Return To Glory : Manchester United

The final month of the season, and United are in the running for a surprise Double. Erik ten Hag has had a season nobody could have predicted outside of the most unreasonably optimistic fans, and he would have the opportunity to lock up the Premier League with four games left in the season if everything broke in United’s favor. If they could get the league out of the way, it would allow the team to focus on the Europa League with just two games left in the hunt for additional silverware.

Things would get easier for United before ever taking the pitch at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, tensions would be high as ten Hag took the sidelines with an opportunity to win the league thanks to some shock results. Manchester City would down Liverpool 2-1 earlier in the week, and the morning game would see Everton stun Liverpool 3-0 in the Merseyside Derby. It wouldn’t take long for things to tip farther in United’s favor and send Julen Lopetegui into a furor. Marcus Rashford would have a shot popped up by Hugo Lloris and head for the goal, but Emerson Royal would dive at it with an attempt to head it out. The attempt wouldn’t be enough and it would go in, which it would have on its own, robbing Rashford of a goal as it would be scored as an OG. United must have been too busy celebrating their impending title win because they just let Dejan Kulusevski walk right through them a minute later and pass forward to Heung-Min Son for an easy leveler. Rashford would get another chance at 31’ with a pass from Antony, this time he would get credit for the goal and a 2-1 lead. Christian Eriksen would take a pass from Casemiro before putting United ahead 3-1, seemingly closing out their title run before the half. Again United looked to be daydreaming as Harry Kane played a ball to Son and four United players stood around and watched him, seeing the lapse Son would quickly take a shot and make it 3-2. If ten Hag had hair, he would have been pulling it out all second half, they were constantly giving the ball away and made it look like they were playing with eight men on Spurs’ counter attacks. They managed to hold a 3-2 lead until the 90’ when Yves Bissouma would find Kane for a leveler, United’s player just standing around watching it happen like the whistle would save them. The game would push into stoppage time before a storybook ending, quite familiar to fans during the Ferguson Era, would hand them a win. At 90+3’ Raphaël Varane would head in an Eriksen corner to finish the game 4-3 and earn their first title since the 2012-13 season.

“We must stop playing with no focus, we allow ourselves to be distracted. Let them stay in the game, this must be addressed.” ten Hag was quite honest about United’s level of focus with their hands hovering above the trophy. They can celebrate for now, but they don’t have much time to rest.


Despite the victory, ten Hag would need to keep his team focused for the next few weeks. First they would take on Arsenal in the first leg of their Europa League semifinal. After drunkenly stumbling through the Spurs win, ten Hag would need to find a way to tighten things up and keep Arsenal from tearing them apart again. It wouldn’t take long for things to break United’s way when a Jadon Sancho long ball would result in a back line jailbreak with Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes, and Antony all there to receive the pass. Antony would be the one to hammer it home and give the hosts a 1-0 lead. Aaron Ramsdale would finish the game hoarse from screaming at his defense, after giving them a lecture about the first goal he would be saved from another thanks to VAR. Antony would slip through and chip the keeper before a review would peg him as offsides, a lucky turn for Arteta. Arsenal were almost completely off their game, seemingly comfortably trying to take a 1-0 deficit back to The Emirates. Any hope of that faded with another defensive miscue at 62’ when Luke Shaw drove around the left side of the box before noticing that nobody had come out to face him, he would quickly go right at goal practically running it in before laying off to Antony and making it 2-0. Ramsdale would explode on his teammates for that one, they would be lucky to escape down 2-0.

Ten Hag would rest his first team and send out the second squad in a droll 0-0 draw against Brentford that must have felt like a punishment for anyone watching. The only highlight of this game was the return of Donny van de Beek, but even he was probably better off watching paint dry than this game. It achieved its purpose though, as United’s first team was able to rest up for Arsenal.

The Emirates would be lively as Arsenal prepared to overturn a 2-0 deficit and get to the Europa League Final, Arteta has shown that his side can beat United but they have also lost to their second squad. This time they would be fully rested and ready to face ten Hag’s best XII, but a lack of focus would conspire against them near halftime of a tight first half. Antony would attempt a through ball but get picked off by Keiran Tierney, a United press would force the ball back to Gabriel and then Ben White who would try to advance it to Sambi Lokonga. Lokonga would not be focused on the attempt to escape the press and Bruno Fernandes would jump him for the pass, Arsenal would find themselves in a three-on-one scenario just outside the box that would allow Sancho to score. The lapse would be followed by Lokonga tripping Eriksen on the edge of the box for a penalty, but Ramsdale would be up to the task as Fernandes would have his attempt blocked. Down 3-0 on aggregate Arsenal would head into the second half needing a miracle, instead they gave the game away to United. More precisely, Thomas Partney gave it away, as a nasty two-footed tackle would earn him a straight red at 51’ and doom Arsenal. Sancho would score again at 65’ to bring the affair to 4-0 before a David De Gea mistake would allow Gabriel Jesus to head a ball into an open net, but by then it was too little too late. The 4-1 aggregate win would punch United’s ticket to Budapest and a chance at a Double.

Two more dead rubbers would see United pad some stats while their opponents seemed to be checked out. City put in an unusually limp performance, possibly more focused on the Champions League final, dropping the final Manchester Derby 2-1 thanks to a Rashford double. At least this time Erling Haaland was able to score, furthering his record breaking season. The second squad would close things out with a solid 3-1 win over Aston Villa, the only goal allowed a Philipe Coutinho penalty after Harry Maguire clattered over Danny Ings.

