Manchester United Banter Mobile

07 Sep 2026 10:24:30
I think we should all calm down as a fanbase.

We have always been terrible at first games of the season. Hull actually deserved to win as they did play well. We are not up to our races and our captain missed a penalty. We defended horribly.

Yesterday again, we defended horribly, Carrick did make attacking subs bring Sesko and Dorgu on. But the team just gets back to old routines. Have we not seen this before?

Do you ever notice how Bruno never slows the tempo of the game and always wants that flashy line breaking pass. We get counters after counters. And we have been poor defensively. Shaw gets sucked in and then chases the winger. Maz made a stupid pass when he should have just hoofed the ball.

It was 95 mins.

We score 1-0 and our intent is to just sit back and absorb. Amongst a lot of players, I feel we need to stop starting Maguire and Shaw.
Let Amass play and let Yoro play. We are conceding 2 goals on average anyway. At least we can play a high line.

Rashford has not scored a goal yet but he is actually playing well as a forward.

We have to also understand that a lot of players are not fully fit yet. Bruno was extremely rusty, Sesko has barely had any mins.

We also have to factor in we have lost Casemiro who was papering over the cracks and was a leader and formerly world class.

Give this time. The United shirt is heavy for new signings.

07 Sep 2026 11:09:14
Agreed, I think the first 3 games have confirmed what we already knew deep down.

1.) Not good enough to compete at the top with Arsenal and City.
2.) In a battle for top 5 with Chelsea, Liverpool and others.
3.) I think we should be okay, considering Champions League-aspiring clubs like Newcastle, Villa and Spurs all seem to have issues as well.



The bigger worry for me is the Champions League. After Sabah, every game looks tough on paper, and if we get into a negative momentum cycle, as we did under ETH and Amorim, I think we could struggle to make the 24 team cut.

07 Sep 2026 11:47:09
We should have won yesterday. Carrick cannot keep making these substitution mistakes. There was absolutely no need to bring on Mazraoui, and if he couldn't trust a lot to avoid a red card for 14 minutes, what the hell is he doing wt the club? Ridiculous changing the back four. Amorim and Ten Hag did this almost every game, and it drove me insane. So stupid, no wonder we aren't organised and structured during the final moments of a game.

Changing the back line is nothing but a disruption. An injury, fair enough, but refreshing them? Get them fit instead, and stop making stupid, obvious, and predictable decisions that only serve to encourage the other team. I was fuming and could see it coming, and what happens? Mazraoui not up to speed, wrong position, and passes it to Maitland-Niles. Bloody clown.

07 Sep 2026 11:50:33
This team actually brings their performances up against the big team.
It is the teams like Hull away and Everton away we become pants.

07 Sep 2026 12:50:10
Shaw has cost us 2 games.
Not strengthening the backline and delaying Baleba transfer has already backfired.

07 Sep 2026 13:47:22
I support the idea of waiting for your preferred target. But I am not convinced that's true. We are painting Baleba as if we waited a year and got a discount. But we did the same with Sancho after he had a worse season.

So it's not that we were waiting because we were chasing Anderson and Fernandez instead at the beginning, not Baleba. I just think that the Glazers were happy to put the whole club in massive debt to serve their dividends, but they're not prepared to go into debt that doesn't deliver dividends to actually get the whole squad urgently into the right shape.

We need these owners out, and a Chelsea or a City-type owner with no debt and a long-term plan, where we get immediate success also. This lot just aren't good enough owners. I think Wilco and Barrada and the recruitment team are good enough, but they're being undermined by tightwad economics that doesn't work against the competition, either here or abroad. We're saddled with debt that's never been reduced. That is PE-type governance, not venture funding or something like foreign funding. The model is never going to outperform them.

07 Sep 2026 13:59:45
I don't know how anyone can point to Bruno as a reason for us not picking up more points. His job is not to control the tempo of games. He's a play maker, and will always be looking to create chances. Tielemans is the one that was brought in to dictate play, and he hasn't done that.

However, the main reason why we're sitting on 4 points after 3 very winnable games is the defence. We have created chances and played decent attacking football in spells. The issue is that the moment any pressure is applied against us, the defence crumbles.

