Manchester United Banter 4

17 Sep 2026 15:57:07
I have pushed back against too much negativity here. I disagreed about the transfers being poor (and still do) and have pushed back against general labelling of our players being substandard (beyond a select few). I argued it was unfair to sack ETH the summer before he was sacked because he had no support around him, despite acknowledging his purchases were well over market rates.

I felt RA should have been backed better because the conditions in which he took over management were a team that for over a year had the metrics of a team tracking for relegation trouble, and who then moved on several forwards in order to make the adjustments needed. And while results weren't as good as I'd have wanted there was lots of other evidence to suggest that in the long run our underlying performances would lead to a solid top 4 side we could build on.

I didn't like how slow he was to give Mainoo more chances and he made several mistakes, and was clearly very emotional. I argued it was unclear that Wilcox needed to go because even though he messed up with RA and undermined him, that wasn't enough to remove him. I argued that (once given the permanent job) Carrick deserved a proper crack at the job.

I say all that because I do think there is enough evidence now to sack Wilcox and Carrick. Wilcox has made too many mistakes on the big decisions. Carrick has just overseen a regression in our play and we have lost all the improvements in structure built over 12 months. It is too painful to watch. I think I'll step away from it for a while because I simply don't believe or identify with what they're doing. Hope to return soon but it's a negative feedback loop right now and that does no one any good.

17 Sep 2026 16:07:22
Good and fair post Don.

17 Sep 2026 18:25:02
Don I would say, that maybe give me your predictions for anything I back the complete opposite and I be quids in.

17 Sep 2026 19:52:26
Bang on DonRed.

Cast your minds back, we could have got an uninjured Baleba for 85m when Amorim was still here in the month that he said enough is enough.

I don't know the money we paid to release Amorim and his team, but I bet it was more than the 15m we saved on Baleba.

Let that sink in.

17 Sep 2026 19:55:48
Carrick's Start (2026/27): With only 4 points from Manchester United's opening 4 Premier League games, Carrick is taking 1.00 PPG and losing half of his fixtures early in the campaign.

Amorim's Final Run (2025/26): While Amorim was ultimately dismissed following friction with the board and inconsistency, his side maintained a 1.55 PPG clip and only lost 5 of 20 league matches.

Even taking Amorim's final 4-game stretch before his dismissal into account, his performance metrics remained superior to Carrick's present slump.

17 Sep 2026 21:39:16
It's not Carrick who is the issue, it is the leadership.

We have gone through a raft of Managers, some of whom were clearly not qualified for the job, Moyes, Ole, and now Carrick, all of whom never managed 'big' stars, never won 'big' trophies, tand that's always a risk. Chelsea appointed Rosenior with terrible results, and Liverpool are trying Iraola. At some point a promising Manager will deliver, but doing that at the madhouse that is United is probably twice as hard.

ETH and Amorim had potential but hadn't managed in the 'big' leagues. Both tried to implement discipline, with mixed results, ETH fined and dropped Rashford, Amorim froze him out, yet here he is as first choice again. That tells us a lot about what is wrong with this club. Ralph called it but was ignored.

The same applies to Wilcox, not sure what qualified him to be DoF at United, he doesn't seem to have a track record yet here he is, making the major decisions.

Carrick has been appointed based on a very good run last year, but so far, he isn't showing he has the cojonas to make the tough decisions, and clearly his coaching and management experience is limited. I would be ok with that given his knowledge of the club and his achievements as a player if we had a structure that was robust.

That brings us to the players, good players come here and seem to regress, last night's display was odd, 2 up in no time and then pretty much crap for the rest of the game. We sign promising young players who do not develop in the way we would expect, Heaven and Yoro are not getting any better, and there is clearly a reluctance to play youngsters.

Friends who support other clubs are laughing at us, they think we are amateurs and can no longer be considered an elite club, and I find it hard to disagree with them.

17 Sep 2026 22:23:38
How is Carrick not part of the problem..he is picking the teams. This is the same Carrick that got us to third, with now a slightly better team than last year, you could argue that both ways.
We went into this season, an unprecedented one, as one of the clubs with the least disruption (stable squad and manager compared to an unprecedented amount of managerial and players changes in the league).

We had the easiest start of all the top 6 clubs.

The writing was on the wall for Carrick to deliver on the false promises of last year.

Some of us called this last year and we were told Carrick is the one, he deserves a chance, etc etc etc. This is what you get.

