Wot, no LB? (2026)

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I give up. Rinse repeat with this club every single time. Shaw as our LB this season has officially broken me.
 
Hammondo said:
That's a ridiculous take, there is no version of us spending the money we did, where we come close.
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Who said anything about spending the money we did? That's the fecking issue! If we had invested more this summer then competing is not that big a stretch. And we didn't need to spend hundreds of millions. But we did need to address some obvious weaknesses with some smart purchases, which we've failed to do.
 
Impressively disastrous. Giving a new manager this sort of first window is just incredibly disappointing. When we’re finally back in the CL and they do the poverty routine again, you do lose even more faith in what this club now is.
 
Well I hope the people saying we were good enough without a lb or striker are correct. Don't want to hear them criticising Carrick if it turns out badly
 
Zumbi said:
Who said anything about spending the money we did? That's the fecking issue! If we had invested more this summer then competing is not that big a stretch. And we didn't need to spend hundreds of millions. But we did need to address some obvious weaknesses with some smart purchases, which we've failed to do.
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Where is this money coming from? How much more money?
 
We are just not a proper football club. We’re a soulless commercial zombie. How disappointing to not sign a fecking full back.
 
Judas said:
Impressively disastrous. Giving a new manager this sort of first window is just incredibly disappointing. When we’re finally back in the CL and they do the poverty routine again, you do lose even more faith in what this club now is.
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Agreed, nothing will change before glazers are gone and potentially ineos also. At least they will not put anything in while the majority owner sucks everything out and gives nothing back
 
Hammondo said:
Where is this money coming from? How much more money?
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I think we could spend more money if we wanted to. But I also think our owners would rather do things on the cheap, because they have low ambitions and think they can get away with it. And judging by how low the standards are amongst much of our fanbase, I'm not entirely surprised.

There's no scenario here where our owners come out looking good. They're either too cheap, too incompetent, or a combination of the two.
 
Highfather_24 said:
This is the crazy part.

We basically just replaced Casemiro with Baleba. Otherwise its the same 11 from last year.

Carrick's been hung out to dry. No two ways about it.
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Yeah I think this might the first time I won’t be blaming a manager for poor results if they come. If you’re going to put together a team to play good football and then just be rug pulled in the summer by the management then there’s only so much you can do.
Dazzmondo said:
Well I hope the people saying we were good enough without a lb or striker are correct. Don't want to hear them criticising Carrick if it turns out badly
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We might be good enough to scrape top 4 if somehow we don’t run into an injury crisis. But if we had been aggressive this summer I really do think we would have challenged Arsenal and City
 
I'm disappointed that we haven't signed a left back. That being said, I will say that none of the options available besides Lewis Hall were particularly endearing to me.

I think if we could've got Ait-Nouri on a loan with no obligation to buy, that would've been the best bet. City hardly have much incentive to do us that favour, though.

Both Balde and Salinas strike me as gigantic risks, and I could easily have seen them not actually being an improvement on just shunting Mazraoui or Dalot out left.

It's a tough one. Again, I do agree that it's disappointing for us not to have signed a left back but I am also of the belief that signing someone just for the sake of it would've been exceedingly stupid.
 
Valencia Shin Crosses said:
We might be good enough to scrape top 4 if somehow we don’t run into an injury crisis. But if we had been aggressive this summer I really do think we would have challenged Arsenal and City
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I said that this was our best chance for a decade to properly challenge if we were aggressive in the market. You can't let opportunities pass
 
Cathy Ferguson said:
Let's wait and see how us playing twice a week will take its toll on this squad and not least the LB position.
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True, it could all go horribly wrong for us this season with injuries, lengthy suspensions and maybe even in a mid-season sacking -- which some here were already calling for during the first half against Ipswich. But it could also go horribly wrong for Arsenal too if they were to lose Rice and Saka for the season or for any reason. It's notoriously hard to win PL trophies back to back, though it has been done before. Fun fact: apart from City, the last PL club to lift the PL trophy in consecutive seasons is United.

Liverpool, who had a more dominant side in 19/20 than Arsenal in 25/26 (in my judgment, not stating as a scientific fact) and won the PL, collapsed the following season. When Liverpool won it again in 24/25, they struggled in the following season.

