Manchester United Banter Mobile

16 Aug 2026 16:52:33
When Ineos took on football responsibility, a number of “necessary cut backs and redundancies” were made, yet our club has a management structure of recruitment process which consists of Berrada, Wilcox, Vivell, McCauley, Hargreaves, Sansoni, yet this summer we’ve (to date) only agreed a simple deal for Tielemans, in fairness, the impressive left field signing of Santos and the free transfer of Darlow, plus a couple of youngsters of whom it’s hoped they can have some first team involvement in season 26/27. We’ve yet again and I stress to date not managed to move on enough of the below average baggage this first team manager has inherited. I’m not going to hammer any player in particular as we all have different views on which players contribute regularly the quality expected and who are assets to the playing staff.

My point is that with the senior management listed plus their significant staff and systems below them, how can it be acceptable to the owners that within a week of the season start Carrick is lacking in so many positions for what he needs to compete across all fronts this season. Maybe the Glazers and Ineos are comfortable with this, as a supporter of United, I am not. Ultimately failure this season or next will land with Carrick and not with the people employed (on huge salaries) that are tasked with bringing the right players to our club. I pray this post does not age well between now and the end of the transfer window.

16 Aug 2026 19:16:11
It's extremely worrisome that the starting back 4 is likely to be the same back 4 that started the season 4 years ago.

Despite the team struggling over recent years, Dalot, Maguire, Martinez and Shaw are still the first choice back 4. And none of them are anywhere near the required level to be competing for league titles like the club say they want to.

16 Aug 2026 19:24:37
Unfortunately, most of our players have not been easily sellable. That's due to mistakes that were made prior to Ineos taking over day-to-day management. Ugarte, Rashford and Zirkzee are not easy sells.

As I mentioned below, the club's net spend of £1.35bn over the last 10 years is the highest in all of football. We've bought too high, paid too much salary, and have not got value on the playing field.

So, we need upgrades in many positions. Resources may be limited, but there's no way all we can afford is a net spend of £30m in this window. If that's what it comes to, then it's by choice and nothing else.

Like everyone else, I'll be disappointed if we don't buy anyone to fill the obvious holes in the next two weeks. If we don't, and the season goes south, the management team will deserve all the criticism it gets.

16 Aug 2026 19:31:59
The first-choice back 4, with all fit, is
Mazraoui, de Ligt, Martinez, Shaw. That's 2 players that weren't here 4 seasons ago. Martinez has been in 2 WC finals. He most certainly is good enough, despite some of the nonsense spoken about him - the issue is fitness.

But, I agree on the other 3 who are likely to see significant minutes this year. We need at least one fullback, arguably two.

16 Aug 2026 19:38:44
If it goes south, it will be pinned on Carrick. The same as it being pinned on Amorim last year. Wilcox should have followed Amorim out the door. He's the one that pushed so hard for Amorim that it pushed our director of football out of the job.



If there's one thing that can be said about Glazer era United, it's that the suits will always find a way to throw the manager under the bus to save their own necks.

16 Aug 2026 19:45:25
I hope we will get 3 in before the window shuts Kramskeeh.
I understand people's frustration. Its the same every year.
I didn't expect anything very different to where we are.
We all want what more. I expect more from our management team. But I've no idea what's going on so don't see the point in being over critical until the window shuts. If we have not got 2 or 3 in then I would be disappointed and critical.
There are too many unknowns to be jumping up and down at this point.
We are no different to any of the other teams.

Liverpool need 2 or 3 more and will sign them.
Spurs will sign a couple more forwards.
Even city are looking for a couple more and not got them done yet.
Arsenal signed 5 players in the last couple of days last summer and went on to win.
I like the 3 guys we've got in. 2 very good midfielders and a solid back up keeper.


Ideally we get 5 more in, 🤣 but that's not going to happen.
Its proving hard to shift both rashford and zirkzee which is making it hard to address the attack and we do need a striker but we can't keep adding bodies without exits and if they won't move or there are no takers there is not much that can be done. Hopefully they get some offers they like and will move on.
Im not happy that mount is reliable enough, and even if he is, has not got the defencive profile we are missing in midfield. So i'd like to see a defencive cm in
Obviously a lb.

