u/fireproofpoo

Always liked Victor during his tenure as a red. He's a good lad and I have nothing bad to say about him. I'm genuinely glad to see him lifting a trophy this season!

He had 2 chances to lift this trophy with United, but the less spoken about those games, the better..

I'll always cheer on (not you Jadon) ex reds from afar providing it doesn't directly affect what's best for United.

I wished him all the best when he moved on and I meant it sincerely.. I'm genuinely buzzing for Lindelöf!

Fair play on the prem tbh, can't pretend I'm thrilled, but I'd have hated a Citeh treble too!

But just look at what Big Michael has done!

Here's to hoping the scousers miss out on UCL

INEOS summer signings have all delivered!

Matheus Cunha, Benjamin Sesko and Bryan Mbeumo have all reached double figures for goals in the Premier League this season - the only other team to have three players score 10+ goals in their first season with the club are Arsenal in 2012-13 (Olivier Giroud, Lukas Podolski, Santi Cazorla).

Bruno Fernandes equalled the Premier League record for assists in a season as Manchester United won an entertaining five-goal encounter with Nottingham Forest.

Fernandes' cross from the right was turned home by Bryan Mbeumo to make it 3-1, taking the United skipper level with Thierry Henry and Kevin de Bruyne on 20 assists - with one game of the season remaining.

On a day when Casemiro received a standing ovation on his Old Trafford farewell nine minutes from time, United got the result they needed to secure third place under Michael Carrick, who is still to be officially confirmed as permanent boss.

Fernandes' achievement at least took some of the headlines away from yet another contentious VAR incident.

Forest had only just cancelled out Luke Shaw's fifth-minute opener, through Morato, when Diogo Dalot crossed for Mbeumo.

The Cameroon forward appeared to control the ball between his upper arm and his side before having his shot deflected into the path of Matheus Cunha, who applied the first-time finish.

Referee Michael Salisbury gave the goal but, rather than rule it out as expected after being sent to the screen by VAR Matthew Donohue, after numerous checks and to a cacophony of boos from both sets of fans over the time taken to reach a decision - he confirmed his initial decision, as the ball had deflected off Mbeumo's hip.

Morgan Gibbs-White scored a second for Forest 12 minutes from time but the visitors were unable to force an equaliser.

With Carrick's status yet to be confirmed, it was a day to remember in other aspects.

Cunha almost laughed at Shaw's impromptu reaction at scoring.

It was hardly a surprise. The left-back's last Premier League goal came against Bournemouth in January 2023. It was only his fifth in all competitions for United.

Fernandes had already had two games to get his 20th assist. When Mbeumo blazed over after being sent through by the Portugal midfielder, Fernandes buried his head in the turf, presumably fearing the momentous assist would never come.

Finally - after Mbeumo had wasted another chance to break a goal drought stretching back to 7 February when he thudded a first-half shot against the post - it came, sparking gleeful celebrations from the United players, who ran to Fernandes almost before acclaiming the man who had scored the goal.

Fernandes might have had the record to himself, only for Dalot to thud a shot against the base of a post in stoppage time, after nicking the ball away from his fellow countryman.

The biggest reaction was for Casemiro though.

The Brazilian looked genuinely moved as he made his way slowly to the touchline when he was replaced by Mason Mount nine minutes from time, shaking hands with team-mates on the way.

Joshua Zirkzee came close to adding another for the hosts just before the end. But it didn't really matter on a day when Fernandes and Casemiro took centre stage.

Absolutely thrilled for Bruno, he deserves it!

Given this is being shown on iPlayer & BBC Sport figured id make a watch along thread

Or on youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFVn5P8A31g

So when Ruben was initially sacked the list in the second image was produced by Sky as potential United Managers.

I wanted Ancelotti personally, but he's committed to Brazil for the foreseeable future!

Over time this list thinned out and more recently it's often been speculated to be the 3 names below.

Enrique, Nagelsmann, Iraola

Enrique

Enrique at the moment looks likely to renew his contract at Parc des Princes, with multiple sources reporting that will happen this week.

Nagelsmann

Bringing him in would have some complications because of the world cup commitment he has. Ben Jacobs announced last week that we haven't actually made formal contact with him yet. Rumours are he's open to hear more from club, but with time ticking away, I'm losing confidence that we'll be able to negotiate a deal with him.

Iraola

Personally this was my least preferred option of the 3, I appreciate he's had a good season, but I always imaged the "next" person we brought in would have some silverware backing their cause!

