Stick to Football
Mainoo’s United Future, Salah Fallout & Amorim’s Tactical Tweaks | Stick to Football EP 107
18 Dec 2025
Welcome back to Stick to Football, brought to you by ARNE.With Christmas just around the corner, the studio has a festive feel as Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Roy Keane, Jill Scott and Ian Wright look back on a big week of football. We start with the Sunderland vs Newcastle derby and the team share memories from some of the biggest rivalries they played in.The focus then turns to Manchester United after a dramatic 4-4 draw with Bournemouth. We break down Ruben Amorim’s tactical changes, how they’ve improved United going forward and whether they’ve left the side too open at the back.We also debate Kobbie Mainoo’s future, with questions over his game time and whether he feels stuck at United, while the team are split on what comes next for the young midfielder.There’s also discussion around the Mo Salah situation as Jamie reflects on his comments and what the future may hold for the Egyptian forward.Super 6 returns with predictions ahead of another Premier League weekend before we finish with your community questions.What do you think is the biggest derby in English football? Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to like and subscribe so you never miss an episode of The Overlap.00:00 Intro06:22 Newcastle vs. Sunderland14:09 Meeting Prince William 30:54 Kobbie Mainoo 45:19 Jill Scott's EA Sports FC 26 Hero Item49:27 Carra vs Salah01:16:36 World Cup ticket Prices01:21:21 Super 601:32:04 The Toughest Position in Football01:38:57 Darts Nicknames 01:40:58 Best Derby in the Premier LeagueThis episode is sponsored by Huel.Gary Neville and the Stick to Football team know - when your day’s full-on, you need fuel that’s fast and actually good for you.Huel is the ultimate meal on the go - high protein, packed with 26 essential vitamins & minerals, and ready in seconds.🏆 Exclusive for The Overlap listeners: Get your first Huel with a special discount AND a free gift. That goes for all of their range, including the brand new Huel Lite!👉 Claim Your Offer Now – and see why millions have made the switch. Go to https://huel.com/theoverlapThis episode is sponsored by EA Sports FC 26.Jill Scott’s Hero Item will be live in-game on EA Sports FC 26 at 6pm on 19 December.This episode is sponsored by Sky Bet’s Super 6.Visit super6.skysports.com for your chance to win £250k.Terms and conditions apply: https://super6.skysports.com/termsStick to Football is brought to you by our partners ARNE clothinghttps://arneclo.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: What memories are shared about the Sunderland vs Newcastle derby?
Just before we get started, a quick thanks to our partners and clothing. We hope you enjoy the show. Amil, everybody. Amil. Stay in there, Kieran, with that shirt on. You need to sign it. Stay right there. At least you'll get it out the way before Christmas, though. Do you know what I mean? Positive outlook. That's what I'm trying to think. That's what I think. I love that shirt on you.
It doesn't feel right. It doesn't look right either. Let's have a picture of that. Let's have a picture of that. Ah, that's a great picture. No, no, you close your eyes. Don't close your eyes. Thank you. You need to sign it, Gary. There we go. That'll be my screensaver for the next 12 months. It's not for me, obviously. What was the bet in the end that we had?
It was technically supposed to be a Christmas jumper, but... What was it about? It was the Seattle, wasn't it? Oh, yeah, the quiz, the quiz, the quiz. There you go.
Chapter 2: How has Ruben Amorim's tactical approach impacted Manchester United?
And then I've got to get Roy as well, so it's a double punishment. Should I be here today? Yes. Can I, you know what I mean, pulling out on the show, imagine. Fancy a partnership show?
Hey, Kez, what was that for? Was that for the bet? You lost the bet? Oh, man. Wait, come on, come here. It's Christmas. You're the best. Is that going all right for the breakfast? Yeah. You look ridiculous.
Chapter 3: What are the concerns surrounding Kobbie Mainoo's future at Manchester United?
I know. You know, but you wallow in that shit.
Shall I just sign it?
Part of my punishment.
Chapter 4: What are the implications of Mo Salah's recent comments on his future?
Shall I sign it? Yeah. Where do you want to go? Let's just pull the tape out.
Who signed it? Apparently everyone other than you and Gary. Oh, from here, you mean? That's what I've been told, but I don't know.
Someone from our team. No. No, no.
Oh, United players. That's Nev.