I think we are desperate for a rb just as much as a lb.
Cb should also be a priority.
If we fill 3 of those positions and shift zirkzee and rashford i'd see it potentially as a very good window.
Fail to do that and I'll be disappointed.

16 Aug 2026 20:18:35
I honestly can't see United bringing anyone of a decent level in. Maybe another youth player.

It's correct, there are still 2 weeks to get something done. But why leave it so late? Is it another typical United window where the team loses the first few games and they panic buy some galactico on the last day?

16 Aug 2026 20:45:49
First, it was "it's not even August yet", then it was "come on guys, August just started!", then it was "4 more weeks", then "3 more weeks", now it's "2 more weeks"...

I am usually positive about the club, but not this time.



I honestly think this is very bad, and it's making me want to know when the people who defend the management will just admit it?

16 Aug 2026 21:28:44
The thing what's most disappointing is the lack of ambition.

They give a good talk but are yet to walk the walk, all the pr bs and all the positivity can only last so long.

Be it pre-season, the last two games have been terrible. Any half decent side will cause us issues, our defence is imo terrible and 3 of 5 cbs cannot be trusted to stay fit, we've one senior left back.

I don't know why we hang onto players for so long, City have managed to sell two players they got last summer who had stinkers.

Maybe I can't compare as the two sold still have a high ceiling to reach.

But it's very worrying again. We get champs football and no ambition shown to want to push on and close the gap.

All the so called big teams, bar Arsenal, have new managers.

People seem to forget Liverpool won the title the season before last and invested 400 million plus into the team. Unfortunately for slot they went backwards, their squad still has some very good players.



Chelsea have spent and have built something for their new manager, bringing in 11 players.

City will still spend as they have done in the last 18 months, over 700 million and counting.

Rumours circulating there is a difference in opinions yet again with that tit Wilcox and Vivel, who doesn't want to sign players based on data led information, instead wants to interfere and go with what he sees.

He should have gone along with Amorim.

I won't fully explode until the window has shut, but if they think this squad with only 2 signings added to what you would say to push for a starting spot then they are in trouble.

Why we struggle so hard to sell players is a mystery.

Two promoted sides up first and the type of teams we have in the past struggled to overcome.

I hope behind the scenes they know what they are doing.

16 Aug 2026 22:45:50
I highly doubt they do. Already putting out excuses as to why Chelsea, etc., can spend, but we can't. No doubt, there'll be endless reasons given, but the reality is they could do more, but are choosing not to. We need 2 minimum, cm and lb. Don't get that, and I fear it could be a long season.

15 Aug 2026 21:19:24
Admittedly only naff opposition, but our Kone, on loan at Lausanne, has assisted one and scored a worldie in his last appearance. I hope he has a stellar season and emerges as an option for us either from January (because we haven't signed another) or next season.



I know some will say he hasn't kicked on, but prior to his eye injury he was definitely the one to watch from the academy. I hope this season he emerges from that injury which set him back a season.

15 Aug 2026 19:16:41
It’s a pre-season friendly, fitness is key. That’s it.

However,
1. Does the close of the window feel a whole lot closer to you than it did four hours or so ago?
2. Do clubs now think we are just a bit more desperate than we were four hours or so ago?

Losing a pre-season game happens, but it feels like we have just exposed ourselves to being more desperate for signings, the chairman of selling clubs upping the price.

The arrogance of Sjr, Wilcox and co. may get more tested, after that result, than when we were relaxed previously.

The bigger picture is the result doesn’t matter, unless you hated Amorim, yet the overall focus just sharpened. The club this window has been arrogant. The real games start next week but the incompetence started when the season finished and the penny pinching started.

16 Aug 2026 08:59:48
The miscalculation is that we could get the midfielder we wanted below £80m. Very quickly it became obvious that the midfield market was £100m+ for anyone decent, so we went for two squad players rather than a first choice player and hoped one of them works out.

