25/01/2026

theSun on Sunday JAN 25, 2026

SPORTS 13

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England’s Andy Sullivan is in second place, while world No. 2 Rory McIlroy is seven strokes off the pace on two-under for the tour nament. Overnight leader Francesco Molinari bounced back from a two-over front nine to card a level-par 72 and is tied for third on 7 under overall with fellow Italian Andrea Pavan. McIlroy, bidding for his fifth title in the tour nament, birdied the 18th to stay just about in touch heading into the weekend. The Masters champion signed for a 68, five shots better than his opening round.

golf to go. I’m going to go take a nap,” Brown said. REED SEIZES TOP SPOT Former Masters champion Patrick Reed pow ered into a one-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Dubai Desert Classic yesterday with a bogey-free 66. The American carded four birdies and an eagle in his six-under par second round to reach nine-under overall, as he targets a first European Tour title since joining LIV Golf in 2022.

Tour,” Brown said, acknowledging that nerves “absolutely” kicked in over the final three holes. He goes into the weekend tied on 17-under 127 with Scheffler, who had eight birdies in his 8-under 64 on the Nicklaus Tournament course.Scheffler is making his season debut after a 2025 campaign that included two major titles among his six wins. Thrilled to have his name next to Scheffler’s atop the leaderboard, Brown wasn’t getting ahead of himself. “We’re halfway there. We’ve got a lot of

BLADES, SCHEFFLER SHARE LA QUINTA LEAD

Teenager Blades Brown fired a spectacular 12-under par 60 to join world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler atop the leaderboard after two rounds of the PGA Tour American Express in La Quinta, California, yesterday. The 18-year-old from Tennessee just missed out on a 59 when his birdie putt at his final hole slipped by on the right side. “I’m so stoked to have shot 60 on the PGA

DeAmorimising United It’s easy to see why United feel liberated – but here comes the hard part

Former United manager, Ruben Amorim – AFPPIC

sense United had been held back by dogmatic decision-mak ing. Mainoo is an incomplete midfielder, and not a defensive one, but he is also a far better one than Amorim ever seemed to acknowledge. But for regime change, Mainoo may have been eyeing a loan move this month. Amorim deemed him Fernandes’ under study for the No. 8 position: but the captain has been the most consistently creative player in the division. His through ball for Bryan Mbeumo’s goal consti tuted an argument for using him as a No. 10. There is a temptation to see much of the match as a reaction to Amorim’s departure. United looked liberated. There was a bond between players and crowd which, while the match going public never turned on Amorim, showed the public felt happier. “One important thing that Michael Carrick said was ‘use the energy of the people’,” said Martinez. A reason why United tend have an excellent record in the short-term reigns of their for mer players turned temporary managers is that they can seem

could mean United lack players for key roles later in the season. Meanwhile, there was always the problem that Amad Diallo and Bryan Mbeumo could both covet the same spot, when each is clearly among United’s finest players. Amorim’s answer was often to play them as right wing back and No. 10; Carrick used them as winger and striker. Part of Amorim’s legacy was to add to United’s rebuilding job in the summer; as became clear of late, director of football Jason Wilcox’s preference was for a back four. That attempt to deAmorimise even while he was still in a job may have led to his departure. Carrick’s Premier League record in charge of United, spread across two spells, is wins over Arsenal and City, with a draw at Chelsea. It is Arsenal next, so he must hope to extend his run as the scourge of the elite. But Amorim’s greater failings came against the mid-table and bottom-half teams. United’s February and March fixture list is full of such sides. So the test, once again, will be to prove the opposite of Amorim then. – The Independent

two games from Benjamin Sesko, after two in 17 for Amorim. Fletcher, though, did not win. Carrick did. With a back four, with flying wingers, with Bruno Fernandes as a No. 10, with Kobbie Mainoo in the midfield. His choices showed a decisive ness, and the way his gameplan was executed reflected well on a coaching staff drawn from United, England and Boro. Yet the flippant explanation may be simply that Carrick did the opposite of everything Amorim did. There was a fast start, a second half that was won, a clean sheet: this was rarely the Amorim way. But the same 11 players could have been configured in Amorim’s beloved 3-4-3. And yet, of the 10 outfield players Carrick selected, only one had really occupied the same posi tion under Amorim this season: Casemiro as one of two central midfielders. Mainoo, after all, had not been granted a Premier League start, Lisandro Martinez and Harry Maguire had tended to play in back threes, while there were no fullbacks or wingers. It was hard to escape the

glad to see the supposed perma nent choice gone. And if that may reflect badly on the players who can deliver more for an interim, whatever their official title, than the man who was supposed to be in charge for years, it can some times seem a return to reason. But if United are in a process of deAmorimisation, it comes with complications. He inher ited a squad unsuited to 3-4-3 and remodelled it. Now it is imbalanced to play 4-2-3-1. Instead of a model of two players for every position, there is a lopsided look. There are three whose best position is No. 10, in Fernandes, Cunha and Mason Mount, but only three who prefer to be in the centre of midfield, in Casemiro, Mainoo and Manuel Ugarte. United always intended to target midfielders this sum mer. They look still shorter of them now. But after Amorim alienated and exiled Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho, there is no real specialist left winger in this squad; or if Patrick Dorgu counts, after his terrific derby display, then there is a lone out and-out leftback. All of which

BY RICHARD JOLLY

PEP GUARDIOLA celebrated his 55th birthday last Sunday (Jan 18). It may not be his happi est. The present came in the form of Marc Guehi. But if Guardiola’s mood may be altered by perhaps the most comprehensive derby defeat he has suffered in almost a decade in Manchester, he might have been facing another manager to celebrate a birthday in January. A year earlier, Ruben Amorim remarked that, after two months at Manchester United, he felt 50, not 40. Two weeks after leaving, maybe Amorim is fresher-faced and youthful again. But he did win his first Manchester derby in charge. So, 13 months later, did Michael Carrick. Yet a bad day for Guardiola could also be seen as a similarly damaging one for Amorim. Carrick’s superlative start was in part an indictment of the man who was supposed to be United’s answer to Guardiola. Much that has happened in the last fortnight is that the previ ous interim Darren Fletcher started by switching to a back four. He conjured three goals in