Puskás Aréna in Budapest would be the stage for ten Hag’s final act of the season, and Luciano Spalletti would be his nemesis for the day. Napoli have been darlings of the tactical community over the season, with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia emerging as the kind of player big teams covet and rush to shell out all their money for. Diogo Dalot and Casemiro would have their hands full dealing with the ‘Georgian Messi’ on the left wing, shutting him down would go a long way to winning the game. If that was ten Hag’s stated plan, it would only take 20’ before it fell apart as United’s defensive frailty reared its head once again. Shaw would allow Kvaratskhelia to get off a cross to Victor Osimhen, no United player would contest the ball, and Osimhen would knock it right in for a 1-0 lead at 20’. De Gea would have words for his back line, now is not the time to be standing around watching. United would draw level before half time with Diogo Dalot heading in a Fernandes free kick at the back post, but they were lucky to get the game to 1-1. The whole second half had ten Hag writhing in agony as his side failed to control possession with sloppy passes that gave the ball to Napoli again and again. Eventually the pain would end as both sides would drag themselves to penalties, ending United’s chances of finding one last spark of offense. Osimhen would be first to net in penalties before everything collapsed for Napoli, De Gea would block Hirving Lozano and Piotr Zieliński to give United a 3-1 advantage heading into Eljif Elmas’ attempt. He would make it 3-2, but Antony would convert his attempt to clinch the shootout 4-2 in United’s favor. Ten Hag’s side would make it hard on themselves, but in the end they would hoist the trophy for a Double.

A good year for the senior squad also turned into a solid year for United’s youth system. Even with a number of players on their way out, just with the changes Erik ten Hag made to the tactics used on all levels they were able to dominate domestically. The club have struggled to develop players that get recognized on the international level, hopefully the changes on tap will start making Manchester United a name in player development on par with clubs like Barcelona, Sporting, Ajax, and Sao Paulo. There are some early reports that the United board feel they have already achieved the goal of having the best youth system in England along with the Premier League, something they thought would take another four years to do.

United also managed to land some players on the NXGN50 list for 2023, even though they just recently purchased most of them. Jude Bellingham took the honor of being named the top player in the NXGN50 list, with United laying claim to António Silva (#12), Yaser Asprilla (#37), and Isak Hansen-Aarøen (#46). The rumors about clearing out players points to United looking to add higher end players to their U21 & U18 systems, so we should be seeing more United players on this list in the future.



The U21 side would win the Premier League Division 1 by a solid (9) points along with the Papa John’s trophy. They would fall 2-1 to Barcelona’s U21 side in the International Cup final, but making it that far was quite an accomplishment.

The U18 side would win the U18 Premier League by a whopping (14) points, Manni Norkett led the team in scoring with (22) goals. They would also win the FA Youth Cup with a big 3-0 win over Spurs.

PROMISING PROMOTIONS

Willem Hoolickin (DM - England) : Finley McAllister is going to need to look over his shoulder as Hoolickin, English born to Dutch parents, is headed for his crown as United’s youth system superstar. Hoolickin is being picked to be the DM wonderkid the club has desperately needed, fans are excited to see him getting promoted from within and he’s going to be followed closely on his way up.

Charlie Davies (CF - Wales) : A semi-diminutive striker with good physical attributes, coaches are indicating that he’s good enough to be the starting U18 striker already. Rumors that current starter Ethan Wheatley is on his way out may accelerate that ascension, but with only one U18 striker on the roster, it’s likely that ten Hag will have the club looking for reinforcements.

Ben Williams (GK - Wales) : The United coaches are quite pleased with Williams, and they will need to be with so many current GK on the roster looking to move on either due to age or skill. Current first choice GK Radek Vítek is leaving the club as well as being too old for the U18 side, which is also forcing out Eric Hanbury. Roberts will need to compete with a few other players just turning 18, but he may be given a chance to grab the starting spot for himself if United don’t dip into the GK market.

United would celebrate a double, taking home the Europa and Premier League titles, but on some level it would be a bittersweet end to the season that would also serve as an end to an era. Sir Bobby Charlton and Sir Alex Ferguson would announce their retirement from their positions as directors. Charlton has held the position since 1984, and Ferguson has had some level of involvement since retiring after the 2012-13 season. Having both United Legends step down at the same time is quite a blow to the club’s structure, at this time it is unclear if the timing was due to age or the new ownership group.

If you want to be poetic, you can say Ferguson stepped down seeing that the club was now in good hands on and off the field. First year manager Erik ten Hag added to his personal accolades by being named the Premier League Manager of the Year, it’s safe to say he can shake off the Erik Ten Months moniker barring some wild change of direction by ownership. Getting United back on the winners’ stand will keep him employed for a while, but with the way things are going in the world of football he can’t rest on this season for long. A whopping nine managers failed to make it through the season, with the most surprising pair being Graham Potter (who was fired in the locker room after their last game) of Chelsea and Antonio Conte of Spurs. Disappointing results also felled Steve Davis (Wolves), Unai Emery (Aston Villa), Steve Cooper (Nottingham Forest), Frank Lampard (Everton), Marco Silva (Fulham), Brendan Rodgers (Leicester), and Chris Wilder (Bournemouth).



The purchase of the club by Sir Richard Ratcliffe led to some wild speculation about the future direction of the club, but early indications are an attempt to stabilize results is their primary target. All kinds of rumors about where ownership are going to spend started flying to moment the Glazers were out the door. Major work needs to be done on Old Trafford, the image of rain pouring down on fans is still fresh in everyone’s mind, the Theater of Dreams has turned into a dilapidated venue in much need of repairs. Fans are torn between renovations and building a new ground, but as of the end of the season there has been no announcement as to what will be done. Ten Hag is keen on non-stadium upgrades as part of his plans to develop the United academy into the world’s best, but nothing has been announced yet.