Dropping Shaw and Maguire won't fix this. Amass is nowhere near ready and Yoro has looked lightweight as a central defender. Playing him with Martinez makes us even more vulnerable to crosses.

The clear solution was to bring in a better left back during the window. As others have highlighted, Shaw has been the weakest link in our defence. He looks to have lost a bit more pace, and doesn't have the positional intelligence to compensate.

I'm not fully on the doom train. I think we should have a good shot at finishing in the top 5. Still, this season was an opportunity to push closer to the top 2, and our lack of ambition in the market has left us fighting to make the Champions League instead.

06 Sep 2026 22:37:26
I was never Carrick in. A man of his experience should not be anywhere near the United job.

I expect us to finish between 10th and 7th.

{Ed0666's Note - or you could just add 10 and 7 together to get the correct answer to where you’ll finish. Do you really think you will finish as low as 10th? Name 9 clubs that will finish above you? I think Carrick will be replaced by Eddie Howe quite soon.

06 Sep 2026 23:52:54
It is way too early for that talk. I, as others here will testify, am firmly of the belief that Wilcox should've backed Amorim and managed that situation terribly. However, that is done now, and plenty felt that there weren't obviously better options than Carrick.

As it is, he deserves and should get a proper backing. He has a completely new midfield and was a minute away from many of the same people calling for his head, saying he's a genius. Nobody should be evaluated on a sample size of 3 games.

07 Sep 2026 01:32:47
3 games in, and apparently we are in danger of getting relegated.
Give your head a wobble, mate. 🙄

07 Sep 2026 01:35:20
But seriously, we'll be fine once our defenders remember how to defend. 😂

07 Sep 2026 06:06:02
Very few teams are playing consistently well just yet.

Lots of teams have had a lot of change over the summer, while it is fairly common for teams to have a slower start after an international tournament.

Players are back late, new players having less time to bed in, players not fully rested, and some still trying to get over disappointment from the World Cup.

For ourselves, you can see that our new midfield is still trying to work out its own identity.

Our attack is a little disjointed and not flowing like it did last season. Both of those issues will solve themselves with a little time. Our defence has looked a little porous, and it is our weakest part of the team. That said, with the midfield and attack not fully settled in front of the defence, that is leaving them too exposed at times.

07 Sep 2026 07:29:05
Don,

I would not be calling Carrick a genius if he won yesterday. I was also a strong believer that we should have stayed with Amorim. I was also very clear that Carrick is the wrong man for us, but the idiots put him in charge, and we are stuck with him until they wake up. No point calling for his head at this time. It's only 3 games in, they won't do anything anyway.

There are also too many sheep saying Carrick is one of our own, understands the club, and gives them a nice warm glow. Ridiculous, he is the manager of what once was the biggest club and now accepts mediocrity as per his post-match comment.
As to where we will finish, probably around 6th if everything stays as is. Would not surprise me to see a surprise like Newcastle or Brighton get 5th.

07 Sep 2026 07:52:19
Red Man, how can you defend Amorim, who showed absolutely nothing while he was here, and did not deserve the job and almost got us relegated, but yet Carrick isn't the man for the job? Is CV the only thing you look at?

07 Sep 2026 08:08:04
Lung Park

They brought Amorim, who had an excellent CV, to change the style, then, in transition, before he could finish, they told him to play the way Wilcox wanted. The club needed change, like Rangnick said. Instead, we went backwards to our comfortable slippers. The Amorim discussion is over now, but like Don, I would have stayed with Amorim.

Carrick is manager, and we have to see where it goes.

I openly said it was a huge mistake, but we just watch it play out now. CV is what is always looked at for every job. Carrick has a very poor one, bar a few games last season. That's a fact.

It will play out how it plays out. I think we need to beat City next week, or the grumbles will grow very much louder.

07 Sep 2026 08:33:39
Completely agree, Amorim was the change the club needed. A chance to push out rotten eggs, reset the dressing room culture, and build a long term, sustainable style.