Yeah. I don't know who's who. Go on. You sound bunged up, Key. That's not Dennis Irwin, is it? Is that Dennis Irwin? Not as bad as him, though. Can't believe you can't recognise the boys. Who signed that? Did you get it off him? I reckon I got it off him.
We were at Mickey Van Der Ven. Did you see him in Venice or something? No, he'd come out the taxi at Mickey Van Der Ven and that's probably why I asked. No, I wasn't ill then at that point. I said, if I'm not ill in the next 24 hours, I'll be amazed.
You're sitting directly opposite me as well.
Your immune system is down. Roy O's isn't Yolk Brown. Oh, he's been away. He's been away.
First holiday in about five years, lads.
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Chapter 5: What are the implications of leaving Mo Salah on the bench?
What was it? A three-minute window? A three-minute window? Just hear me out. There was a short window of about, you're right, three or four minutes. And to be fair, Liverpool scored the third goal to go 3-2. It was a short window between Leeds equalising and Liverpool getting that third through Soberslai.
However, I even thought at that point then, with 10 minutes to go, this is not a normal game. Liverpool are not having a normal season. You're probably going to concede again. I still probably thought at that point he could have gone on and said, get another attacker on the pitch because he didn't have any attackers on the pitch hardly at that time.
I thought leaving him on the bench and then he ends up drawing it. I did think at the time he should have come on in the game. That was my feeling. I think just on Mo Salah, These are players that, to be fair, I do put him in... We're talking about sort of like Ronaldo, Messi, Salah, Haaland, Mbappe.
They're really the characters that, to be fair, because they're so special... They look strange when they're on the bench.
You know, when they're on the bench, they look like... Unless they're injured, they look... It's strange to see... When Ronaldo does, I just get warmed up.
Just put yourself... You know something, Roy?
Just stand there ready to go. I'll put you in that character. If Ruud van Nistelrooy gets left out in a Carabao Cup final, if Roy Keane gets left out in a game, if Beckham gets left out in a game... you're almost... Everyone else is feeling that unease in the dressing room. Everyone's feeling, this is not going to go well. Something's not right, yeah.
These players, you leave them out, this is going to be a bit of a car crash at some point because they're just not going to sit there and almost have a thumb on their head.
And the longer it goes on, like the second half, that they're not coming on, the worse it gets.
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Chapter 6: How does the team react to Mo Salah's comments?
They're going to ask for a transfer. They're going to speak up. That was the only thing I thought from a Salah perspective.
I agree with that. You know these players who do speak out the way Mo Salah does, like a Ronaldo, maybe a Zlatan. These type of figures who've got these big egos. I totally get that. And that's probably one of the reasons why it took so long to leave them out. You know, early on in the season when he used sub a couple of times in Europe, that was getting rested. This was left out.
This was like, no, I've got to try and do something different. But you've got... We always talk about a manager... He should never criticise his players in public. Can you imagine if Slob would have said about Salah after the Leeds game, oh, he's been awful all season. He doesn't chase back, doesn't he? He hasn't scored a goal for us. What are we supposed to do?
We'd have gone, oh, my God, you can't say this. You can't say that about a player. But on the other hand, I think a lot of people have been critical of Mo on the interview. But then there's almost people defending the interview. And I'm like, hang on, if this was someone else saying it about Salah... they'd be murdered, they'd be uproar. And rightly so. You can't say that.
And the thing that frustrates me is, if this is someone who speaks to the media a lot, and he's always in there, and he's got a bit of emotion in the mix zone, he doesn't speak to the media. So when he does speak, it's like, he knows exactly what he's saying. And he's clever.
The Liverpool press officer was amazing. Brilliant. Yeah, yeah. Oh. Oh. I was thrown under a bus, and there's a Liverpool press officer in the back, and he goes, oh.
was there anything he particularly said in the statement that's the one you think that's yeah I think because what he's saying there is basically he's going for the manager isn't he there at that point he is directly going for the manager but there's also a point when you see these players if they let off a bit of steam or whatever that's like a child I've got grandkids they're just having a tantrum yeah I agree I'll settle down in a couple of days
nobody's going to give him the thumbs up for what he said absolutely not but also going if he wants that's his way of letting off a bit of steam then because let him do it because within a few days players then you get back you hear stuff all the time about players making mistakes people oh he'll never again play for the club hold on a second it's just and I just don't mean players what it is it's having a tantrum getting things off their chest whether it's pre-planned or agents going out whatever
Also, just let it settle down. That's common for me as a little bit older now, particularly when I've been a manager. But when you see players having tantrums, you also go, you know, that'll settle down in a few days as well.
