WORKAHOLIC Erik ten Hag is leaving no page unturned to fix the problems at Manchester United.

And that includes regularly going to sleep at 4am in an attempt to find the tiny details he is missing.

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Ten Hag remains under constant pressure as Red Devils boss.

The shock FA Cup final win over Manchester City ensured he kept his job beyond last season.

But five matches without a victory following earlier defeats to Brighton and Liverpool mean the Dutchman is fighting to sort things out.

And that means long, gruelling days at Carrington and at home.

Ten Hag’s No2 Benni McCarthy, 46, revealed just how much work Ten Hag is putting in – joking that it is to the detriment of his marriage with wife Bianca.

Asked what is going wrong at Old Trafford, McCarthy told SuperSport: “That’s the million-dollar question, that’s the question for everyone. If they knew, they could fix it.

“There’s nothing wrong there, it’s just missing [a piece] in the puzzle, I don’t even think they know what it is, they’ve not found that missing puzzle piece.

“What is it? Is it the mentality shift? Is it the mindset? Is it working on more specifics? It could be anything.

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“When you’re there, you see the work that goes into training and how the players are. I was like, ‘My God, we would ruin any team,’ with the way we trained.

“When you are there, you see this is high-level stuff.

“We were not fearful of anyone, the team is incredible with quality. Then come matchday, it’s like we get a massive shock in the back.

“I can imagine how frustrating it is for Erik because he’s probably one of the hardest-working managers I’ve come across.

“His attention to detail, that man goes to sleep at 3am, 4am in the morning.

“The analysts get it at all angles, even if he thinks of something at 2am.

“I’m sure his wife must be on the verge of divorcing him because that’s his life. It’s non-stop.

“He works tirelessly and when you put that much work in, you expect things to go well, but that’s why I’m saying there’s something [that’s not right].”

McCarthy worked under Ten Hag during his first two seasons at Old Trafford – with the objective of contending for titles again.

He revealed the coaches arrived at Carrington around 7.15am ahead of a meeting 15 minutes later with the manager and his staff to discuss the training session.

The players get to the training ground at 8am and soon head for training – likely a warm-up in the gym before going outside on the grass.

McCarthy then said the likes of “special” Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes, Rasmus Hojlund, Lisandro Martinez and Casemiro then stay out for extra training and competitions.

After lunch, there was a training debrief among the coaches and then from 2pm, they would use the video analysis to give personal feedback to the players.

But despite being popular with the first-team stars, especially Rashford, Fernandes and Casemiro, McCarthy departed in the summer.

He has not been afraid to speak his mind with some strong words about his former boss, suggesting Ten Hag “lacks fire”.

However, he still backs Ten Hag to be the man to get United ticking again – and suggested only one man would be a better option.

Ex-Ajax, Porto, Blackburn and West Ham striker McCarthy added: “People always look for answers like replacing the coach.

“Who are you replacing him with? Who else is better than what they have?

“You’re not going to get many managers – unless Pep [Guardiola] decides to change from City to United then maybe you might have a change in fortunes.

“But other than that I can’t really see there’s better than Ten Hag.”

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Like just about everybody who witnessed UFC 306 at Sphere, flyweight contender Tatsuro Taira marveled at the grand presentation celebrating Mexican Independence Day.

While the show cost over $20 million to produce, UFC CEO Dana White made it his personal mission to put on an unforgettable live event after the $2.3 billion arena featuring massive wraparound LED screens first opened in Las Vegas. Thanks to the UFC’s contract with MGM, White has said that the card as Sphere is a “one and done’ but Taira still holds out hope that one day he could see the UFC put on a show there with a love letter to his home country of Japan.

“That would definitely be a dream, whether that’s a title fight or I’m defending my title,” Taira told MMA Fighting. “Seeing that history of Japanese MMA in the Sphere, presenting that would be my dream.”

Considering how many ties martial arts holds back to Japan, it’s tough to imagine that wouldn’t be a spectacular exploration of history for the UFC to promote.

As much as he would love to see Japanese combat sports get that kind of spotlight, Taira admits he’d do just about anything to get a fight on any UFC card at Sphere.

“It was amazing, Taira said. “The whole event as the night itself was so impressive and amazing. If they come back next year, I definitely want to be on the card.”

First things first, Taira has to take care of his own business on Saturday at UFC Vegas 98 when he faces former title challenger Brandon Royval in the main event.

Despite the fact that nothing has been promised, Taira truly believes a win over an established contender like Royval should probably put him in title contention, especially since reigning UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja still doesn’t have an opponent for his next fight yet.