Outside of the Double, United didn’t have all that much to celebrate. There was some good news in the announcement that Marcus Rashford had agreed to a new five-year deal, reported to be for £275K a week, a deal that would hopefully stop the rumors that he would be sold to PSG in the summer. Performance wise Jadon Sancho had the only notable season, setting a team record with (18) assists across all competitions and leading the Premier League with (15). Rashford would finish third in goal scoring with (25), just (22) shy of Erling Haaland’s record shattering (47). Antony would also have a solid year, finishing second to Sancho with (14) assists.





Probably due to ten Hag’s heavy team rotation, only David De Gea would be recognized for his Europa League performance.

It didn’t take long for the hysteria around Manchester United to spiral out of control after Erik ten Hag piloted them to their first Premier League title since Sir Alex Ferguson retired. Watching Manchester City take over the league didn’t help things, neither did seeing Liverpool break a thirty year title drought, but a trophy can change everything overnight. Rumors among fans and the media ranged from things like Ronaldo coming back to the club to United lodging a £300M bid for Kylian Mbappé, nothing seemed too fanciful.

The cold reality of the situation is that, despite a title, ten Hag still needs to stabilize things on the field while ownership plot a long term plan for the club off the field. The one constant rumor, that shouldn’t be a rumor at this point, revolves around major upgrades to Old Trafford. The fanbase is split on building a new stadium (like City) and major renovations (like Liverpool), but with so many Premier League clubs building new stadiums the best path might be to explore a New Trafford over Renewed Old Trafford. Either way, the expense and planning timeframe will leave the resolution of this issue to a future date.



The next big item starting to creep out into the media is club sponsorship, as a few key relationships look to lapse ownership will need to fill the void if they plan on paying for any of these lofty plans. Most of the focus is on United’s kit deal after a rocky relationship with Adidas that is scheduled to end after the 2024-25 season, with things trending upward Adidas might be willing to stay on but it won’t happen cheaply. There are rumors swirling that Nike is thinking of getting involved again, even Puma might be an option with both Manchester clubs rising in the global standings. Whoever it is, United are looking to get north of £100M a year and pass Real Madrid as the second largest kit deal in history. Topping Barcelona’s £135M would be ideal, but they can’t pin their hopes on Nike doubling down on the highest contracts. There are also rumblings of an improved kit sponsor ahead of schedule, with United and Team Viewer already announcing a mutual agreement to terminate their deal as primary kit sponsor. Sir Richard Ratcliffe’s links to the famous Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team has also opened a sponsorship pipeline, but can’t deliver Chelsea fan Lewis Hamilton, so there is a likely synergy between the two. Much like Etihad, there is no doubt that Ineos will be more visible around Old Trafford in the coming months.

Adidas and Manchester United revealed the kits for 2023-24 with a fairly standard level of marketing, as Adidas creeps closer to the end of their deal they seem less interested in being associated with the club. It’s fair to say the bulk of the deal hasn’t worked out for the German manufacturer, and with Adidas more invested in Real Madrid and Bayern Munich as their primary clubs it looks like they may have checked out on United.


A fairly standard collection of designs calls back to a more classic color scheme. With Adidas and TeamViewer ending their sponsorship deals after the 2024-25 season, fans will be eager to see what the future holds.

The first transfer window after getting back to the summit of English football came with massive expectations from the fans and the media, and rumors of having £110M to work with set everyone working on all kinds of dream transfer scenarios. It was clear that a team picked to barely finish in the top four needed to strengthen their roster, the chances of repeating while sitting still were not good, but it was also clear that Erik ten Hag and John Murtough would need to sell quite a few players to trim down their payroll.


United came out of the gate swinging with a stunning announcement that they had signed Jude Bellingham from Dortmund for and English record £102M, circumventing any Sancho/Antony like shenanigans and doing what they needed to do to land him before anyone else could get involved. Early reports had Liverpool as the most interested club, with Real Madrid showing mild interest in pairing him with Aurélien Tchouaméni in their midfield, but United jumped right in and blew them out of the running.

“This is not what we want to do every window, but Jude is a special talent, a player who could be here for very long time” explained ten Hag at Bellingham’s unveiling. Indeed, there has been much made of United taking a very un-United approach to transfers going forward, but the opportunity to land a generational talent who could be at the club for a decade (if not longer) couldn’t be missed. This created a bit of a selection headache with Christian Eriksen and Casemiro joining last summer, but they won’t be a part of the club’s future the way Bellingham could be.

After purchasing Bellingham the team began to announce an eye watering list of players heading out, luckily for substantial fees. Winning a Double seems to have put some shine on players were fading into the background, and United were happy to sell them and make room for developing players and first team improvements. Éric Bailly had already been sold as part of an agreement with Marseille, he started enough games to convert his loan into a transfer, so his departure wasn’t a surprise. The biggest surprise came first when PSG came in for Donny van de Beek with a £55M bid that was too good to pass up. He would be followed by Victor Lindelöf, Fred, Amad Diallo, and Luke Shaw. Aaron-Wan Bissaka was initially sold to Dortmund, but they couldn’t agree on a contract and the RB decided to stay and fight for a place at United. After spending almost their entire budget on a single player, United now had a large pile of money to address all of their other issues.

Ten Hag and Murtough immediately went after all of their other roster holes and did an unbelievable job filling them with a blend of good players and great deals. Announced together were the purchase of Porto’s Diogo Costa and Barcelona’s Eric García, who was oddly similar to Sancho in the fact that he left Manchester City on a free and was now being purchased by United for a hefty amount. The addition of these two would send a shockwave through the roster, signaling change was coming before some people were willing to admit it. The addition, and immediate loaning out, of Alban Lafont painted a clear picture of United’s future in goal.

