No More SIGNINGS?! Carrick's TRANSFER Nightmare!

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1:47Hello everybody, welcome to the United Stands. I'm Mark Goldbridge. This is your latest Manchester United transfer news. The calm after the storm, I hope, this Sunday morning. Lots to digest from United yesterday. Are they going to make any more signings? There are updates around Lewis Hall, there are updates around the midfield, lots of fallout and updates from last night as well. look I think overarchingly I feel relatively calm I think the overreaction to a pre-season game must be you know scrutinised I mean I saw I got sent something last night of a United fan on TikTok it was TikTok clip standing up screaming and shouting when AC Milan scored the fourth goal and I was like yeah we've sort of jumped the shark haven't we in relation to reactions and fan content and everything there are those people out there just thinking, screaming and shouting.

2:40As somebody who's done that, you don't do that about it. I saw a Liverpool fan doing it a few weeks ago. Well, it's pre-season. Like that is just playing for clicks, playing for likes. Ridiculous. The overreaction to losing a pre-season game, get in the bin. That's ridiculous. It's the same as an overreaction to winning a game. Where the reaction should be is in the analysis of the transfer window and the issues in the team. That's not dependent on losing or winning. We could have won last night and Luke Shaw could have been a problem at left back. We could have won last night and the midfield would be a problem.

3:09That's where the real frustration should be. I mean, reacting to bloody scorelines is ridiculous. So we'll delve into that. Also, I think that the big thing that sort of jumps out to me is the amount of people I've seen, journalists, and it wasn't angry, Ginge. It wasn't... It's not... What caught my eye, and I think this is a terminal problem in the fan base for decades is I know the people who like me have been saying this is a pathetic transfer window I'm worried about next season it's not backing Carrick it's not great and you get criticised for that United lose like we did yesterday with pitiful possession crap performance totally deserve to get beat and all those people who had their head buried in the sand saying everything's fine and now saying what we've been saying for two or three months.

4:07And that's what frustrates me. Not that they're right. They're right to come out and moan. But I'm literally seeing journalists and fans who up until yesterday morning were calling us negative. And then last night, their Saturday night's ruined. Whereas I had a lovely meal, watched the film, couple of beers and was like, I've been talking about this for three months. And this is always the problem with the fan base. They realise it too late. They realise the problems that have been staring us in the face for too late. They live in this giddy land of, you know, candy floss clouds and pink lemonade rain and, you know, breadstick bloody fences and gingerbread doors.

4:44And, you know, you can eat the grass. This is what surprises me, is that they're now coming along too late. And if we hadn't, if we'd drawn with AC Milan, they'd be saying everything's fine. And that's what baffles me every year. It takes something like that for them to go mad. Whereas we're sat there going, it's pre-season. Does it really matter? But the problems have been there for ages. It doesn't matter whether we're unbeaten in pre-season or we've won every bloody game. The problems are still there. When the season starts, we don't look like we can play two games a week. When the season starts, we're crap in possession.

5:19And when the season starts, we haven't got the squad. And these problems were there in May. And this is why many people called it a pathetic transfer window. And this is why some people decided to go hunting for those people, calling them toxic, negative, anti-United. But now they're all with us going, yeah, actually, I don't like those people. They are negative and toxic, but I think we need a left back and a midfielder desperately. And I think Carrick needs backing. That's what they've been saying for three months. Yeah, but I just don't like them. It's not what, it's not that I just don't like them.

5:50I've decided now that I'm right about it. And it's like, well, I'm just glad that people are finally bloody realised we've got two weeks to sort this out. the question's going to be is it too late? Is it too late to sort this out? Because every journalist every fan this morning is now singing from the same hymn sheet United need a left back a midfielder and a backup striker and they need them yesterday and if they don't get them then we're going to be in big trouble and I think everybody's on the same hymn sheet now now the question is are Man United going to do something about it? I would say in a positive way we will sign players I could easily sit here and say, oh, you know, the club is a joke.

6:32And it is a joke. I still think it's a joke. But we will do something in the next two weeks. The question is going to be, what are we going to do? Now, there's updates on Lewis Hall this morning. We can give you updates on the midfield this morning. But as we spoke about a couple of days ago, I think it's really important to remember that it's not signing players that solves the problem now. We are so late in this window. So, so late. The good options are gone and the panic buys are in front of us. So it's arguably too late to give Carrick the midfield and the left back that he wants. But just because we sign two or three players in the next two weeks doesn't mean the board's done a good job.

7:15What if they go and sign Tyler Adams and the young kid from Santander? Comparative to signing, I don't know, Alex Scott and Lewis Hall. Now, if we sign Alex Scott and Lewis Hall, we're all going, fucking hell, that massively improves the squad. You know, you've got Alex Scott in the midfield with Santos, Tillemans and Maynard. You've got Lewis Hall at left back. That's two significant signings that make you go, we got a chance. But if it's the Santander kid and it sounds like a bloody Marvel character. If it's the Santander left back and it's Tyler Adams, you go, well, we bought two players. And you know what I mean?

7:54I will guarantee to you that United are going to sign players. But what I cannot guarantee is they're not going to be options E, F and G instead of options A and B. And that's the thing I'm sort of looking at. So the people saying we're not going to sign anybody. I wouldn't even be surprised if that was Glazer PR putting it out there that we're not going to sign anybody so that when we do, they can go. because let's get real. The last 48 hours of all this Amarim bullshit, I would look, you know what? I sort of, you know the Amarim stuff, by the way. And this is the last thing I'm going to say about Amarim and then we can park it, right?

8:29I saw Lissandra Martinez, Bruno Fernandes, Xerxi, Luke Shaw all go over and have a hug with Amarim at the end of the game. I also saw, quite interestingly, and not many journalists will report on this, the Fletcher brothers, Lacey, Yoro, and I think there was another youngster who went over to him as well. Oh, but Amarim hated the youth. Amarim hated the youth. Amarim didn't even like the youth. So why were Lacey and the Fletcher brothers going over and having a chat with him? Anyway, my point is about the Amarim stuff is that I want the names of the people in the club who wanted to smash Amarim yesterday.