“Yes, obviously, I’m hoping for the title fight after this,” Taira said. “It will be a good matchup against Pantoja. Of course, focused on this one, get this one and then get Pantoja next.

“First up is this Royval match in October. If I beat him, I’ll be ready to fight any time against the champ.”

Through 16 fights in his career, Taira remains undefeated and he’s currently 6-0 in the UFC with four finishes along the way.

He looks to extend that stream to 17 this weekend and while some fighters shy away from talking about an unblemished record, Taira is proud of his achievement. In fact, Taira hopes to hold unto that undefeated resume all the way through his eventual shot at becoming UFC champion.

“I’m very proud that I’m still undefeated,” Taira said. “Does it give additional pressure? The answer would be yes. But at the same time, that pressure is what brought me here. So I do like the pressure and being undefeated.

“So far I’ve been undefeated but the process is basically one by one. You get this new opponent and you focus on that opponent and keep getting the win. That process has brought me here. Of course if I can get the title shot as an undefeated fighter and get the championship belt the same, it would be a dream of all the fans and fighters, someone to look up to. So I definitely look forward to that.”

When it comes to the Royval fight, Taira was definitely excited when he got the call not only because winning should put him that much closer to the championship but he knows this is the kind of opponent that makes things exciting.

Royval prides himself on being one of the most entertaining fighters on the entire UFC roster and Taira knows that kind of style gives him a lot to work with.

“Royval, I definitely see him as a finisher,” Taira said. “I can see from his fights that he’s always looking for that moment. I think the other thing is his stamina. That’s on the top level of the division.

“I was very excited. Got my last fight against Alex Perez so now I’m here to fight the No. 1 ranked [flyweight]. So I’m very excited. “

Red Bull is planning an evolution of its current RB20 car for 2025, believing that investing in a bold revamp is not worth it.

With the Milton Keynes-based squad locked in a tight championship fight with McLaren, it is mindful that, if it does not make solid gains this winter, it could risk an even more difficult campaign next year.

However, a combination of cost cap limits, plus the need to ramp up efforts for the new rules revolution coming in 2026 when Red Bull will run its own engine, has prompted it to step away from doing anything radical.

Speaking about how the squad was dealing with the different requirements of now, next year and 2026, team boss Christian Horner said: “In this business, you’re always juggling and you’ve got to put one foot in front of the other.

“You can’t project too far into the future. Long term in F1 is about two and a half months and, basically, what we learn this year is relevant to next year.

“So next year’s car will be an evolution of this year’s car. I mean, there’s many components of last year’s car that have been carried over into this year, because with the way the cost cap works, unless there’s significant performance upgrade, it doesn’t make sense [to change].”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Engine challenge

Red Bull’s decision to not overstretch itself with car changes for next year comes as it ramps up to run its first F1 engine from the start of 2026.

It has invested heavily in its new Red Bull Powertrains division, which it is convinced will bring it gains despite the huge costs.

“It is by far our biggest challenge,” added Horner. “We’ve created a start-up business, aggressively recruited 600 people into it, built a factory, put in the process and brought a group of people together to work within a Red Bull culture that has been so successful on the chassis side.

“Of course, many have come from other teams, competitors and suppliers in F1, and that’s a massive undertaking to get 600 people and all your processes, your supply chain, everything geared up to deliver for two teams in ’26.

“We also have the benefit of a great partner in Ford Motor Company and that relationship is working very well. But inevitably there will be short-term pain, but there is a long-term gain of having everything under one roof with engineers.

“We’ve already seen the benefit and the difference of having chassis and engine engineers sitting essentially next to each other as we start to integrate the ‘26 engine into the ‘26 car.”

Red Bull Ford Powertrains

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Wind tunnel factor

As Red Bull has dug deep into the factors that have hurt the progress of its current RB20, problems with wind tunnel correlation have been exposed.

It comes with the team still operating from the same Bedford facility that it has used since it entered F1 in 2005.

While work has begun on a new state-of-the-art facility at its Milton Keynes factory, that is unlikely to be up and running before 2026.

Horner insisted that Red Bull was always mindful that, while it has upgraded Bedford over the years, it is not as technically advanced as more modern facilities.

“We’ve always known the limitations of the tunnel,” he said. “But I think as we’ve really started to push the aerodynamics of these cars now and you’re into really fine margins, then the limitations show themselves up.”

He added that committing to invest in its new wind tunnel was only possible once it became clear that the idea of outlawing teams from using such facilities had been abandoned.

“There was a point in time that wind tunnels could have been banned,” he said.

“There was a discussion about whether that was going to be the case, and whether CFD would overtake it or not.