Pedro Porro would join from Sporting, seemingly taking over the RB spot, and ending a long saga that went back to the January transfer window. Max Aarons was heavily linked with United but Bayern Munich jumped in and bought him for £32.5M. LB was a sore spot with Shaw leaving, United obviously needed someone to either supplant Tyrell Malacia or take over the second squad for him. Inside reports say that United approached Arsenal for Nuno Taveras, but were rebuffed with an insulting demand rumored to be £187M. United did not meet that asking price, but they were able to land Renan Lodi who was basically being kicked out the door at Atlético Madrid after his loan spell with Nottingham Forest. All of this would finally convince Wan-Bissaka that he didn’t want to be the third choice RB, and an offer from RB Leipzig was enough to get him to leave.

The last signing of the summer, one that seemed to sneak under the radar with the addition of Bellingham, was Vitor Roque from Athletico Paranaense. There are reports that United approached Brazilian wonderkid Endrick, even agreeing a fee with Palmeiras, but were rejected by the player. Vitor Roque, being old enough to join the team immediately, was much more open to the move. It’s clear ten Hag will need to shuffle the roster a bit, but if Vitor Roque can learn behind Marcus Rashford he could end up being a massive bargain and the future of United’s CF position.

In the end United would spend over £240M on transfer while making £177M on sales, both eye watering numbers even in the age of the transfer market going wild. United would be the biggest spenders of the summer by a wide margin, and the purchase of Bellingham would be the largest transfer of the summer.

Senior / Major Transfers (Out)
Donny van de Beek (CAM, PSG) - £55M
Victor Lindelöf (CB, Atlético Madrid) - £34M
Fred (CM, Rennes) - £34M
Luke Shaw (LB, Spurs) - £30M
Aaron Wan-Bissaka (RB, RB Leipzig) - £20.5M
Amad Diallo (RW, Valencia) - £14.75M
Éric Bailly (CB, Marseille) - £8.4M
Álvaro Fernández (LB, Wolves) - £4M
Zidane Iqbal (CM, Norwich) - £2M
Dean Henderson (GK, AC Milan) - Loan
Alex Telles (RB, Aston Villa) - Loan
Ethan Laird (RB, Blackburn) - Loan
Facundo Pellistri (RW, QPR) - Loan

Senior Transfers (In)
Jude Bellingham (CM, Dortmund) - £102M
Diogo Costa (GK, Porto) - £52M
Pedro Porro (RB, Sporting) - £39M
Eric Garcia (CB, Barcelona) - £34.5M
Vitor Roque (CF, Athletico Paranaense) - £18M
Renan Lodi (LB, Atlético Madrid) - £6.5M
Alban Lafont (GK, Nantes) - £2.2M

Final Transfer List (Impact Signings)
Kelvin Till (RW, Reading - England) - £5.5M
Chris Harris (CAM, Oldham Athletic - England)- £300K

Don't like the team, but always loved your stories. Well done on capturing the title in your first season. And excellent signings as well. Shaping the team how you want. Keep it up.

2023-01-15 08:19#291505 Nerazzurri : Don't like the team, but always loved your stories. Well done on capturing the title in your first season. And excellent signings as well. Shaping the team how you want. Keep it up.

I know I picked a tough subject matter for most fans, only have time for one save this year so I had to go with them.

After going to Thailand and Australia last year United stayed close to home with a brief stint in France that would start their relationship with OGC Nice. Nice is owned by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, so the two teams are likely to be very familiar with each other going forward. There is talk of a much bigger summer tour next year, but this year Erik ten Hag was able to get more rest and prep for a second run at a title with a rebuilt first squad.


It was hard to tell that ten Hag was working with a new squad as his team ripped apart everyone they played, only allowing a single goal and that came in stoppage time of a big wil. Big wins against Nice (7-0) and Lyon (3-0) would make their trip to France a good one, and a series of victories at home would set the table for a Community Shield matchup against City in August. Lokomotiva Zagreb (5-1), York City (4-0), and Bayern Munich (6-0) would all fold at Old Trafford. It’s hard to take pre-season results too seriously, but beating everyone so badly even with second squad players isn’t a bad sign.

A promising sign for the season is how well Hannibal and Vitor Roque were working together, with Hannibal netting twice and Vitor Roque once over the summer. Yaser Asprilla would also do well this summer, another good sign ten Hag’s second squad might be better than expected.

Manchester United suddenly underwent a massive rebuild that saw Erik ten Hag simultaneously make and spend more money than any other club in the world, despite promising not to go back to being a club that spends wildly all of the purchases were targeted at very specific issues with an eye on long term solutions.


Of the many big changes ten Hag made, the change in goal might be the most startling for long time fans. The purchase of Diogo Costa from Porto for £52M was a clear sign that David de Gea is no longer the first choice GK and likely won’t be at the club beyond the end of the season when his contract expires. De Gea has been at United for thirteen of his fifteen years as a professional after coming over from Atlético Madrid for £25M in the 2011-12 season, and he is the last remaining member of the squad that won the Premier League under Sir Alex Ferguson. If the purchase of Costa wasn’t enough, the addition of Alban Lafont (and immediate loan back to Nantes) shows that ten Hag is preparing for a world without de Gea next season. Dean Henderson, who United attempted to sell, has been sent on loan to AC Milan but could also be an option next season.

