Manchester United banter 9

20 Jul 2026 15:46:06
Sad news about Keegan. Great player, passionate about the game. Mighty mouse indeed, small in size but a huge personality.

20 Jul 2026 17:44:24
Very sad.
RIP Kevin Keegan.

20 Jul 2026 22:56:49
Two-time Ballon d'Or winner, and I think he is still incredibly underrated in English football history. For me, he suffers because he is always compared to King Kenny in the minds of many, but he was a truly magnificent player when I was growing up. RIP.

20 Jul 2026 23:02:19
And he always played with a smile on his face.

21 Jul 2026 07:23:02
Never liked him as a player whilst he was playing for "them", but greatly admired the way he carried himself during and after his career.

Loved him when he was not in red.

A great ambassador for the game, and, by all accounts, a great bloke who will be sadly missed.

RIP Kev.

20 Jul 2026 13:23:53
Good to see Tynan Thompson's transfer go through. Seems a promising player. The personal circumstances for why he's leaving Spurs are sad but hopefully he can develop and push on at United.

20 Jul 2026 13:20:00
The best team won, but overall there was a lot to dislike about this World Cup.

Let's start with the football. Some sendings off initially, but as the competiton progressed, players seemed to be getting away with all sorts, Paraguay and Argentina stand out. Whether conscious or not, it seemed Argentina were continually given the benefit of the doubt, the Egypt game in particular was the best example of applying rules inconsistently. Even last night I feared for the tesult as the ref seemed completely out of his depth.

A lot of matches were not good adverts for the game, the smaller teams packing everyone behind the ball and using low blocks to frustrate. I get why they do it, but it's horrible to watch. There were some awesome games too, with the meaninglss 3rd place game being the best of them but this is the World Cup, the pinnacle of the game.

The final was poor, if the referee had stamped down on the pettiness early on then a game of football may have broken out, but he let some dodgy challenges go and the tone was set. I hate the way Argentina play, its nasty and crass, bit if the ref let's them get away with it then they will just carry on.

As for England, I think we've covered it, Tuchel is not the Messiah and he made some terrible decisions, particularly in the semi-final. Taking players who were not fit or had not played, playing defenders in midfield, Bellingham dragged us to the semis.

Away from the football, apparently Infantino stipulated he had to be shown on screen at every game he attended, narcissism at its finest, and Gianni is a huge part of the problem, bending rules whenever he sees fit.

Alowing the US to essentially override established protocols was unnecessary and didn't improve the spectacle. Hydration breaks were there purely to allow adverts to be run and disrupted games, and do we really need a half time show and an extended break? I fear every World Cup will now do both of these things irrespective of where it is held. I know we want to put on a show but the Americanisation of the final was awful. Maybe I'm an old fart, maybe I'm not.

20 Jul 2026 15:59:29
Dreadful finals but par for the course when Trump has any involvement

20 Jul 2026 21:05:03
lol .Trump syndrome, let's blame Him for Argie behaviour, let's blame him for FIFA actions, Let's blame him for England losing, shall I go on.

20 Jul 2026 22:30:04
Blame him for armstronging the weaklings at fifa to allow a suspended player to play. Talk about pissing all over established laws of the game.

Horrible final. Hydration breaks ruined just about every game. First time I've seen half time go almost 30 mins, what an embarrassment. Rooney was asked what his favourite part about the half time show was and he said his favourite part was when it ended.

Argentina are a bunch of thugs, I couldn't be happier that they lost. I can bet they had the balon d'or lined up for Messi if they had won. They still might give it to him anyway. Possibly the best ever player in history, but the way he's often been carried by just about everyone irks me.

Anyway, look forward to United playing again.

20 Jul 2026 22:56:41
Enrubbishification or Americanisation

The World Cup was a joke
bang average no mark teams.
Political involvement on a Balagon, American by birth right who if born today there, he wouldn't be eligible and that just makes it funny
3rd place group qualification rewarding mediocrity.
Argentina clearly with a bye to the semifinals.
Refreshment breaks.
Too many teams.
Too many games.
Ticket prices.
Americans
Celebrity spotting

Diluted quality, spread thin for maximum ROI.