We all know the first season with Amorim was a tough watch, but many forget that we were 5th when he left, with much needed reinforcements returning from the African Cup of Nations. Those returns conveniently landed on Carrick's plate.



Amad, Mbuemo, Cunha, and a number of others have not shown the form they showed under Amorim.

Mainoo has returned a better player, but can we not also thank Amorim for that with his tough love?

Like it or not, the comfy slippers description couldn't be a better one, and in my opinion, we are well and truly back on the merrigoround, when we had one foot of it with Amorim.

07 Sep 2026 08:37:28
On the same page as you on that, Red Man, but I'm more optimistic about where I think we'll finish.

07 Sep 2026 08:52:49
Don

5th or 6th for me, but that could improve if there is a managerial change.

07 Sep 2026 06:43:05
Ed0666,

I was saying to my mate who's a Newcastle fan, that Howe will end up replacing Carrick before the end of the season.

{Ed0666's Note - agreed mate. Not sure if Howe is the answer for you either

07 Sep 2026 09:42:08
The Amorim situation was an interesting one. When he was sacked we were 6th on equal points with 5th. There were so many things coming out in the press about player power and dressing room issues. Amorim came in and did a lot of the 'bad guy' work, getting players out of the dressing room to reset the culture. We, as a club, did something very dangerous when going through change. We panicked and reverted back to what we know. Three of yesterday's back four have seen off Ole, Erik ten Hag and Amorim. The club actively tried to remove Rashford, but completely fumbled getting him out. Carrick now has to deal with the situation.

Amorim demanded players, and fell on his sword for it. We brought a manager in who plays a specific type of football and didn't give him the tools to play it.

We got him to do the dirty work to start rebuilding the dressing room culture, and pulled the plug at the start of the project because the board were weak.

It's not Carrick's fault that he's got the defence he has, or that Rashford is still in the squad. It's on Wilcox. As a club, we are essentially hoping that the midfield signings are all a success (which is statistically improbable), and the defence can do a half decent job, when we have multiple years of evidence this probably isn't going to happen.

I'm hoping it all goes well for Carrick and we have a great season. I just think he's been let down and is going to take the flack for not sorting the glaring issues in the squad.

07 Sep 2026 10:45:42
Rewz

You said it's not Carrick's fault that Rashford is still there. Well, actually it is. If he had put his foot down in summer and done what Amorim did, banished him to the train alone, they would have found a deal to get rid.

Instead, we have a yes man puppet manager who has undone the work and allowed someone who disrespected the shirt and openly wanted to be somewhere else, back in.

It's poor, weak management on the back of the tough decisions Amorim made. It reflects very badly on Wilcox, who frankly needs sacking. Berrada may hold on a little longer, but that thread is weak for me.

We have to live with the ups and downs of Carrick until they wake up, and realise he won't win big prizes, but the only issue now is the pain that Amorim started will have to be done again.

07 Sep 2026 12:41:57
Red Man, that's a fair point.

07 Sep 2026 14:02:07
Too dramatic for me. Not the manager's fault, the glaring issues were advertised all summer and not addressed.

Is it any wonder teams are exploiting Shaw when his own employers allowed it to be known he was a weak link and then did sod all about it.

We are the only club at the top who only reinforced a single position in the squad. That's ownership negligence, not managers or players.

The players wanted a striker to help Sesko and the squad. Instead, we play players out of position.

Sheer incompetence for me. I said I would judge at the end of the window, and now I want the owners out, all of them. By all means, wait if you must for your preferred lb, but I think it's a smoke screen, and I also think that we could have signed any one of three top lb on loan.

They pulled the Champions League stunt yet again. Lost my trust permanently. All of them. I want them all gone and a new operating model with no debt.

06 Sep 2026 16:30:59
Having played Hull Ipswich and Everton we sit 11th, conceding an average 2 goals a game. Now already 5 points behind City making the derby rather important even at this very early time of the season.


Yes, very early. How is the confidence level of finishing top 5 under Carrick?
I think we will have to struggle to get 5th but it won’t be a surprise to some of us.

