23 Aug 2026 21:30:09
Yesterday I saw a team that just need want it.
I don't understand how players can not run and fight hard. Their talent takes care of the rest. But at the very least, they should try.
It's not the loss, but the manner of it. Some of the performances out there was unforgivable.
23 Aug 2026 22:27:18
The performance wasn't good, but was the setup right by Carrick? Was he proactive in trying to change it in-game?
Tielemans is saying we just did ball work in preseason and no running.
Reports last season say training wasn't as intense as under Amorim.
Maybe Carrick took over a fitter and drilled the team, and it didn't show so much last season.
Maybe set up to fail.
23 Aug 2026 22:39:59
I saw the exact same with Anderson today, and he was hooked. Poor touches, and players running off him.
Some of these guys are not fit yet.
I think Bruno Cunha and Tielemans in particular were miles off it, and it showed. Haaland missed 2 sitters today. He'll score in a few weeks' time.
There is no getting away from the fact that Carrick got it wrong, and made it worse as the game went on.
He backed the wrong horses on the wrong day, and nothing went right, or looked right, really, from start to finish, and the whole performance was nothing short of extremely disappointing.
Dorgu was shocking, Shaw was awful, Maguire was worse. I will say that Maguire at least played with some urgency towards the end when others showed none.
It needs to be a lot better next Sunday.
They have a lot of work to do this week, both individually and collectively, they have a chance to show up next week at home and win.
Everybody needs to do better.
24 Aug 2026 07:28:09
Ken, they were all shocking. Mbuemo needs a mention too, strolling around.
They all need to pick up quick. It's the same old thing, intensity and want, the want to get to that ball quicker than the other man.
Whatever about their skill level, hard work and wanting it comes first.
The rest takes care of itself. It's on Carrick to ensure that they are all mentally there. That first game was very, very poor to watch.
Hull, my goodness.
24 Aug 2026 08:13:07
We lack aggression and duel winners in midfield and defense.
24 Aug 2026 09:02:23
I think it's fair to say we missed what Casemiro gave us, aerial power in both boxes and physicality in midfield.
24 Aug 2026 09:37:26
Bullied and outplayed by Ollie McBurnie... Very worrying.
24 Aug 2026 11:08:27
Don't know what it is, but United seem to avoid buying players with any kind of pace. Everyone seems slow.
24 Aug 2026 15:41:21
Are our players slow, or is it a case that we don't play fast enough in possession and can't be bothered to get back to defend?
I think it's the latter.
If I was to describe Carrick's style of play, it would be flashes of high tempo football from a base of slow possession and compact deep defence.
It's why we tend to do better against teams that play higher up the pitch. But we have no plan against teams that sit deep.
24 Aug 2026 16:58:57
Hope everyone enjoyed the summer and come back down to earth with a bang watching us on Saturday. My view is it’s still a poor team. I think the 2 signings in Santos & Tielemans are not great; in fact, I was shocked to see how poor both were. I accept it’s their first game, and hopefully they will improve, but they are dreadfully slow, and, coupled with our slow defence, it’s not looking great.
I understand from here that Rashford is the whipping boy, and it looks like Shaw has now been added to that, but let’s be fair: Dorgu was the worst player on the pitch. Heaven was really shaky and got bullied by a Championship striker. Our two new midfielders were dreadful. Cunha was also very poor. Not saying any of the others played well, but this bunch were shocking, and also Carrick was very poor. To start the game with Cunha up top and Bruno virtually in the same place was ridiculous. I don’t think Mbeumo can play as a striker, but he is better there than Cunha... so Carrick and the coaching team got it all wrong, and they must have got preseason so wrong, because hardly anyone looked fit.
Again, you don’t expect to be 100% in the first competitive game, but you expect more than they showed, and if they are going to blame the World Cup on it, well don’t start players who are not fit enough yet. If you can’t trust the players who did not go to the World Cup to be fit enough yet and capable of at least giving Hull a game, if not beating them, then they have no place at United.
Plus, still only 1 striker (whose fitness is a concern) is a nightmare and no decent CBs.
Carrick clearly has no strikers in the reserves or youths that he trusts and would rather play a clearly unfit non-specialist striker in front of anyone else at the club. That’s a huge worry...
If we get Top 4 and anywhere near a domestic cup final and out of the group stages of the CL we will have done fantastic and had a brilliant season, but with this team I just don’t see it. We were slow before, but Jesus, this midfield looks stationary along with our CBs. That’s a worry.