United Thread | 2025/26

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ric
  • Start date Start date
youngbob said:
Juggling the Champions League with the Premier League is gonna be a real, real test for Carrick. He's benefited hugely from being able to play one game per week, and from being able to pick basically the same XI every single game. It means he never has to work on anything in training except repeating what they've done already.
Click to expand...
Perhaps also they’ll plan to go out in the first rounds of the domestic cups again to mitigate the extra games and to ensure they don’t get too exhausted.
 
As corruption and graft is currently topical on so many levels, why has nobody seriously questioned how these cunts have managed to get to 3rd place in the PL ?

Sure dippers are crap and inconsistent, villa up and down, Newcastle all over the place etc etc etc.

But that still does not explain their current position apart from PGMOL assistance !

Carrick is clearly one of the world's best managers or he wouldn't never be at such a famous and revered club, but how many fucking scrawpy 1-0 counter-attacking wins have they managed ?

Obviously having superstar Bruno Fernandes putting up amazing numbers of goals/chances helps their cause, but he is still only feeding over-hyped donkeys ?

Definitely suspicious situation even if only playing once every three/four weeks and no other distractions.
 
Colin Bells Boots said:
As corruption and graft is currently topical on so many levels, why has nobody seriously questioned how these cunts have managed to get to 3rd place in the PL ?

Sure dippers are crap and inconsistent, villa up and down, Newcastle all over the place etc etc etc.

But that still does not explain their current position apart from PGMOL assistance !

Carrick is clearly one of the world's best managers or he wouldn't never be at such a famous and revered club, but how many fucking scrawpy 1-0 counter-attacking wins have they managed ?

Obviously having superstar Bruno Fernandes putting up amazing numbers of goals/chances helps their cause, but he is still only feeding over-hyped donkeys ?

Definitely suspicious situation even if only playing once every three/four weeks and no other distractions.
Click to expand...
Don't think it's that suspicious. They've just hit a purple patch at the exact point that teams like Villa, Liverpool, and Chelsea all hit the wall, and while the middle pack in the PL has improved this season teams like Brentford, Brighton, and Bournemouth still don't have enough talent or money to finish 3rd-4th. If Liverpool and Chelsea had had the seasons they were expected to United would be in a race to finish 5th while hoping Villa win the Europa League.

If United win their last two games they'll finish on 71 points. Since City finished in the top four for the first time in 2011, that amount has been enough enough for 3rd or 4th place in 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, and will obviously be enough in 2026. In fact United could stay on 65 points and still finish 4th this season, such has been the unexpected downturn in the form of the teams between 3rd-6th across the season.
 
Last edited:
youngbob said:
Think they know they have to sign a handful of central midfielders this summer so are saving money elsewhere.

Lammens
[new RB] Maguire DeLigt Shaw
[new CM] Mainoo
Mbeumo Fernandes Cunha
Sesko

Bayindir (Heaton)
Mazraoui Heaven Martinez Dalot (Yoro)
[new CM] [new CM]
Amad Mount Dorgu
[new ST]

Think that'll be the sum total of their business. Five new players. Malacia, Ugarte, Casemiro, Zirkzee all likely to leave.
Click to expand...
That squad isn't challenging for anything. They need a minimum spend of £500million
 
youngbob said:
Don't think it's that suspicious. They've just hit a purple patch at the exact point that teams like Villa, Liverpool, and Chelsea all hit the wall, and while the middle pack in the PL has improved this season teams like Brentford, Brighton, and Bournemouth still don't have enough talent or money to finish 3rd-4th. If Liverpool and Chelsea had had the seasons they were expected to United would be in a race to finish 5th while hoping Villa win the Europa League.

If United win their last two games they'll finish on 71 points. Since City finished in the top four for the first time in 2011, that amount has been enough enough for 3rd or 4th place in 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, and will obviously be enough in 2026. In fact United could stay on 65 points and still finish 4th this season, such has been the unexpected downturn in the form of the teams between 3rd-6th across the season.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your enlightening response.

I still refuse to believe that a club and team who are such a shambles have legitimately got to where they are in the table.

Annoyingly they will receive money that they so desperately need due to their shambolic excuse for a so-called top club .
 
rio-ferdinand-paper.gif


(apologies for putting his face on the forum but you get it)
 
youngbob said:
Juggling the Champions League with the Premier League is gonna be a real, real test for Carrick. He's benefited hugely from being able to play one game per week, and from being able to pick basically the same XI every single game. It means he never has to work on anything in training except repeating what they've done already.

The thing is with Carrick is that he hasn't gone in there and revolutionised a poor team with a radical new system, he's taken charge of an expensively assembled and talented squad that was badly underachieving and has simply played the best players in their most obvious positions. A week off means they can go gung-ho into every single match.

