Manchester United Discussions

26 Oct 2026 10:19:14
Odds shortened from 66/1 to 50/1. Get your bets in quickly.

25 Oct 2026 16:17:40
Numb to it all at this point.

14 Oct 2026 06:04:31
22.2%.

11 Oct 2026 06:43:37
25%!!

That's bad enough right? Wrong!!

Premier League win percentage is 16.7%!!

CATW!!

You drove Amorim to self implosion and you deserve this you toxic Glazerites.

I wonder, will he get to single digits in the PL before he is punted.

26 Sep 2026 20:50:18
Jesus a brand new pitch just laid and Rugby Leage being played on it WTH!

27 Sep 2026 01:28:49
The super league grand final has been played at Old Trafford every year (except one during Covid) since 1998. I'm assuming you didn't know that? The pitch will be fine as always.

27 Sep 2026 22:16:30
I'm just annoyed my beloved Wigan aren't going to be there. Absolutely woeful last night. Congrats to Wakefield though, what a performance!

29 Sep 2026 00:09:14
Wakefield the fallen giants, never did I expect to be visiting OT to watch my hometown team in a final.
Let's hope they give INEOS ideas of what can be achieved investing in the team, and appointing a top coach.

26 Sep 2026 19:39:07
On a different subject, I shall be sat in the SAF stand next Saturday night watching Warrington in the rugby league Grand Final. Two underdog wins this weekend set up a great final where we will get a new winner since Super League launched. Come on Wire!

26 Sep 2026 20:15:13
I'll be in the East stand. It could finally be our year, Wakey were class today though, think Wigan underestimated them. Come on wire!

27 Sep 2026 22:18:10
Wigan def did, we've been flying as the challenge cup and league leaders shield prove. Think we believed our own hype though and Wakefield fronted up big time. Should be a great game next week which I'm looking forward to watching.

04 Oct 2026 10:43:50
Was a top match. Obviously glad Wakey won, OT was rocking. Great advert for RL.

05 Oct 2026 18:59:15
Well done RedGedge, what Wakey did against Wigan and Wire was phenomenal and they deserved it on the day, no arguments here.

06 Oct 2026 08:21:09
Yeah, Wire didn't show up, that's as bad as I've seen us play for many a year. Congratulations to Wakey.

11 Mar 2026 18:34:49
Number 8

I am divided on whether Mainoo can lead this position or if he needs to be #2 in this position.

If we were to target a Anderson-type player it cuts his playing time down significantly, but maybe he needs some competition in there to get the absolute best out of him?

Third choice we have a bunch in the youth who can play here, so will assume it is one from a pool of options.



For me I say Anderson, Mainoo, youth player is the direction we need to go in.

12 Mar 2026 22:14:31
Mainoo is a squad player at best. Nowhere near good enough for starting 11 unless it's the Mickey Mouse cup.

13 Mar 2026 09:19:19
Yawn, how quickly we dismiss our own. He was awesome when he broke onto the scene, one of our better players and a regular for England.

Right now, he looks sluggish and needs a rocket up him, but to describe him as nowhere near good enough. SMH.

If his attitude is good (I have no idea), then I am sure he will pick it up.

13 Mar 2026 17:59:58
Januzai looked great too at first. Got into the Belgian team, looked good until he didn't.
I watched Mainoo look great, but he doesn't look great now. Hope he picks it up again, but I have doubts now that I didn't have initially.

13 Mar 2026 21:00:56
If we can sort his contract situation out, and he realises he needs to really up his game to be considered elite level, then I think a hungry Mainoo would be great to have in the squad.

I'm with Ken and PSpence in that he is likely not good enough yet for the 1st team, if our aspirations are titles.



Squad player for the next few years, then make the 1st team his own. If he wants it, it is there for him to seize.

14 Mar 2026 11:42:23
Mainoo has all the qualities to be a top player, but whether he gets there or not is down to both him and an element of luck.

I am a massive advocate for us giving youth a chance, but at the same time they need competition for their place in the team.

Competition is what drives people to improve, which is something every young player needs to do. They don't start off as the finished article, that comes after years of experience and development. Of which that development is driven by the need to improve to get into/stay in the team.

We have seen a lot of youth players do amazingly well to break into the first team, but then they get over hyped up and they seem to stagnate, never reaching the potential that initially got the fans so hyped up about them.

Garnacho, Januzaj, Macheda, even Rashford (who did better than most).

They break into the team, get all the plaudits then somewhere along the line they stop fighting to improve, and then they don't reach that potential. They then get labelled as overrated, when in fact they just underperformed their potential.

No one rated them as one of the best players in the world, but rated their ability and potential high enough to become one of the best players in the world.

What we really miss in the dressing room is someone like Roy Keane, someone who'll keep the youth grounded. That guy who'll say well done, but you ain't done nothing yet.

