I think Manchester United’s biggest problem is that they don’t know what their problem is.
I’m a Chelsea fan. Believe me, I know what a banter era looks like. Chelsea have been absolutely shambolic at different points over the last few years. I have suffered through the managers, the transfers, the dressing-room drama, the league finishes, the jokes and all. But I genuinely think I can tell you “this is Chelsea’s problem”
That is not the case for United, and that has been an issue since Sir Alex Ferguson left. You know, I honestly pity United fans. I know my club has been shitty in the past few years, but bro, I’m the fvcking world champion, in my banter era! Reason it. What do United fans use to console themselves? They’ve been shitty too in the past 10 years, and have nothing to show for it
When I try to put myself in their shoes, I just can’t; it could be harmful to me. With United, it feels like the problem keeps changing shape. Manager. Players. Recruitment. Owners. Culture. Tactics. Bruno. The midfield. The defence. The dressing room. The mentality.
And then another manager arrives, another transfer window happens, another millions of pounds get spent, and somehow we are back having the same conversation.
United just lost 1–0 to Manchester City despite City playing with ten men for more than an hour after Phil Foden was sent off. They literally sit 13th after four league games.
What is the problem ffs?? Is it the attack?
Look at the attack: Amad. Marcus Rashford. Matheus Cunha. Bryan Mbeumo. Joshua Zirkzee. Benjamin Šeško, etc.
That is not a terrible attacking group.
In fact, I think there is enough quality there to build a team capable of winning something. These guys can give you at least 15 goals each a season. Cunha can score goals. Mbeumo can score goals. Rashford has already shown he can score goals. Šeško has the profile to become a serious goalscorer. Zirkzee can contribute. Amad can create.
There are different profiles in that attack.
So what exactly are we doing with them?
That is where I start looking at the manager. Because eventually, it is your job to make the tools work. United fans cannot keep looking at their squad every six months and saying, “These players aren’t good enough.”
Maybe some aren’t. Fine. But then identify them. Check their mentality. Check who actually wants to work. Check who is willing to suffer for the team. Check who can handle the pressure of playing for Manchester United. And if someone isn’t ready?Move him on.
United need to make hard decisions, not emotional ones. Hard decisions! There are players at United who have been through so many cycles that I honestly wonder whether the club has become too comfortable with them.
Harry Maguire is the obvious example. The man went through one of the most brutal periods imaginable of a player at United. The captaincy drama. The criticism. The memes. The constant scrutiny. And yet he stayed.
Luke Shaw has been there for years; he even played with the manager, if I’m not mistaken. Lisandro Martínez has had his injury problems. Diogo Dalot has been around through multiple managerial eras.
And this isn’t me saying every one of these players is terrible. That’s not the point.
The point is that Manchester United have to stop confusing familiarity with necessity.
A player can be good enough to play for Manchester United and still be wrong for the Manchester United that is trying to emerge. Sometimes you have to say, “Thank you. You’ve served the club, but we’re going somewhere else now.”
And that is where I actually give Ruben Amorim some credit, even though his United tenure ultimately failed. He was willing to make difficult decisions. He was willing to tell the club that certain things had to change. He was willing to challenge the squad.
The problem was that United never seemed to reach a stable agreement between the manager’s football, the squad construction and the club’s wider vision. His time ended after a disastrous period that included a 15th-place Premier League finish and a Europa League final defeat, but the problems around United were bigger than one manager.
Even reports around his dismissal described a club struggling with recruitment, tactical identity and the wider football process.
And that is the point.
You cannot keep changing the manager without changing the environment the manager walks into. Give Guardiola this squad. Give Klopp, Mourinho, Xabi Alonso, Arteta this squad. Eventually, each of them would want certain players removed, certain players developed, certain roles changed, and certain standards established.
