Positive thoughts thread | 2026/27 season

KStandBarmyArmy1993

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A thread of positive thoughts in addition to the daily doom thread.

Over to you people. What are you positive about ahead of the new season?
 
Seeing us in the new UCL format will be fun.
 
- Tielemans is a baller and Santos looks a fantastic signing as well.

- Several excellent talents in the academy.

- Lacey look ready to step up and be a squad player and give us something different in several positions.

- Champions League football is back at OT, pretty excited that our manager, as a player was a massive part of what made United become consistently great in Europe, he understands European football.

- Bruno Fernandes.

- Pep isn’t around anymore, none of the rival managers are at that level.
 
We have a team with very good technical abilities now. I think our midfield is stronger than last year. We lost some defensive strength and set pieces threat from Casemiro yes but this year we have a much more experienced Mainoo, and added more ball playing abilities in Tielemans and Santos. With Licha back, I'm really excited by our improved goal threat. The passes to our front three will be drool worthy. Cunha, Mbeumo and Amad have good ball controls and great in tight spaces to latch on those passes, Lacey look to be a great understudy. I'm little worried by our defense due to lack of depth but there is still time left in the window. I
 
We are in a significantly better position than we have been in a long time.

We have a great mix of talented young players and experienced older lads. Carrick has done a brilliant job so far and while I have questions about his ceiling, his floor is probably a pretty solid level. He is a bloke of substance who will represent the club well and keep us a decent team at the very least.

We have a varied group of really talented attacking players which improves the mood around matches entirely. When we had Hojlund and Garnacho it was hard to get enthused because they just weren't going to score enough despite trying their best.

We do need a couple of signings just to have enough options but that's a lot closer than a couple of years back when we felt miles off it in every position.

The league is also more winnable than it's been in years, and we will have CL nights back at Old Trafford.
 
I'm hyped for the season as we played decent attacking football in pre season and our transfers looked great. I also got tickets for the Ipswich game so I cant wait for the season to start.

Sure a lb and cover for Santos would be great but I'm positive we will sign 1-2 more till the end of the window.
 
I think the results after say 10-12 games will tell us whether pre season optimism is founded or not.
I am certainly more optimistic this season than last.
 
Buckfast in the Park said:
- Tielemans is a baller and Santos looks a fantastic signing as well.

- Several excellent talents in the academy.

- Lacey look ready to step up and be a squad player and give us something different in several positions.

- Champions League football is back at OT, pretty excited that our manager, as a player was a massive part of what made United become consistently great in Europe, he understands European football.

- Bruno Fernandes.

- Pep isn’t around anymore, none of the rival managers are at that level.
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What he said

Really looking forward seeing our new midfield play.
They are all good footballers. We are obviously trying to play a more dominant, technical game. In comparison to past attempts of doing so, we have a midfield suited to it. In defence as well, we are decent to good in that respect. Shaw, Martinez obviously, but Dalot, Heaven and Maz are also good in the first phase
 
Personally I think the squad is coming together nicely…

Hoping to see Yoro and Heaven progress to become really good CBs and start to see a long standing combination build in the cups or whenever they get the opportunity.

Really looking forward to seeing the new midfield and how Mainoo progresses with a quality in prime Tielemans next to him, plus a really good Santos.

Up front we have a great mix of players, Bruno, Cunha & Mbeumo are all excellent players who give us guaranteed performance levels, this will be the year Amad really kicks on with his consistency and Dorgu shows he has the pace and power to give us something different when needed. Obviously Sesko, I think he can nearly double his goal tally from last season.

Really looking forward to seeing Lacey, he looks great to me, I think he’ll provide that little extra that a young over confident player does. Seems to have a good passing range too.

Then there’s Rashford, I’m intrigued to see how he’ll cope with being back in the squad and being a squad player not a main character. My hope is he knuckles down and shows the desire to become a key player again. Who doesn’t like a good comeback story!
 
Most technical midfield we've had in a long time. Will probably be quite good on the ball this season. Have a good few young players who might kick on. And back in the Champions League again.
 
I’m hoping that the change in environment and energy im sensing/seeing with the players and club as a whole is legitimate and sustainable. There’s been a lot of drama around the club previously, some perception, some created by the media and I think with Carrick style there’s just more calm and less fuss.


This also leads into the mentality of the squad. After the World Cup some players will be very motivated for various reasons and I think this can only help us throughout the season.

We seem to be building some good foundations and attempting to create a team hierarchy similar to what we had under Fergie. Theres an experienced core of players with the majority of the squad around that young and hungry players and those academy players they can see potentially breaking through on the fringes.

I’m positive about our transfers so far and appreciate the approach taken of considered and prudent purchases.

Optimistic about getting in one or two more players who suit what we are building rather than big name buys for the sake of it.
 
Ollie Derbyshire said:
Personally I think the squad is coming together nicely…

Hoping to see Yoro and Heaven progress to become really good CBs and start to see a long standing combination build in the cups or whenever they get the opportunity.

Really looking forward to seeing the new midfield and how Mainoo progresses with a quality in prime Tielemans next to him, plus a really good Santos.

