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

I don’t agree fully. I completely accept you don’t expect a 20 year old finished article at CB and you absolutely expect inconsistency.

But if you said upon signing him that in December 2025 he’d be our 6th best CB, comfortably behind Harry Maguire and the ghost of Luke Shaw in the pecking order, we’d all agree that was not the expected outcome.

In terms of his performance (again, yes he is young. I do think he will come good in time), it has been very poor. It’s obviously just one grading system but Sofascore has him as our 2nd worst player last year (a hair better than Hojlund). He is again our 2nd worst player this year (a hair better than Zirzkee). I believe his is either the lowest, or close to lowest, rated CB in the entire league for both seasons.

It's disappointing Mazraoui wasn't available for the Bournemouth game. United were really punished unfairly for playing on the Monday. Every other team had AFCON players available to them.

He could have been the difference in winning the game considering how light in defence we were.

Just don’t see it with Yoro.

He has plenty of positive attributes to make a good CB, but the attributes of positional sense and standing a man up, those to me are instinctive to really top quality CB’s, and he lacks them, or has done so far anyway.

I think at best he’ll be a solid CB for 5/6 years of a rebuild, but in 5/6 years if we’re challenging for PL or CL, I reckon he’d be a backup CB at most behind two top quality ones.

I don’t know what it is about him, but the more I see of him, the more I think he lacks the top instincts of a defender to be a really top quality CB. Obviously, I hope I’m proven very wrong in time.

Yoro was yet another signing that made no sense, so much money for someone who needs 2 or 3 more years to mature, he might leave for nothing once his contract is up

What I find odd about the rounding on Yoro and Lammens is were people just not paying attention this year or what?

Its a fact that whenever De Ligt or Maguire aren't anchoring and organising the defence it becomes dramatically weaker, neither of them played so our defence was weaker. That shouldn't be a surprise.

The weakened disorganised defence naturally damaged Yoro...add in that he was in a sorta hybrid CB/RB role then naturally it was a struggle, he isn't a full back - that role might suit Maz but it wont suit Yoro. Then that shouldn't be a surprise.

In general the downside this year to Amad as a wing back is that teams have been targeting our right side as a weak link defensively, this added even more pressure to Yoro in this unnatural hybrid CB/RB role with only Hayden central to act as the anchor. Unsurprisingly this was a huge flaw in the team.

And Lammens is naturally not finished. If we wanted an immediate win now goalkeeper then we should have signed Martinez. Lammens was always a project signing. Yes he is a massive upgrade on what came before but in the grand scheme of things he is probably in the bottom half of starting keepers right now. The assumption being that he will develop into being a top keeper. Again this should have been known by everyone already.

First paragraph is bang on the money. Unless United win and sometimes even when they do somebody will find a fault with players or the manager.

It wasnt the usual formation at the start of the match. Yoro was playing right back, if slightly tucked, and Amad as right winger for first half hour. It was a big shift in tactics but it reverted and Bournemouth got back in the game

Theres a bit of that alright but regarding the Bournemouth game its basically just small squad + injuries = weaker team. Weaker team equals worse results.....and the Bournemouth game wasn't even that bad a result in the end.

On the flip side of that there was a deflected shot that may or may not have been going in that I thought he did very well to get to.

Was very impressed with it

I think it was actually going in with the way the ball was spinning but even if it was going wide it's probably even a better indication he can cover ground even better

I have no interest in “arguments “ or immature back and forths… so I’m sorry if I was a bit short wit you , you’re entitled to your opinion. I just don’t agree with it.

Good post, maybe it’s because we’ve been in the doldrums for so long for such a big club but it’s surprising how impatient some United fans have become with both players and managers in recent times.

For Sunday are we looking at something like (presume De Ligt & Maguire aren't available)

Lemmens

Dalot - Yoro - Heaven - Shaw - Dorgu

Mainoo - Ugarte

Bruno - Cunha - Mount

or

Lemmens

Dalot - Yoro - Heaven - Shaw

Ugarte - Mainoo - Mount

Bruno - Sesko - Cunha

I think he is unlikely to play the 2 younger center half's as a 2 if there isn't somebody more experienced available. There is change required to the centre midfield and whole right side anyway as a result of circumstances. It will be interesting to see how he tries to adapt in terms of personnel and formation. Personally I wouldn't start Sesko and would move Bruno to where Amad/Mbuemo were in terms of attacking positions. Mount & Cunha looked very dangerous at times on Monday so I wouldn't be tinkering too much with their positions where there is so much more to be changed.