While we also need to careful when creating a pathway into the first team for youth players. Yes they need to be able to have a chance of playing, but that shouldn't be an unchallenged path. That lack of a challenge actually stunts their growth and development.

Midfield for example, if we are going to play with a double pivot then we should have 3 top quality midfielders for two starting positions, where any of them can start and it doesn't lower our quality. The fourth position should then go to a top quality youth player.

But that means that there are two guys starting ahead of them, and one guy on the bench ahead of them. That way they then need to first proven themselves to be the best option off the bench, then they need to prove they should be starting. Once they become a starter they then need to prove they can play at that level consistently as if they drop their performances then there is a top quality option ready to take their place.

Clearing a pathway for youth players shouldn't be about removing all the obstacles in their way, but about avoiding having a bloated squad where you have a senior professional on a high salary but who isn't good enough but probably still gets a game ahead of a talented youth player.

Mainoo starting because he has no competition will not push him to reach his potential. This summer we need to sign at least two top quality midfielders who are good enough to start every week for a title challenging side. That leaves Mainoo and Ugarte ready to push them for a starting spot (if Ugarte leaves, as he probably should, then we will need a third midfield signing who is good enough to be a regular starter).

Mainoo should be the fourth option first, then prove himself good enough to be the third, then again prove himself good enough to be a starter, then prove he can keep his spot.

Diamonds form under pressure.

16 Mar 2026 10:20:11
A fantastic talent that's had a bit of a moment but is slowly finding himself again. A young man who will be fine, I'm sure.

21 Mar 2026 16:46:47
I think he would never want to go back to being a squad player. He is another who is fantastic in his own head. I think he just has not got the legs and certainly not the pace to be a top midfielder.


He can do a job, averagely, no more, no less.

But according to AJH you have to wax lyrical about someone cos they had a good game or two sometime many moons ago! You're not allowed to be realistic or truthful.

31 Mar 2026 07:16:22
So Amorim was right about Mainoo's engine not being high enough?

02 Apr 2026 12:35:54
Grim, he was. Mainoo is great on the ball, and he does work hard off the ball. But he lacks urgency/tempo, and he has a habit of switching off sometimes when defending.

At the end of the day he's a young 20 year old player with around 100 first team appearances.

He isn't supposed to be even close to the finished article just yet. He is also on his 3rd club manager after breaking through under EtH, then struggling a little under Amorim and now playing under Carrick (I won't count the 2 games under Fletcher).

Of course he has areas of his game that he needs to develop, and in truth even the very best ever players still had areas of weakness in some parts of their game.

We need to remember football is a team game, and that if the team is well balanced and set up with the right tactics then players should naturally cover for eachothers weaknesses.

Kobbie doesn't have an engine like Bruno or Ji-Sung Park, he doesn't naturally have that relentless energy. Maybe over time he can improve his stamina to get closer to their levels. The issue he had under Amorim was as much to do with the demands of the system the manager wanted to play, along with the limitations of the teammates he would be playing with as much as it was about his weaknesses as a player.

Amorim's system in an ideal set up has ball playing defenders, creative inside forwards, and attacking wingbacks. The idea being that you use the wingbacks to peg back the opposition fullbacks, leaving your two inside forwards and your striker in a 3 Vs 2 against the opposition two CB's. His system always struggled when teams also played with a back three. The role of the midfielders in his system are to be energetic water carriers, they do all the dog work. They cover spaces and fill in gaps. Their job is primarily off the ball, win the ball back then pass it either back to a ball playing CB to spray out the pass, wide to the wingback to bomb forward with it, or to one of the inside forwards who has dropped deep to lose their marker.

That role works against Mainoo's strengths and exposed his weaknesses. Amorim was able to adapt his system somewhat to fit Bruno into a deeper role due to his energy off the ball, however that did come with creating a defensive weakness to the team when Bruno was caught out of position.

If the manager is making a concession to his set up to fit a player like Bruno into the team (a player who this season is proving why you can't leave him out), then unfortunately the player next to him needs to be even better defensively to cover Bruno's shortcomings in that role. That just isn't Kobbie.

Mainoo in my opinion is a more natural No.8, ideally even more of a free 8. His on the ball work is his strength, his press resistance in tight spaces and his ability to thread a pass through the eye of a needle or play a quick give and go means he can unlock defences and create chances.

He probably works best in a three man midfield, ideally with a sitting No.6 and and industrious No.8 alongside him allowing him the freedom to be the extra man when we move forward with the ball.

He could also work as the sole No.8 with a sitting No.6 and a No.10 ahead of him. However, you'd need to make sure that the No.6 is extremely athletic, mobile, with a great ability to read the game, along with a No.10 that is willing to drop deep and help out and is energetic in the press.

I suspect the clubs short term plan is closer to the second option while we have Bruno, but long term maybe move towards the former option.