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Chapter 7: What are the predictions for upcoming Premier League matches?
I wasn't giving Ronaldo a thumbs up for what he was doing, particularly at Brentford when he was taken. It was at Brentford and 20 minutes later he's shaking. I would say that about any player. I'd say that about you. But I'd also go, you have to weigh it up like everything else in life. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ronaldo, the tantrums.
I'd have him on my team every day of the week because these are the guys that get you. Salah's helped Liverpool get over the line with lots of other players. And because you're part of a club, it's a club effort. But also you're going, it's like everybody else. You have to take the good and the bad.
But if you're a manager, Roy, and that manager says that about you, he's throwing me under the bus. You're not taking that in the right way.
Probably not. But I also think, listen, he's won a league title last year. He's helped us win a league title. So you take the good and the bad. That's... Because again, Gary, the beauty, we talk about people on here like Ronaldo, we talk about all the great players, even Gazza. The reason why they're great is because there's a bit of fucking madness to some of them.
We had Ronnie O'Sullivan sitting there, we were loving Ronnie. Yeah. Because Ronnie's edgy. I understand why.
What do you get with these lads? After that Leeds game, I thought it was strange he didn't come on and I thought, I can imagine him just sat down there on that bench. I say it during the game, I thought, it's a bit weird.
Yeah, but if you look at slot there, it's almost like a power thing. Because why are you not going to bring him on in a game like that?
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Chapter 8: What does the team think about the World Cup ticket prices?
You think he was sending him a message, right? Yes, he was. He was. You're sitting there and I'm going to make you sit there. I don't agree, right? Honestly, no, I think you're going to sit there. You're not coming on. I'm not going to bring you on. That's only my opinion, James. Because he could have easily defused it and brought him on because it's not like a game where you're winning 4-5-9.
It's not about defusing a situation. It's about a manager trying to get three points who is absolutely fighting for his life. If he knows his players like he does... I know. And we're talking about Liverpool being 2-0 up. You're not going to bring Mo Salah on a 2-0. You don't need a goal, OK? It then goes 2-2. The only time we're talking about... Liverpool score five minutes later, OK?
The ball's only in play. I looked at this on Monday Night Football. The ball's only in play three minutes. So, OK, can he bring him on in that moment? But the guy who's in his position scores the goal. So he hasn't got it wrong. The guy who's playing in his position... Scores, 3-2. He was never in the Covers' lay-off, though. OK, but the point I'm trying to make is, you get to 3-2, OK?
You'll say, OK, and I'm not saying that's totally wrong because Mo Salah could go to the other end and get you the goal. But Liverpool, and the reason why Mo Salah is not playing right now is the three games before, Liverpool lost 3-0 at City, they lost 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest and they lost 4-1 at home to PSV. OK, so the only thing the manager is thinking is defensively right now.
Now, as time goes on, it'll be more about we need to attack, we need to defend better.
I either played him against Sunderland because I could I'm saying okay I'm looking at the four fixtures leaves him out against West Ham I think I'd always play Salah at home always the team is going to be deep he's going to be round the box okay and I was also thinking he's probably not going to play him away at Leeds he's probably not going to play him away at Inter Milan as well and again
Probably thinking, you probably can't put him on the bench four times. But against Sunderland, OK, the game's awful. You bring Salah on a half-time. This game's awful. You bring Salah on a half-time. What was really interesting after the game with slot, because I'm coming away from the Sunderland game, I've commentated that, it's been awful. Right.
He spoke quite well about the game, about how strong Liverpool looked defensively and said it was only a deflected goal. I thought, isn't that a strange thing to say? And then he did an interview with Pat Davidson saying in the last two games we've looked a lot stronger defensively. So I'm thinking, he's totally just threw the whole attack and he's thinking, forget the attack.
this is about clean sheets we didn't concede at West Ham and we've only conceded a deflected goal at home to Sunderland so I'm almost then thinking okay I'm understanding he's not thinking about so he's thinking Mo Salah I'm not thinking of the goals I'm thinking he doesn't actually run back what you're describing there is a squad player leaving him out of Inter Milan playing against Sunderland he's never going to accept that you're going to have a war on bring the war on
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