The only correct answer is "Let's wait and see", but there is every reason to believe that, at least with a bit better luck on the fitness front this season, United will remain within an arm's length of Arsenal. But yes, of course, Arsenal are rightly heavily favored to retain the PL trophy. That much is obvious, and we'll see how it all plays out, but there's no reason to believe that United have no chance whatsoever of substantially improving on our 14 point gap below Arsenal. Nothing more than a prediction of course, but I can see us being short no more than 8 points by season's end. We may do worse against improved clubs like Chelsea and City, but despite slipping on the banana peel to Hull we're going to do much better against midtable and bottom feeder clubs.
 
Valencia Shin Crosses said:
Yeah I think this might the first time I won’t be blaming a manager for poor results if they come. If you’re going to put together a team to play good football and then just be rug pulled in

We might be good enough to scrape top 4 if somehow we don’t run into an injury crisis. But if we had been aggressive this summer I really do think we would have challenged Arsenal and City
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I don't think we could have realistically challenged Arsenal tbh, but I do think 2nd was possible with the right signings. I also think a cup win was realistic, whereas it seems very unlikely now. I'm hoping we should at least be good enough for top 5. I wouldn't say it's a certainty because I think we'll see some good midtable teams this year, but I do think we should have enough to secure CL football again (which was the minimum we should have expected from this season)
 
Mmm-Qatarian said:
I'm disappointed that we haven't signed a left back. That being said, I will say that none of the options available besides Lewis Hall were particularly endearing to me.

I think if we could've got Ait-Nouri on a loan with no obligation to buy, that would've been the best bet. City hardly have much incentive to do us that favour, though.

Both Balde and Salinas strike me as gigantic risks, and I could easily have seen them not actually being an improvement on just shunting Mazraoui or Dalot out left.

It's a tough one. Again, I do agree that it's disappointing for us not to have signed a left back but I am also of the belief that signing someone just for the sake of it would've been exceedingly stupid.
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Ah yes, the old "nobody was available" excuse. A RedCafe classic! There wasn't a single left back on the entire planet who the club could have potentially signed that would have been an upgrade on the ghost of Luke Shaw or two (deeply mediocre even in their correct position) right backs playing on the wrong side. Great stuff.
 
Dalot and Shaw as our full backs have such a detrimental impact on our game that I can’t put it into words. I like Dalot for his professionalism and care for the club, but he is difficult to watch for me. Shaw is just past his best by leaps and bounds - equally painful to watch.
 
Is Amass still here? We bought a young player name Diego Leon. Surely Diego has the pace to take on a pact winger.
 
Mmm-Qatarian said:
I'm disappointed that we haven't signed a left back. That being said, I will say that none of the options available besides Lewis Hall were particularly endearing to me.

I think if we could've got Ait-Nouri on a loan with no obligation to buy, that would've been the best bet. City hardly have much incentive to do us that favour, though.

Both Balde and Salinas strike me as gigantic risks, and I could easily have seen them not actually being an improvement on just shunting Mazraoui or Dalot out left.

It's a tough one. Again, I do agree that it's disappointing for us not to have signed a left back but I am also of the belief that signing someone just for the sake of it would've been exceedingly stupid.
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I agree with all of this. I'm more baffled, if I'm being honest, as to why we just won't pay up for Page from Leicester (though I do feel this transfer has the air of inevitability about it sooner or later given buy-in from player).
 
VivaJesperBlomqvist said:
We are just not a proper football club. We’re a soulless commercial zombie. How disappointing to not sign a fecking full back.
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Lots of clubs may be ran as a business but top clubs are ran to win and be one of the elite. We are ran solely as an asset
 
Aretak said:
Ah yes, the old "nobody was available" excuse. A RedCafe classic! There wasn't a single left back on the entire planet who the club could have potentially signed that would have been an upgrade on the ghost of Luke Shaw or two (deeply mediocre even in their correct position) right backs playing on the wrong side. Great stuff.
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Besides Lewis Hall, I don't think there was an option available who I'd have been entirely confident of being a success..

Alejandro Balde hasn't performed brilliantly for a while. Jorge Salinas is a very young player who has exceedingly limited senior experience and almost none at the top-flight level. Rayan Ait-Nouri is, as I mentioned, the one who I think I'd have been most confident on but it was unlikely that City would do us such a favour without an obligation to buy.

Past that, you're probably looking at players who would be expensive enough that you can forget about any pursuit of Lewis Hall next summer. At that stage, you have to calculate whether such an outlay is worth it or if it's better to wait for the preferred option.
 


