What should the expectations be for next season?

If we make 8 signings top 2.

If we don't make 8 signings, low much lower depends on the amount of quality players we sign to catch up Arsenal and Man City.
 
We're probably finishing at around 70 pts. Next season we should push 80. Ideally that puts us in a title fight, at least in the current climate. If there's a runaway-team then fair enough.

CL we should at least get into the QF. We need some good campaigns if we want to go to the next World Cup because of our 0 score this year.

Don't care about the cups, they are worthless. Play youth or something.
 
sullydnl said:
Midfield has long been cited as the principle issue preventing us from playing a better style of football, and it appears midfield will be overhauled with multiple signings this summer.

If that overhaul occurs, there's no reason not to expect big steps forward in how we at least try to play football, even if there are still other weaknesses preventing us from playing it to a title-winning standard. If we don't see that from whoever the manager is next season, there's no reason to believe we'll see it from them going forward.
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Even with a couple of midfield signings there's still question marks over the technical level of ball retention throughout the team, the lack of attacking quality at full back, the lack of pace in defence.
 
78+ points, if multiple teams finish with more, we'll just have to accept that, we can only affect the games we play in.

Top eight of the UCL Group. Knockout games in all three cup competitions really depend on the draw we get, but must be a good showing.
 
Dominos said:
Even with a couple of midfield signings there's still question marks over the technical level of ball retention throughout the team, the lack of attacking quality at full back, the lack of pace in defence.
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Of course. But you don't need a perfect team to start trying to play quality football. It's not like we're demanding it be done to a title-winning level.

Pep and Klopp didn't have ideal players for their approach when they landed in the league, which is why they didn't win the league immediately, but you could still see how they intended to play going forward despite the weaknesses in their side.

We overhauled our attack last summer, as well as installing a new first choice goalkeeper. If we overhaul CM this summer then the majority of the starting eleven will be what the manager is expected to work with over the coming seasons. And that's before we get into other rumoured potential signings at positions like LB.

We should assume that whatever style of football we see next season is what the manager will be giving us going forward. And if the manager can't get them to start playing the right kind of football, then the manager probably isn't good enough.
 
I fancy us for the title next season based on where I see the opposition.

Arsenal - if they win it this year will likely have a bit of a hangover next season and if they bottle it again they will likely meltdown, either way I see them struggling.
City - Pep likely off, season of change so potential for them to have an off season, the 115 punishment has to hit them eventually
Liverpool - Bit of a mess, keeping VVD who is washed, also keeping Slot who is looking more of a fraud by the day
Villa - Have reached their ceiling
Chelsea - Total shambles, obviously lots of potential in there with the right manager but will probably be very up and down until the new man gets his ideas integrated which could take half the season even if it is the right hire

Of course we need to be in position to take advantage of all that anticipated turmoil so INEOS need to step up and deliver the needed recruits in midfield, at LB and also a proper rotation option for Sesko.
 
No matter what happens in the summer, CL qualification is the target.

The squad needs another couple of summer transfer windows to be in a healthy position to challenge on the fronts we expect/want to be challenging on, and being in the CL brings the funding to get that done.

If that means us just doing an Arsenal for a couple more seasons, then so be it, i'd take top 4 consistently over the alternative for a few seasons again. If things are better than that, then brilliant.
 
Ibi Dreams said:
We should be aiming to win the league.

That might sound silly because we're really not a great team, but nor is anyone around us. City and Arsenal are the top two, and neither of them are really that strong at the moment. Neville was right when he said this, the league is there to win because although the PL is strong all around, the top isn't. These City and Arsenal teams aren't legendary teams, they're decent, fallible teams that we can beat.

Minimum goal should be top four. If we finish out of the top four then I think we've failed
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Agreed.
 
Some interesting takes in this thread.

The league has been abysmal this season and I can’t see the teams who have been diabolical being equally diabolical next season as well.

Which begs the question as to how good United will be and no sane person can answer that.

Our front three are yet to click fully and that could go either way. Could easily click fully and become amazing. United could do United and make them shite. Who knows.

We know we are losing a huge cog in our midfield ‘engine’. This begs the next question of who we buy, and replace that cog with. Again, we could unearth an absolute worldie or we could make someone flop. Who knows.

We also don’t have a manager for the start of the season (officially). signing carrick is a huge gamble, which might pay off. We might also sign the 2026 version of Amorim and be successful or dump. Finally, who knows.

Far too many unknowns to even consider making a prediction about being successful or not.

With the current squad, and Carrick being appointed, I’d be happy with a CL place again.

With obvious improvements in the cups, which isn’t exactly difficult
 
If we address certain areas in the squad we should compete in the league, likely being a little too green to win it.

Strong cup runs and CL quarters minimum.
 
Comfortably top four with an outside title chance is where we should be as a club. If we don't move towards challenging it'll depend on the signings whether it's the manager or club to blame.
 
top 4. A nice domestic cup run and advancing to the knockout round of the champions league would be added bonus.
 