9:06I want the names of the staff who wanted to smash Amarim. I want to know from that United content creator who told him there was people in the club absolutely revved up to beat Amorim on Saturday. Because I call bullshit. I call bullshit. If you can't give names, I call Glazer bullshit. Because it's really weird how when they beat us, everybody went over to Amorim and was all right about, you know. But what happened is some morons swallowed the Glazer PR, put it out there publicly to try and distract. because what was meant to happen yesterday is we were meant to beat AC Milan. Everybody piles onto Amarim, forgets about the Glazers and Ineos and goes, Amarim was the problem.

9:50And that's exactly what happened from Wednesday until yesterday. There was this wave of anti-Amarim stuff that apparently was coming from in the club, so PR, and it blew up in their face. Instead of Amarim looking like the one responsible for all of Man United's problems, it exposed the people who were the problem because Amrim's team played us off the park, beat us, and we're all looking at the ownership going, you're the fucking problem. So that whole PR exercise, of which I guarantee it's coming from a lot higher than you think, was a load of bollocks. And I almost sat there this morning, sipping on my coffee with a smile on my face, thinking, if we'd have beat AC Milan, all we'd be hearing this morning is, Amrim was the problem, Amrim was the problem, Amrim was the problem, everything's brilliant here.

10:37and all yesterday did was absolutely expose the fact that we need a left back, we need a centre midfielder, we need a backup striker, the manager's not been backed and the real problem is the ownership and the last few days was PR. And it's, look, I don't like Man United losing, but I saw somebody say it last night and I thought they're absolutely spot on. We're probably in a better position this morning losing like we did than we would have been if we'd won. And that's, I suppose that's fine because it's pre-season. It doesn't really matter, does it? I mean, it's not, I don't want to lose to fucking Hull.

11:11You know, let's lose to Hull so we buy a player. No, I don't want to lose to Hull. That's three points up for grabs. But we probably did actually end up with...

11:22Look, I think what yesterday proved is that if you think United are in trouble, you've just been vindicated. Analytically, and I will get onto the transfer stuff, but I just want to park this all. analytically all I saw from United yesterday was a team relentlessly trying to hit a long ball to get Rashford or Kunia or Ahmad in behind that was all we tried and AC Milan were like is that all you got and there was like periods of time it felt like at least three or four times in the game there was five minutes where we never touched the ball um it it it was embarrassing um as a performance and it exposed the problems that we've got.

12:06But look, as I said, we sat here this morning and the issues are left back, midfield and striker. And those issues were there in February. So what are we doing about it? What do you think about Rashford? Well, we'll delve into that in a minute because I do want to get into some of the news now. I waited to do this for the start of the show, by the way. So just bear with me on this one. I'm just about to gift. I'm going to do it twice, actually. I'll do it once because then it's done. It's about to gift 10 memberships. Obviously, we've got the Stick to United show starting on Tuesday, but we have got When Gold Bridge Met Rooney, half an hour episode exclusively for our members.

12:49So I wanted to wait until the show was live so that you know that you've got it so you can watch it. I'm just about to gift 10 memberships for you now. So 10 of you will get a gifted membership this morning where you can watch for the next month for free all the extra stuff that's going out there. So check that out. If you've got it, well done. Blake got one. Eternity got one.

13:15And Luca got one as well. So check out Goldbridge versus Rooney. There's a little treat for you there. Right, let's get into the show. And of course, if you are a member, make sure you watch that and all the other stuff we've got exclusively coming up for you over the next few days and weeks and season. Some really exciting stuff. Okay, there is a fancy Premier League United Stand team show coming as well. I think that's coming up on Wednesday for anybody who's interested in that. And we've got prizes and stuff to give away. So where are we on transfers this morning? Well, let me look. There is an update on the left-back situation.

13:49I mean, look, we can't sign Louis Skelly anymore. I was a little bit late this morning because Rio Ferdinand's done a little video direct to Rio. He's done a little video this morning saying, go and get Lewis Skelly. We can't sign Lewis Skelly now. If Rio Ferdinand says something, you do the opposite. Like if he says you're purring and training like a Ferrari, you're fucked. If he says it's going to be Qatar in 24 hours, it's going to be Sir Jim. If he says give Oli a lifetime contract, he's definitely getting sacked. So Rio's gone and done the Louis Skelly kiss of death by saying that that's the player that we should go and buy.

14:26What Rio doesn't think about is the cost of that. What Rio doesn't think about is, well, I mean, I've met plenty of ex-players who, although they were ridiculously talented, they have very poor analytical skills of football, which is a crazy when you think of the dressing rooms and players they've played with. But why would you sit there this morning and say things like, let's sign Lewis Skelly, who is a midfielder slash left back? Why would you go and buy a player that can do two positions when you need two players to do each position? Like, I didn't look at the game yesterday and go, oh, Lewis Skelly as a backup to Luke Shaw would work.

15:12Or I didn't look at the game yesterday and go, oh, Lewis Skelly as a backup to Santos would work. we don't need a jack of all trades we don't need a John O'Shea we need a holding midfielder and we need a left back if we go and sign Lewis Skelly it will be it would have to be Lewis Skelly and a left back or it would have to be Lewis Skelly and a midfielder and they both need to be players that can go straight into the team so for me I wouldn't go for Lewis Skelly because I think he'd be at least 60 million pounds and he only solves one problem. But I think United would try and pretend that he solves two.

15:51I do think Lewis Skelly's an interesting player, but I think he'd be seen as a utility player. I don't think he'd start against anybody and I think he'd be sat on the bench for Manchester United.