Whilst he is definitely leaving Bournemouth this summer, he's now being linked to Chelsea and Palace. Palace are rumoured to be his preferred option as they are willing to match the wages he might receive from United or Chelsea and offer him opportunity to build a long-term project with relative autonomy a luxury he wouldn't be afforded at Old Trafford or Stamford Bridge.

Problems with squad depth

Whilst Carrick's results have been brilliant, the performances haven't always matched the points tally we've managed to rack up!

The squad is obviously too thin, when we're missing some key players it's obvious that there are problem areas to address. This would be true for who-ever comes in as manager, however.

INEOS has to have another big transfer window if we're going to cement ourselves as Champion League regulars!

Casemiro is going to leave a huge hole in midfield which will need to be addressed. It is being rumoured that we're going to sign at least 3 midfield options so that'll hopefully address this issue, but we could also do with a back up striker and a left back.

Has Carrick earned the right to stay?

If we're going off points alone, of course he has. You can't really have expected a better set of results. But there are times this united team has failed the eye test for me as a fan watching.

I've thoroughly enjoyed the team finding ways to win, but i'd be lying if I said that we've been a joy to watch his whole tenure! Don't get me wrong there's been some great performances, but there's also been some unnecessarily stressful moments too!

But, is this to be expected with the squad he inherited?

If INEOS make good signings again this summer, Carrick will have more squad depth. It's not unfathomable to think he'll be able to improve the general performances if there is a higher caliber of replacements available.

For me he's the safest option, but I'd like to see some kind of compensation insurance on his contract. What I really don't want to happen is we pay him £15m to leave in 8 months time because it all turned sour!

Discussion Points

• Do you think Iraola is still a likely option since the Palace rumours?
• Would you be happy to hang on for Nagelsmann if negotiations start late?
• Do you think Carrick is the right choice or have some of the poorer performances swayed you away?
• Is there another option you'd like to see?
• Can we lift silverware next season with the right man at the helm?

Discussion points are just suggestions, feel free to comment on all or none of them!

Since Casemiro’s departure announcement, and news that Ugarte is likely on his way out too, the sub has seen a massive increase in discussions about possible midfield options going into next season - so, we’ve decided to create a designated space for people to talk/analyse/compare/rant (at the request of some of you guys). 

Below are some relevant statistics o you can better see the difference between each of our options, which I’ve mapped out using suggestions from this sub as well as other places online. 

Please use this as the official place (for now) to talk about everything to do with United’s midfield! 

Last note - you don’t only have to discuss the players I’ve mentioned here. If there’s someone else you think we need, and you can back yourself up on that, go for it! 

[Statistics via FootyStats and are only relevant to league fixtures]

Outgoing Players

Player	Minutes	YC	RC	Goals	Assists	Passes	Pass %	Crosses	Dribbles	Dribble %	Fouls	Goals Conceded	Min/GC	Tackles	Interceptions	Ground Duels	Aerial Duels	Dribbled Past	Clearances	Shots Blocked
Casemiro	2508	10	1	9	2	1233/1523	80.96%	6/19	6/15	40%	46	29	86	87	29	182/344	56	44	15	27
Ugarte	879	1	0	0	0	422/495	85.25%	0/1	7/10	70%	24	19	46	46	22	80/145	12	15	20	5

Potentially Incoming Players

Player	Club	Minutes	YC	RC	Goals	Assists	Passes	Pass %	Crosses	Dribbles	Dribble %	Fouls	Goals Conceded	Min/GC	Tackles	Interceptions	Ground Duels	Aerial Duels	Dribbled Past	Clearances	Shots Blocked
Tonali	Newcastle United	2492	4	0	0	2	1254/1489	84.22%	22/94	19/30	63.33%	24	34	73	35	28	105/187	12	18	34	7
Baleba	Brighton & Hove Albion	1552	5	0	0	0	589/679	86.75%	0	11/20	55%	30	18	86	36	29	85/175	21	17	29	3
Tchouaméni	Real Madrid	2490	7	0	1	0	1630/1784	91.37%	2/9	3/8	37.5%	28	22	113	63	43	162/238	70	16	55	13
Wharton	Crystal Palace	2426	6	1	0	5	916/1152	76.51%	24/81	15/28	53.57%	34	36	67	66	26	130/268	22	39	41	3
Camavinga	Real Madrid	1414	2	0	2	0	918/1002	91.62%	—	13/20	65%	32	13	109	61	15	116/182	11	13	24	11
Anderson	Nottingham Forest	3179	7	0	4	2	1898/2231	85.07%	46/168	42/81	51.85%	54	44	72	97	37	276/509	64	41	46	14

Thank you to our very generous member u/hari047 for donating their ticket to a member of the sub. You're a legend for this!

