Manchester United assistant manager Carlos Queiroz may have had a hugely successful start to his Premiership career – helping the club win the title back from Arsenal, but the Portugese tactician is quickly finding out that in the football world you’re only as good as the last time you didn’t struggle to muster more than one shot on goal over two legs while tamely bowing out to AC Milan in the Champions League.
But pity poor Carlos, for not only has he felt the wrath of United fans for turning their team into a pale, defensive shadow of their former selves but apparently is rather proud of it,
“We trust ourselves and we trust our strategy,” he said. “If you think about last season, there were many games when Chelsea won 1-0. We know if we defend properly and keep a clean sheet there will be chances to score one goal and we can win the game. And after that win we can get another win. More wins lead to more wins and when you have a couple of 1-0 wins they start to become two, three or four. This is the story of the game.”
Oh dear, when you have three of the world’s best attacking talents in Rooney, Ronaldo, and Van Nistlerooy surely you can aim a little higher than 1-0 over Lille (oops!).
Sadly for the fans, and perhaps for the club, the only person who seems to rate Queiroz as highly as he rates himself is Sir Alex Ferguson. The legendary boss clearly has faith in his right hand man, bringing him back to Old Trafford after a dismal stint at Real Madrid and promptly handed him more responsibility than the first go round.
Thus, Carlos is granted immunity. The only way the fans will get their wish seems to be if someone at the club was able to cut through the sentimentality of the situation and push Queiroz out before he can do any more damage.
You know, the sort of thing that American businessmen are known for. Oh the irony.