06 Sep 2026 16:37:51
Defence is shaky, attack creates hardly any clear-cut chances, and our expensive new midfield can't control games, subs are poor, in-game management poor.
Shaping up to be a loooong season.

06 Sep 2026 16:57:36
Continue to concede 2 goals a game, and we aren't winning many. Each time we score, we seem to sit back and invite pressure, with an inevitable result. We are architects of our own demise.

06 Sep 2026 16:59:12
I disagree, Cantona. Our midfield has had a lot of control in the last two games. But I agree that game management has been shocking. Our team wasn't prepared well for Hull, and making a defensive substitution late on today was idiotic. We have a good enough squad, but this nonsense of trying to hold onto single goal leads with the defence we have will kill us.
Really eager for the return of De Ligt.

Martinez today distributed the ball really sharply, but Maguire was incredibly slow in releasing the ball on the other side. It's destroying our tempo as teams are covering just one side.

We have the ingredients to have a good season, but today irritated me greatly as we'd have won with reasonable management. An entirely avoidable dropping of points.

06 Sep 2026 17:10:12
I personally said that mid table would be a good result this season. We haven't even started the two games a week period yet...

06 Sep 2026 17:28:58
Midtable would be a good result? On what planet? This squad isn't good enough to challenge for a title, but it should be finishing 3-6.

06 Sep 2026 17:30:50
Mid table looks accurate. Baleba needs to be 1 hell of a player if we are pinning our hopes of improvement on him.

Be interesting to see what calibre of defenders we can attract/afford if we don't qualify for Europe.

Considering most top players want Europe, and our finances are seemingly so bad we can't afford them this season. Not getting Europe will further cripple our spending power.

Long way to go, of course, but early signs are worrying.

06 Sep 2026 17:36:11
Ah lads, ease off the negativity. Had we seen it out a minute longer we'd have been 4th or 5th. I am as irritated by this result as I've been in a while, but this ambulance chasing way of viewing everything is a real downer. Keep it a bit level.

06 Sep 2026 18:07:55
"We haven't started the season that bad, to be honest."

That's his quote. Being level is fine, but this isn't Middlesbrough. I expect the United manager to say that it must improve, and, let's be honest, without being disrespectful, the three teams should not have resulted in only 4 points.

06 Sep 2026 19:06:53
I don't mean I'd be happy with mid table, and I agree, the squad should be delivering better. But 3 games and 4 points... Extrapolate that to the end of the season, and we would finish the season with 50 points. That would have been good enough for 12th place last season...

So, on this very real planet, mid table is a real possibility.



I've been negative for more than just this season. We got very lucky in a number of games during Carrick's tenure last season. Carrick continually shows the inability to:

1. Prepare a team to approach a game in any other way than plan A, which is the same every game.
2. Deliver solid in game management, or demonstrate any plan B.

06 Sep 2026 19:38:36
Groan. This page is getting to be almost at Everton fans' level of moaning.

06 Sep 2026 20:34:58
Eric,
Everton standard of points is something to moan about.

06 Sep 2026 21:15:27
Maguire is ruining the development of Yoro, who is being shipped out to play rb. 😂

Yoro, whilst de Ligt is stealing a living in the medical room, should be starting alongside Martinez.

We have no pace at the back and can’t play a high line.

06 Sep 2026 21:42:20
Shaw and Dalot are as fast as any fullbacks, with Shaw regularly hitting 34kph, which is amongst the fastest fullbacks. Our left side, with Shaw and Martinez, played very well today.

06 Sep 2026 22:05:03
Let's forget about Shaw's positioning for Everton's first goal.

And Dalot's lack of positioning every game.

He was loaned to AC Milan years ago, who didn't want him on a permanent deal.

Yet here he is, 10 years later, still starting.

If anyone thinks Dalot and Shaw are players that don't need replacing, then standards have dropped much lower than I thought.

06 Sep 2026 23:54:21
Nobody has said that, Bolger.

07 Sep 2026 04:11:37
Tend to agree with that, Redman. No need to panic after 3 games, but I would prefer our young and inexperienced manager to be saying that we have not met the required standard. Pointing out the silver linings around our storm cloud is not the way to engage the fans.