16:04Right, Wim, what are we doing here today? Filming promo for a new podcast, me and Mark Oldbridge. What's the podcast called, Wim? I don't know. What is it called? Oh, that was good. Wayne is a player. Exactly what Man United was all about. And I'm sure we're not going to agree on everything. What would you think about Mark if you were a current player? Probably think he's just... We'll be reacting to all the games. Do you do your own painting in your house? All the big stories. Just having my socks on and my underpants. Good. Hopefully no sackings. I hope not. He's gone first, I've vaulted him.

16:36I think we will have debates. That's why I was saying you can go first. I did. On the volley. United. Oh, perfect. On the pitch, off the pitch. I've got a little goal in my garden. I'd have to save that, to be honest. Stiff United is coming soon. Sorry, I've just been asked where Seb's skateboard is. But look, this is the updates we've got this morning. We're about to talk about Lewis Hall, but I want to start off with the midfield because where are we with the midfield? Well, look, let me give you an opinion and then I'll tell you where we are with the midfield, right? I said this on the Monday show last week that I didn't think United would do anything in the transfer window until this week.

17:22And there was a little bit of, you know, disbelief in the community because you go, well, it's over for two. It's like a month since we signed Tillemans. We can't have another week where we don't do anything. But when you think about it, you're playing Leeds on Wednesday, AC Milan on Sunday, Saturday, Poland, Dublin. Rashford's coming back. It just looks, United are very predictable. And whilst a Man City or an Arsenal or a decent football club would say, we're not parking a week just to do PR, we need to buy players, Man United definitely will. They'll go, let's not do anything this week because we've got to go to Dublin.

18:02We've got to integrate Rashford. We've got a game against Amirim. We need to focus on the PR this week. So and that's lo and behold, that's what's happened. I think this week and next week we'll start focusing on transfers. So that's my prediction. We didn't do anything last week and I didn't think we would. I think from tomorrow, maybe even later today, I hope we will start with the transfer stuff. Now, where we are with the midfield is that we did hold talks with Kone in mid-July and we did hold talks with Kone at the start of last week. We still haven't spoken to Roma, so talks with Kone, he would be, at this moment, the most likely midfielder we're going to go for.

18:46but Labour we haven't done anything with and it seems like considering last summer we had talks with Labour and Brighton for three weeks and we didn't sign him I find it hard to believe that we haven't had talks with Labour but we think we could do a deal in two and a half weeks it just the maths just don't work and I don't think I don't think Newcastle would sell him cheap either and I don't think United want to spend more than 60 million pounds on anybody so spending 60 million pounds on Balaba negotiating with Brighton in two and a half weeks for a player that had a bad season. I just don't, I don't see, I've said it all season, we're not in talks with Balaba.

19:25He's not high on the list. Now, never say never. I don't see it being Balaba. So I think Kone's still a man of interest. I would never rule out someone like Sanderberg or Tyler Adams because they're cheap. Alex Scott's a bloody pipe dream. Let's get real. And Meech is a pipe dream. Cermini's never going to happen Camavinga doesn't want to come and I know, was it Whitwell was talking about Camavinga look, I don't want Camavinga because he doesn't want to come why would you go and buy a player that doesn't want to come? so I would still say on the midfield if we're going to buy a midfielder by the way remember and you know the mic drop could well be Paige from Leicester Leicester have said they want a certain price for him and they've rejected the bid that came in remember we're still negotiating for this 18 year old from Leicester who's played like 20 games for Leicester in the championship he could be that midfielder now he's not even a holding midfielder so it can't be him but we must be wary it could be but he is not a holding midfielder he's 18 you can't take Santos off and put a bloody 18 year old to do the running for Tillemans and Maynou so logically for me we have got to go and get an athletic, proven midfielder who is ready to go.

20:46And there are so many people we could go for. And hopefully it will be somebody like Kone and it can happen very quickly. And the positive about Kone or Stilla or anybody else, realistically, there's a few, is that then they're still where they are and they're still available. so but and somebody just said it in the chat shout out is if you do bring Kone in or you do bring Alex Scott in or you do bring Tyler Adams in how hard is it going to be for them to come and succeed at Man United with no preseason and you know I call it the Agarte effect the Amrabat effect. Whoever we bring in, I think we failed Carrick and that player because you're making their job really difficult by bringing them in so late in the market.

21:39And we have seen this. Look, Amrabat and Agate may well have failed anyway, but they certainly didn't get a pre-season. You bring them in at the end of the window when the season's already started and then you say, hit the ground running. Look at bloody Manu yesterday. Look at Bruno yesterday. Like, that's what happens when you don't have a pre-season. You're rusty. So let's see what happens with the midfield. The priority is apparently a left back, but let's see what happens with the midfield because we absolutely have to do something about it. Now with left back, some of the updates this morning, let me just go through some of them.

22:18Manchester Evening News saying there's always the possibility that Man United sign a lower profile left back this summer than revisit Lewis Hall in 2027 when Shaw will be out of contract. I'm sorry, this is... That's two weeks too soon for me. That's the sort of article I expect when the window closes, where you've done fuck all in the window, but next summer you're going to go big. I mean, that's the Elliot Anderson effect, isn't it? Our window's been shit. We didn't buy any midfielders, but our priority is Elliot Anderson. And if anybody falls for that nonsense again, well I don't know if there's a word for you like we didn't buy a midfielder last summer and when the window closed for nine months Elliot Anderson, Elliot Anderson from all the journalists Romano, Ornstein they were briefed we never even bid for him so if you're going to get excited about going for Lewis Hall next summer you're a moron because that's literally Ineos' tactic We're not buying in January because we're going to have an amazing summer.

23:24I remember January. We're keeping it for the summer. We're going to be massive and we've done nothing. Remember Ornstein? I think Man United are going to be the most, you know, busiest team in the transfer window. We've been the worst. When the window closed last year, Elliot Anderson, fucking nowhere near him. So Lewis Hall next summer, flush it down the toilet. I don't believe it. It's just propaganda bollocks. And also, even if you were going for Lewis Hall next summer, are we writing this season off then? Why do Man United always kick problems down the road? Like, I don't believe it's anyway, but what a load of bollocks.