Mediocrity across all levels.

We a pathetic and going backwards, fast.

You will defend Carrick AJH because you were so anti Amorim. Not backing him when we at least had the effort levels showing signs is criminally inept from glineos.

Carrick is beyond useless if he can't get a tune out of a very similar squad to what he did last season.

You have to ask why can't he? What has changed?
Let's focus the discussion on that point?

What is so vastly different this season to last season for Carrick to be returning such dismal results?

18 Sep 2026 05:38:33
Did you read my post JBR? I said he lacks cojones and isn't qualified for the job, which is a key part of the problem. Perhaps I should have said Carrick isn't the only issue. But his appointment, and that of other Managers, as well as the club's inability to strengthen key positions is a bigger issue.

It's groundhog day. Appoint a Manager, do well initially, have a dip, get sacked, rinse and repeat, see Jose, Ole, ETH, and now possibly Carrick. All the while not addressing root cause problems.

18 Sep 2026 13:17:13
You were pro Carrick though AJH.
So my questions remain.
You have to ask why can't he? What has changed?
Let's focus the discussion on that point?

What is so vastly different this season to last season for Carrick to be returning such dismal results?

18 Sep 2026 13:34:13
I have no idea, amd it is a fair question. I wasn't a Carrick fanboy but didn't see outstanding candidates elsewhere. I posted a few days ago about the Arsenal and City games last year, where has that spirit gone?

17 Sep 2026 15:06:15
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Matchday 4 - Quick Round Up

17 Sep 2026 19:26:32
Fantastic review Ed001. Thank you.
You said "because they have too many poor quality players, a fair few brought in over the summer as well". Apart from Fernandez, who are the poor quality players Spurs bought; Do you think Marmoush is an average player; Maybe Tonali, although he is a good player he is not too class, or, at least, he is not now because he regressed.

He wanted to go to Italy and maybe he is not have any interest in football, as far as he goes to Spurs:)

{Ed001's Note - apart from Fernandez, there is Tosin, van Hecke, Senesi, Robertson (his legs went 2 years ago), Dubravka and Mudryk. Tonali is decent, as can be Marmoush and Savio, but they overpaid on everyone as well. They were a relegation battler because of the crap players and they have not really improved much, if at all, so it is no surprise they are down the bottom.}

18 Sep 2026 13:38:20
I almost forgot about Senesi or Van Hecke Ed, you are right. Most of their transfers are average.

17 Sep 2026 14:01:41
I had to wait to post, what was so evident last night was the different level from Brighton, the fitness, passing accuracy and the number of times players made themselves available for a short one touch pass to get through a press.

Our lads are so slow in every aspect. Brighton were 2 down, never panicked, kept to there style of play. I know we gifted the goals with our shocking play, but we are levels behind in work rate, speed of passing and accuracy.

17 Sep 2026 14:46:04
They are seen as a bunch of softies by other teams. Hit them early and give away a few free kicks and that usually keeps our guys quiet for the game.

17 Sep 2026 14:56:21
Brighton is such an interesting club, their use of Jamestown Analytics for the recruitment of coaches and players is incredible. Using their data models they are able to build something greater than the sum of it's parts. Everything they do is to build the best statistically positive outcome. Which as you say is why the fitness, passing accuracy and work rate as a team are so high. Each player has be brought in with a specific set of base requirements for these metrics and additional metrics to fulfil their role in the squad.

The entire structure of the club is set up so the pieces are interchangeable, lose a coach, no big deal the succession plan for a statistically similar coach is there. Lose a midfielder, no problem they have 5 targets that can do a statistically similar job.

One interesting thing I've noticed is that their coaches always seem to overachieve when you compare them to their subsequent moves. Potter as an example, I think he's a great coach, I just don't think he'll find another club that fits his football so precisely.

17 Sep 2026 16:46:14
Excellent post.

17 Sep 2026 12:15:19
I think it's clear the club has continued to go in the wrong direction, and what is more clear is that Wilcox is making the even more problems.

Before we pull the trigger on Carrick, we've got to let Wilcox go first, so we have an experienced and competent DoF who can make the right manager decion next.

17 Sep 2026 13:00:18
Vivell.

17 Sep 2026 13:07:06
I was going to post something similar, Eric.

For me, Carrick is out of his depth, but the root of a lot of problems is Wilcox.