Up front we have a great mix of players, Bruno, Cunha & Mbeumo are all excellent players who give us guaranteed performance levels, this will be the year Amad really kicks on with his consistency and Dorgu shows he has the pace and power to give us something different when needed. Obviously Sesko, I think he can nearly double his goal tally from last season.

Really looking forward to seeing Lacey, he looks great to me, I think he’ll provide that little extra that a young over confident player does. Seems to have a good passing range too.

Then there’s Rashford, I’m intrigued to see how he’ll cope with being back in the squad and being a squad player not a main character. My hope is he knuckles down and shows the desire to become a key player again. Who doesn’t like a good comeback story!
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How has Yoro looked in pre season? I haven't watched many games thus far.
 
I am feeling quite positive, as I think our starting XI is fairly strong and can give anyone a go. That said, it's possible we see our "best XI" start together once this season so there's that, and outside of "best XI" I would argue we are very poor because of lack of proper backup (I'm not talking about Mbuemo/Cunha/Mazraoui who can "do a job" covering other positions).

Other positives:
- Pep gone, possibly also Rodri to feck off to Spain
- Liverpool/Chelsea will also at least have some turbulances this season
- Tielemans will be fantastic for us
- fairly easy start to the season should give us some space to bed in new players

I am also optimistic about us doing business in this transfer window.
 
Not sure why we wouldn’t be positive? We got more points than anyone 2nd half of last season and have done good business in the window. Lots of exciting young players who are only getting better. Salah and Pep out the league.
 
IMO people sleep on how much that 40 game season hurt us. With no easy group games or cup ties, every single match was a high-pressure stress test, and our forwards suffered from it. They never got those 'stat-padding' games to just get on the scoresheet and feel good about themselves.
Having a heavier schedule this year is actually a huge plus in this sense. Plenty of manageable games for the front line to rack up numbers and build that self-belief for the massive fixtures.
 
I am looking forward to Rashford coming back. I hope he scores on every ground and does the head pointing celebrations. I would love it.
 
El-Manos said:
How has Yoro looked in pre season? I haven't watched many games thus far.
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Looked great, but also showing he can play right back which is crucial if we're not going for one.

FrankWhite said:
IMO people sleep on how much that 40 game season hurt us. With no easy group games or cup ties, every single match was a high-pressure stress test, and our forwards suffered from it. They never got those 'stat-padding' games to just get on the scoresheet and feel good about themselves.
Having a heavier schedule this year is actually a huge plus in this sense. Plenty of manageable games for the front line to rack up numbers and build that self-belief for the massive fixtures.
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A very, very good point. You could sense the anticipation and pressure for Mbeumo and Sesko for every game, but in reality scoring away to WHU or Everton in the PL is very hard - all things considered they did very well. Looking forward to testing out different systems, letting youth players get more game time and seeing our forwards score more too ! Suppose the main concern there is squad depth, but we've signed so many promising young players I think that's our plan for 'lesser' games.
 
From pre season signs, it seems we are looking alot better on the ball, best I have seen in years.

It seems we want to control games, we have players who can keep the ball with Cunha, Tielemans, Mainoo, Santos, Amad .. then throw in a Bruno and Mbuemo.

What I do like is these players can keep the ball but are not players who will keep it passing sideways, they all can hurt teams.

I usually am excited for new seasons to start but It feels encouraging this time around.
 
Everyone is (nearly) fit! It's a miracle!

Pre season on the pitch has gone well. I feel quite positive about the start of the season, really looking forward to it. Will be great to be back in the champions league.

As this is the positive thread I'll leave it at that.
 
Santos has looked so, so good. At first I thought he would be in the "reasonably priced punt" category of players, but having seen him so far I think he's going to be a mainstay in the 11. I don't think we're going to get another CM in the Tchouameni mould, and with Santos I don't think we need one either. He's ready to step up and be the man.
 
There's a lot to be excited about!

1. Carrick's football is more entertaining than all of Fergie's successors (he was Ole's assistant, so that still counts). And we're arguably the most entertaining top PL team right now?

2. We still got Bruno!

3. We also have players who are fun to watch; Amad, Cunha, Mainoo, Tielemans, Dorgu, Santos and Yoro, just to name some.

4. We may have successfully replaced De Gea now with Lammens. That is huge!

5. The squad is REALLY young! Looking at the 18-19 players in the squad who are most likely to start a game for us, 9 of them are 24 years old or younger this year. And only 3 are 30 or older.
 
sullydnl said:
Most technical midfield we've had in a long time. Will probably be quite good on the ball this season. Have a good few young players who might kick on. And back in the Champions League again.
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Even if we don't sign a third CM, I still think this is our best midfield since Scholes retired. After years of being traumatised by CMs who can't pass wind, we are now guaranteed to be watching technical, press-resistant ballers in midfield every week.
 
sullydnl said:
Most technical midfield we've had in a long time. Will probably be quite good on the ball this season. Have a good few young players who might kick on. And back in the Champions League again.
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I'm looking forwards to being 2 - 0 up against Coventry and just keeping the ball to kill the game. Been so long since I've seen us do that consistently, our ability to just keep the ball for long stretches of play has been pretty much non-existent so we just sit deep instead.

greater wall said:
I am looking forward to Rashford coming back. I hope he scores on every ground and does the head pointing celebrations. I would love it.
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Hell yes!
 