24:01And that worries me when I start to see news outlets talking about going for big players next summer. Because this is how they keep the fan base happy. This is how they keep people dreaming. Next year we'll be millionaires. We may as well be bloody Only Fools and Horses FC. Bloody Del Boy in charge as CEO. This time next year, we'll be millionaires. What about now? What about now? Also in the Manchester Evening News, the money is there. It's definitely there. And the message when we spoke to people at the club this summer has been, we're not going to splurge. We're not going to. We're really going to go above our budget and we have to be disciplined.

24:37But when the figures were released in May, the latest financial figures showed that the club theoretically could have spent 300 million in this window. They'd made free pay payments, the revolving credit facility, which is essentially a credit card, which gave them a lot of scope to spend this summer. And now they need to be more disciplined.

24:59But there is money to spend and they need to spend it. So, look, the money's there. The money is there. And look, I don't. It's interesting. I'm sure me and Rooney are going to talk about this on Stick to United. I don't actually, and I don't care if people agree with me or not, I don't agree with United being disciplined. I don't agree with we have to be disciplined because we don't. We have to be disciplined because our owners have us in debt and they don't want to spend money. As a United fan, I don't have to subscribe to that. I don't have to agree with that. I want to be more like Tottenham.

25:39I want to be ambitious. if it goes wrong it goes wrong but you know I want to go out and buy better players you know if we'd not bought Rio Ferdinand as a centre back in 2002 for ridiculous money there wasn't a cheap version out there that we would have been as successful you get what you pay for and this whole we need to be disciplined when in football as it ever works that oh we won't sign that amazing player for£100 million because there's a player exactly as good as him for 50. It doesn't work like that. You go and get the best you can get. And I think United's disciplined approach will end up with more performances like yesterday because you're relying on players that aren't actually that good.

26:23So I think that we will spend money, but if we're not willing to spend the money in the right way, we're going to struggle. We will struggle. And look, I think that last season, we were very reliant on experienced players like Harry Maguire, Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro. Casemiro's gone. Bruno's still there. Harry Maguire's still there. But as we see with Harry, very good from set pieces, very good in the air, but balls in behind, he's always going to struggle. So the cracks will appear with this squad if it wasn't boosted and it hasn't been boosted, has it? Let's get clear. Let's be clear on that.

27:07Also, sorry, let me just go back to this because there was something on Lewis Hall as well.

27:22Yeah, the league does start in seven days. I'm fully aware of that.

27:32I'll come back to that in a minute.

27:36Here it is. Also in the Manchester Evening News. Man United are cranking up plans to sign a left-back after deciding that was the most pressing issue to be fixed. Left-back is now seen as the area of the squad most in need of investment, although a deal for Lewis Hall appears all but dead. United hadn't identified Hall as their top target, but the 21-year-old is set to stay at Newcastle. So according to the Manchester Evening News, the Lewis Hall deal is apparently all but dead, which is obviously not what I want to be talking about on a Sunday morning. But it's dead for the reason I just said to you there.

28:16It's dead because there's an unwillingness to go and spend the money required. Lewis Hall would not be a dead deal for Manchester City. Lewis Hall would not be a dead deal for Liverpool because they would spend the money required to get the player that the data says go and get. And this is where I think we've gone wrong. We're constantly putting it out there that we brought these people in from Formula One, data analysts, they're winning awards. But what people can't figure out is if I'm that data analyst genius from Formula One and I come into Man United and I do my job properly, I'll have said to the club in March, Lewis Hall's the left back, Mateus Fernandes is the midfielder.

29:00You've got to go and get those two players. Everything we've ran, age, style of play, growth, talent, ability, that's what the data says. Go and get those two players and in the next five years, you're going to end up a much better team with two fantastic players. So they do the data bit, they throw it in and if that's Liverpool, they go and get Mateus Fernandes and they go and get Lewis Hall. But at Man United, the data comes into the boardroom and then somebody, probably Sir Jim Madcliffe or Joel Glazer, says, yeah, but we're not paying any more than£60 million for them. And then Jason Wilcox goes, well, we won't get them then.

29:37Well, OK, we won't buy them then. You need to find players like them under£60 million. And then somebody should put their hand up and go, are you fucking stupid? The reason they're going to cost£70,£80,£90 million is because they're really good. The data says they're really good. Everyone else on that list isn't as good as them. And that's why we won't sign Lewis Hall. Not because the data doesn't say we should, but because the owners say, well, we're not paying any more than£60 million. And that's what's done us in this season, this transfer window. And this is where, again, it gets really frustrating because you'll get somebody in the fan base going, well, we can't keep overpaying for players.

30:19and I said this on Rory's channel on Friday I was like if I take Rory to watch Toy Story at the cinema and he hates it and then I say well next week let's go and watch Odyssey and he goes but that's more expensive and I didn't like Toy Story I'm like it's a different film I'm absolutely convinced that you'll love this film Toy Story was a bit of a mistake but you'll love this film and then we pay that little bit extra and we go and watch it and he's like what an amazing film I want to do that again. You can't say I'm not going to buy a player again because we spent£80 million on Anthony. It didn't work out.

30:53And there seems to be people in the fan base who go, well, I don't want us to spend over£60 million on players anymore because we've done it too many times and it didn't work out. We won't sign Lewis Hall then. We won't sign Mateus Fernandes. We won't sign Alex Scott. We won't sign Tonali. Are you telling me that if we signed Lewis Hall, Alex Scott, Tonali, Mateus Fernandes, every one of them is going to flop because Anthony did? it's a ridiculous theory it's absolutely ridiculous but also i would say to those people what's the point in having sanossi or sansoni or whatever his name is because in his data he'll be saying sign lewis hall and then so jim says no it's too expensive and then you've got fans going yeah i agree with sir jim well what's the point in having the data guy then if the data guy is there to highlight the players that are perfect for us and then we're going well we're not going to pay for them we're in this weird situation where actually you may as well not employ the data guy.