Once his first few ideas get figured out (every manager goes through this), once he's having to rotate and adapt, once he's having to manage fitness and conditioning on top of everything else, I only see it going one way. He'll be sacked when they slump to 12th over the Christmas period and they''ll be back at square one all over again.

It was like this when Ranieri was at Leicester during the 15-16 season. Their title win was amazing, but it came from Ranieri happening across the obvious answer to their problems, playing the same XI basically every single week, and giving them days to prepare so they could give absolutely everything.

Again, their squad was nowhere near good enough on paper to win the league so the achievement of 15-16 remains one of the best ever, but once Ranieri settled on Schmeichel (38 starts); Simpson (30) Huth (35) Morgan (38) Fuchs (30); Mahrez (36) Kante (33) Drinkwater (35) Albrighton (34); Vardy (36) Okazaki (28), he almost never changed it.

Once they were in the Champions League, the system completely collapsed.

The following season, admittedly after losing Kante, their most used XI was used far less at the same time. Schmeichel (30 starts); Simpson (34) Huth (33) Morgan (27) Fuchs (35); Mahrez (36) Ndidi (17) Drinkwater (27) Albrighton (33); Vardy (33) Okazaki (21). Only Simpson and Fuchs started more games in the 16-17 season.

United's record on 3-4 days rest this season is absolutely appalling for a team of their talent and it's not got any better with Carrick in charge. In fact, Carrick is yet to win any of the games he's managed for United on 3-4 days rest. The only win they've had on 3-4 days rest this season came under Amorim at the very start of the season.

From the start of the 25/26 season their record on 5-7 days (or more days) rest is P31 W17 D8 L6 (54% win percentage), their record on 3-4 days rest is P7 W1 D4 L2 (15% win percentage). That one win on 3-4 days rest came against Burnley, a 3-2 win at Old Trafford, after they'd been knocked out on penalties by Grimsby in the League Cup.

I just don't see this going well.
Click to expand...
That’s a superb post.
 
youngbob said:
Juggling the Champions League with the Premier League is gonna be a real, real test for Carrick. He's benefited hugely from being able to play one game per week, and from being able to pick basically the same XI every single game. It means he never has to work on anything in training except repeating what they've done already.

The thing is with Carrick is that he hasn't gone in there and revolutionised a poor team with a radical new system, he's taken charge of an expensively assembled and talented squad that was badly underachieving and has simply played the best players in their most obvious positions. A week off means they can go gung-ho into every single match.

Once his first few ideas get figured out (every manager goes through this), once he's having to rotate and adapt, once he's having to manage fitness and conditioning on top of everything else, I only see it going one way. He'll be sacked when they slump to 12th over the Christmas period and they''ll be back at square one all over again.

It was like this when Ranieri was at Leicester during the 15-16 season. Their title win was amazing, but it came from Ranieri happening across the obvious answer to their problems, playing the same XI basically every single week, and giving them days to prepare so they could give absolutely everything.

Again, their squad was nowhere near good enough on paper to win the league so the achievement of 15-16 remains one of the best ever, but once Ranieri settled on Schmeichel (38 starts); Simpson (30) Huth (35) Morgan (38) Fuchs (30); Mahrez (36) Kante (33) Drinkwater (35) Albrighton (34); Vardy (36) Okazaki (28), he almost never changed it.

Once they were in the Champions League, the system completely collapsed.

The following season, admittedly after losing Kante, their most used XI was used far less at the same time. Schmeichel (30 starts); Simpson (34) Huth (33) Morgan (27) Fuchs (35); Mahrez (36) Ndidi (17) Drinkwater (27) Albrighton (33); Vardy (33) Okazaki (21). Only Simpson and Fuchs started more games in the 16-17 season.

United's record on 3-4 days rest this season is absolutely appalling for a team of their talent and it's not got any better with Carrick in charge. In fact, Carrick is yet to win any of the games he's managed for United on 3-4 days rest. The only win they've had on 3-4 days rest this season came under Amorim at the very start of the season.

From the start of the 25/26 season their record on 5-7 days (or more days) rest is P31 W17 D8 L6 (54% win percentage), their record on 3-4 days rest is P7 W1 D4 L2 (15% win percentage). That one win on 3-4 days rest came against Burnley, a 3-2 win at Old Trafford, after they'd been knocked out on penalties by Grimsby in the League Cup.

I just don't see this going well.
Click to expand...

The World Cup could have a factor next season. I know there's football most summer's now whether it be international or club tournaments, but it could be that some squads benefit more than others from a bit more rest.