Russia>Qatar>USA
Progressively more corrupt.
Hosting World Cups in 3rd world bent countries isn't the way.

20 Jul 2026 23:11:44
Trump and the Argentine president are cut from the same cloth. Spain is Trump's least favourite European country, particularly because they refused to allow US troops use their bases.

Spain has a social democratic government and their team is a classic example of a "socialist" team in that it's greater than the sum of its parts. Other than Lamine Yamal, who didn't shine particularly, it's not a team relying on individual stars. Simon Critchley, in his very enjoyable book "What we Think about when we Think about Soccer/Football" cites Sartre's turning to football when thinking about the nature of organization. As Critchley notes: "What is taking place in an organized team is a never ceasing dialectic between the associative, collective activity of the group and the supportive, flourishing individual actions of the players whose being is only given through the team."

It's really the antithesis of most major American sports, with the continual stoppages allowing each play to be called by a management team.

The World Cup may have succeeded here both financially and as a spectacle, but let's hope the Americanizations that were adopted never take off.

Spain showed us that the sport, which is a metaphor for life, is all about the collective. Not even Messi could negate that.

21 Jul 2026 08:54:08
And football's showpiece starting late, because America had to have their anthem played.

Best moment was, 'F**k you, Gordon' ?

19 Jul 2026 23:16:22
Congrats to Spain, deserved winners. I love the Argentina will to win, just not how they go about it with dirty fouls.

More saliently for England and Utd, it shows once again how important it is to have really top technical players, especially in midfield.

Players who keep the ball, don't give it away and definitely not just lump it. Players who have composure and the confidence in their ability to retain possession and probe and have a bit of creativity too.

20 Jul 2026 00:53:01
The referees were instructed to keep the game flowing and not card for petty fouls. That led to a team like Argentina showing the world how poor football can really be. In their last 3 matches, they had so many bad challenges that should have resulted in yellows. Some of which were reds. When they finally do get a second yellow for launching a player into the stratosphere, they still have the audacity to complain about it.

They have surrounded refs. Surrounded injured players on the floor. Punched, elbowed, thrown to the ground. Even at the end, Paredes punched a player in the throat after the final whistle - he should get a retro ban. There is nothing at all impressive about that squad.

Would have been a disgrace if they had won.

Spain just did what Spain do. They cherish the ball and look for good opportunities. Pretty simple really.

20 Jul 2026 04:18:57
I'm sure the vast majority of other nationals were hoping Spain would win.

Argentina actually have some excellent players. When they go behind, they play some exciting football. Until then, their games are the antithesis of the beautiful game.

I understand how FIFA may want the games to flow, but there's two approaches to make that happen. If referees don't give out cards when justified, then the dirty play just gets worse.

Players will take advantage. If referees give out cards for bad fouls, holding and constant talking back to the referees, and preventing free kicks and penalties from being taken expeditiously, then the players will stop doing it, and the game will flow better. Take that France Panama game. How could one possibly maintain that the game flowed better with the way that game was managed?

19 Jul 2026 20:50:36
Martinez injured in WC final. Hope not bad news for us.

19 Jul 2026 21:29:26
Need to get rid anyway, so makes no difference.

19 Jul 2026 21:34:42
Mainoo has a back injury. Sesko has a shin injury. Ugarte's out, which, from a playing point of view, is not a disaster, but it makes selling him more difficult, and Ashford hardly excelled. It has not been a great World Cup for us.

19 Jul 2026 21:53:13
On the positive side, we had no players in the England team being flogged like Rice, and they won't have the inevitable sadness of losing a semi final.

20 Jul 2026 05:19:32
Mainoo, I would wager, is fine, or at least will be by the time he is due to play.

20 Jul 2026 12:50:05
Have a feeling Mainoo really didn't want to play on Saturday and went 'My back hurts, get me out of here.' He'll be fine by mid August.

20 Jul 2026 13:51:55
If that's his M.O when things aren't going his way, then he'll never be all right.

20 Jul 2026 15:22:07
Typically most teams suffer a higher number of injuries in seasons following summer international tournaments.