Nothing less than premier league title and champions league. Other than that Carrick should be sacked. On a serious note the league is the worst I’ve ever seen it since following it properly since 2000 when I was 12. It’s there for the taking next season. If United sign four quality players this summer I don’t see why we cannot compete. I would say it really depends on who has the best summer transfer window who I think will be Arsenal. There looking at moving on players and will probably just sign one or two absolute world class players. Last summer just seemed to be on quantity rather than quality. I’d write Liverpool off and city are an aging team.
 
We need to be a consistent top 4 team before we even consider the title. Yes, we're going to sign players that improve us but so are the other top teams. We're still struggling against weak teams and you can't do that as much as we do if we want to be competing for the title.
 
Frank White said:
When you say this do you mean the name Manchester United should be competing for 1st or the players we have on paper should be a title challenging squad? Because if it's the latter then how have you come to that conclusion? We've got a young GK, average full backs, are best CB's can't stay fit, unbalanced midfield and a very inconsistent attack.

Nothing about that teams scream title challenging except Bruno. For me CL football is a must for next season but I'm very worried with what the team will look like with multiple games a week. Last time we had that we finished 15th and even this year we've had games where we look gassed to death by the 60th minute and we've played 1 game a week for the majority of the season.
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No Europa and much improved squad vs last season. Define average. We got Shaw on LB and Dalot/Maz on RB. They're not average. Central we're well covered. Bit thin in CM, but with a bit of luck.. Same in attack, but we've got quality in both midfield and attack.
 
Some pretty lofty expectations being bandied around here, which is a bit mad considering the amount of folk moaning about the performance levels in the post match threads every week.

I personally don't think we are at the level where we can be calling for a comfortable top four finish or quarter finals of the champions league as a bare minimum expectation. I definitely think those are realistic goals to have, anything over and above a bonus, but they definitely can't be the bare minimum expectation just next season, that's an incredibly inflated sense of how good we are just now.
 
e.cantona said:
No Europa and much improved squad vs last season. Define average. We got Shaw on LB and Dalot/Maz on RB. They're not average. Central we're well covered. Bit thin in CM, but with a bit of luck.. Same in attack, but we've got quality in both midfield and attack.
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They really are. Central we have volume but lack availability, De Ligt and Martinez are walking sick notes, Maguire is ageing and Yoro and Heaven are kids who are bound to have drops off in form as kids do. CM we're thread bare.
 
Good season - title challenge

Ordinary season - comfortably qualifying for CL

Bad season - fail to qualify for CL

I'm generally optimistic about Carrick and the current squad. Slightly concerned that our list of midfield targets appears to include a lot of alternatives to Mainoo and just two pure DMs.

Lammens seems calm, hopefully he can improve a little bit next season. Plenty of options in defence, though no outstanding performer. Would like an alternative left-back option - possibly Dorgu. Midfield needs intelligent purchases, relatively happy with attacking options. Whether Zirkzee and Mount can have an impact when needed, under Carrick, is unclear.
 
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In case we have a good summer, I expect to be top 3 but much closer to first, solid cup and CL campaigns.
But in case we dont add depth, it will be more like this season
 
Qualify for UCL again, finish in an around top 4, decently deep cup runs, like QF ish. I'd be pleased, the danger of nearly winning something would be nice.
 
Do people realise that if Carrick took over in November, we would be contesting for the title? I’m saying this with a straight face. Now what exactly are we gonna mess up for other teams to improve so much that even top 4 is considered acceptable?
 
Lebo said:
Do people realise that if Carrick took over in November, we would be contesting for the title? I’m saying this with a straight face. Now what exactly are we gonna mess up for other teams to improve so much that even top 4 is considered acceptable?
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Well currently, we do not have a squad depth strong enough to go deep into cup runs on all fronts. So before we even go into the start of next season, we have to manage expectations. Top 4 for me is the only acceptable minimum target we need to hit. I'm not going to put unrealistic expectations of a top 2 finish, semi final CL, final Carabao cup and semi final FA cup. Our attractiveness as a club is if we qualify for Europe to continue to build on what we have.
 
Lebo said:
Do people realise that if Carrick took over in November, we would be contesting for the title? I’m saying this with a straight face. Now what exactly are we gonna mess up for other teams to improve so much that even top 4 is considered acceptable?
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If you believe that the results we've seen under Carrick would sustain across a season, and that only having the league to focus on has minimal impact, then sure.

But I don't think most people believe either of those things. Our results have pretty obviously run hot under Carrick relative to our performances, and we've benefitted massively from a kind fixture schedule across the season. If you run this same team out next season as is, we almost certainly don't finish in the CL places.
 
Get our form under Carrick and stretch it to the whole season and we will be challenging for the title. That should be the aim for next season.

Minimum is another CL qualification.
 
sullydnl said:
If you believe that the results we've seen under Carrick would sustain across a season, and that only having the league to focus on has minimal impact, then sure.