I'm hoping we get off to a flying start next season and lead from the front for once. Pep's never going to sacrifice any cup competition, but it would be nice to not play catch up for once and try to get the league sewn up early so we can prioritise other competitions, the CL ideally. The rags will struggle like you say, the pressure will be on Carrick from the get go. They'll expect the recent form to continue and for them to be top of the league, and they won't be. Hopefully they're even more fucked than they were under Amorim come Christmas time.
 
supercity88 said:
I'm hoping we get off to a flying start next season and lead from the front for once. Pep's never going to sacrifice any cup competition, but it would be nice to not play catch up for once and try to get the league sewn up early so we can prioritise other competitions, the CL ideally.
Click to expand...
It's a tough one because in the two seasons we've strolled away with the league we've either bombed out early in Europe (2018) or got all the way to the final and fucked it up anyway (2021). Whereas I think coming from behind and building that momentum in the treble season pushed us over the line in all three competitions. Three waves kinda crested at once.
 
I'm enjoying the "stick or twist" loop they are in. Exactly the same as when they left Ole at the wheel. Everyone knows Carrick's a shit manager but he's qualified for the money league.

If they sack him and the next incumbent doesn't do better, i.e. win the league, the fans will be revolting again. If they keep him, it will doubtless go tits-up and they'll still be revolting. It's wonderful to watch.
 
youngbob said:
It's a tough one because in the two seasons we've strolled away with the league we've either bombed out early in Europe (2018) or got all the way to the final and fucked it up anyway (2021). Whereas I think coming from behind and building that momentum in the treble season pushed us over the line in all three competitions. Three waves kinda crested at once.
Click to expand...

Yeah there's certainly a balance. We didn't benefit from that long break before Everton. You can lose the intensity, form and confidence over such a long period.

But even in the treble season, once we beat Real 4-0 we were staring at 3 league games in 7 days and then the FA Cup and CL final over the following two weeks. Arsenal lost to Forest so we could rest and rotate which enabled us to have that bit more freshness for the two finals.
 
supercity88 said:
Yeah there's certainly a balance. We didn't benefit from that long break before Everton. You can lose the intensity, form and confidence over such a long period.

But even in the treble season, once we beat Real 4-0 we were staring at 3 league games in 7 days and then the FA Cup and CL final over the following two weeks. Arsenal lost to Forest so we could rest and rotate which enabled us to have that bit more freshness for the two finals.
Click to expand...
Yeah have always credited Sheffield United as well for beating Spurs that season. Meant we could rest a load of key players against them in the semi-final, between the Bayern away game and the Arsenal home game.
 
Newman Noggs said:
I'm enjoying the "stick or twist" loop they are in. Exactly the same as when they left Ole at the wheel. Everyone knows Carrick's a shit manager but he's qualified for the money league.

If they sack him and the next incumbent doesn't do better, i.e. win the league, the fans will be revolting again. If they keep him, it will doubtless go tits-up and they'll still be revolting. It's wonderful to watch.
Click to expand...
The rags' fans are always revolting.

In fact, the whole club, from top to bottom, is revolting.
 
youngbob said:
Yeah have always credited Sheffield United as well for beating Spurs that season. Meant we could rest a load of key players against them in the semi-final, between the Bayern away game and the Arsenal home game.
Click to expand...

Yeah luck plays its part.

I know Pep will want to try and win everything, but I genuinely think if we have a good transfer window we've got the ability to rotate quite significantly and still be a formidable team. That should enable us to be strong in the league and CL whilst navigating the cups with some academy players utilised too.

We could get through the CL league phase using Dias and Gvardiol as the CB partnership with Guehi and Khus in the league for example. Pep wouldn't be so rigid but it's an example of our strength when everyone is fit. Anderson coming in would be a huge improvement and it's probably just a couple of attacking upgrades or handling those who want to leave this summer and we're in good shape.

The rags are still a mile away from being able to challenge for titles in my opinion.
 
youngbob said:
Juggling the Champions League with the Premier League is gonna be a real, real test for Carrick. He's benefited hugely from being able to play one game per week, and from being able to pick basically the same XI every single game. It means he never has to work on anything in training except repeating what they've done already.

The thing is with Carrick is that he hasn't gone in there and revolutionised a poor team with a radical new system, he's taken charge of an expensively assembled and talented squad that was badly underachieving and has simply played the best players in their most obvious positions. A week off means they can go gung-ho into every single match.
Click to expand...
I'm not convinced he's even improved them.

Under Amorim they were getting 1.64xPTS/90. Under Carrick it's 1.56xPTS/90. They've overachieved by about 10 points under Carrick. United were 5th in xPTS under Amorim and are 7th under Carrick.

Amorim had them getting 1.94xG/90. Under Carrick it's 1.61xG/90. Carrick is better defensively by 0.14xGA/90. In a neutral game state (when it's drawed), they have pretty much the same xG differential.

Perhaps Carrick can be credited with swinging their luck somewhat but I'd be hesitant to give much credit for that. He's lucked himself into a job and the United execs have fallen for it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top