ONE of the more curious subtexts when Manchester United host Totten- ham Hotspur this afternoon is that Old Trafford will come face to face with what might have been. The degree to which Mauricio Pochettino was pursued by United is debatable, but what we do know is that last spring the Spurs boss had lunch with Sir Alex Ferguson in a well-known London restaurant populated by paparazzi and made no effort to hide the fact.

Not long after, he signed a monster extension to his Tottenham contract, one which gave him wide-ranging powers. It may have been a coincidence or a ploy to get a better deal, but the fact remains, Pochettino represents the road not taken.

And, in many ways, he would have ticked plenty of boxes. His aggressive pressing would have appealed to United fans trying to shake off Louis van Gaal’s torpor. He can be fiery pitchside, but he tends to avoid getting needlessly sent to the stands, hinting at double standards or conspiracy theories, and criticising his own players in public. And, certainly more than Jose Mourinho, he believes in promoting youth, especially when it’s homegrown.

And that, of course, is part of United’s brand. Mourinho has used three Academy products – Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard and Timothy Fosu-Mensah – this season; Pochettino as many as eight. There’s also a different attitude to youth overall: six of Pochettino’s best XI are aged 24 or younger. Determining what Mourinho’s best XI might be is a trickier proposition, but of those who have started at least half of United’s league games only Paul Pogba, Eric Bailly and Rashford are 24 or younger.

Regrets then?

Not so fast. Tottenham may be six points clear of United in the table, but Mourinho isn’t entirely wrong when he points to his team being unlucky, particularly at home. Not to mention the fact that Tottenham were unceremoniously dumped out of the Champions League in the group stage. Or that some of Pochettino’s hand-picked signings – notably Vincent Janssen and Moussa Sissoko – have failed to impress.

Pochettino may yet be manager of United, or a club of equal size, one day. But that doesn’t mean they would necessarily be much better off if Sir Alex’s lunch date had been more than window dressing.

And there is little question that Mourinho will want to drive that point home this afternoon.

WHEN Liverpool take on West Ham this afternoon, Loris Karius will be in goal, though some would love to see Simon Mignolet in his place. That is a result of the German’s performances in the nine games we have seen him in and, most recently, the errors in the remarkable match against Bournemouth last weekend, when Jurgen Klopp’s side frittered away a 3-1 lead with 15 minutes to go and lost 4-3.

Karius’ plight has been magnified further because he committed the cardinal sin of calling out one of his critics by name. After Gary Neville (and, to be fair, Jamie Carragher) questioned his ability, he fired back, saying: “I don’t care what Gary Neville said. He was a manager for a short bit and now he is back to being an expert again. But he is always very critical. I think he does it to everyone. I just hope that when I do well he will comment on that.”

Neville, of course, could not resist firing back. “My sincere apologies Karius,” he wrote on Instagram. “You’re right. A failed manager hasn’t a clue. I won’t copy your great fan, pundit and club legend again.” And then he posted an extract from Carragher’s column where he too savaged Karius’ performances.

Maybe one day we’ll all grow up. But that time isn’t now.

Karius made some enormous blunders. The fact that he’s 23 and working in a new league with a vulnerable defence may or may not be mitigating factors, but the reality is that when you screw up, you get panned. Singling out Neville was silly. And, yes, if he’s “very critical” it’s because that’s part of his job; Premier League footballers are paid a lot of money precisely because lots is expected of them.

Equally though, it’s Neville who made the leap from “manager for a short bit” to “failed manager”, Karius didn’t say it. Nor should Neville have a problem with Karius saying he did not care what the Sky pundits had to say; it’s pretty much a mantra of professional athletes that they have so much self-belief, they ignore the criticism of outsiders.

Karius is young and has two full seasons as a starter under his belt (and that was at Mainz, hardly Anfield). He may be still maturing or he may not be good enough. But truth be told, he’s a soft target. He hasn’t helped himself by putting himself in the headlines once again – reporting on social media wars with TV pundits is cheaper and more popular in the media these days than real reporting – but you can’t help but feel Neville was a bit over the top.

If Karius doesn’t care what he has to say, then Neville ought not to care what Karius says. The fact that most football fans value Neville’s opinion higher than Karius’ should be all that matter.

UEFA chose Friday, ahead of tomorrow’s Champions League draw, to offer a glimpse of what the future will hold for the game’s biggest club competition. Many of the general points – the top four leagues getting four guaranteed spots in the group stage – were already hammered out in August, this was more about detail. Like the fact that from 2018 there will be two different kick-off times – 6pm and 8pm British time – as a way of expanding the TV product (and, perhaps inadvertently, mimicking the Europa League).

Hidden in the fine print, and mentioned by name by Giorgio Marchetti, head of Uefa’s Competition Committee – is a measure that will end up helping clubs like Celtic. No longer will a team’s country co-efficient account for part of their individual co-efficient for ranking purposes. Under the current system, 20 per cent of a team’s score is derived from their country’s results in European competitions over the previous five years. This invariably penalised sides like Celtic, since they tended to greatly outperform other Scottish clubs. From 2018, each club will be assessed on their own individual results. And in that sense, when it comes to seedings, Friday definitely counts as a win for the Bhoys.