The United Devils

Photo Credit: The Telegraph
Glazers out. That's what we all want, and Ed Woodward, he should leave too. What does that actually mean though? What could we realistically expect to see happen if a 'For Sale' sign appeared outside Old Trafford tomorrow morning?

The ideal, of course, would be fan ownership, similar to the model practised by most German Bundesliga clubs. Unfortunately, the historic precedent that existed in Germany up until 1998 in which a club could not be owned by anyone other than its own members simply did not exist in England, so for many years now clubs have been owned by whoever put up the cash to buy them. When you consider that the current valuation of Manchester United, according to Forbes, is £3b, the chances of a supporter group clubbing together to meet the asking price are pretty slim.

So who does have the spare cash to buy Manchester United? Not me, although I'm working on it, and probably not any of you either, which pretty much leaves Russi…

The first international break of the 2019/20 season is a wrap, and Manchester United are set to return to Premier League action this weekend in a clash against potential top six rivals, Leicester City.

United have entered a seemingly never ending skid of form since the emphatic opening day victory over Chelsea, notching up two draws away to Wolves and Southampton, and a loss against Crystal Palace at home. It is definitely not where United fans thought the Reds would be three games after that promising start, but here we are.

Despite United's shaky run of form, it is not all doom and gloom in terms of performances. United have actually played more than okay in all four games, having plenty of the ball and controlling the proceedings for the best parts of those games. But, possession and control does not win you games, making United's return to Old Trafford against Leicester crucial. Solskjaer's reds will not want to fall too far behind the upper section of the table, and …

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Injuries sustained in the home defeat to Crystal Palace forced Solskjaer to make changes to the starting eleven, with Young at fullback and Pereira on the wing. Mata was picked to play in the number 10 role, despite the gaffer's vote of confidence in Lingard after his dismal display against the Eagles.
Player RatingsDavid de Gea: 7
Looked more assured than last week and denied Ings with a superb save moments before the Southampton equaliser. 
Aaron Wan-Bissaka: 8
Another solid performance from the young full-back who is fully justifying his call-up to the England senior squad.
Harry Maguire: 7
We know he's good, but we won't see the best of Maguire until he has full trust in the man to his right.
Victor Lindelof: 3
Another poor attempt at a defensive header which led to a crucial goal. Clearly lacking in confidence, which is worrying. Chris Smalling's Manchester United career didn't end for this.
Ashley Young: 7
Slotted into the left-left back r…

Manchester United fans, brace yourselves for a very long season ahead. The team and anything associated with it are disappointing so far.
Manchester United slumped to another disappointing result at St Mary's in which they failed to beat 10-man Southampton and ended the match with just a point, making it five points from four games. United have now failed to secure three points for the third game in a row.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made three changes from the team which failed to beat Crystal Palace last weekend with Young and Pereira coming in for the injured Shaw and Martial as well as Juan Mata making his first start of the season in place for Lingard who began the game on the bench.
Manchester United took the lead early on in the match thanks to a brilliant strike from Daniel James. But, as per usual, we were beaten just after the break when Southampton levelled the scores through defender Jannik Vestergaard after another Lindelof mistake.
Southampton was reduced to ten men midway…

Manchester United 1-0 Leicester City

Manchester United vs Leicester played in a capacity-filled Old Trafford Theatre of Dreams.  A lot of debate about squad selection prior to kick off  as three key players were ruled out of the squad on Saturday the 14th of September 2019. The manager Ole Solskjaer hinted he may need to look to the Manchester United youth and test the depth of the squad to fill the gaps by not having left back Luke Shaw, midfielder Paul Pogba and striker Anthony Martial available for selection all ruled out due to injury.  The squad selected by Solskjaer did include a youthful reserve bench filled with potential but the team chosen to start the game included the more experienced Mata and Matic who have been not regular starters in the campaign thus far. Andreas Pereira was also given another opportunity to start and played in a congested Manchester United midfield.