The back line of ten Hag’s defense saw a significant amount of change this offseason, with the possibility of more to come as the team grapples with injuries and dead weight. Raphaël Varane remains the foundation of the defense, and the only member of the starting squad to hold his place. Varane will continue to be a centerpiece, as long as he’s healthy, and ten Hag will rely on him to steady a roster that sees three new members inserted into the starting lineup. Eric Garcia started the pre-season as ten Hag’s preferred partner for Varane and looks to be starting the season that way as well as Lisandro Martinez makes his way back from a serious season ending injury. António Silva will be paired with Martinez in the second squad as persona non grata Harry Maguire continues to waste away on the bench, he continues to refuse to transfer and United were reportedly unable to find a loan for the once promising CB. At wingback ten Hag has a shiny new toy in Pedro Porro who shoves Diogo Dalot to the second squad at RB, Dalot dragged his feet in signing a new contract until Porro showed up, but now it might be too little too late for him as a first choice wingback. On the left Tyrell Malacia has been promoted after Luke Shaw was sold, but it’s unclear how much time he will get there as LB is now United’s weakest position. Renan Lodi was brought in as a cheap backup option, but if he takes over for Malacia look for United to dip into the transfer market in January.

Midfield is where United are heralding their biggest change with the addition of Jude Bellingham from Dortmund in a Premier League record setting transfer. The rising star has “unlimited” potential in the eyes of staff, and represents an investment in a decade of elite midfield play. Whether or not that comes to pass is yet to be decided, but it looks like ten Hag is going to have Bellingham playing in a more attacking role as his roaming playmaker. Christian Eriksen looks to have beaten out Casemiro to remain in the 1st squad, moving over to the defensive / deep lying playmaker role. Ten Hag appears to be betting that Eriksen’s defensive liabilities are outweighed by Bellingham’s ability as a playmaker. Scott McTominay will fill that role in the second squad with Casemiro staying in the DLP spot, adding some stability to a unit that struggled with McFred last year.



The attacking midfield position is where ten Hag had the most trouble, but certainly not because of Bruno Fernandes. Fernandes remains the center of United’s attack and he is expected to benefit most from the revamped pivot behind him as well as having Bellingham move forward at times, teams are going to need to account for both which should open up opportunities for scoring. The departure of the rejuvenated Donny van de Beek left a hole in the roster ten Hag needed to fill in-house, which is where the trouble started. Hannibal Mejbri was the obvious option, but he spent last season in central / deep midfield while having experience in the CAM role. Hannibal will get a shot as Fernandes’ backup, and if that doesn’t work out he could see time as the roaming playmaker, but that would leave United without a backup CAM… not a good situation to be in.



The forward line is the only place where nothing changed in the first squad; the trio of Jadon Sancho (LW), Marcus Rashford (CF), and Antony (RW) aren’t going anywhere. After solid seasons from all three, even a slight improvement could mean big things for the club for years to come. Sancho seems to be getting a massive vote of confidence as he changes to the legendary #7 recently vacated by Ronaldo. Behind those three, things get messy with ten Hag juggling the squad to make room for a new striker. Antony Martial moved from CF to LW, pushing Alejandro Garnacho to the bench. Yaser Asprilla remains the backup RW, with Anthony Elanga behind him as the inverted winger Swiss (Swedish?) Army Knife. Replacing Martial at CF is Vitor Roque, a very exciting prospect who became available at the right time. He’ll be given some time to develop, but with what they paid for him he could be an enormous bargain even if he’s just average.

The 2023-24 Premier League season might be the most exciting in years with a handful of teams ranking as title contenders along with a few Champions League favorites. Manchester United appear to have destroyed the transfer market with their £102M purchase of Jude Bellingham, snuffing out the usual big spending of title contenders, but that only brought United closer to the level of talent Manchester City and Liverpool already have on hand. If you need further proof of how insane things could get, if you had “Thomas Tuchel Returns To Chelsea” in your EPL Insanity Bingo card you would be a winner.

The Top 4 seems clear, with an obvious contender to move up in the next tier, but if Tuchel can return to Chelsea… anything can happen. Manchester City opens as the favorite again, after pairing a record breaking season from Erling Haaland with disappointing results the odds are in favor of Pep Guardiola finding some way to turn things around. City didn’t dip into the transfer market, but they really don’t need to with this roster. Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, Ederson, Rúben Dias, Bernardo Silva, Rodri, and Phil Foden headline a roster so loaded that a guy they spent £100M (Jack Grealish) isn’t even listed as a starter. Liverpool should be right there with City, as both are leading contenders for the Champions League, as long as Jürgen Klopp is around they will continue to be an elite team. The usual suspects are still around with Mohamed Salah still leading the way, while they were beaten in the race for Bellingham they did spend on depth by adding Evanilson and Otávio from Porto. Chelsea remain Top 4 favorites based solely on the talent still around, which is augmented by the return of Romelu Lukaku in some kind of twisted effort to increase the chaos at Stamford Bridge. If anything kills their title run it could be the dizzying amount of chaos that has defined the Boehly Era, who could have imagined that Roman Abramovich would end up looking like a source of stability? The Tuchel-Graham Potter-Tuchel experiment might work, but it could also blow up in their face. Tuchel will have so much talent on hand with Kai Havertz, Raheem Sterling, and Mason Mount developing into a solid attacking trio along with a dependable back line anchored by Wesley Fofana. Manchester United need to be included in this group as defending champions, time will tell if the roster makeover lifts them into the City-Liverpool tier but expectations are for them to put in a good showing while Erik ten Hag works on getting a rebuilt squad to play well together.