He clearly didn't get what he needed in the summer. The players are undercooked, some had an extended break from the WC.

But one message he can send is that this is not okay. He is not happy. The team will stick together, but they have to be better. The fans do not need gaslighting.

We need Carrick to be the manager, not the interim manager, friend to everybody. He needs to remember that he has to be in charge, and the performance of his team is a representation of him on the pitch.

07 Sep 2026 07:11:12
What Carrick says to his Swiss and what he says to the press/public are very different things. He's managing it how he sees fit. Our fan base would pick apart any performance. If we'd have won 2-1, it would be the same.

07 Sep 2026 08:22:56
Dodgy

Agree. Carrick being friendly, like Ole was, will not get us anywhere again.

It's a shocking quote for a United manager. I cannot imagine SAF saying that or any of the top managers. Ok at Boro, but not here.

06 Sep 2026 16:11:56
Another dodgy performance from United. At least it wasn’t a loss!

Average of 2 goals conceded a game so far, won’t get far doing that.

So many of the players are bang average. No idea how Dalot keeps getting picked, shocking. Nice cross from Shaw. But both full backs drive me made, they never want to rush out to a winger and stop a shot or cross. And with how our back line and keeper deal with crossed they should maybe try and stop a few.

Playing with no striker and instea Cunha floating about doesn’t work. Cunha is usually everywhere apart from inside the box.

The keeper wasn’t great today. Clueless as to why he punched that easy shot away instead of catching. I was never on the band wagon of him being the answer in goal. He gets away with a lot due to being fairly cheap and not a complete idiot like Onana.

But if you’re honest, he’s not a top level keeper. You rarely win anything without a world class keeper, and he’s not that. Maybe he will be in 4-5 years, but not yet. However, he’s not helped by the headless chickens playing right in front of him. Conceding 18 shots to Everton is a disgrace.

No kind of any plan. Slow, slow and slow just like all the other games. The only time you see any kind of urgency from United is when they are behind, which we are likely to see quite often this season based on the first 3 games.

They need to get it together, and soon, or some of the better teams will have a field day against them.

Fingers crossed they put in a better performance in mid week.

06 Sep 2026 16:30:32
Was screaming all game for fullbacks to overlap. Shaw did a handful of times, and got a really good assist. Dalot is pure s****! Didn't do anything all game, as usual. Poor management after taking the lead twice, did not take control and kill the game at all. Cunha was poor today too. Very disappointing result.

06 Sep 2026 16:31:43
You can add how the full backs don't make overlapping runs to support our wingers.

I think 4-3-3 would work better. One thing that is concerning is a lack of plan B. It's like watching Southgate's England team today.

06 Sep 2026 16:32:17
That's another game where we have failed to hold on to a lead... It's happened a lot over the past few years, so it's no surprise. The common theme is that back 4! Just no composure, and they just look panicked at the end of games.

But, hey ho, the board don't think it's a necessity to invest in that area. Lots of work to do. PS Sesko has to start now, Cunha doesn't work upfront.

06 Sep 2026 16:33:33
Conceding 2 a game is a big worry for the season ahead. We're so poor out of possession. Teams harass us, get in our face... we just stand off relative to the effort the opposition show.

Subs were poor, just hold onto possession rather than defending deep and lumping it long.


Thought the whole point of our midfield rebuild was so we could control games with press resistant pass masters. So far 3 dross teams have scored 2 against us, and we've failed to control the game. Ipswich was a deceiving scoreline.

City up next, which I'm really not looking forward to.

06 Sep 2026 16:36:13
Lose to City next week, and we are 8 points off the pace after 4 games, but it's ok. Shappy says we are over reacting.

06 Sep 2026 17:18:41
The results and performances need to get better. And soon. Watching the Arsenal and Chelsea game, when United play these, it could be a cricket score.

06 Sep 2026 17:21:52
Agree, Fallguy, I'm genuinely worried about playing the big teams.

06 Sep 2026 17:32:48
Well, we won at the Emirates last season, so not sure why it would be a cricket score this season. This Arsenal game is manic because there was an early goal and Chelsea are good this season. We will get better. We were pretty unlucky today.