The opening 5 minutes set the scene of how the game would be played. The midfield was the key battlegr…

Man Utd beat Leicester 1-0 in the Premier League fixture at Old Trafford thanks to a Marcus Rashford penalty early on. The Red Devils looked competent and composed throughout the game and while Leicester had the majority of the ball, they barely threatened. Here are the ratings for this game:
David de Gea: 7 Made some super saves like the De Gea he truly is. Glad to see him back.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka: 7 Fresh from a back injury, he kept James Maddison and Ben Chilwell quiet.
Victor Lindelof: 7 Almost made an error with James Maddison but was solid at the defence together with Harry.
Harry Maguire: 8 Defended well and kept Jamie Vady quiet. Behemoth winning all but one of his aerial duels.
Ashley Young: 7 Played decent for a 34 year old. Kept the blue side on his flank quiet and played a few good long balls to Dan James. Decent at set-pieces too.
Scott McTominay: 7 It's a pleasure to have a player with such passion play for us. Covered up for Paul Pogba pretty well.
Nemanja Matic: 5 You ne…

Old Trafford has been home to Manchester United's since 1910, but in recent years the stadium has been neglected by the owners of the club making one of the most impressive and largest stadiums in the country in the last 20 years, into an out of date stadium which while still beloved by the fans of the club doesn't have the same draw that it used to from fans of the sport.

The stadium hasn't been left in complete disarray with Old Trafford undergoing several expansions in the 1990s, and 2000s, including the addition of extra tiers to the North, West and East Stands making the stadium's capacity 74,879, the largest capacity club ground in the UK. However, there is so much more that could be done and developed which has been completely ignored by the board and owners. A club as big as Manchester United and with the worldwide fanbase it has, could easily fill a stadium with a capacity of over 100,000. And yet since the early 2000s the stadium has not seen any major chang…

Image Credit: planetfootball.com
As soon as it became apparent that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's preferred formation for the 2019/20 season was going to be a 4-2-3-1 system, it was widely expected amongst the football community that a 'number 10' signing would be a priority alongside the defensive upgrades and the early signing of Dan James. Personally, I saw it as an absolute necessity and the only way in which the 4-2-3-1 system would work for us in the long-term. The 'number 10' in this formation is vital to the team's overall play and is responsible for the vast majority of creative actions and decisions and is required to contribute to both goals and assists regularly. Throughout the summer window we were strongly linked to the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Paulo Dybala and Christian Eriksen, but ultimately the window closed without any of these names putting pen to paper on a United contract. I was quick to suggest that this was a big mistake and one that we will …

The international break has been going on and the weekend went by without any Premier League football. Quite a few United players took part and represented their countries over the last few days. Mostly the games were the 2020 Euro qualifiers so teams played their strongest sides and the fact that multiple United players featured are a positive signing. Let's take a look at how these United players featured over the last few days.
Spain David De Gea did not start Spain's first game as Kepa Arrizabalaga was given the nod. Though he failed to keep a clean sheet, the 2 time Euros winner won the game 2-1. David De Gea finally started over Kepa as they faced the Faroe Islands. De Gea kept a clean sheet in a 4-0 win and was fortunate enough to get the captain's armband after Sergio Ramos was subbed off towards the end. So all in all, a good outing for the United shot-stopper.
Sweden The international break started with a bang for United centre-back, Victor Lindelof, scored when …

The feel good factor bubble around Manchester United this season was burst as soon as game week three, as Crystal Palace spoiled United's return to Old Trafford on Saturday. After filling the fans with optimism by accumulating four points from the first two challenging fixtures, the one that was supposed to be 'easy' proved to be the first hurdle. United looked toothless going forward for most of the game, and the defensive errors from previous years came back to haunt them once again in a 1-2 loss.

Here is what we learned from the game:

United lacking the creative spark

We all knew that United needed to bring in a midfielder during the summer transfer window, not only because they lost Ander Herrera and Marouane Fellaini, but also because it was clear as day last season that the team lacked that "it" factor in the creation department. With Juan Mata getting older, and Angel Gomes being on the brink of the first team, but perhaps not quite ready for regular football…