out of ten every game.

It's a strange one, but Jose Mourinho knows the club and Florentino Perez knows him. It would definitely fit what they need at the moment, because there are a lot of issues on and off the pitch.

He's got the charisma and the understanding of what Real Madrid is about. However, it would be interesting to see what happened between him and Vinicius Junior after what he said, which was out of order when he was on the sideline for the Benfica-Real Madrid game.

You need a strong character to manage this team and to face the pressure from the fans and the media. You are only one defeat away from a scandal or a crisis.

I don't think there would be any issue there with Mourinho and Kylian Mbappe, because ultimately they both want to win trophies. That's why they want to perform at Madrid. That's why they joined Madrid, for the expectation, but also the desire to perform on the bigger stage with that pressure.

That's why they thrive, so I think they would find common ground and work well together.

If nothing was happening after such a poor season in terms of trophies, that would be a worry. So, we've seen that there is still life and people that care and they're having a go at each other because they don't like the way things are going.

They just need to sort it out and start with proper team spirit next season and pull in the same direction.

It's complete chaos, they lost to Barca and yeah, it's a season to forget for them. I mean, you have to realize what happened and take the lessons. In terms of trophies, zero.

France are in a very strong position because of the qualifying campaign and the way the team has been performing, also during the last two friendlies in the US to get ready.

Didier Deschamps has been there for a long time. Individually, the ones that had a tough season are Mbappe and Tchouameni, and Camavinga, if selected. The rest, they've had good seasons.

I think you have a good mix of maturity and youth in that team. But the problem is, when you are one of the favorites like this, it's about not getting ahead of yourself.

We had a problem in 2002 going into the competition with the best goal scorers of the UK, the Premier League in Thierry Henry, Serie A in David Trezeguet, France in Djibril Cisse.

We couldn't find the back of the net. Zidane was injured at the beginning. A lot of things can happen, but I think our preparation wasn't the best, and we lost a little bit of humility.

Because it's a tough group, probably the toughest group. Obviously, Norway and Senegal will say the same. We are France, but it's not an easy start.

There is no walkover, of course there is no easy start, but those fixtures will be a good test for us to see where we are in terms of attitude.

Kylian Mbappe is ahead of Ousmane Dembele because of his history with the national team, and Ousmane needs to perform with the national team to overcome that. That's where he has to show his true value.

The Ballon d'Or is an individual performance, an individual prize. Mbappe was phenomenal during the 2018 World Cup. His run against Argentina was incredible. So he's still a favourite for the French people.

But Ousmane has clearly stepped up, and he needs to do the same at the international level.

It's 100% done. It's just a matter of keeping everything under control for this competition, for the players and the staff to be fully focused on the moment. Yes, Zizou will take over, and will start after the tournament.

We won in 2018 and in 2022 we lost in the final, so it's a good time for the French national team. And if Zizou has to face being reigning champions, then so be it.

It's not something we're going to complain about, and I think for him, it's good enough wisdom to realize that what Didier did was phenomenal and the only thing he can do is to do the same, not less.

I think England are always a threat. Right now, I don't think they are as strong defensively as they were in the previous tournament. That could be where France has the upper hand if they were facing each other, you know.

England haven't had an established back four for a long time, and it's difficult to go into a competition like this without an identified back five or six.

I think that was the objective because of Inter's domination in recent years and when you look at their recruitment, they brought in players ready to deliver. I don't know the average age of the starting eleven this season, but it's quite high.

The objective was to win, even with Chivu coming in. It wasn't his first experience in Serie A. He delivered, but he's still a young manager. With that squad, though, the objective was the title. They were disappointed in the Champions League, to be honest. But winning the league was the goal achieved, even if they didn't beat the top teams.

There's always a desire to win back-to-back titles and dominate. But the problem is, with Inter and some other teams, they are facing financial roadblocks and won't be able to spend.

This Inter team may need fresh, younger players, and they won't be able to recruit the quality they want. So, I'm not sure they can stay on top for very long, to be honest, because of financial constraints.

Cesc Fabregas had a good start in Serie B, and then Serie A, most likely qualifying for Europe next season. Very impressive. I like the way the team is playing.

Como are very entertaining and pleasing to watch, with the two French players, Maxence Caqueret, Lucas Da Cunha. Nico Paz, obviously, is the main man over there. Fabregas has done a very, very good job. So it's a good start to his young career.

