Manchester United Thread 25/26 - Teamtalk/Transfers/Gossip Mod Note in OP 12.02.26

I see the overall sentiment and I want to agree…

However, there are a few glaring issues that RA seems to either ignore because he is getting what he wants from the player in other ways (Bruno) or maybe he just doesn't see them as a problem.

The Everton game was also for me a massive worry. We played against 10 men mostly defending in a 441 setup for 80 min. I just can't wrap my head around why he didn't push more attackers onto the pitch or move players into more attacking roles to take advantage.

We made it easy for them to defend really. They didn't do anything special, they defended in 2 banks of 4 and had a single outlet up top to chase clearances and try to get them up the pitch.

Forrest, Spurs, Everton and West Ham - all silly dropped points in the last 6 games. We beat Palace (who are dropping points after European games with a small squad) and Wolves (one of the worst teams the league has seen).

Sure we are better now than last season in some ways but that was a season where Utd finished 15th. There was no way but up from that. Or at least there shouldn't be.

If I am being honest if RA was sacked right now I don't think I could point to much as a good reason to have kept him on. After a year in the job that is a very worrying statement to be making.

No De Ligt, no Sesko, no Licha.

Heaven in the centre. Zirks up top.

That's ridiculous to be honest.

Lammens can catch a ball.

What are you referring to when you say he is ignoring issues? For instance, he has said that he needs a wingback on the left in similar mould to Amad. He has also more less told his via his actions that he considers midfield a problem area.

The Everton game was a shambles but too much credence was given to the aspect of lack of attacking players etc. The players just played poorly and we genuinely struggle to play through low blocks at the moment.

It's not fair to just say we finished 15th last season so the only way is up. We have gone from one of the poorest attacking teams to in some ways in the top 3 or 4 attacking sides. We are a threat at set pieces again when we have our first 11 on the pitch. We have become pretty hard to beat too.

Of course there are major improvements needed but there is a foundation there now. Sack him and you tear that up in my opinion, There are examples of managers that were in a similar position to what we find ourselves in and fans of said clubs were calling for the axe but they were ultimately wrong. You have to give time to allow the fog to clear and at least 3 to 4 transfer windows.

Ah ok so you mean change formation? If he changes formation he's a dead duck. It's not that I think he won't do in the future, it's just that this is his base and until he gets that to where he needs and wants then changing shape muddies the water and undermines his authority.

I'd agree though that there are a lot of square pegs in round holes at the moment but it's need must. We had a good summer but it wasn't possible to fix everything. In saying that, I would not include Amad in that? He's been pretty good in my opinion and both he and Mbuemo have forged a pretty good partnership.

Zirkzee has barely played and that was mainly due to the fact we were missing both Sesko and Cunha.

Bruno isn't been played out of position because of the formation. He is been played there because the manager doesn't see anyone better to play there.

Maybe Mainoo could be if he got a run of games but the manager or club are not in a position too allow that. Idealy he should of went out on loan but I reckon they were hoping to give him some cup games but due to the second string(Mainoo included in that) fuking up against Grimsby that's not a luxury we have.

Add it to the long list of questionable tranfsers United have made in recent times. Ugarte another one that baffles me.

We played Bruno there last season as well.
We have had a full summer windows since then.

There is no excuse to be playing Bruno there now rather than his best position other than poor planning.
You simply can't use the excuse that we have nobody else for that role so we need to move our best player there to plug a gap AFTER a summer window.

We chose to go this route.

4-2-3-1/4-3-3 formation. If everyone is fit;

GK - Lammens

RB - Dalot, Mazroui, Dorgu

CB's - Yoro, De Ligt, Martinez, Maguire, Heaven

LB - Shaw, Dorgu, Dalot (in a pinch)

CM's - Casemiro, Mainoo, Ugarte, Bruno (in a pinch)

LW - Cunha, Mount, Amad

AM - Bruno, Cunha, Mount, Zirkzee (in a pinch)

RW - Mbuemo, Amad, Mount

CF - Sesko, Mbuemo, Zirkzee

4-2-3-1 when playing weaker sides so we push up more on their defence and make them worry about us. 4-3-3 when playing the better sides with Bruno dropping a little deeper to get on the ball and make those killer passes, but still not relying on him to cover the middle.

I know it's not everyone's favourite setup and there are still fundamental problems, but for me it's a far more balanced look to the side, and every position has options in case of injury/unavailability. Makes better use of our best talents, which is up from midfield. Granted, the CM area is a problem no matter what formation, but again, there's more cover there with three than two. And it would give him tactical flexibility in matches than what we see right now, which mostly amounts to make a change in defence.

The current formation, it's just so all over the place, we're fitting people into positions that aren't their best, we expose the middle, the third CB is usually ineffective, and the WB's are set up with defence in mind, we isolate the CF. We don't have the specialist WB's and there's not too many of them around, never mind top quality, to make his formation work.

A good manager should know his players after a year, and what will work to get the best out of them. Despite some very welcome results in the last two months (5W, 3D, 1L is very good form considering the sh!tshow we seen for a year beforehand), the performances have hardly been spectacular, and far too often the formation gets brutally exposed.

There's no harm in starting out with a formation at the start that gets the best out of players and then make changes over time when new signings come in. Instead we started with a formation that simple doesn't suit the players available, persist with it through bad results and bad performances, with only an adequate improvement in results and a slight improvement in performances in recent times, with plenty of occasions where the football and structure was poor despite a positive result.

After 13 months of this it's all a moot point in some ways talking about formations, but you'd have to ask why after 13 months is he persisting with a formation that clearly doesn't work or doesn't suit the players available, and if he is to stick with this formation, then why are the fundamentals that might help the formation work (such as fast high pressing, pushing up the CB's, hold up play for overlaps) so poorly coached.

We did and we were never gonna fix everything in one summer. We are doing pretty well with goals and have a better keeper in not too bad a summer and hopefully we can continue to pick up points and stay around Europe for rest of season and build some more either in January or summer.

Your unhappy thats cool but doesn't mean your right. We are alot better but could do even better.

Do you think a draw at home to Bournemouth or Newcastle would be a bad result?

I think eight points from those four games would be a very good return.

Totally agree. We have to beat Wolves but 1 other win and 2 draws would be a good return.

Why do you say they are not in a position to allow that? Would giving Mainoo some games cost us a title?

United are in exactly the position where they can afford to give one of Englands brightest young talents some game time. In a rebuild, not challenging for a title, supposed to be putting the building blocks in place for success later down the line, this is when you do it.

Yorro, Mainoo, those are the players who should be starting now so as to be ready when the real challenge starts.

Yes. All this talk about progress shou mean we are winning our home games bar maybe against the top 4 teams. But hey it's the might Bournemouth coming to town. Let's batten down the hatches and hopefully get something out of the game...progress

This is worth a watch