Mick McCarthy

And that ends this weekend.

And it's tougher for the rest of the season.

Obviously, there will be bursts, but they could be out of it.

They could be out of it, but they also might not be.

And the difference between this season being a total waste and this will be a European race...

If they aren't in any kind of European race, if they're slipping the other way, it's going to be like Ralph Ragnick territory all over again.

It's just a waste of a half a season.

And then you think about how that leads in terms of recruiting next year and so on.

And United's ever-slipping force off as a dominant team in world football.

It's a really important six months, even though I think everybody is saying... I just don't think they will fall for the Oli thing again.

I think they have a plan that...

He could win the league and they wouldn't move from.

You know, as well, they were, like, Roy Keane, they were, and Carragher was very, very strong on saying, like, he's not going to win a league and all this.

I remember thinking it's a little harsh.

It was just a throwaway comment from Keane later on where he was kind of slagging Ian Wright about it.

And then he just said, he just said, they'll eat him alive.

And I was thinking to myself, like, that's funny and all.

But actually, if you think about it, it's like, we should actually take...

the people from the dressing rooms more seriously in those regards.

They do know that no matter what Lima Senior comes in with, he will be taken a certain way by people, by footballers, by top-level footballers.