Arsenal or Chelsea? I mean, in the Premier League, he's attached to both clubs, so I don't know. It's all about timing, you know. So I think at some point he will have the opportunity to manage one or the other because he's young.

I think the Arsenal type of football right now is closer to what he's doing at Como.

Well, it's a great atmosphere. The stadiums are full, fans are really cheering for their team, and the quality of infrastructure, the pitch, is really good.

What is interesting is that the focus is more on how many goals you're going to score, rather than the defending side. It's not that defending isn't worked on, but there is really a desire to see goals in games. Shots from outside the box and attempts on goal are higher in the Bundesliga because this is the mentality of German football in general.

Could they push up the table? Yes, there is more rotation for sure, except for the top spot. Leverkusen did it, Dortmund a long time ago now. But the rest is moving. One time it's Gladbach, Frankfurt, or there was Wolfsburg a few years ago, now they're struggling.

Werder Bremen have been struggling. But yeah, there are more surprises in the Bundesliga, except for Bayern's domination.

Casemiro has got to pick the right team because athletically it's really demanding over there.

He's got to pick the right team to go and play for, because he's going to be exposed and that could be difficult to manage his games over there rather than playing in the Premier League. So yeah, that's my advice.

Inter Miami? Definitely. It's a team that now has a tradition of signing top players, like superstars, with Lionel Messi, obviously, and David Beckham in charge.

For him to consider Miami, clearly that would be interesting because of the tradition they have and they know how to deal with big time players, aging players also. Sergio Busquets is there, definitely one franchise that should be looking at a name like Casemiro.

Lionel Messi is not the same player as four years ago in terms of legs, but he managed to perform in that tournament in a way that we didn't expect. He can still provide moments of greatness and maybe not play all the games, but looking at his track record, he didn't miss a lot of games through injuries, so I don't see why that should change.

I think he can still be a major force for Argentina and have a big impact for them.

Messi and Ronaldo are different types of players. The explosivity is not as high as before, but on sharpness, few yards to make a difference. They don't need a lot of space to find the right path to address a key pass and assist.

Cristiano is different because he's playing as a proper number nine, and he can still out jump a lot of defenders in the box. But Messi can still find a pocket of space and make himself forgotten for 30 seconds, a minute, and then reappear at the right place to get something special. Both are still impactful players for Portugal and Argentina.

It's a difficult competition to win. It would be a dream, for sure. You know what happened for Messi might not happen for Cristiano, unfortunately. Let's see. I hope France win it. I can't be supporting Portugal and Cristiano.

The facilities are top-notch now. Soccer was a poor sport at the time, but the facilities were already a good standard.

The teams tried to emulate other sports, and when I went back a few years ago, they had improved the facilities. I think most clubs have similar standards to the top clubs in Europe, so players won't be shocked when they see the equipment and everything they have to work with on a daily basis.

What is the most difficult part? I think it's playing during the summer, and I think they're going to change that very soon and move to the European calendar.

So, the time difference and the heat, humidity, and some of the destinations where you have to take two flights were the biggest challenge. But other than that, if you embrace the challenge, you can have fun and play a good level of football.

I don't think MLS will scrap the salary cap because the whole model is based on sharing revenues. It's a business above all else for the owners.

They don't want to jeopardise that system. Of course, if you want to compete at a higher level and be at the same level as Real Madrid, Barcelona, or Manchester United, you need to be able to do that. I think it goes against their philosophy and what they've established. So, unfortunately, I don't think this is going to change anytime soon.

Vancouver Whitecaps potentially moving a downside of that franchise and business model. A team can disappear overnight and move to the other side of the country. It's damaging, a big concern for the fans who have been cheering for the team since the franchise's creation.

But yeah, that's the reality of the business over there. When you have a club that is losing 20 million a year, then of course the question is going to be raised: 'How can we fix it?'

Fixing it is by moving to a different location, and they will do it. So, yeah, that's the way it is. You have to find another local club to support.

I'm not really optimistic for the US, even though they are hosts. The last performances, even since Pochettino took over, were very bad. I don't think you can go into a tournament and just click because you are playing at home.

Reaching the quarter-finals, I think that is too optimistic for them. Who knows, but I don't think this is where they're going to end up. I think they're going to leave the tournament before that stage.

Obviously, the later they go, the better, because they are one of the hosts. It would be better if they went further for the tournament, for the interest of the fans, and for the competition. However, I don't see this happening. They have too many problems to solve.

And it's too late. Even if you get out of the group and qualify, it's hard to fix these issues, specifically defensively.