That is why I think the club is so seemingly fixated on Carlos Baleba this summer as he is the ideal kind of No.6 to work that second option with say Mainoo and Bruno in the short term. While long term he also gives the club more freedom with other midfield options they could bring in.

Anderson is just too good a player to not try and sign, he could play either alongside Mainoo as a deeper sitting option or alongside Baleba as the ball progressor. As could someone like Tonali.

I strongly suspect we'll get Baleba this summer unless Brighton intend to be stubborn with their valuation. He wants to join the club and there seems to be less competition for his signature (although if Enzo Fernandez leaves Chelsea I can see them going for Baleba).

I think we will push though to get one of Anderson or Tonali in first, as they are the potentially trickier deal to complete. If we get either of them in then they will be the first choice player to play alongside Baleba most weeks in my opinion, with Kobbie then needing to prove himself, develop his game and try and break into the first team more regularly (although with limited options in midfield and the potential to play 50-60 games even as the first squad option in midfield he'll still make 20-25 starts and 40+ total appearances).

02 May 2026 20:07:14
Three months down the line, with a manager who can understand and motivate him, Kobbie is playing out of his face.
It's nice to come back and follow an old thread, and read how everyone thought he was poor and a squad player at best.
Humble pie?

13 May 2026 14:16:54
Notimetoulouse, isn't it just?

14 Jun 2026 23:55:11
I am happy he has come back and dropped his contract demands, and his head is back on his shoulders. We should now build the team around him.

17 Jun 2026 15:53:08
Did anyone see the Casemiro talking to Rio video? He states Mainoo has everything and is an incredible player, and can go on to be whatever he wants, but said he needs pushing all the time in games and in training.

That's clearly why Mainoo's best games are when Cas is on the pitch, so it sounds like he needs to be next to an experienced player, especially to get the best out of him.

25 Feb 2026 17:52:57
It took Wimbledon 11 years to go from non league to old div1 now epl. What an amazing story it would be if Wrexham got 5 promotions back to back. Its rare these days to see a club rise from the ashes so quickly. It gives hope to all those clubs that hashed fallen on hard times. Great story imo.

25 Feb 2026 22:22:40
It's a brilliant story. I get the feeling there's a lot of jealousy around them and how they've been transformed, but for the supporters of Wrexham it's heaven. Good luck to them!

26 Feb 2026 07:33:56
It shows what focus and structure can do. Yes, they have money, but so do other clubs. They have mobilised a whole town, and the owners seem to get the history and tradition of Wrexham. I thought they would struggle this year, but here they are.

Not sure it's 5 back-to-back; they lost a play off, which delayed them a year, but even so, the current 3 in a row has never been done before, and an unlikely 4th can't be discounted.

27 Feb 2026 07:02:23
With some luck, we will see if Man Citeh can do the same after conviction. Hopefully, they fail and remain a non-league club with the largest empty stadium.

20 Feb 2026 09:48:57
Our priorities for summer 2026:
Cristian Romero, Felix Nmecha and Jude Bellingham. A fourth could be Trent Alexander-Arnold.

20 Feb 2026 13:38:46
Romero and Trent? Not a chance.

21 Feb 2026 06:00:21
Medic!

21 Feb 2026 09:35:34
I may read him wrong, but I think there is a hint in his behaviour that suggests Jude Bellingham may be trouble. That would be confirmed if Real were willing to sell. Romero, seriously? Trent? A right full-back who has always been susceptible to losing players making blind-side runs, but makes lovely passes? No.

21 Feb 2026 11:14:52
Bellingham may be a good player, but not convinced he is top drawer, and, Tbh, he seems a bit of an arse, not to mention the issues Gus's father would bring.

24 Feb 2026 10:00:12
Lock your doors or the men in white coats will take you away.

12 Feb 2026 13:23:31
Glad I kept out of that thread below!

Suffice it to say that the reason western countries are struggling with debt management may in part be due to the social weight of immigration, but the real reason is the relative decline in real relative national wealth building brought on by the end of the industrial and colonizing eras, and the loss of the resulting competitive advantage and decent wage paying job availability. It has not been helped by the constant expansion of the money supply which in turn has brought in an era of financialization, and monetary flows towards those who are already capital rich, the wealthiest of whom have declared themselves "sovereign individuals" who no longer feel any obligation to pay their fair share of taxes to the nations in which their wealth was built.

Thus immigration may add to the burden but the truth is that the large majority of people in Britain receive more benefits over the course of their lifetime than they pay in through tax/NI. Plenty of non-immigrants, whether through lethargy, entitlement mentality, real lack of opportunity or genuine infirmity, have scarcely contributed anything.

Ineos itself is in substantial debt, is cutting back, shutting things down etc and adding to the social burden by doing so. Ratcliffe should learn to keep his trap shut.