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There are times when managing Manchester United does not seem the only impossible job at Old Trafford. The captaincy comes with an armband, a status and a guarantee of criticism, some of it from the club’s most iconic skipper. Even when Bruno Fernandes took an unselfish approach, a player sometimes accused of shooting too much deciding another needed a goal more and allowing Marcus Rashford to end his drought from the penalty spot at Everton on Sunday, a gesture did not bring universal acclaim. “Absolute bloody rubbish,” said Roy Keane, the uncompromising pragmatist who took the view that goals should not be gifted. Paul Ince has suggested Fernandes should be stripped of the captaincy. Gary Neville has been outspoken about the Portuguese in both last season’s 7-0 thrashing at Anfield and last month’s 3-0 Manchester derby defeat, seeing his complaints to referees as whingeing and has accused him of trying to hurt John Stones. Meanwhile, Harry Maguire, who tended to be savaged by Keane, who appeared affronted by the idea the centre-back was his successor, is now enjoying a personal renaissance now back in the ranks after Erik ten Hag demoted him in the summer. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer claimed that, during his reign as manager, a couple of players turned down the United captaincy. When elevated by Ten Hag, Fernandes accepted it. When asked about Rashford’s spot kick at Goodison Park, the Dutchman took a very different stance from Keane. “I want to emphasise it’s great leadership: to understand your teammate needs a goal and you have confidence in each other to give the penalty away,” the United manager said. Meanwhile, Fernandes himself shrugged off the latest furore. “Obviously you don’t like to be criticised, everyone is the same, but at the same time I have to do what I think is the best for my team,” he said. “Probably I am not always right but in my head at the moment is the right choice, so I do it.” There is a sense, too, that he has to be the right choice for the job. The United captaincy in recent years has often resided with the aged and the injured, the out of form and the out of the team. Fernandes is an automatic choice who appears immune to injuries. Ten Hag spent some of last season claiming United had plenty of leaders. But one of them, David de Gea, is gone; another, Raphael Varane, has lost his place in the side, even though a third, Lisandro Martinez, is injured. A fourth, Casemiro, is sidelined but also apparently in decline. Rashford is quieter and has been out of sorts. It leaves Fernandes, but if he can look captain by default, he believes he has widespread backing inside Old Trafford. “Now there is the captaincy, there is going to be always something,” he said. “The team, the staff, everyone who works with me day by day, I think they are pretty happy with me. The way I am is the same since I arrived at the club. It has not changed since being captain. I don’t think it has to change. I am really open with everyone so no one until now has had a problem with me.” Keane does. But Fernandes’ initial experience of United, as he made a stunning start, was largely of praise. “It is quite normal when you play for Manchester United you are going to get criticised, even if you do well or bad, if you do the wrong or the right thing,” Fernandes rationalised. “I just have to deal with that. It is normal since I arrived at the club. In the beginning was everything perfect, because when you arrive in the first game if you do something different than anyone else is doing, is going be all flowers. “But after that I understand the tough part is always coming, because when the result is not coming, when the performances are not what everyone expects to be, because the expectations are always higher and higher. I know since I arrived at the club my numbers made myself a target so not keeping the same numbers on goals and assists is sometimes a problem for me in the criticism.” Those numbers peaked at 28 goals and 17 assists in 2020-21; it is the outstanding season any United player has had since Sir Alex Ferguson retired. Perhaps it was unsustainable; so far in the current campaign, Fernandes has a more modest four of each, but three of his goals have been winners. If he was appointed to lead by example, a night when United could exit the Champions League, a game against Galatasaray when they are without Rashford, Casemiro and Martinez, among others, is the sort of fixture that calls for inspirational captaincy. But, as Fernandes recognised, the days when it was all flowers for him are long gone. Read More Bruno Fernandes excited for ‘amazing’ atmosphere at Galatasaray What is VAR, how does it work and what are the biggest problems? Roy Keane derides ‘absolute rubbish’ from Erik ten Hag after Man United win Bruno Fernandes talks up Alejandro Garnacho after stunning goal at Everton What Alejandro Garnacho needs to achieve Man Utd greatness Alejandro Garnacho has the potential to do some amazing things – Erik ten Hag

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As the Saudi money rolled in, some might have thought Eddie Howe’s days were numbered. With big-money, marquee player signings coming through the door, an elite, high-profile coach would surely not be too far behind. At the start of this season, it appeared Howe had reached his limitations. Three defeats in Newcastle United’s opening four league games gave credence to claims all that was missing from the PIF Toon revolution was a new figurehead. However, despite having to work with a squad so injury-ravaged, Howe has Newcastle buzzing again. His lack of willingness to be drawn on Newcastle’s Middle Eastern overlords does not make him universally popular, but what Howe is doing with his team, a threadbare one at that, is nothing short of remarkable. A recent uptick in results is no fluke – Howe has accepted having to work with 14 fit players and academy kids as backups and is getting on with it, eking every inch out from his shell of a side, with some innovative thinking and a gameplan his players need not stray too far from. “The gaffer, that’s it. The gaffer,” defender Jamaal Lascelles insisted after Saturday’s win over Chelsea, when asked what the difference between playing for Newcastle before the takeover compared to now was. “Everything he’s done, the philosophy, the culture, the way he gets us working. I could stand here all day and talk about it. He’s improved everyone as a player, he’s improved us as a team, everyone knows what they have to do on the pitch.” That last point was illustrated perfectly in Saturday’s encounter with Chelsea. Newcastle had no right to win that game – against a Blues team on the up, with three goalkeepers and four academy players on the bench – and after Raheem Sterling equalised in the first half, there appeared likely to be only one winner. Yet, somehow, with Mauricio Pochettino able to turn to £300m worth of cavalry, Newcastle dug deep, stuck to their jobs, and ran out rampant 4-1 winners. One was a collection of individuals, the other was a team. And that is down to Howe. He is really trying everything possible to gain an advantage. The full-to-bursting St. James’ treatment room and a crucial clash in Paris leaves him with no alternative. One look at Newcastle’s set pieces tells you all you need to know about the work that is going on at the training ground. The scene is more akin to the NFL. The majority of black and white shirts in the box are “blockers” creating plenty of space for their most lethal options from Kieran Trippier’s excellent deliveries into the penalty area. One particular routine worked out perfectly on Saturday, but Joelinton still somehow headed wide with the goal at his mercy. The results are startling, nonetheless. Having been one of the least threatening teams from set plays previously, Since the start of the 2022-23 Premier League season, no club have a better expected goal (xG) difference per 100 set pieces than Newcastle. No stone is left unturned as Howe tries to find an edge to revive his side’s Champions League campaign. “A change of feel, just a different routine, you never know how these things affect your performance,” Howe said of his side’s decision to train on the Parc des Princes pitch ahead of Tuesday’s clash with Paris Saint-Germain, as opposed to remaining at home on the day of the game as they did in their previous two away group games. “The results you can never guarantee, but performance, we’re looking for an improvement from our two away games. So that’s why we’ve done what we’ve done today.” PSG come into the contest as favourites having hit five past Monaco at the weekend, and a defeat would end Newcastle’s Champions League hopes. Without half of his squad, against one of the best sides in the world, Howe and his side really shouldn’t stand a chance. As Chelsea will testify to, however, count them out at your peril.