31:44You may as well get somebody in. You may as well just use a bloody Wisecout parameter of under£60 million and do it yourself. It's so strange. That's why Lewis Hall to Man United is looking like a dead deal, because we won't give Newcastle what it takes to get him out. And if we're not willing to pay to get the players we need, we end up in the situation we are now. And I mean, you could use chat GBT. Yeah. So look, I suppose what I would say is I think we will buy players. And I'd love us to go and spend£70 million on a player because it would blow all those theories out the window. But it looks like we're going to sign one or two players for under£50 million.

32:32Take your pick. Manu Kone still does fit into that. But at left back, the scary thing about left back is, and funnily enough, Ricky has been notable by his absence. Normally, normally, if Luke Shaw has an average game, I get a message from Ricky saying, I'm telling you now, pick a card, Luke Shaw's world class. He had an absolute stinker yesterday. I've been checking my phone. Nothing from Ricky because this is what happens when Luke Shaw's shit. But if you watch that game yesterday, he was an absolute nightmare. and look, four years ago, I would have said Luke Shaw was one of the best left backs in the world, but age catches up with us all, and the amount of times yesterday, and it happened against, I think it happened against Leeds in the second half with Nonto as well, when Luke Shaw came on, the amount of times Luke Shaw tucks in and leaves the winger with 30 metres, if that's tactical, by the way, that's fucking stupid.

33:30Somebody did say to me though, that when Carrick was at Middlesbrough, he almost does a subtle back three. He'll tuck one of his full backs in and the other one on the other side goes forward. And it's almost like a subtle back three that nobody talks about because only Amrim got shit to play in a back three. Michael Carrick doesn't play a back three. But that should only be an attack. I don't mind us going to a back three and attack because we've got the ball. Why is he tucking in when we don't have the ball? So I don't blame Carrick. What I'm trying to say is if he does do a subtle back three, maybe he does, maybe he doesn't.

34:10But when you've not got the ball and they're on the attack, why is Luke Shaw tucking in trying to mark the number 10? And Aidan Heaven or Maguire end up being the spare man and their winger has the freedom of the pitch. I actually thought at one point Poland's mayor was going to walk on the pitch and give their winger freedom of the city because he had so much space. It was ridiculous. And it happened loads of times, not just on the goals. So there is no way you could watch the game yesterday and say 31-year-old Luke Shaw is the left back to play twice a week for Man United this season. He looks absolutely way off, way off.

34:52And the reason he probably tucks in is because actually he probably wouldn't be a bad left-sided centre-back. As he, you know, I think in Amrim's system last year as a left-sided centre-back, he was quite good. And that's probably why he was hugging Amrim at the end of the game. He was probably saying, sign me up for AC Milan. Because as a left-sided centre-back in a back three, I think Luke Shaw is actually not bad. But as a left back where you've got to get up and down the pitch and track quick wingers. I just don't think he can do it anymore. So it's scary. Obviously, with the midfield, when Santos goes off, Tillemans and Maynou, fucking hell, brilliant players, but two slow midfielders who don't like a tackle.

35:32That is a bloody nightmare. Which is probably why Mason Mount looks okay in the midfield because he's more mobile than Tillemans and Maynou, but he's no good in there anyway. So basically what we've got at the moment is we've got no left back going into a massive season and we've only got Santos who can tackle going into a big season. We are. That's not like let's let's wait and see. That is terrifying. We've got no left back and we've only got one midfielder that can tackle. Anything happens to Santos or he flops and we are in shit. I would say we need three midfielders. actually. I would say we need Santos, someone else who can do that job and someone else who can do that job.

36:12But if we don't get somebody in at left back and we don't get somebody in at midfield, we are in big trouble. And leaving it this late in the window, I would love to know the reason why we've left it so late. Who in the club thought we didn't need it? Because that's what's happened. They've not left it late in the window on purpose. I think they've left it late in the window because they thought they didn't need to do it. It reminds me of the 10-hard gear when we bought Anthony and Casemiro and we lost the first two games. We weren't going to bother. We weren't going to bother with a winger. We weren't going to bother with Casemiro and Anthony.

36:46It's only because we lost the first two games, they shit themselves. And yet again, the plan was clearly to go into the season without a left back and a midfielder. And now obviously we're going to have to do it. So it's scary. But what's also scary is, is that I saw this today. In 2002, our back four, so four years ago, 2002, we lost to Brentford 4-0. And I think that was, was that the first game of the season or something like that? The back four, four years ago, was Luke Shaw, Lissandra Martinez, Harry Maguire and Deleu. Bloody hell. What? What? Are you making that up? No, I'm not. Luke Shaw, Lissandro Martinez, Harry Maguire and Deleuze were our starting back four in 2002.

37:42Sorry, 2022. Sorry, not 2002. Some of them are being bloody nappies. But three years ago, four years ago, 23 years ago, that's incredible to me. Because you know what? If that was Maldini, Braze, Costa-Curta and, you know, whoever used to play right back for Milan, I always forget. And you're just trying to extend their careers. Fine. But it's Luke Shaw, Lissandra Martinez, Harry Maguire and Deleuze four years later. It's madness. It's absolutely madness.

38:23Anyhow, anyhow, that's where we are. So look, I expect things to start moving this week. My only concern is what's the quality of the players we're going to bring in? Because if we're going to bring in a cheap kid left back and a cheap kid midfielder, or we're going to bring in Tyler Adams, you know, these are not the quality of players we need. They're not.

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40:33Whilst I don't think the result yesterday really matters, I think the performance does. I think the issues in the team do because they're the same issues as last season. I mean, look, last season, less than 50 % possession, totally reliant on counter-attack and moments issues that left back in the midfield exactly the same as yesterday and I think that was the disappointment about yesterday everything that had been positive in the pre-season games pre-Milan disappeared into a look, the performance yesterday highlighted every issue we've got in the club at the moment and maybe we'd been papering the cracks in other games but everything we were worried about came home in 4K yesterday.