“Adrian [Newey] held off pushing for a new tunnel until there was clarity on that. But it got to a point where Aston Martin wanted a new tunnel and the FIA changed their stance.

“So it was a question of: ‘Look, we have to do this, and we have to do this now, because the regulations dictate that, within a cost cap, the tunnel that we’re running is grossly inefficient.’”

Asked what the challenges Red Bull faced with its Bedford tunnel were, Horner said:“We’ve got a facility that is a 60-year-old wind tunnel. It is a relic of the Cold War.

“It’s been good enough to produce some fantastic cars for us over the years. But it has its limitations.

“So anything under five degrees [centigrade], we can’t run it. Anything over 25 degrees, it becomes pretty unstable.”

Victory against Pakistan in Dubai on Monday could still be enough for the White Ferns to qualify for the semi-finals.

But much will depend on Sunday’s meeting between Australia and India – where a win for India would keep them in pole position because of their still superior net run-rate.

New Zealand needed to reach their target inside 15 overs to move ahead of India on net run-rate but captain Sophie Devine said the team did not discuss that target.

“We actually didn’t [talk about the run rate], to be perfectly honest,” she said.

“We set targets at the innings break and that was always to get us to win in the 17th or 18th over, but we know that winning the game is the most important thing.

“We will see how results play out on Sunday and then by the time of our final game against Pakistan we will know exactly where we stand.”

New Zealand struggled with the ball early on, some erratic bowling from Rosemary Mair abetting Athapaththu’s fluid knock.

The Sri Lanka captain hit five boundaries but the run rate was never too scary, and once Athapaththu was bowled trying to step on the accelerator her side collapsed somewhat.

A run of two wickets for five runs in 15 balls put the brakes on as excellent control from Kerr and a fine catch from Devine brought the game back into New Zealand’s control.

New Zealand were slow to reply initially, only hitting their first four off the 25th ball of the innings, but once Plimmer found the fence the opener was able to cut loose.

Plimmer was put down on 33 by Inoshi Priyadharshani – a difficult caught and bowled chance – and made Sri Lanka pay, moving to her half century in 41 balls with a flurry of crisp shots down the ground.

Plimmer holed out to deep square shortly after but Devine came in and ended the match with the first six of it.

EIGHT of the current 20 Premier League clubs have moved into new stadiums this century.

Iconic grounds like Highbury and White Hart Lane have been knocked down and replaced by modern new arenas.

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But what if some clubs decided to renovate their spiritual homes instead of replace?

SunSport, with the help of BonusCodeBets, have used AI to see what those classic stadiums could look like if they had not been demolished.

Highbury – Arsenal

Arsenal left Highbury in 2006 and moved to the 60,000-seater Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners were unable to stay and modernise the old venue because the East Stand is a Grade II listed building and redevelopments would have seen houses knocked down.

Highbury has now been converted into flats – but AI reckons its old school look could have a modern twist if the club remained there.

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White Hart Lane – Tottenham

Tottenham‘s stunning new ground opened in 2019.

Spurs spent two seasons playing at Wembley while their home was demolished and building work could be finished on the new stadium.

Double the amount of fans can now cheer on the team and concerts can also take place in the state-of-the-art arena.

And AI thinks building on top of the old White Hart Lane would have seen the ground lose its classic feel anyway.

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Maine Road – Man City

Manchester City switched Maine Road for the Etihad in 2003.

The previous home of the club was demolished a year later and is now a housing estate and a school.

Some fans wished they had increased the capacity of the 35,000-seater stadium.

But AI thinks if they had, City would have kept the square shape and made the other stands as high the main Kippax Stand.

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Boleyn Ground – West Ham

West Ham‘s made an emotional departure from Upton Park to London Stadium in 2016.

Some supporters criticise the new ground as “not fit for football” due to it still being able to host athletics events.

But the club doubled their capacity and got a shiny new home on the cheap as the London Legacy Development Corporation needed a tenant after the Olympics.

If they had not bulldozed the Boleyn, the Hammers’ ground would have kept an old school shape and AI thinks the intimidating Chicken Run Stand would have stayed much the same.

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Griffin Park – Brentford

The stadium was home to Brentford from 1904 to 2020 when they moved across town to the Gtech Community Stadium.

The computer generated image of a modern day Griffin Park looks bigger than the club’s current ground.

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Wembley – England

The Old Wembley shut its turnstiles for the final time in 2000 and it was eventually demolished three years later.

Its iconic twin towers were swapped for the famous arch, with the stadium host to Euros, Champions Leagues and FA Cup finals in recent years.

And by looking at AI’s interpretation, the old style would have lost its distinctive feature if was kept.

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