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**Official** English Football Season 2025/26

Thala_0710

Thala_0710

International Captain
Skipper Pup said:
On another note I've said it before and I'll say it again - MacAllister is everything to this team.

Decent enough team without him but our trophy ambitions hinge on his availability. Watching us fumble around in pre-season without him is scary.
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Definitely agree on that, although szobo played so well in the 8 in pre season, so how do we line up in midfield come Bournemouth first day, grav macca wirtz?
 
Thala_0710

Thala_0710

International Captain
For the even more important cb position the options I'm seeing floated on Twitter are Guehi and Leoni... I've no idea about Leoni though
 
Skipper Pup

Skipper Pup

State Regular
Thala_0710 said:
We need 2 strikers though if we want to compete on all fronts. Nunez will leave and with Jota's very sad demise, we need both imo. For the wing spots we still have Gakpo, Salah, Rio and maybe even Chisea, with frimpong, ekitike, wirtz, szobo who can play on the wing as well. Ideally I'd like both, but for my first preference I'd take Isak
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Rodrygo can play striker. Chiesa is leaving. Frimpong is RB, I don't want to see Szobo or Wirtz playing left wing, we need them in midfield.

Our depth is lighter than you think on the wings and involves shoe-horning players in
LW: Gakpo > Ekitike (1st choice ST) > Rio (16yo)
RW: Mo > Harvey > Frimpong (1st choice RB)

I can see them keeping Doak around if Harvey goes. He at least somewhat replicates Salah's pace and power, which we will need a solution for come AFCON in January.

Thala_0710 said:
Definitely agree on that, although szobo played so well in the 8 in pre season, so how do we line up in midfield come Bournemouth first day, grav macca wirtz?
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Grav is suspended so that's pretty straightforward. Szobo Macca and Wirtz.

Szobo will be fine in the pivot most games, we just haven't played a top side yet. He's definitely not ahead of Macca or Grav.
 
Thala_0710

Thala_0710

International Captain
Skipper Pup said:
Rodrygo can play striker. Chiesa is leaving. Frimpong is RB, I don't want to see Szobo or Wirtz playing left wing, we need them in midfield.

Our depth is lighter than you think on the wings and involves shoe-horning players in
LW: Gakpo > Ekitike (1st choice ST) > Rio (16yo)
RW: Mo > Harvey > Frimpong (1st choice RB)

I can see them keeping Doak around if Harvey goes. He at least somewhat replicates Salah's pace and power, which we will need a solution for come AFCON in January.



Grav is suspended so that's pretty straightforward. Szobo Macca and Wirtz.

Szobo will be fine in the pivot most games, we just haven't played a top side yet. He's definitely not ahead of Macca or Grav.
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Frimpong is more of a rw than rb tbh, he's actually a rwb... I think slot ideally wants bradley rb and frimpong rw when Salah is unavailable, and I think it goes Gakpo then Rio then everyone else on lw
 
Skipper Pup

Skipper Pup

State Regular
Thala_0710 said:
Frimpong is more of a rw than rb tbh, he's actually a rwb... I think slot ideally wants bradley rb and frimpong rw when Salah is unavailable, and I think it goes Gakpo then Rio then everyone else on lw
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Bradley is injury prone. Rio is 16yo and doesn't need that pressure.

That is a disaster waiting to happen.
 
T

Tom Flint

International Regular
Any united fans have a clue what your xi will look like? Is there a plan as to what positions they will play in or are they just being thrown together? Cunha I thought played central either up top or where fernandez plays. Mbembo on one of the wings? Sesko if he comes will that mean cunha is on the bench? What about that right winger who last season looked your best player for a few months alongside Bruno until he got injured. Diallo?
 
Skipper Pup

Skipper Pup

State Regular
Tom Flint said:
Any united fans have a clue what your xi will look like? Is there a plan as to what positions they will play in or are they just being thrown together? Cunha I thought played central either up top or where fernandez plays. Mbembo on one of the wings? Sesko if he comes will that mean cunha is on the bench? What about that right winger who last season looked your best player for a few months alongside Bruno until he got injured. Diallo?
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Not a United fan but seems (3421):
Cunha - Sesko - Mbuemo
Dorgu - Ugarte - Bruno - Diallo
Yoro - De Ligt - Maguire
Onana
 
Niall

Niall

International Coach
Skipper Pup said:
You wont have to imagine for much longer. Been there all pre-season
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He did his damage when as a winger last year , for example his hat trick he started as full back but was pushed forward v Southampton.

Assuming Sesko is signed, 200 million spend on the attack is most certainly a choice, considering how leaky the CM is . Collier needs a loan, Ugarte is horrific with the ball and can only play 60 mins, his signing also seems to have slowed the development of Mainoo who has regressed while Casemiro has no legs. They are going to get overran a lot this season, so yeah no pressure on the attackers to compensate lol.
 
Molehill

Molehill

International Coach
Niall said:
He did his damage when as a winger last year , for example his hat trick he started as full back but was pushed forward v Southampton.

Assuming Sesko is signed, 200 million spend on the attack is most certainly a choice, considering how leaky the CM is . Collier needs a loan, Ugarte is horrific with the ball and can only play 60 mins, his signing also seems to have slowed the development of Mainoo who has regressed while Casemiro has no legs. They are going to get overran a lot this season, so yeah no pressure on the attackers to compensate lol.
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The transfer policy is weird. It's generally better to fix the hole at the bottom of the bucket than to keep filling it up at the top.
 
Niall

Niall

International Coach
Molehill said:
The transfer policy is weird. It's generally better to fix the hole at the bottom of the bucket than to keep filling it up at the top.
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Its not great to give Man U the benefit of the doubt considering the last ten years lol.

To be fair the attack was abysmal last season, so Sesko, Big Bryan and Cunha are upgrades but even then I'm not entirely sure of Sesko yeah he is better than Rasmus but who wouldn't be?

I will wait and see how they address the midfield but their has been very few links this summer from the "proper " journos and even clickbait merchants, if people on a cricket forum can see the issue you would assume those at Man U are aware.

Its also possible that they may just hope for the best and trust the current mob and go all in next summer for someone.
 
Tangles

Tangles

International Vice-Captain
Saw United at MB on Sunday and Bruno was easily the best player I saw all day and it wasn’t close.

The biggest issue I saw was the midfield. Ugarte is slow, can’t carry the ball or pass. I didn’t realize it until then but he’s a worse version of Fred. Mainoo also isn’t fast so them together just is a bad idea. Casemiro was a ghost. Just a guy jogging about.

Heaton at 39 looks a better keeper than Bayandir. Hilarious that they are loading the front line again while looking like they will continue to ship bad goals.
 
Skipper Pup

Skipper Pup

State Regular
Molehill said:
The transfer policy is weird. It's generally better to fix the hole at the bottom of the bucket than to keep filling it up at the top.
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Weird policy but can't argue it's been a very good window for them. 2/3 signings have been first choice targets.

Can argue whether they were the right targets (my view is they're not) but it's still an achievement for a club that's doing so poorly to get their desired players in. Particularly in such a competitive market.

Just have a look at Newcastle, even with financial power and the allure of UCL they seemingly can't convince players to join.

Whatever the strategy they've executed it pretty well.
 
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