Ed and Wayne are back for the season preview after a mixed pre-season: two wins from six and a 4-2 defeat to Milan in the final match.
Nobody should panic about that result, but it exposed problems that were already there. United's defence is the biggest concern. Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire remain first choice and neither has the legs for a more front-foot approach, while Lisandro Martinez and Matthijs de Ligt can't be relied on for fitness. Ayden Heaven and Leny Yoro have the potential to solve those problems, but it’s a big ask for two young players.
There’s a different problem in midfield: plenty of technical quality in Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans, not enough physicality to handle the games that get scrappy.
United need two more signings before deadline day, a genuine upgrade at left-back and a proper ball-winner in midfield, to have a real shot at matching last season's third-place finish. Without them, expect some regression with a much busier schedule.
The pod finished with a run through of the rest of the league: Arsenal have strengthened again, Liverpool are an interesting watch under Iraola with the Bezos ownership question in the background, Spurs have spent big, and nobody fancies predicting what Chelsea will do.
0:00 Six games, one freak-out
1:50 A disjointed pre-season
9:44 Shaw and Maguire: defensive issues
15:09 Carrick's tactical direction
17:33 Midfield's missing ball-winner
27:28 Lacey: keep or loan?
34:33 Dorgu, Sesko and Zirkzee
40:31 What United need before deadline day
51:17 Rivals: Arsenal
54:07 Rivals: City after Guardiola
1:00:06 Rivals: Liverpool and Iraola's scalability
1:04:04 Bezos, Liverpool and the TV deal
1:11:37 Rivals: Spurs
1:14:23 Rivals: Newcastle
1:15:53 Rivals: Chelsea
1:18:00 Wrap-up
---
Twitter - https://x.com/nqatpod
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/nqatpod/
BlueSky - https://bsky.app/profile/nqatpod.bsky.social
Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/c/nqatpod
#mufc #manchesterunited #premierleague