Players don't get enough rest, and the additional traveling and exertion on their bodies often comes home to roost the following season.

For ourselves, we will likely have to play an extra 15-20 games, so adding quality in depth is vital for us this summer. This is especially true as we have a number of players in our first team squad that typically struggle with injuries anyway (Mazraoui, MdL, Martinez, Shaw, and Mount).

The challenge is that, in the current market, trying to find value for money to bulk out the squad is difficult. Although we have found some success with signing players like Heaven for low fees, others such as Sekou Kone, Diego Leon, and Chido Obi Martins haven't yet paid off.

We have already, as of today, signed Christian Orozco and Tynan Thompson. Will these lads have an impact this season? Or will they take a little while to bed in? Maybe one or two of Leon, Obi Martins, or Kone will kick in this season.

Or perhaps one or two of the academy lads will step up this season. The most likely candidates seem to be Harry Amass, Shea Lacey, Radek Vitek, Jaydan Kamason, Godwill Kukonki, Jim Thwaites and the Fletcher twins.

Or at least these seem like the players who are most ready to potentially break into the first team. Although, for obvious reasons, some such as Vitek are unlikely to get the amount of game time needed.

Right now I'd say Amass or one of the midfielders are most likely to have the chance to break out this season. This is mostly due to my suspicion that they might have a clearer pathway because of the limitations of our first team squad. Shaw will likely return to type and spend much of the season injured. Unless we sign another LB, that only places Dorgu ahead of Amass. Likewise, midfield looks a little light, even with the two new signings. Even if we get a third, how they settle and the demands might mean a space opens up at some point during the season.

I think the other defenders will have a harder time due to us already having a lack of experience with Yoro and Heaven, who'll play ahead of them. While Lacey will also struggle to get much game time ahead of Mbeumo and Amad.

We will likely see a fair few injuries this season, and how this squad copes with them will play a massive factor in how successful we are this coming season.

21 Jul 2026 08:54:48
Red Man put a curse on him.

19 Jul 2026 20:11:29
The World Cup is scripted, Argentina will win it and Messi will win the golden boot, check back to this post at 10pm.

19 Jul 2026 21:16:00
I hope the team that plays the best football wins.

19 Jul 2026 22:36:13
Checking in at 22.35. ?‍♂️?

19 Jul 2026 23:12:09
Woeful final. All that is bad about football.

19 Jul 2026 23:27:56
Devlin, between signings and predictions you're not doing so well.

20 Jul 2026 12:53:04
Worse final in world cup history, created by the antics of Argentina. They were shameful throughout and after..even messi started in trying to get a player sent off, which I've never seen him do. But some of the Argentina players, wow just down right nasty talentless thick thugs, unfortunately one of them plays for us. Hope United get rid in the next 4 weeks

20 Jul 2026 13:28:34
I don't believe Licha was involved in any of that. He played tough but fair when he was on the field. Some of you are really going overboard on him. It's turning into nasty, jingoistic rhetoric, and it's as unpleasant to read as some of Argentina's play in the final.


Fwiw, I think the final was a completely different level from the semifinal. The ref didn't get a handle on it. More akin to the Paraguay - France game imo.

20 Jul 2026 14:23:35
Hey Devilin,

I've got a broken watch you can have if you like? That way, at least you could be right twice a day. Or we could track down the octopus for you? ?

19 Jul 2026 18:57:44
Who’s winning the WC Final? I think Spain will pass the Argies to death. Rodri been superb all tournament and get the feeling Yamal will have a big game too. What’s everyone else think?

19 Jul 2026 19:36:23
Spain. They're unbeaten in 37 games and totally dismantled France, who probably were the next best side in the tournament. Anything can happen in a knockout game, but I don't see Argentina laying a glove on them.

19 Jul 2026 20:52:35
Martinez injured ffs.

19 Jul 2026 21:02:41
It is why it is time to sell Martinez. He can't be relied on. To challenge for trophies, you need players who can stay fit.

19 Jul 2026 21:04:40
Yup. Got his customary yellow card, I expect we will see him again just before the Copa America.

19 Jul 2026 21:17:55
I love him as a warrior player, and think he would be great in front of the defence, as he can defend and pick a pass, but I am reluctantly coming round to the view he is too injury prone, especially in our physical league.