The tier of “Next In” teams has some lazy picks as money firmly separates them from the rest of the league. To be fair, Arsenal should take Chelsea’s place based on the fact that they topped the Blues by a point for 4th last year… and that was with a manager who was sacked on the last day. Mikel Arteta has built a very good side over the past few years, but their only addition was the most expensive non-Bellingham transfer of Kenneth Taylor from Ajax. Arteta is going to need to get more out of rising stars like Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli, as well as a handful of youngsters, if he is going to break the glass ceiling of 4th. Newcastle find themselves right behind Arsenal based solely on the fact that they have been pouring resources into their side, the most notable being the £64M transfer of Rúben Neves from Wolves and free transfer of Nicolás Otamendi from Benfica. The expensive addition of Alexander Isak has worked out, but Eddie Howe will need more to get over the hump that the top of the league presents, Newcastle look to be in the Craig Bellamy / Emmanuel Adebayor / Carlos Tevez phase of their attempt to be the next Manchester City. Spurs, under new manager Julen Lopetegui, just barely find themselves in this tier despite finishing 10th last year. Antonio Conte did the best he could with this roster, but things started falling apart midway through the season and he found himself sacked before the season was over. As long as Spurs have players like Harry Kane, Heung-min Son, and Yves Bissouma they will have a shot at finishing in the Top 7. Their biggest transfer this offseason was Luke Shaw from United, but they are going to need to do better if they want their ceiling to be higher than the Europa League.

The teams fighting for a chance at those last Europa League spots are likely West Ham and Southampton, who surprised everyone by finishing 7th last year. They are the only sides clearly better than the remnants of the league who will be more concerned about staying clear of the relegation zone.

Speaking of relegation, Leicester and Everton lead the odds for current EPL teams in danger. Leicester are picked to improve under new manager Paulo Fonseca thanks to the talent remaining on the roster, but at the same time they were so bad under Brendan Rodgers (finished 17th) that it’s hard to think they will magically be better. Everton is another team that could improve with a new manager, having Bruno Lage replace the embattled Frank Lampard. They finished 16th last year and did little to improve their roster, so like Leicester they may finish near the bottom. The primary factor saving Leicester and Everton are the crop of teams that won promotion last year, all of which are low hanging fruit for relegation. Sunderland make their return to the Premier League for the first time since the 2016-17 started a back-to-back fall down to League One, Cardiff are back after being quickly relegated in the 2018-19 season, and Norwich are a familiar yo-yo team who are likely to be right back in the Championship.



2023-24 also figures to be the Year Of Haaland, with the prolific striker a heavy favorite to be the top scorer and player. Salah and Kane are the best odds behind him for the scoring title with City teammate De Bruyne just behind him for top player. United’s Bellingham is the top pick for best young player, followed by Arsenal’s Saka. The Gunners have three of the top five picks with recent transfer Taylor and Folarin Balogun getting good odds.

Manchester United’s season would open with back-to-back chances at silverware, admittedly low-priority silverware, but a schedule crunch would make it hard for Erik ten Hag to juggle his roster. Staring at Manchester City and Real Madrid to open the season, combined with fitness concerns for the first squad, ten Hag would need to make some unpopular choices and prioritize the Premier League.

Wembley would host a Manchester Derby for the Community Shield, a game that ten Hag regrettably had to play his second squad in. Pep Guardiola wouldn’t make the same choice, and the betting line on City would jump heavily in their favor just before kickoff. The first squad played quite a bit over the summer in an attempt to get the rebuild squad ready, so it was a long-term decision to rest them for the league. In the end, it actually worked out pretty well. It took 56’ for City to pull ahead, with Aymeric Laporte booting a ball over United’s back line for Erling Haaland to run onto. The Norwegian Terminator would drive to goal and do what he does best, slotting the ball past David De Gea almost like he wasn’t there. City essentially locked the game up when Lisandro Martinez, in his return to play, was booked a second time for jostling with Haaland at the edge of the box. An angry discussion ensued, but United would manage to avoid a penalty and keep the score at 1-0. City would take the trophy, United played well enough but just couldn’t win. After losing ten Hag would face criticism from fans and the media for naming the same roster for the UEFA Super Cup, appearing to give up against a Real Madrid side happy to field their best players. It’s hard to peg what happened, especially in a minor trophy game, but Real Madrid did not bring their best form to this one. At 57’ minutes a promising exchange of passes, starting wide with Yaser Asprilla and ending with Casemiro on an underlap, would net United a 1-0 lead. Asprilla would be the spark again at 59’, with Hannibal running to space vacated by Martial to take a 2-0 lead. Renan Lodi would open the door for Real Madrid, pulling a Martinez and getting ejected at 63’, but the Champions League holders wouldn’t be able to make anything of the advantage. A 2-0 win and United’s first trophy of the season would be their reward for an undisciplined performance, ten Hag saw his players tally (7) bookings, and the gamble would pay off.

“I pick the team because I believe, they put in the work and play with our system. I never select a team to lose, or be worse. They deserve to play,” ten Hag responded semi-tersely to questions about his use of the second squad. If United are going to make it deep into the domestic cups and challenge for the Champions League he’s going to need as many fresh legs as he can get.

A two game stretch to start the Premier League, against Newcastle and Brighton & Hove Albion, would help set the kind of tone United fans would be looking for after falling to City in the Community Shield. Eddie Howe would have Newcastle on track to compete for the Top 4 through the first 31’ of the game, still using a press to affect opposing attacks, before things started to fall apart and move him onto the hot seat. Jadon Sancho would find Tyrell Malacia wide, who would initially be stymied by the press and move the ball back to Jude Bellingham to restart the attack, but Bellingham would drive forward and curl in a shot from outside the box for a 1-0 lead. United would take charge of the game at this point, with ten Hag making some adjustments to deal with the press. After halftime Bellingham would chip the back line of defenders for Marcus Rashford to make it 2-0. Things looked bad at this point, but Bellingham would show the £102M was worth it by starting a series of events that would put Newcastle down 3-0 at 58’. Bellingham would steal the ball pressing a goal kick, play it wide to Sancho for a shot that would be blocked, and Sancho would follow up and knock the rebound in. On paper Bellingham would be robbed of an assist, but he was the instigator of the score. United would go on to score three more times to finish the game 5-1. Newcastle’s only goal would come on a Malacia mistake as he was lazy to a loose ball, Domenico Berardi would beat him to it and feed Callum Wilson inside to ruin the clean sheet. The first team would should up well again against Brighton with a 4-1 win that would be headlined by a Rashford double and a late ruining of Diogo Costa’s clean sheet. Ten Hag could be happy with big wins, but both games featured goals allowed by poor play that you could possibly attribute to a lack of concentration with a big lead.