15 Aug 2026 17:31:58
Well this is dreadful. This amazing world class LB we have seems to be really rubbish, like he's done the past 12 years! Fridge losing his man for the 3rd goal too, bin him. Genuinely garbage. Failed to win 4 of the pre season games now and schooled by Amorim. How tf could you look at this squad in may and say yep, Tielemans and Santos are enough, this is a f'in joke!

Id be slightly at ease if we had Pep, Klopp, Enrique etc but a failed Boro manager? Lol, this is ending in tears like it did with Ole, call me negative all you want but this yes man won't win us f all.

This is dreadful planning again by those in charge, we should just shut up and be happy and positive that we'll be 14 years without a title come may. You cannot win the f'in league with Shaw and Maguire at the back and the Fletcher twins, Mount rashford and zirzkee as your back ups.

15 Aug 2026 17:52:02
I mean, it's a friendly, so shouldn't read too much into it, but getting battered by Amorim is embarrassing. Maybe he wasn't the problem.

15 Aug 2026 17:53:20
It's always the same old story. When we're chasing Champions League qualification, they spend. As soon as we have it, the purse strings are drawn tight.

At this rate, it's going to be a long old season.

15 Aug 2026 18:00:40
Okay, not ideal, and only one clean sheet in six isn't great, but blimey, Scholes, talk about overreaction. 😂
Cantonas seagull, many, including myself, didn't consider Amorim to be the sole problem.

15 Aug 2026 18:10:51
Nah, it's fine, we don't need new signings, especially not early enough, so they could have enough time to adapt!

Actually, you know what, Rashford is like a new signing! He hasn't played for the club for two years, he is now a fresh new player we can use!

15 Aug 2026 10:52:57
Let's mix things up a little from the transfer talk and discuss how this team that Carrick is building might actually look/play on a regular basis.

For example, lots of us (myself included) feel we need another midfielder, but who should be out starting midfield and why?

I get that it's a squad game, but ultimately a regular first 11 always emerges with them playing 80-90% of the time (certainly in the meaningful games when available).

So we currently have Mainoo, Tielemans, Santos, and Mount (technically we have Ugarte but he will be out for most of the season).

For me the only one I think will be almost nailed on to start regularly is Andrey Santos. Which given that Tielemans is such a big signing for us and Mainoo is our star midfielder might seem a little odd. Yet for me he is the one who has a totally unique skillset that cannot be replicated or covered for by the the others.

He alone is a natural No.6, a defensive midfielder who can shield the back four and play out consistently from the back. He is also the only one who you can't question his mobility and work rate. Without him I think every other possible combination looks a little lightweight, and lacking natural defensive awareness.



Which means our midfield will likely depend on who we pair with him, will it be Mainoo or Tielemans.

Obviously both will play, but who will start more often than not?

Most of us who want another midfielder signed also wanted Mainoo to be starting more last season. Yet even without another signing it looks like Mainoo will face a tougher fight for first team football this season.

Personally I'm torn, I want to see Mainoo play, but I know that right now Tielemans is the better player of the two, and why sign a 29 year old in their peak only to bench them for a 21 year old. Also is it sensible to have a midfield made up of a 22 and 21 year old, especially if we are likely to have at least one 20/19 year old at CB behind them. That's a real lack of experience right through the spine (especially when you consider that Lammens only has one season of top level league experience, and Sesko is going to be the starting striker).

So who do you think will be the regular starting midfield duo, and why?

15 Aug 2026 12:44:28
Good question. Mainoo is no doubt talented, he really, really needs to increase his defensive output, he's bottom 40% for duels won and possession won. He's bottom 20% for progressive passes completed.

You would imagine it will be Santos and one of Tielemans or Mainoo, depending on the opposition.

Santos and Tielemans are much more balanced, and we are, however, lacking a left-footed midfielder.

I like the idea of Lewis-Skelly coming in, he's got everything we need. I'm not sure the club will spend that kind of money though.

15 Aug 2026 13:13:27
The advantage of Lewis-Skelly would be he kills two birds with one stone, covering both midfield and left-back.

But, he'd be an expensive addition to be a modern-day John O'Shea.

15 Aug 2026 14:05:57
Only 3 Arsenal players started 80% of their games last season.
Most players don't start more than 40 games a season.