And there is another lesson from Xabi Alonso at Chelsea. When Xabi came, Enzo Fernández was probably our best midfielder, but Alonso had to make a decision, and one of the important things was understanding whether Enzo’s heart was still with the project. Ultimately, he had to tell the club to let Enzo go.
If a player wants to stay and fight, you build around that commitment. If his heart is elsewhere, sometimes the smartest thing is to accept it and move on.
That is football management. The coach’s job isn’t to stand there and complain that the screwdriver isn’t a hammer. Use the tools. Sharpen the tools. Replace the tools that don’t work. Then ask for better tools where you genuinely need them.
And United actually have more tools than people think. Their midfield is another example. They are far too dependent on Bruno Fernandes. And I want to be careful here because Bruno is a very good footballer. He has produced enormous numbers for United.
He has been their creative outlet, captain and attacking reference point for years. Even under Michael Carrick, he lately produced a hat-trick and assist against Ipswich earlier this season, showing again just how influential he can be.
But that is precisely the problem.
United have built too much of the team around one man. Everything becomes Bruno. Find Bruno. Give Bruno the ball. Let Bruno create. Let Bruno decide. And when Bruno doesn’t score or assist? The entire team suddenly looks less dangerous.
Why? Because the responsibility hasn’t been distributed. Decentralise the team! Make everybody responsible for creating something. Make the midfield capable of progressing the ball without constantly searching for Bruno.
Make the wingers capable of creating. Make the full-backs contribute. Make the striker dangerous without needing Bruno to manufacture the chance. Make the other midfielder capable of controlling a game. Make everybody fire from all cylinders.
That is what I mean when I say decentralise Manchester United. A great team doesn’t have one brain. It has several. And this is where I think United’s current attacking group is being wasted. Because imagine a Manchester United where Bruno is still brilliant, but Bruno isn’t the only person who can make something happen.
Imagine Mbeumo creating. Amad creating. Cunha dropping deep and linking play. Šeško attacking the box. Rashford running behind. The midfield controlling possession. The full-backs providing width.
Suddenly Bruno doesn’t have to carry the entire creative burden. He can become even better because the opposition cannot simply build the entire defensive plan around stopping him.
That is management. First, know who is ready to work. Then build around them. Because mentality matters just as much as talent. You can have six players capable of scoring 15–20 goals. You can have £100m worth of attacking talent. You can have one of the biggest clubs in the world behind you. And still look completely disconnected if the mentality, structure and responsibilities aren’t right.
That’s why I don’t think Manchester United are simply “bad.” I think they are disconnected.
The players don’t always look like they know exactly what the team is trying to become. The system doesn’t always maximise the profiles available. The squad still carries players from previous eras. The recruitment hasn’t always matched the tactical needs. And every defeat creates another argument about the manager instead of forcing the club to answer the bigger question: What exactly are we building?
Because until United can answer that, every transfer window becomes another shopping trip. And every new manager becomes another person asked to solve a problem he didn’t create.
This is why I look at what clubs like Milan is doing with Amorim now, and Liverpool are doing with Andoni Iraola and think United should be paying attention to the broader principle: don’t build a team around one superstar or one rigid mechanism. Build a system where different players can hurt you in different ways.
If someone isn’t mentally ready, move him. If someone isn’t good enough, replace him. If someone is good enough but doesn’t fit, find the right role. If Bruno is carrying too much, distribute the responsibility. If the midfield needs a different profile, go and get one. And if the manager needs better tools, give him the tools.
But stop restarting the entire project every time something goes wrong. Because Manchester United are not suffering from a lack of money, history, supporters or talent. They are suffering from a lack of clarity. And that is why I keep coming back to the same sentence: Manchester United’s biggest problem is that they don’t know what their problem is.
Like I said, I’m a Chelsea fan. I know what being a mess looks like. I’ve been there. I’ve got the scars. But at least I know where the scars came from. United need to figure theirs out. Because until they do, we’ll be sitting here next season having the same conversation, just with another manager, another signing, and another explanation for why everything still looks the same.