41:20The club have got two weeks to solve it. And the question has to be, why are you trying to solve the problems that we had three months ago with two weeks left in the window? And I don't think that's acceptable, by the way. Everything we saw yesterday was a problem three months ago. If we played that game yesterday and Bruno Fernandes had broken his leg and was out for the season, two weeks left to solve that, you'd feel sorry for the club. Oh my God. nobody was going to see that coming. But everything we saw yesterday, we'd known about for months and they've got two weeks to solve it. It's ridiculous.

41:52And it makes you question what's going on at the club. Let me get into some of your comments. Have you heard in the last five to six years the same level of aggressive determination about wanting to beat another team in the league, like with Amrin? Yeah, Andy, it was weird. Absolutely weird. You know, we've played... We've played Chelsea, Wenganacho last season. we've played games against Sancho you know we've played against previous managers and in a pre-season game against Amorim you get this big whirlwind of PR that the players are determined to beat a manager that got sacked for calling the club out for not buying players in January and they were trying to you know I don't know I'm just glad it backfired I'm glad it backfired because it really does expose the real problem at the football club.

42:40Welcome to the members club Sam, Andrew and Spin. Sam says, hi Mark, surely we signed Kone now that we've lost the game right. I can't see us signing Berg or Adams over him. Look, out of all the midfielders, Kone is the most advanced. But as we know with Man United, you can miss out on Edison and go and sign Santos within 48 hours. So it doesn't mean that we can't pick up the phone and go and get somebody else. And if the hotter meter hadn't died two months ago, I'd probably have Kone as a 7 out of 10. But beyond that, I've got no idea what we're going to do at left-back. I'm telling you all, when Sir Jim said he wanted to put Manchester back into Manchester United, he was thinking of the 90s and using the academy.

43:17It's 2026, says Joe. Would you have kept Amrim if he'd switched to 4-2-3-1? He could have accepted that 3-4-2 wasn't in the United DNA. I liked his character. Look, there was that clip of Amrim speaking to the journalists after the game saying, you know, do you miss me? Boring press conferences now. That's not a criticism of Carrick, by the way. He's not saying Carrick's boring. But the only reason Amirim's interviews were explosive or interesting was because they were similar to Ranyuk. And the sense that, you know, he spoke about suffering. He spoke about the work. He spoke about how difficult things were going to be.

43:57You know, he wasn't doing jokes or stand up comedian. He was just telling the truth. It wasn't explosive. It was the truth. We've just got a manager now that doesn't speak like that. Neither did Oli. But Mourinho, Amarim and Ranjic, they just told the truth. Do I regret Amarim going, no, I think he's probably going to be in a better place and we've got to move forward. But on the circumstances you said there, would I have kept Amarim if he'd have gone to a 4-2-3-1 and played counterattacking football? No, because that's not what he's about. He was brought in to do something. It didn't work and it didn't work primarily because they didn't give him the players and now players aren't good enough to do it.

44:39So we've moved on to something else now. Football Surgery says, I don't understand the obsession with Amrim. He's just a scapegoat, mate, isn't he? And instead of being a scapegoat, he's escaped. That didn't work. But no, he would have been, this morning if we'd won, he'd be getting all the blame for everything that's gone wrong at Man United in the last 30 years. Instead, we're all looking at the right place. and let me just forget just for a little bit of propaganda right I just saw some old notes from pre-season right MUTV across pre-season likened Luke Shaw to Mendes at PSG and also said we've got amazing squad depth in the midfield MUTV that is yeah I mean it's almost like MUTV and Rio Ferdinand are buying you a pint when you're happy and you love them for it.

45:36Oh, they're so generous. I love MUTV. I love Rio. I'm in a great mood and they're buying me a drink. And that's great. If you're feeling great about Man United, MUTV and Rio Ferdinand are your best mates. But when reality strikes about problems, they become ridiculed because they can't do reality. They can only top up your drink when you're in a good mood. and that's what it's just it's just it's propaganda and propaganda is great when you agree with it but in reality Luke Shaw is not Mendes and our midfield does not have a lot of depth signings are key but I think it's clear that United can't sell either if the leadership team are so good why have other teams not approached us as spin mate you've got Man City selling another a flop for 60 million Rinders Trafford went for about 50 Chelsea are making a 10 million profit on a flop in Ganacho the amount of clubs that are making ridiculous profit this summer on bang average players and we can't get money for anyone it's it's a problem and also when you look at next summer we're not getting any money again are we?

46:53Harry Maguire is too old Luke Shaw is too old Mason Mount will never go for any money so there's no prospect of his actually selling players for decent money anytime soon so that's going to be a problem as well because everyone else I think is going to continue to make 100 million in sales every summer and we're not going to make anything Amazing how one pre-season game humbled so many we're nowhere near ready for the season time to act any host the Bulls in your court get some players I tell you what John I think that one thing that's really in our favour is that we've got Hull and Ipswich and Everton as our first three games.

47:31I think we're very lucky that that's come out like that because where we are as a team, you could have landed Brentford away, Chelsea at home and Man City away. You know, you can end up with a first three games like that. And I think if we'd have had a challenging start to the season, I'd be more worried than I am. I think we're quite lucky that we've got three very winnable games where we can get a bit of momentum and a bit of confidence because the way the summer transfer window's gone, if we'd had a challenging first three games, I'd be worried. And I think that's something that we should be positive about is that I'm not saying we're going to win those three games, but they're far more winnable than what we could have had.

48:13You know, even Brighton away in the first three or Palace away would have me worried. but you know Everton might be difficult as well is stick to football a live show Mark says All Night no why does Martinez never get blamed for any goals says Robert I think he did yesterday but I think with Martinez Roberts as well it's a bit like Bruno and Maynou that's their first minutes of pre-season you are going to be rusty why aren't we brave enough to start Amas says Jay Shaw because we're trying to sell him I'd actually get a left back and midfielder a backup striker and Lewis Skelly for extra cover to boot out Shaw, says Shane.

