Pochettino scraps Carrick's day-off rule to demand post-match recovery sessions at Man United

Mauricio Pochettino is set to scrap one of Michael Carrick’s training ground customs at Manchester United, requiring players to attend post-match recovery sessions at Carrington rather than taking the day off after games.

Carrick rarely asked the squad to come in the day after matches — a policy that remained in place following United’s 4-4 draw with Aston Villa at Old Trafford, with players not due in on the Monday. Pochettino, according to The Sun, intends to change that immediately as he looks to lift the club’s fitness levels.

The incoming head coach is also bringing in his eldest son, Sebastiano, as a specialist fitness coach. Charlie Owen currently holds that role at United and has done for more than seven years, having been promoted from the academy and serving under Carrick, Erik ten Hag, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and Ruben Amorim. Amorim had similarly arrived with his own fitness coach, Paulo Berreira, though Berreira departed in January and has since followed Amorim to Milan.

Former Tottenham defender Toby Alderweireld, who spent five seasons under Pochettino at Spurs, offered a vivid account of what United players can expect. “First of all, he made us very fit. Pre-season was brutal,” Alderweireld told the BBC. “The way he wants to play — on the front foot, putting people under pressure, a high line, very dynamic play — you need to run. You need to be capable of running and be capable of high-intensity runs. The basic is to be fit.”

Alderweireld added that the shift in standards would be felt almost immediately. “Every manager wants a good pre-season and time to give the players their ideas and the fitness, but the players are going to feel straight away that it’s a different level. This is every day at the training ground — it’s 100%, that’s what he asks, what he demands. It will be a big difference for the players, and they’re going to see results there straight away.”

The Belgian also recalled a defining moment from Pochettino’s Tottenham tenure — the 2019 Champions League semi-final against Ajax, when Spurs overturned a 3-0 aggregate deficit. “He didn’t have a tactical half-time talk. He just said, ‘You’re going to be physical, you’re going to fight, you only need one goal to be back in the game, believe that everything is possible.’ That was a big moment. We changed everything by intensity, by duels.”