The month would end with an exciting Champions League group draw, the final year groups before switching to a Swiss Model. United landed in Group A along with Dortmund (GER), Olypiakos (GRE), and Red Star Belgrade (SER). Bellingham and Sancho facing their former team was immediately picked as the core narrative of this group, with United picked to win the group in a close competition with Dortmund. Other English teams were handed tougher groups with Arsenal in the most trouble, they would fill out Group G with PSG, Real Betis, and Celtic. Liverpool would be drawn with Ajax, Rangers, and AS Monaco. City would get Inter, RB Salzburg, and Freiburg. The Group Of Death title would go to E thanks to Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Lazio, and Club Brugge being drawn together. City would exit the group stages the betting favorites to win it all with Barcelona, PSG, Bayern Munich, and Liverpool just behind them. United, as expected, are long shots at 18-1 odds.

September would mark United’s first full month of fixtures, if you don’t count miscellaneous cups as ‘real’ fixtures, and it would be almost as easy as possible on paper. A road to trip to Spurs would occupy most of Erik ten Hag’s attention and the remaining run of Cardiff, Olympiakos (at Old Trafford), Everton, Barnsley (Carabao Cup), and Wolves would be an excellent warm up for a much harder run of fixtures next month.

Hotspur Stadium would be packed as Julen Lopetegui would face his first big test of the season, Spurs form has been moving in the wrong direction after opening the league with a 4-2 win over Everton was followed by a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace. They would be fresh of a 2-2 win on penalties over Brentford in the Carabao Cup, so fans were hoping that a visit from United could get them a chance to show they were in the running for a good season. It only took 2’ Marcus Rashford to disabuse them of that notion after scoring from above the arc courtesy of an Antony assist. United would cruise through the first half looking to take a 1-0 lead into the break before Yves Bissouma would head in a corner at 44’ to level the affair. Lopetegui looked as though he’d been saved before Rashford put on a wonderful show of skill to make it 2-1. Receiving a ball from Antony he would chip an advancing slide tackle and knock the ball out of the air. Jadon Sancho would not come out after the half after appearing to injure his ankle, he wouldn’t be needed as United closed out the second half easily. Ten Hag would admit that he would be out for a few days after the game.

With Olympiakos heading to Old Trafford ten Hag would use his second squad against Cardiff, and once again he would be rewarded. United would make quick work of the Welsh side on their way to a 5-0 victory, newcomer Vitor Roque would break Fabrizio Ravanelli’s record for most goals in a debut appearance with four. The young Brazilian striker would earn a 10.0 rating, made more incredible by the fact that he was directly involved in every single goal but notching as assist on Yaser Asprilla’s. The team would be riding high into their Champions League opener with Olympiakos, and the visitors would be looking to get away as quickly as possible. Antony would make it 1-0 literally 18 seconds into the game thanks to some nightmare goalkeeping by Tomáš Vaclík. Jude Bellingham would play Antony free with a through ball that he would take to the near post and somehow slip a shot between Vaclík and the post. It didn’t stop there, with United thrashing the visitors 7-0 with doubles by Antony, Rashford, and Bellingham. Antony would match his fellow Brazilian’s 10.0 with two goals and two assists.



After two massive wins there was some fear of a let down, Everton would host United at their newly completed Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium and manager Bruno Lage would be desperate for points. Pundits would be right with this one, as the first team came out of the gate sluggish and let Everton into the game early. Dwight McNeill would score 3’ in after a deflected pass would land right in his path and give him a clear shot at goal. United would jam them up trying to play out of the back and Rashford would get the ball off Marcos Senesi deep in their third to level it 1-1 at 11’. Everton would keep up appearances, taking the lead back at 39’ off a Dominic Calvert-Lewin header from a corner. The prospect of beating United had the home crowd buzzing, especially with them playing so poorly, but their own carelessness would let United back in again. In stoppage time of the first half they would cough up the ball again to Rashford deep in their third, allowing him to play it forward to Antony cutting inside from the wing and slot it in for 2-2. Ten Hag had the perfect halftime talk, or the players finally decided to wake up, because it was a completely different game in the second half. United would roar to a 6-2 win thanks to two more goals from Rashford and one from Antony for a 3-2-1 performance with Bruno Fernandes also getting in on it.

“The atmosphere was excellent, the first half was not good from us. They made us pay for mistakes, and we got them when they made mistakes. I told them to focus on what we speak about all week, focus on our plan, and the goals will come.” said a sheepish ten Hag who was already starting to field questions about an invincible season.

United would follow up the win at Everton with… more big wins. An easy 3-0 win over Barnsley in the Carabao Cup would earn them a date with Middlesbrough in the next round, and an eye watering 5-0 beating of Wolves would see Fernandes and Rashford run rampant. Fernandes would log a hat-trick with Rashford accounting for the other two. The scoring output would put Rashford on (10) Premier League goals, four more than Fernandes in second and five more than the reigning scoring champions Erling Haaland. He would also lead the league in average rating at 8.58, if he keeps this up United might be hard to stop at any level.