From what I've heard, Wilcox is a blagger. When Dan Ashworth arrived, he gave Ratcliffe honest and professional evaluations of the club: Where it was at; what they needed to do; how complex a rebuild is; and why it was difficult to put a de facto timeline on when United would be in a position to compete for titles. Wilcox undermined this by minimising problems and giving a clear, short, timeline for the club to be challenging for titles. Ratcliffe is, by all accounts, demanding and impatient, and preferred Wilcox's bluff to Ashworth's experience.

This came to a head when EtH was sacked. Ashworth wanted the club to take time in appointing a new manager and, more importantly, was explicit that they needed to hire somebody who fit with the overarching structures and systems already in place.

In other words, someone that could come in and work with what was already there to build back up slowly. Wilcox pushed for Amorim, a shiny new, exciting young manager that would bring immediate change. Ashworth argued that this would render all the work done prior to this worthless because Amorim played a completely different system. Ratcliffe sided with his pet blagger, and Ashworth had no option to quit.

Fast forward a year. Amorim doesn't have a squad capable of playing his style of football. He's at loggerheads with Wilcox and it's conceded that one of them must go. The club had actually decided to get rid of Wilcox before Amorim made his position untenable. It was even suggested that Wilcox would be replaced after things had settled post-Amorim.

Nope, Wilcox is still here. Still butting heads with people with far more experience. And, by all accounts, still calling a lot of the shots. If any one person exemplifies the Ratcliffe era, it's Wilcox. A blagger elevated far above his talents because he knows how to blow smoke up the emperor's arse.

17 Sep 2026 13:38:19
Wilcox will turn on Carrick and fire him the second Wilcox starts taking any flack in the press.

One point I will make is we don't know if the footballing leadership Wilcox, Vivell et al want certain players but are vetoed by the board. For all we know the sporting leadership wanted to buy Anderson, Bouaddi, Tielemans, Hall a Centre back and a back up striker but were told no, there's no budget.

The issues aren't Carrick fault, the sporting leaderships fault, it's very much the owners fault.

We're £1.3bn in debt, we've had over a decade of terrible sporting decisions, we've spent a billion in interest and dividends since the takeover.

Nothing changes if the fan base doesn't hit them in the pocket. If we keep spending and turning up, sponsors keep coming and they get their regeneration project. That's the cash cow, we'll pay for it.

Unless we organise and boycott nothing changes.

17 Sep 2026 15:37:55
You can blame Carrick for his lack of in game management though, he seems void of being able to change tactics within a game, City game prime example when they went down to 10 he just plugged away same thing as they worked on all week, did not even take substitutions just rearrange the play, but nope he got no plan B . That's why the likes of Keane etc were saying he not experienced enough for such a huge job.

How many times over the years you seen Jose Pep Klopp make drastic in game changes when the need arises we just go on and on, then when all else fails lump on subs in there and everywhere and hope for the best.

It's a disgrace a club of United stature play like this just rely on a piece of individual brilliance or on the break and not have the best in class manager, which Carrick would get nowhere near at this time.

17 Sep 2026 20:04:11
Carrick still picks the team and gets them to play a certain way (which is most of the time a slow possession based boring affair), which works if you're winning games (last season), but when you dish it out and the results are as bad as they are now, you should be sacked.

1 point per game. Criminal.

17 Sep 2026 09:45:34
Not going to go over the performance, we all know what is wrong at the club, its been said over and over again. One thing that really bothers me currently and its crept in over the past few years is that there is nobody setting standards anymore. Last night Heaven toils on the ball, tries to win a foul and almost costs us a goal and all our players do is run over to high 5 him! Why isn't anyone giving it to him both barrels? Why is Carrick not screaming at him from the side lines? There is nothing.

Not wanting to go on about "the old days" but imagine Robbo, Vidic, Keano running to high 5 him? No chance, he'd have been bollocked and told to wake up and switch on. Standards have dropped to such low levels and its really sad to see. Carrick won't see Christmas and the process will start again. Sad times yet again.

17 Sep 2026 09:56:44
We need Antonio Conte.
A manager who would not last 2 years but boy this team feels like a bunch of pushovers. Conceding 2-3 goals every game except Sabah.
I live in India and it was late I slept 30 mins around halftime, to 2-1 us leading to a 3-2 down and I was dumbfounded.
The football we play is so disjointed and eye scratching.