Santos is looking very good and have high hopes for him already this season.

Also hoping for big seasons from Yoro, Heaven and Amad and along with guys like Sesko, Lammens, Dorgu, Mainoo and Lacey you can see the seeds of United's longer term plan emerging over the next few seasons and when Bruno goes.

To think where the club was only a few years ago, hoping that Garnacho and Rashford would decide to put in a shift and that Bayandir or Onana wouldn't gift the opposition a goal every game!

You can probably drag INEOS over the coals a bit for transfers, but I'm really positive about how much emphasis they are placing on both the under-21s and academy. We can genuinely approach young talent now and give examples like Heaven to show that they'll be better off at United rather than being an afterthought at City or Arsenal.
 
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I am starting to get out of the mindset of "we failed" if we don't win the league, this isn't the same league as when Sir Alex was here and we aren't the same level. I will be happy for us to keep fine tuning and stabilise a little rather than one good season, one bad as we have for so many years now.

I like the signings we have made, Tielemans is one of the best in the league and Santos has huge potential, Rashford i'm 50/50 on and just hoping we get something out of him that adds to the attack we have started to build with Sesko, Cunha and Mbeumo.
 
We're back in the CL, that's always fun to look forward to

The season did not end with a feeling of impending doom as it did with all of Amorim's time here and all of ETH's time besides his first season.

My favorite United player of the last 15 odd years is our manager

I am looking forward to seeing Sesko develop more, more of Cunha's sublime finishing, Bruno doing his thing etc.

There is a lot to be excited about for me
 
greater wall said:
I am looking forward to Rashford coming back. I hope he scores on every ground and does the head pointing celebrations. I would love it.
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I actually think he may be useful this season. We saw at Barcelona that he can still get you some goals and assists. He's just not up to it being the main man, but as part of the rotation of the attack I think he will have his moments, and I would love to see it as well
 
Only two teams finished above us last season. One of them will have to recover from the blow of losing their greatest ever manager, and the other team relied heavily on set pieces in a manner in which referees will no longer be as lenient towards. 21 is coming.
 
I don't really consider the new European format to be the CL. Feels like a completely new and different competition which will be interesting to follow.

Our forwards have had 12 months of settling in so should be able to hit the ground running.

Santos and Youri look fantastic signings. Early days obviously, but they seem to have it.
 
greater wall said:
Yoro has been looking confident and sharp.
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Lennon7 said:
Looked great, but also showing he can play right back which is crucial if we're not going for one.


A very, very good point. You could sense the anticipation and pressure for Mbeumo and Sesko for every game, but in reality scoring away to WHU or Everton in the PL is very hard - all things considered they did very well. Looking forward to testing out different systems, letting youth players get more game time and seeing our forwards score more too ! Suppose the main concern there is squad depth, but we've signed so many promising young players I think that's our plan for 'lesser' games.
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Good to hear, hopefully he pushes on this season.
 
I think esp. considering pre-season performance, it's been pretty encouraging that:

- Santos looks good (not sure if I would say "great" yet)
- Tielemans looks great (only 30mins on the pitch, but the amount of good passes under pressure he made was impressive 【passes you weren't even sure was on until he made them】). And so calm and controlled on the ball! (some "calm" players just loses it under pressure, while he keeps it well and his passes always gives others more time/opportunities).
- Both Santos and Tielemans look good defensively too (not sure why so many keep harping on about a CDM, I think all 3 can play the 6/8 alternate roles in our midfield well).
- Amad looks more confident and seems more effective (i.e. more G & A)
- Mbuemo seems to have his shooting boots on (though a bit poor otherwise).
- Yoro seems to have picked himself up, performed well in CB and surprisingly RB too!
- Shaw has been more willing to support the attack and provide an outlet on the overlap
- Heavens seems to have carried his good performances into pre-season (last match brain-farts not withstanding - but he's young and will be inconsistent).
- Lacey's looked promising (good in flashes, but not consistent enough for me to say "good").

Still want an LB and CM, and it'd be great if Rash & Zirkzee can move on so we can get another ST/attacker, but so far it's been quite encouraging.
 
El-Manos said:
How has Yoro looked in pre season? I haven't watched many games thus far.
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I think he’s looked really good as a RB, if the rest of the team was stable I’d be happy giving him Dalot’s minutes this season as he needs as much time on the pitch as possible.

I’m not sure doing that right now is the best thing though.
 
I like the way Carrick is wanting us to play.
We're going to see a much improved, balanced midfield and we're probably going to control a lot more games.
Hopefully we're going to see a lot more Bruno goals and i'm all for that.
 
Midfielders who can midfield since Carrick and Scholes. So looking forward to not seeing the ball being treated like a bomb.
 
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