19 Jul 2026 21:30:17
He is a liability.

19 Jul 2026 21:38:51
Need to see more of Yoro and Heaven and less of Licha and Harry. Can't see the club buying another cb, so we need these younger players to improve and become the regular starters.

20 Jul 2026 11:12:07
The club desperately needs a decent, experienced CB with pace. Yoro has really not been pushed on, and in fact has been poor. Heaven looks the best bet, but needs experience beside him and can't rely on de Ligt being available very often. McGuire is probably our best bet, which shows how poor we are in that department. Martinez, well, just get rid....

19 Jul 2026 10:51:58
Morning

Once we had Cole, Yorke, Sheringham and Solskjaer as central strikers. Now we have Sesko and he is injured. Not actually sure what Zirkzee is, but it isn’t a goal scoring CF, more a support striker, or even a 10.

I feel we are far too light in the central striker area. Goals win games.

I feel Kroupi is one we should push to get.


Evan Ferguson was the potential but injury-prone.
There do not seem to be many English CF options. I was reading about Harry Gray, at Leeds, younger brother of Archie who went to Spurs, sounds interesting.

I wonder if the club would actually spend the money, or muddle along. However, anyone have any good choices, young hungry goal scoring CF?

19 Jul 2026 12:04:52
100% we got to get in another striker, an experienced one with pace. Sesko is not capable of being the only striker for the number of games next season, on top of not being anywhere near a finished article yet, and there is also the worry with injuries, which he can't seem to shake off.



In my eyes he is not good enough anyway, but that's another debate. We need another without doubt.

19 Jul 2026 13:29:04
We need at least one.
Kroupi or Mateta would be good.
Mbeumo is an option, as would be Rashford if we can't sell him.

I'd have loved to have Cavani in his prime.

19 Jul 2026 13:29:52
I'd be delighted if we got someone like Mateta. Getting Tielemans, who can play further up, gives options to continue to play Cunha or Mbeumo up top too. But I do think a backup striker is on the list.

We've a lot to do, and another CM and at least one fullback are higher priorities, I'd imagine. We can make do this year, similar to at CB, but I expect us to recruit in both positions by next summer.

19 Jul 2026 13:48:16
Mateta is not good enough. We need a really clinical striker.

19 Jul 2026 14:04:20
Salford, we're looking for a backup. Mateta is a really good player. Kroupi would be more ideal, but he'd cost a lot more.

19 Jul 2026 14:25:02
I think they are working on the LB now, and then a forward player after. Mbeumo, Cunha and, if Rashford stays around, can all play CF.

So I think the focus was on CM and LB first, and if the right forward is around, we will go for him.

19 Jul 2026 15:06:24
Also meant to add, had Rashford been moved on, I'm sure they would've already looked to buy someone else, but because he is still about and a sale hasn't been made, he is ultimately coming back and we now have an additional forward.

So, once his position is clear, I see us prioritising other areas. Keeping Rashford is not ideal, but if he is kept, I don't see them spending more money on another forward.



But if he is moved on, however late in the window, I'm sure there will be options. The good thing is, we do have options.

A long way to go in the window, the World Cup will be finished this week so I presume we will see a couple more transfers next week.

19 Jul 2026 17:23:05
I'd just like to add, with Mateta, it's only last year he failed a medical with AC Milan because of his knee.

19 Jul 2026 19:10:26
Mateta would be a very good back up striker for us for sure, and wouldn't break the bank.

That being said, if Rashford is staying, and that's a big if, he can play anywhere across the forward line, especially LW and CF back up, so I'd doubt we'd buy another player up top.

Despite the work rate issues, he's a quality finisher.

LB and midfield are more pressing.

19 Jul 2026 20:06:51
Rashford isn't staying, he will leave. It may be late in the window when it happens, but he wants to go, we want him to go, and I think there will be plenty of offers for him. Unless he plays silly bu$$ers, of course.