But I don't think most people believe either of those things. Our results have pretty obviously run hot under Carrick relative to our performances, and we've benefitted massively from a kind fixture schedule across the season. If you run this same team out next season as is, we almost certainly don't finish in the CL places.
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Liverpool and Chelsea pretty much had similar fixture lists in 2026 and we still did better. Believing somehow they are going to overtake us purely because of their previous seasons performances doesn’t make sense to me.

Sure fixture congestion might be a problem but that’s where you build match fitness for fringe players. Only play first team if we make it to the semis.
 
The expectations should of course be to improve and challenge City & Arsenal at the top, for at least part of the season, as well as reach the knockouts of the CL.

Of course if Carrick is manager many United fans will lower expectations and say the squad is too shit, but I'm not entertaining that nonsense anymore. A team that finishes 3rd in the league should be looking up, not down
 
Heliax said:
Exactly this. A finish in the CL places while focused on multiple competitions and bedding in a new midfield would be a strong aim. Two deep domestic cup runs and getting into the quarters or semis of the CL, given the relative youth of our squad, would signal that we're ready to challenge for the title the year after.

I wish we could get Bruno a title, but I don't know if it's going to happen.
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I'd agree with this. Repeat CL qualification and a cup win would be a successful season.
 
Our squad needs to be bigger than this season with CL-football. If we get 3 good central midfielders instead of Ugarte and Casemiro, I will become optimistic and say top 5.
 
CL again, but a lot more authority and poise in our overall play. Performances under Carrick have been average at best, at times it's reminiscent of Ole which is not a good thing at all.

We have to aim for better standards in the future, I'm not averse to Carrick getting permanent job because top managers are elsewhere but he has to improve the quality of football. It's been horrible to watch for a while.
 
SungSam7 said:
Well currently, we do not have a squad depth strong enough to go deep into cup runs on all fronts. So before we even go into the start of next season, we have to manage expectations. Top 4 for me is the only acceptable minimum target we need to hit. I'm not going to put unrealistic expectations of a top 2 finish, semi final CL, final Carabao cup and semi final FA cup. Our attractiveness as a club is if we qualify for Europe to continue to build on what we have.
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We do have a depth problem but that’s what we need to address in the market. Spend all our budget on midfielders 2 or 3. Then sign attackers if we can get rid of Rashford, Sancho, Hojlund, JZ etc. using all that money on 2 quality attackers.


This would leave us with Fernandez, Mbeumo, Cunha, Amad, Sesko, and 2 new attackers(or Rashford and Hojlund) for front 4 positions ,4 players for 2 midfield positions.
Our depth CB is fine unless you are upgrading quality( but for the love of God don’t sign centre backs unless it’s the 8th signing )
 
Hester_manc said:
Our squad needs to be bigger than this season with CL-football. If we get 3 good central midfielders instead of Ugarte and Casemiro, I will become optimistic and say top 5.
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People say this, but who are these other teams people expecting big upturns in performance from next season? Why do only they get better next season by default?
 
Lebo said:
Liverpool and Chelsea pretty much had similar fixture lists in 2026 and we still did better. Believing somehow they are going to overtake us purely because of their previous seasons performances doesn’t make sense to me.

Sure fixture congestion might be a problem but that’s where you build match fitness for fringe players. Only play first team if we make it to the semis.
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This isn't remotely true. We'll play 40 matches this season, our lowest since 1915. Liverpool and Chelsea will have played 57 and 58 respectively, almost a 50% increase. An additional 18 matches would have absolutely destroyed our squad, which is already struggling for fitness and had to play like extreme underdogs against both of those teams recently.

Given the above, and your suggestion that Carrick would have won us the title, you're going to be in for an extremely rude awakening next season.
 
Lebo said:
We do have a depth problem but that’s what we need to address in the market. Spend all our budget on midfielders 2 or 3. Then sign attackers if we can get rid of Rashford, Sancho, Hojlund, JZ etc. using all that money on 2 quality attackers.


This would leave us with Fernandez, Mbeumo, Cunha, Amad, Sesko, and 2 new attackers(or Rashford and Hojlund) for front 4 positions ,4 players for 2 midfield positions.
Our depth CB is fine unless you are upgrading quality( but for the love of God don’t sign centre backs unless it’s the 8th signing )
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I totally agree, but I don't have full faith on getting what we need. We only moved for Lammens because of the horror show by Onana vs Grimsby. That's what got the finger out. At least one midfield signing should have been over the line by now. But nobody knows who we are actually going for and the world cup is only a few weeks away. Players won't be making moves if on international duty.
 
Will depend on how we perform in the transfer market. If we can address 2key problems, 1. The roster and quality of midfielders, 2. Overall strength in depth (much needed with more games), then I think we should try to at least finish in a similar position to this season albeit with a better points tally. I’d also love for us to get to Wembley as well.
 
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