01 Sep 2026 23:07:21
City have bought very well. I was watching the documentary on Pep last night.
I was saddened for us as Utd fans but impressed too to see how considered and forward thinking the City board were and how they used indicators to get the players they needed.
No stupid signings. No knew jerk reactions. Just a proper pathway forward where they identified who had to leave and the best players they could sign to get them back to the very top.
More importantly they wanted to sign players and give them a few years to reach maturity and peak performance.
People here say that by comparison of respective midfielders etc we have not done so badly with our signings this summer. The bitter truth is that City have signed potentially elite players who should get a lot better.
Also it's clear that the difference between winning titles is often down to marginal differences. That costs.
The extra £150m or £200m they spend is the difference that means they win the tight matches when it counts.
Marginal gains adding up to a substantial win.
They are building and so are we but they are a lot further ahead of us.
Aston Villa have lost so many good players but they too have a good managememt team and a top manager. I think they have recruited very well. Liverpool signing Barcola could be huge for them.
Spurs have signed good players (paid way over the odds but still good players). I know it was only against Charlton but when they click they will be dangerous.
Going to be a very intense season. Let's hope Utds players decide to play with real intensity.
Like most Utd supporters I wish we had signed a left back and a striker.
But.
We do have a talented squad which if they play to their potential should surely be good enough to get a top five place.
Being realistic there is no way we could compete for the title this year but the building blocks are slowly being put into position to enable a really good try in a year or so.
01 Sep 2026 23:36:42
Agreed, Salford. I think not buying a fullback (I'm not as pushed as some about whether it was a left back or right back; I'd have liked both) is a big error. I'd have had a fullback as a much higher priority than a third midfielder. But it's an opportunity for Amass that he couldn't have expected, and maybe Kamason can try to push for games.
Another forward was also high up, but that was assuming Rashford left. Since he's still here - and I have big reservations about him - we are well stocked in the forwards.
01 Sep 2026 23:39:22
A year or so. ??
02 Sep 2026 00:21:32
Berrada said that he aims to have United winning the title next year. It's extremely hard to see that being even a remote possibility, let alone this one. We've replaced Casemiro with Baleba, and added more depth in midfield. That's good but can we say that the personnel we've acquired are a match for Anderson, Enzo and Bouaddi?
If Rashford is intent on being at his best again, then I think even without an another CF we have plenty and varied scoring threats. The glaring weaknesses at the back remain however, and if it's true that it's defence that wins titles then it's hard to see us really winning much. If we look at last year, Arsenal let in just 27, we conceded 50. Is that gap going to be closed? Judging by the first 2 games, no way.
As far as the back line is concerned it appears that the club is looking to develop Yoro as a right back alternate. Judging by how Morgan Rogers tore him up last year against Villa I'm not at all convinced that this will prove to be a successful strategy. But let's say, hypothetically it works, then we have Yoro, Dalot (who can play both sides), Shaw, Mazraoui (who can play both sides) and possibly Amass. As for the others, Shaw had a good season but he can't play every one of 50 or more games, Mazraoui really wants to go off and be an imam, Amass is unproven and Dalot has his moments but is always an accident waiting to happen. I suppose Dorgu could also step in to the LB position too, or maybe Carrick will switch to 3 at the back with wing backs on occasion. Maybe he'll be forced by circumstance to do so. At least we won't be relying on an aging and slowing Casemiro and Bruno to control the midfield so it might actually work better. If we do go that way then Amad would make sense on the right. This brings us back to Yoro. He looked awful when he was dragged out of the RCB position to mark/contain a speedy winger.
Like everyone else I'm extremely disappointed that we haven't made any real signature acquisitions, particularly at the back. I really thought we would spend much more than we have. There was plenty room under the squad cost rules to do so, and given the revenues lost for failure to qualify for the Champions League, it seemed like there was every good reason to do so. Most of us understand that the decade plus of complete mismanagement by the Woodward regime has pu the club in a difficult position, but that said, this extremely parsimonious approach creates an enormous risk of ruining the good work that was done by Carrick and the team last year. Let's hope we're wrong.
Given what's happened this summer I'll consider getting to Champions League play off rounds and qualifying for the competition next year will be an enormous achievement. Any better than that will amaze me.
02 Sep 2026 01:49:58
Enzo hasn't exactly pulled up any trees at Chelsea and is desperate to play for Madrid. Bouaddi is a kid who's had a few good games. They have overpaid for them both. I'm happy with our midfield now.
02 Sep 2026 08:22:09
Utd could only spend so much due to the SCR and not being able to move players on. They worked within their limits, and tried to loan in Balde. The player wasn't too keen, according to reports, and Baeca wanted a full sale.
Hopefully Amass or even Leon can step up. It will be important to force both players a chance, if only to rest Shaw. However, I'd imagine Dorgu will drop to LB instead.
02 Sep 2026 11:47:57
Hatter, SCR allows us to spend 70% of revenues. The club will bring in £700m at an absolute minimum this coming year, so the cap would allow £490m. Last year, our SCR was around £350m, apparently, and it's not going to have changed that much. There was plenty of room to spend another £150m.
The reason we only spent a little over £100m net was down to choice brought on by self-imposed financial restrictions, with the intent of lowering the debt, probably to assist in future financing for the new stadium.