Mbuemo has Lukaku's touch. Cunha hasn't been on his races. Rashford is rashford, a bit better but no end product.
Why was Patrick Dorgu rested?
The team looks bereft of ideas and Casemiro has been a huge loss and he had been carrying this team.

17 Sep 2026 09:57:54
Heaven is 19 and raw, the mistake is playing him with a 20 year old who whilst slightly more experienced, is still raw. Our captain last night has been at the club for 3 months and hasn't had a good game himself yet.

Last night was the Carabao cup, a competition we could frankly do without in the grand scheme of this season, the team selection showed that as well, it would be nice to win so we can play some kids in other games but I doubt anyone at the club it too fussed, they certainly won't be sacking the manager off the back of it. The teams that win the Carabao these days are the ones with the strongest, deepest squads as almost every team rests players in every round. We quite clearly don't have a squad strong enough to compete in 1 competition never mind 4.

It's astounded me how many people on here are blaming the manager, surely watching this team and how we are run for the last 10 years everyone knows the manager isn't the issue. I know he will be sacked if results continue, you can't sack all of the players, but it won't make any difference. Carrick didn't tell the players to throw away a 2 goal lead and constantly give the ball away. Until we have better players no manager will be able to win anything with this team.

I despise Dalot as a player but who do you play at right back if he doesn't play? That's the problem, he's still our best right back, despite being absolutely horrific in every game. That's on the club not replacing him.

17 Sep 2026 10:08:25
Fully understand the age thing with Heaven, I still think he has the makings of a good CB but to high five him after such an error isn't going to help him improve. There is no consequence to anything poor, he looked far too laid back last night and needed a rocket up his arse. He should be fighting to stay in the team not coasting about like he's an established first teamer. Standards start with the manager and Carrick learned that from the best. I hope the laid back Carrick we see in the media is very different behind closed door because if not he can't remain, some of those players last night need to be told straight how poor they were.

Sesko will never survive in this league unless he starts to be nasty, considering the size of him he is far too soft. The best strikers this league has seen all had that nasty side to them, Shearer, Rooney, RVP, Wright, Drogba were horrible to play against and defenders would be wary of them, Sesko is a pussycat. He won't last long unless he makes some big changes.

17 Sep 2026 11:51:21
Sesko looks like a big cuddly jelly baby. What is he 6ft 5 and he gets smashed off the ball the majority of the time. I can't remember him winning a header from a long kick, his hold up play is terrible. this guy should be dominating defenders like Haaland does.

17 Sep 2026 11:57:59
As soon as Brighton scored their first goal i looked at my mate and said this will end up 3-2 because they will just fold again and that is the gods honest truth. What a pathetic, feeble, gutless, useless load of individuals.

17 Sep 2026 12:57:11
Carrick sets up the team.
The way we approach the games is on him.
His demise started after the city and Arsenal games when he took over. It has been clear to see.

17 Sep 2026 13:08:38
I mentioned in the live chat during the match that the first goal came directly from Sesko being an absolute pushover.
It was also plain to everyone watching the game that Brighton was operating on another level to Utd. their players had the ability to find each other with passes, accept the ball at speed, play out from the back when they were put under a little pressure and win almost every 50/50 ball with their opponent.


Utd on the other hand excelled in failing to find a team mate with simple passing, finding the ball cannoning off them when passes came their way, hoofing the ball to an opponent when put under pressure and failing to be combative with an opponent.
This is simply not good enough.

17 Sep 2026 13:27:17
Conte would last max a year, he'd lose his head dealing with the board, go after them in the press and get fired.

17 Sep 2026 14:19:19

The passing last night was so sloppy and the pace we played at was walking pace. What i don't understand is how Carrick just stands there with his hand covering his mouth and very rarely says anything. I would of been going f****** mad watching that sh*t on the sidelines.

17 Sep 2026 15:41:48
How stupid to say Carabao cup is something we don't need, that and the FA cup were the only realistic chance of winning anything this season, we ain't winning the league or CL so it's now only possibly FA Cup and won't hold my breath on that either .


Oh wait your happy to fight for top 6 to try get some form of Europe next season. what a joke we have become.

17 Sep 2026 06:53:02
Yes a bad night, with another poor performance.

But on the bright side All or Nothing picked a good year to film, they won't be struggling for content will they.

17 Sep 2026 07:00:46
Perhaps need to rename it next to Little or Nothing.

17 Sep 2026 09:26:40
Appalling! Can't imagine Carrick has much time left. It won't be long now till we are able to 'concentrate solely on the league'!