In the biggest wind up of the day. INEOS owned Nice sell a left back to Leeds United. This is not a parody or spoof.

United fans must be living in a simulation. Nice had a left back good enough for the Premier League, but didn't loan him to their sister club.....
 
Mmm-Qatarian said:
Besides Lewis Hall, I don't think there was an option available who I'd have been entirely confident of being a success..

Alejandro Balde hasn't performed brilliantly for a while. Jorge Salinas is a very young player who has exceedingly limited senior experience and almost none at the top-flight level. Rayan Ait-Nouri is, as I mentioned, the one who I think I'd have been most confident on but it was unlikely that City would do us such a favour without an obligation to buy.

Past that, you're probably looking at players who would be expensive enough that you can forget about any pursuit of Lewis Hall next summer. At that stage, you have to calculate whether such an outlay is worth it or if it's better to wait for the preferred option.
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Couple of issues with this. You can never be entirely confident of any signings being a success. That doesn't mean you don't even try to address obvious areas of weakness and jeopardise an important season. And even if we go for Hall next season, we still need another LB! Shaw's contract is up next summer, we shouldn't be extending, and we shouldn't be going into a window with everyone knowing we need two LBs.
 
How we’ve ended up in this position is the most baffling thing and it’s been the same for a number of years. Malacia was out for 2 seasons which kept us short at LB. That didn’t make the board sign anyone. Then we had Alvaro, didn’t even give him a chance. Straight out on loan to Benfica with an incredibly cheap £6m buy option. Benfica immediately buy and sell to Real for €50m. So how could our management not see he was good enough for Real Madrid and lose £45m in the process? We’ve then signed Leon from Paraguay, half the Cafe told me he’s be straight in the first team. Not a sniff, even at pre-season we were using Amass. So why chase the player for 2 season and then he’s not even good enough to start pre-season games? It doesn’t make any sense.

Now they are waiting for Lewis Hall next season. Can pretty much guarantee he ends up back at Chelsea as they no doubt have a buy back clause. Why is our recruitment so one dimensional? Surely we should have 5 to 10 options per position, where’s the scouting, taking punts on options further afield. Most fans could run our transfer strategy and that’s why it’s so infuriating to watch.
 
Overhaul FC said:
In the biggest wind up of the day. INEOS owned Nice sell a left back to Leeds United. This is not a parody or spoof.

United fans must be living in a simulation. Nice had a left back good enough for the Premier League, but didn't loan him to their sister club.....
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Bet they didn't.
 
Overhaul FC said:


In the biggest wind up of the day. INEOS owned Nice sell a left back to Leeds United. This is not a parody or spoof.

United fans must be living in a simulation. Nice had a left back good enough for the Premier League, but didn't loan him to their sister club.....
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Calm down lad. He is shit. Dalot and Maz as square pegs are still better.
 
Overhaul FC said:


In the biggest wind up of the day. INEOS owned Nice sell a left back to Leeds United. This is not a parody or spoof.

United fans must be living in a simulation. Nice had a left back good enough for the Premier League, but didn't loan him to their sister club.....
Click to expand...

He would’ve made a good story.
 
Overhaul FC said:


In the biggest wind up of the day. INEOS owned Nice sell a left back to Leeds United. This is not a parody or spoof.

United fans must be living in a simulation. Nice had a left back good enough for the Premier League, but didn't loan him to their sister club.....
Click to expand...

I don't know, do you ever just look at someone and think "He can't be any good."

He has that looks about him.
 
Zumbi said:
Couple of issues with this. You can never be entirely confident of any signings being a success. That doesn't mean you don't even try to address obvious areas of weakness and jeopardise an important season. And even if we go for Hall next season, we still need another LB! Shaw's contract is up next summer, we shouldn't be extending, and we shouldn't be going into a window with everyone knowing we need two LBs.
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I mean it patently isn't true that we "didn't even try" to address the left back spot.

You are right that you can never be entirely confident of a signing being a success. I guess what I should have said was that, besides Lewis Hall, I'm not confident that the other options would have been a success at all.

I might be in the minority but I'd sooner we didn't sign anyone than just sign someone who we don't believe is going to work out just so we have another body in the position. I think that mindset is how we ended up with the likes of Malacia and Zirkzee.
 


Just randomly remembered this South Park song and it accurately sums up my feelings
 
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