48:49It'll be Kone and Salinas. They won't spend more, says Kill for Diamonds. What about Lewis Skelly plus another player, Mark, says Dan? Well, you'd have to do that. If you were going for Lewis Skelly, you'd have to be buying him as a midfielder or a left-back. You can't buy him for both. I thought everyone had a poor game last night. No one was a six other than Le Mans. We got a nice little preview of what the upcoming season could be like with no new signings, says Art Areola. Mark, welcome to Members Club. Thank you very much. Marlo says, I love Bruno, but we can't expect him to carry us for another season.

49:18I feel a Salah drop-off. I love Bruno Marlowe, but there was some murmurings yesterday in the watch-along about how in every other pre-season game, we've moved the ball quite well in a possession way and we've pressed high up the pitch. Bruno starts, we can't press high up the pitch and we can't keep possession. Now, I personally think that's coincidental, but I think that's something that people are starting to look at already. and what I would say about that is it's a bit of a conspiracy theory but when you look at Portugal in the World Cup Vitinha, Neves, incredible possession-based players terrible possession-based team Portugal Bruno in the midfield with them so look, I think we need to transition away from Bruno gets the ball and pings a long ball or we rely on his set pieces we have got to get back to what we were doing in the first few pre-season games where we're pressing high up the pitch and having good possession and moving the ball quickly.

50:17And Bruno can do that. Bruno can do that. But yesterday we didn't do that. So look, we need to get back to what we were doing well. I think, Mark, hope. Hi, Mark, hope you're well. Who do you think we will sign before the end of the window? It's hard to predict, Kian. And in a way, that's quite exciting. I want Lewis Hall and Alex Scott. I think that would be hugely exciting. I'd put up with Lewis Hall and Kone and be excited. I don't think we're going to get that. I think we'll sign players. The quality of those players may not be what we need. Keep up the good work, Mark says Brett. What annoys me, Mark, is we spent nothing in January and we're supposed to spend big in the summer and it's been crap.

50:59I mean, Rocco, it's a pathetic transfer window. And whilst that may have irritated people a couple of weeks ago, I think most people would say it's a pathetic transfer window now. It's pathetic. Even if we buy a couple of players now, It's still pathetic. Why have we left it so late? There's no logical reason to leave it this late. The season start. The cold, harsh fact is the season starts in six days and we've just played a game that looked exactly like every game we played last season. Low possession, relying on the counterattack, making similar mistakes. So basically the whole summer we've done nothing.

51:39If you take yesterday's performance into account, you've got six days to solve all the problems of last season still. And why is that? Because of a lack of movement in and out of the football club. Carrick needed six or seven players bringing in and five out. He's had two in and a backup goalkeeper and nobody's really left, have they? nobody that was part of the team last year is left we need someone to buy Ineos out says Alan oh we can dream Kyron says the club's new slogan should be player of interest how can we take this club seriously when we have players that were signed by Van Gaal still starting games ownership destroyed the club says Kyron I firmly believe any player we bring in now will fail or disappoint because of no pre-season it's a very real excuse Rajaf I also think that if I could put one thing into the mantra of this fan base, Michael Carrick's not been backed.

52:40Whether you think he's going to be a good manager or a bad manager, imagine Michael Carrick was Pep Guardiola. What would Pep Guardiola be able to do with this set of players? He's not been backed. I think they are holding out for easy results at the start of the season to spin. We don't need players. The truth will come out by Christmas. And Irish Ghost, you're spot on. I said this yesterday in the watch along. If you've got a long distance race, you know, at 10 ,000 meters in the athletics and somebody sprints off for the first two laps, oh, look at them. They've got a massive lead, but you know they're going to get caught over the long distance and they're probably going to come last.

53:20If United think they can spin this fan base because we win the first three games of the season, I saw yesterday what's going to happen. like we looked exhausted as well. We looked exhausted yesterday. Is that because we trained hard in Dublin? Is it because we played in Dublin? We've got to play two games a week. What will happen with these players is when they play two games a week and they get tired, their heads will drop, injuries will thrive and we'll end up in a very similar situation to Ranić and Ten Hag whereby you get to March and you can barely put a team out. because people are getting injuries here, there and everywhere and results are getting bad and people are like, I've got a calf strain, you know, I'm knackered.

54:06We've been down this road so many times before and unfortunately, I would love to be wrong on this, but we've seen it happen so many times before. You don't go into a season prepared and then from Christmas till May, you're hanging on by your fingernails with injuries and loss of form and you're like, fucking hell. And then everyone's screaming, carry cow. who would you ship out of the team right now it's too late David it's too late I mean arguably we should have bought a centre back which means we should have moved a centre back on I'd love to have moved one of the right backs on to bring another right back in I think right back was as bad as left back yesterday low key every goal could have been stopped from the right back position as well obviously left back midfield I wouldn't need to move anybody on I just need to bring people in I mean look in relation to Rashford by the way a few people asked me what I thought about Rashford and I really want to get into this with Wayne on Tuesday my thoughts on Rashford were that he looked lively but you know what I found about weird about seeing Rashford in a Man United shirt he looked exactly the same player that he was before.

55:22There's not a lot of tracking back. When he gets the ball, it looks like something might happen and sometimes it will, but sometimes it breaks down. It felt like Groundhog Day. It felt like, well, I've seen this before. And that's not a criticism. I'm not saying he was shit. I'm not saying he was brilliant. What I'm saying is when he came on, I was like, it felt like I've seen this before. And I think sometimes it'll work and sometimes it won't. But as we've said, if he's coming back, it needs to work every week because when it doesn't work, I could see people online going, he's not tracking back.