17 Sep 2026 09:27:46
Quickly copyright that Keefy, journo's read these pages for content.

17 Sep 2026 09:28:11
The Damned United 2.

17 Sep 2026 10:08:40
From what I've seen Fulham is the easiest opponent we could be facing in the Prem. If it's a defeat, he'll be in serious trouble with a natural break there for the board to do something.
However, I expect we'll scrape a win and gloss over everything.

17 Sep 2026 13:12:21
There's a large section of the fanbase that will not be satisfied with a simple paint job. we know that the doors need ripping off and replacing, simply touching them up with a little bit of gloss will never do.

17 Sep 2026 06:48:25
How long will it be before Eddie Howe is the next manager?

17 Sep 2026 07:46:37
I'm genuinely surprised we didn't try and get Unai from Villa.

17 Sep 2026 09:28:27
Agree.

17 Sep 2026 11:20:15
We need a Dutch manager, just so I can enjoy the press conferences.

16 Sep 2026 23:07:09
If ever one player could encapsulate and epitomise the state of the club currently it's Diogo dalot. Been here a number of years, was loan out to Milan and tried to be sold but we couldn't get rid. Since then he's literally been our first choice rb for the last 4/5 years. Crap defensively, useless in the air, can't pass 5 yards, constantly out of position, weak in the tackle, can't cross his legs .and it goes on.

Poor performance after poor performance yet there he is on the team sheet next game. He did an interview earlier this week talking about wanting the club to win things and dominate the league .that will only happen when players like him are no longer here. Sorry for the rant but he does my head in 🤣.

17 Sep 2026 00:14:09
He abandons his post and runs up to be a striker once or twice a game and the defense of the opposition literally let's him get the ball as it is less dangerous than if they try to play the ball 😆.

17 Sep 2026 05:47:07
Wouldn't be surprised he is still there because he is best mates with bruno and cristiano before that. He if definitely professional off field but on it it's a different story.

17 Sep 2026 00:03:18
One of the most annoying players I've witness in my life time. We have had plenry of poor players but he annoys me more than most of the bad ones. Right up there with other wastes of space like anthony davenport milne martial shaw rashford weggy. They all don't annoy me for the same reasons but i don't like any of them as players or characters.

17 Sep 2026 09:13:59
With u Ken but you know what he will still be starting on Sunday. Absolute joker. If we put him up for sale tomorrow he'd be lucky to have a team in Portugal want him. Utter dross.

17 Sep 2026 09:48:32
But who else can play in his position? Maz not great Yoro but still raw? Amad is out and a waste of his attacking talent. Any of the u21s ready to step up.. I haven't heard so.

It may be that the best way til we get decent full backs is to play three at the back with four in midfield who should aim to control the game.

17 Sep 2026 11:59:25
Tim_99 - but he's brilliant at running 50 yards and high fiving everyone.

17 Sep 2026 13:02:35
Right back was the priority defensive position this summer imo. I stated that before the transfer window and was told I was being foolish. Shaw has flaws but he's an infinitely better player than Dalot who commits a catastrophic error in almost every game.

17 Sep 2026 14:56:25
Yoro can play right back. He may be inexperienced and a little raw, but he is athletic and fit. To be fair, I cannot think of any positive attributes that Dalot possesses so Yoro would definitely be a big improvement.

17 Sep 2026 15:46:04
It's a bit rich just blaming Dalot for these performances, Heaven poor, Yoro Poor, Maz poor, when Shaw plays you blame him, McGuire is still our best defender that says it all

It's a shocking team & squad & manager & coaches we are in such a mess it's diabolical.

16 Sep 2026 23:06:55
I am choosing to imagine that the objective was to lose while trying to pretend that we were trying to win 🤯.

16 Sep 2026 22:16:47
Wonder who the next 'United legend that no other big club would look at ' will be our next interim manager.

16 Sep 2026 22:30:44
My money's on Steve Bruce.

16 Sep 2026 22:33:04
He loves a relegation scrap.

16 Sep 2026 22:34:20
Get Neville and Scholes in, seem to have an answer for everything.

16 Sep 2026 22:36:29
RVN 🤣.

16 Sep 2026 22:42:54
Fergie interim.

16 Sep 2026 23:02:47
Casemiro. He must have been responsible for the game plans last season because things completely fell apart the moment he left.

17 Sep 2026 07:01:44
Roy Keane and Cantona.