The ticket is a hospitality ticket, so you'll only need the free membership in able to receive this ticket if you win!

u/hari047 has said "The website doesn't have them listed on there anymore. But I know the ticket gives you a meal with a club legend. The specifics of the ticket will be available 3 days prior to the match."

They have been quite specific in that they want this ticket to go to someone who wouldnt normally be able to attend games, so with that in mind, here's my question.

Question

When (if ever) did you last go to Old Trafford and what's prevented you from visiting since?

Format

Simply answer the question in the comments and a winner will be chosen tomorrow morning.

Upvotes don't mean anything in this competition, so please dont mass downvote the answers that arent yours!

Please only enter this competition if youre able to get to Old Trafford on Sunday!

Not a right lot to cheer about there, but our Number 1 makes the difference today!

Before his mistake last week he'd only really conceded deflections and worldies.

I always said I wanted to see how he bounced back from a mistake! Well, today he's been rock solid and earned us a point.

What an absolute joy it has been having a keeper we can trust!

We're already qualified for the Champions League so the weekly summary of the CL race posts are a thing of the past!

In light of the fight at Madrid, I figured why not have a bit of fun today and pick the footballers we'd most like to see square off with each other!

We're assuming this is a boxing match, not a street brawl.

Format

Footballer 1 vs Footballer 2

"Reason for wanting to see those particular players"

Pretty much as the title says..

We're in a luxury position where we have 3 games to play and "nothing to play for" as we will be playing in Big Boy Europe again in 26/27

I'm sure Carrick isn't in a rush to ruin his managerial record, having dropped just 10 points from 17 games (13 wins, 2 draws, 2 losses) and finishing above the scousers is always a good thing!

Alternatively, we could give some youth players the chance to get a little bit more experience under their belt before going into the pre-season with the first team.

We do have concerns over the size of the squad and limited starting options, so bleeding in some youth isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if we did lose all 3 games, we could finish 5th if other results go against us!

How would you like to see us approach the remaining fixtures?

Just how high is his ceiling?

Add your predictions in the comments.

Anybody who gets the scoreline and the scorers exactly right will be awarded with a personal user flair.

Format

Place the scoreline followed by the goal scorers.

United are the home team, so put our score first. Use brackets (X) for multiple goals by the same scorer. The scorers do not need to be in any particular order.

Example

3-1

Bruno, Sesko (2), Salah

Good luck!

The main feed will be locked at 15:00 UK time for 4 hours. Please contribute to the Live Match Thread and Post Match Threads!

u/adexitexiya Has 2 tickets for the match this weekend and cannot make the game.

They have very kindly offered to donate the tickets to the winner of this competition!

What a legend!

Competition Question

What is your favourite Manchester United memory?

Format

Simply answer the question in the comments.

How will the winner be decided?

u/adexitexiya is going to go through the answers when we lock the post and choose the answer they liked the most.

Because these are hospitality tickets, I believe you only need to have a free club membership in order to receive them

Please only enter this competition if you're able to get to Old Trafford on Sunday!

---

EDIT: Whoever is mass downvoting a lot of the answers I want you to know that upvotes aren't relevant to who the ticket owner picks.

You aren't giving yourself an edge over the users you downvoted, so can you just like.. Stop..

Manchester United need just two more points to secure a Champions League return after first-half goals from Casemiro and Benjamin Sesko were enough for them to win an entertaining encounter with Brentford.

Casemiro nodded home from an acute angle after Harry Maguire had guided a header to the far post after 11 minutes.

Bruno Fernandes then claimed his 19th assist of the season, one short of equalling the Premier League record, when he teed up Sesko three minutes before the break.

Michael Carrick's side have four games left to complete the task set them by technical director Jason Wilcox in the immediate aftermath of Ruben Amorim's dismissal in January.

Yet they might have done it before they get to half-time in their game against Liverpool at Old Trafford on Sunday if Brighton and Bournemouth drop points in their weekend games.

The result is a blow to Brentford's hopes of securing European qualification for the first time and extends their winless run to seven in all competitions.

Keith Andrews' side only had themselves to blame though. In the first half in particular they had four clear chances to score and Dango Ouattara hit the post from inside the six-yard box in the second.

Mathias Jensen eventually scored with a thunderous effort three minutes from time but the equaliser would not come as Mikkel Damsgaard's late header went straight to United goalkeeper Senne Lammens.

4 games left in a red shirt!