19 Jul 2026 21:32:38
If Mateta comes in, it will be Sesko who is the back up striker.

19 Jul 2026 09:28:07
With 'decent but not elite' players going for £116m and £117m, does anyone else think that we might end up making a surprise sale, to be able to finance the CM, LB and CF required? No LW needed: Dorgu and Rashford, whether you like it or not.

I wonder, with Lacey's emergence and the massively high hopes we have for him, whether Amad or Mbeumo might be sold to add to the kitty? I for one was incredibly underwhelmed by Mbeumo last season - his final ball is shocking.

19 Jul 2026 10:33:08
Downsie

I wouldn't sell MBueno. First season can be difficult. Now Amad could raise an interesting fee in the market. Another point would be if Cole Palmer became available.

Rashford has to go.

The one with the massively high hopes is Gabriel.

19 Jul 2026 10:45:10
Mbeumo had an excellent start to the season. AFCON really disrupted his season. He's had a break now, will have a full pre-season, so I'm excited to see him next season. Amad had a great World Cup personally. He could fetch a good fee, but I think we should be keeping him.

The big fee should really be coming in for Rashford, but it speaks volumes that it's not, not even any offers currently. Dalot, Martinez, Mount should all raise good money, and I'd sell them before others.

19 Jul 2026 12:09:00
Mbuemo just can't play the number 9, and that, coupled with the AFCON, really made him struggle.
Amad may be sold. Is he really good enough? Yes, he tries, but lacks quality. Hopefully offers come in for him, Martinez, Mount, Zirkee and Rashford, but I won't hold my breath, although apparently a few offers have already been rejected for Rashford.

19 Jul 2026 12:31:10
Rashford has turned down offers. No offer has been rejected by United for him, because we have not received one.
Rashford will only leave on his terms to who he wants to go to. If not, he will sit tight and there is nothing we can do about it.
We only have 3 fbs at the club, and they are all poor full backs really, and only 1 cf.

I don't know what Zirkzee is, but he appears to want to stay, and again nothing we can do about it.
Martinez, Mount, Dalot, Maz, Maguire, Amad, Rash and Zirkzee all possible sales imo, but we'll have to wait and see.
We need a cf, cm, cb, 2 x fbs imo.
Obviously won't get them all done, but those are the positions I'd like to still see upgraded.

19 Jul 2026 12:34:48
JJ is only 15, so a long way off. He went with the youth squad for pre season, and rightly so.
High hopes for him, but can't rush him.

19 Jul 2026 12:50:30
It's clear we need a good striker. Sesko is an excellent player who would score many goals with the right service. I would have tried to sign Watkins, but watching him at the World Cup, it seemed to me he has lost a yard or two of pace, which a top striker needs today.



We also need a creative midfielder in case Bruno gets injured and/or needs a rest after a long, long lady season.

With Lacy coming through, how do you keep him, Amad and Mbwuemo, happy, as they all want to play and perform best off the right wing.

19 Jul 2026 14:12:32
Amad is miles better than Mbeumo, folks.

19 Jul 2026 17:57:23
Not scoring goals or making assists, Downsie. That's just a matter of fact.
He has great skill, but not enough end product.
The physicality of the EPL goes against him, imo. He does well on the international stage. He is 25, I think, and imo it would be a good time to sell him. He's not really shown enough consistency.

He has been with the club 5 years and still has not found a regular starting position. He puts in great effort, not faulting him. He's never had a great run of starts as a rw, so maybe this is his year, but he needs to be getting a lot more goals. Mbeumo is streets ahead in that regard.

19 Jul 2026 19:04:42
Last year, he played a lot of games at wing back. The year before, I think he had something like 0,40 goals per 90 and around 0,30 assists per 90. At the same time, he completed dribbles and pressed well.
I think Diallo is fine, not the most consistent player, but he has a high ceiling.

19 Jul 2026 21:36:21
Amad is never at the required level. Yes, he fights and runs, but the end product is really poor. I remember AJH saying he'd be a great wing-back; how did that work out? Willing enough, but not good enough. If we want to actually progress.

18 Jul 2026 23:54:37
Sign Spense for leftback!

19 Jul 2026 07:45:04
World Cup fever, unfortunately. He was dodgy and really, really poor last year for Spurs.