06 Sep 2026 21:20:11
Maybe because we look worse than last season so far, GDS2.

06 Sep 2026 23:07:03
Damn, now we are blaming Lammens. 🙄 This fan base gives me the ick.

06 Sep 2026 10:13:39
I may not get to see the game today, hey ho.

This is a game we should be winning. Mainoo is restored, we had a confidence building win last week creating a lot of chances, Everton had a horrible window and we need to go and dominate.

Our continuing issue is our away form, at home we have been very strong.

I am hoping Hull was a freak result and today will help us see where we are, everyone back, hopefully all fit and sharp now, I want to see energy and desire.

Predictions? I'm saying 3-1 to United.

06 Sep 2026 11:56:32
1-1. Hope I'm wrong.

06 Sep 2026 12:03:46
2-2

Everton away is always tough, no matter what they are going through. The crowd will be up for it, and Moyes will get them fighting.

United will create chances, but United's shaky back line will give up chances.

06 Sep 2026 12:09:19
Shame you can't get to see the game, hope you have a letter of excuse, Tony!

This is the type of game that can be worrisome, I think Everton will be mega pumped simply because of what happened on the last day of the transfer window.

Also, because they are playing us! It always gets them going.

You mention Kobbie, interesting numbers here. Since the start of 25/26 season we have played 40 league games.

Results are as follows:

With Kobbie starting-----Without Kobbie starting

Games 17 23.



Won 13 8.

Drawn 3 8.

Lost 1 7.

Goals for 37 37.

Goals per game 2.17 1.6.

Goals against 18 36.

Goals against per game 1.05 1.56.

Points per game 2.47 1.39.

Win % 76.4% 34.7%.

Loss% 5.8% 30.4%.

You could well say the figures speak for themselves!

Don't think it will be easy, but I do expect a win. Happily take a 1 goal margin.

06 Sep 2026 12:22:21
I think Barry's speed could be an issue for us today against our CBs. I'm hoping last week was a blip from Shaw, but he's going to have a tough day if Johnson starts, as he's in the top ten fastest recorded speeds. I think, if we play well, 2-2.

06 Sep 2026 12:38:47
Everton away is never easy, and Moyes will have them tough to break down. What we really need is an early goal. The longer that Everton can keep us out, the harder it will get for us to score.

Going forward, Everton have lost both Beto and Ndiaye late in the window and they weren't able to replace them properly.

The threats will come from Grealish, Johnson, Barry and Dewsbury-Hall. Johnson and Barry have pace in behind, and Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall are dangerous with their delivery from set-pieces, crosses and through balls.

For us, rather than trying to keep pace with Barry or Johnson, we might be better suited to looking to cut the ball in behind out at source. Ultimately, it doesn't matter if they can outpace us if the ball never gets through for them to chase.



It'll be a tough game, and we'll need to play with concentration and real attacking intent.

As with all our games this season, I am fairly confident that we will score, but less so that we will not concede.

Unless we have a mare, I don't see Everton scoring more than 1 or 2 goals at most, they are lacking strength and depth in the forward areas. So it'll come down to whether we can score 2 or 3 goals at least to take the win, and to score 3 or more goals against a David Moyes Everton side I would think we will likely need an early goal in the first 15 minutes or so to disrupt their game plan and force them to come out a little bit more and give us the space to punish them and get a couple more goals.

06 Sep 2026 13:02:41
AJH,

Good post. Unfortunately, Everton have been a bit of a bogey team for Utd. They always seem to save a performance for a Utd Everton match.

Would I be surprised for Everton to win? No.

06 Sep 2026 13:32:58
They will probably park the bus. It would help if we could score early, but even then, we're not renowned for our solid defense.

06 Sep 2026 13:34:33
2-0 Everton.

06 Sep 2026 13:56:18
Mad Hatter, not sure that's tru3, I read somewhere they rarely win against us.

06 Sep 2026 16:12:55
Well called, Fallguy.

06 Sep 2026 17:34:01
I don't think we've lost against Everton away for about 6 years.