Mauricio Pochettino is set to take charge of Manchester United after the club sacked Michael Carrick on Thursday morning, with an agreement already struck. United will activate a $10m release clause with US Soccer, and the overall cost of hiring Pochettino's staff will add a further $2m. The Argentine is expected to remain in charge of the USMNT for their two matches against Haiti in the international break.

According to the Sun, Pochettino intends to raise the stamina of a squad that sits near the bottom of the running stats this season. He is known for working players extremely hard in pre-season and during the campaign, and will rely on the 'Gacon test', an intermittent shuttle run in which the distance increases at each stage while the time per stage stays at 45 seconds. Completing the full 5,000 metres across 25 stages is a task few players manage.S1S2

One player singled out in the report is summer signing Youri Tielemans. Speaking to Rio Ferdinand during pre-season, a grinning Tielemans said that after returning from the World Cup, players did not do lots of running and simply chilled, a response that left Ferdinand visibly stunned. The Sun noted that Tielemans has been one of several United players who has failed to impress as the team slid towards the relegation zone, winning just one of their opening ten league games.S1S2