56:00That's a pre-season game. So I think the scary thing for me about the Rashford situation and why I still think he should try and leave is that I don't think he can be amazing every week. I don't think he could even start every week. So. You're bringing somebody back and I don't know, I just think he's going to be OK. I think there'll be brilliant moments and I think there'll be moments where he's frustrating because that's what a winger is. And I'm sort of like, why have we put ourselves in this position? Why has he put himself in this position? But as I said, I'll retain an open mind. But look, there were good bits, but there wasn't anything where I thought he's going to score 30 Premier League goals and win the Ballon d 'Or.

56:42I think he might score 15 to 20 goals and have good games and bad games but remember there is competition on that left hand side as well and also that was an AC Milan side that were playing a high line leaving a lot of space I do worry about a low block Mark we should keep an open mind on Rashford this season well I said that last week Mark and I think some of us are going to do that Shaw plays knowing he has got no competition says Phil thank you very much Leeds and PSG we had less possession and Bruno wasn't playing. We scored, we're scared against Leeds from the counter, so don't agree there, says Dan Davey.

57:19Leeds and PSG, we had less possession and Bruno wasn't playing. We didn't have, no, no, that's got to be wrong, Dan. I mean, I'll stand corrected if I'm wrong, but I think I'm right in saying that Milan's the lowest possession we've had all season. We didn't, we weren't lower than 35 % possession against Leeds. No way. I think Leeds, it was closer to 50-50 and PSG, I don't think it was lower than 35 % either. So I think you're wrong on there, Dan. But if I'm wrong, I'll say I'm wrong. Last game exposed us hugely. We don't have depth. It was interesting when we play Wednesday, we didn't show on Saturday.

57:54This is a warning sign, says Ray. Hope you're doing well, Ray. Yeah, we don't have the squad depth. Hi, Mark. And United Stans, says Daniel Thompson. They never fix key issues, only ever make more mistakes, waste time in the window. And when they try to fix them, there's no time left, says Daniel. Are we delaying transfers because the early fixtures are easy? Says Korshuk. I mean, there's always the theory that we're delaying transfers to save wages. But when you're paying Rashford 300 grand a week, why is it a big deal to save a couple of hundred grand in way? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

58:32Mohammed says, good morning, Mark. Thank you for all your hard work on the channel. You guys have gotten me through hard times and I appreciate you all. one of my favourite memories was appearing on the channel on the opening day in 2018 against Leicester. Legend. Thank you, Mohamed, and thanks for your super chat. They don't want to spend big. They're that dumb, though. The prices will rise now. Wow. Don't worry, Mark. That's from Scott. That's the thing, isn't it? We are in the panic zone. Don't worry, Mark. It's all for the documentary. Well, look, documentary might be a reason. I'm not so sure.

59:00But let's not forget that if Man United are trying to save money. Look, ultimately, we've left it late in the window, haven't we? And what I always come back to is that we're apparently doing things differently now. But just because you do things differently doesn't mean you're doing it better. You know, we're going to try and win the league without spending big money. When's that ever worked? But also, are we doing things differently? How many times over the last 10 years have we been in the last two weeks of the transfer window like this. And I would say at least eight, 80 % of the time. So how was this any different to Glazers?

59:41Apart from the fact the Glazers would go and spend£130 million on Casemiro and Anthony, we'll probably spend 50 on a kid from Santander and Tyler Adams. So we're still panicking in the last two weeks of the window. We're just doing it cheaply now. But why are we doing it? I mean, look, football is very simplistic and when you actually pull back the covers which I get to do quite a lot I think some of you quite rightly think these people running football clubs behind the scenes are geniuses. When you actually look behind it you go they're just normal people in fact some of them are thick but if I was in that boardroom in May I'd be saying whatever happens we've got to stop being in a position in late August where we haven't done our business we've got to stop when Liverpool rebuilt their midfield Saboz Lai, Endo, McAllister, Gravenberg they didn't buy them all in the last two weeks of the window they had them in for pre-season and it massively helps you we've got to get our players in so that they're playing in pre-season are climatised and used to their teammates and the manager and forget about signings here we are again and we've been doing this for years and years and years so it's not even about I want us to buy Alex Scott for 80 million pounds if we're buying Kone for 45 why is he not here it's not about like I want to sign Lewis Hall for 70 million pounds I do but if we're going to buy Lewis Skelly for 45 why is he not here regardless of the price why are they not here why are we panicking at the end of the window again and again it's just another level of incompetence would you risk not having Champions League in order to have a window of Kunya, Sesko and Bermow no David I don't want another season out.

1:01:29The Champions League is one of the things that's keep making me excited this season because no matter what happens, we'll get eight Champions League games midweek and feel part of something that we haven't been part of yet. Three or four goals came after Shaw and already clapped left back was joined by Rashford, an incredibly unhelpful left wing defensively. According to you, Rashford has to start. No, Melik, I'm not the manager. A tweet that reminded me Nice have had eight managers in six years. I think it's blind hope and faith thinking Ineos will back any manager, let alone Carrick, says Patrick.

1:02:01The mate, Ineos' football track record is an absolute joke. Absolute joke. Anyway, great show this morning. We could talk and talk and talk. But remember, we do have an eight o 'clock show tonight. And that's what that's all about. So thank you very much for tuning in this morning. I'm actually back on That's Football at three o 'clock for a watch along. Community Shield, Arsenal, Man City will get to have a look at other clubs and how they move the ball and how they are organised. is Maresca for the first time. So I'm looking forward to that. Premier League starts on Friday as well. So join me at three o 'clock on That's Football.

1:02:30We're back here at eight o 'clock unless something happens. And let's not forget, something will start to happen around transfers at some point. And don't forget to watch Goldbridge meets Rooney. Stick to United's going up on Tuesday morning. Our first episode, that'll be on YouTube. But remember on the member section, there's loads of stuff for you. Starting off with Goldbridge meets Rooney, a half an hour special. You'll enjoy that. If you're a member, check it out. Thanks everyone for watching. Speak to you in a bit. Take care.

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