After cutting through everyone like a hot knife through butter, expectations are high for United coming into a longer stretch of Champions League games. The media are split at the moment on how good United really are, with a sizeable portion labeling the club a Flat Track Bully, the end of this month would serve as a litmus test with games against Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool. Spurs gave United some trouble, so expectations are that Erik ten Hag won’t be walking away from those two games with blowout wins.

United would start the month by hopping a plane to Belgrade to face Red Star, with Liverpool and Dortmund coming up ten Hag made it clear well before the game that the second squad would be used for this game. Giving everyone a taste of the highest level of European football, not just cups, is becoming an important tool for the club. This game would end up looking like an early round cup match up after the young starters took some time to settle down and take over the game. United never really looked too threatened, but Red Star did a good job of showing they weren’t awed by Manchester United. Hannibal opened the scoring at 39’ with a wonderful free kick that curled around the wall and just barely tucked into the right side of the goal. Hannibal would find himself in the center of the action again at 42’ after a corner he took was cleared, collected by Scott McTominay and passed back to him, and then crossed to the far post for Anthony Martial to head in and make it 2-0. After that things just collapsed for the hosts, with Hannibal and Martial both netting twice on their way to a 5-1 win. It would have been 6-1 but Yaser Asprilla had a goal disallowed by the narrowest margin.

Ten Hag would have two games to deal with before heading to Dortmund, and once again both of his squads stomped all over the competition. A 6-0 win over Sunderland saw the visitors kill themselves and fall prey to bad luck, twice blocked shots would rebound right back to the shooter for a second chance that they didn’t miss with. Rashford would be the star again with a hat trick, Sunderland only managed three shot all game and only one of them bothered Diogo Costa. The second squad would follow up with a 4-1 win over Fulham, a win that briefly looked competitive as João Palhinha headed in a corner to make it 2-1 at 64’ before Martial scored his second of the game and Vitor Roque added another to his impressive debut season.

Signal Iduna Park would be utterly packed and extremely raucous for a game that could reverse their fortunes in the group if they won. Edin Terzić had found himself in a tough spot after losing 2-1 on the road to Olympiakos, facing United twice in a row in group play could be a gut punch if they couldn’t make it count on their own ground. They haven’t been playing well in the Bundesliga, and the German media has not been kind to Terzić lately. On the other side the media was obsessed with Jude Bellingham and Jadon Sancho making a return to their former clubs, with Dortmund pocketing £177M from United for the two. The lively mid-week crowd would have their hopes dashed before anyone could really settle in, Rashford would score just 7’ in after a wonderful exchange started wide from Antony and went through Fernandes right up the middle to make it 1-0. Things got worse when Antony made his way to the end line and hammered a ball across the face of goal, Gregor Kobel made a daring save to kick the ball out but it went right to Bellingham at the back of the box for a near open net with Kobel scrambling to get up. Down 2-0 at 13’ was not the kind of game Terzić could have been planning for, they would settle down after that but psychologically the damage had been done. Mats Hummels would head in a Marco Reus corner at 43’, making it closer, but it was becoming more obvious they didn’t have the drive to claw back and win this one. The second half featured four bookings for Dortmund as fouling United became a better way to slow them down, but it didn’t completely stop them. At 72’ Antony would make it back to the end line and adjust his cross into the box clear of Kobel to find Rashford for his second and a 3-1 lead. The hosts had one last moment of magic, with Karim Adeyemi scoring an incredible goal with a long range dipping shot, but like the rest of the game it just wouldn’t be their night as VAR would rule him offsides. Adeyemi had been linked to a United move over the summer, but his nightmare outing (5.9 rating) would do little to convince anyone that Vitor Roque wasn’t the better buy. The 3-1 win would give United a solid six point lead in the group and put Dortmund in trouble with everyone else level on three points.



Out of the pan and into the fire, ten Hag would jump from an exciting night in Europe to a fierce rivalry at home. Even with Liverpool flagging early in the season, plagued by draws, United would be on edge in their attempt to remain unbeaten. Jürgen Klopp came into this game facing questions about his ability to keep Liverpool relevant, and the opening minutes of the game didn’t help him at all. Just 9’ in, Fernandes would receive a ball in the middle from Sancho out wide before feeding it up the middle for Rashford to make it 1-0. Fans expect a United-Liverpool game to be a little testy, and this one didn’t disappoint, with both side tackling just a little harder than usual. United fell afoul of the added aggression when Diogo Jota, making the most of it, was shoved over on a corner at 35’. Both sides had a lot to say, but in the end VAR awarded a penalty for Mohamed Salah to take. He would hammer a shot low right, but Diogo Costa was up to the task and the score remained 1-0. The finger pointing and shoving would return in the second half, when Andrew Robertson would crush Antony on the edge of the box. With both teams furious, VAR would again come down on Liverpool’s side and Robertson would get away with a booking. The final nail would come late, with United generally in control, Bellingham would play wide to Antony who would make his way to the end line and feed Fernandes in the middle for a 2-0 lead at 89’ and kill off the game for United. Ten Hag would walk out with a good win, but it wouldn’t be without cost. Raphaël Varane would come off late in the game with knee soreness and be ruled out for over a week, and Pedro Porro would continue his impressive collection of yellow cards and earn a suspension for the next Premier League match.

Michael Carrick would make his return to Old Trafford in the final game of the month, this time as Middlesbrough’s manager, in a Carabao Cup matchup that would turn into a cake walk thanks to Middlesbrough’s Gelsom Martins earning a straight red just before halftime. Vitor Roque would score a wonderful goal just 7’ in, popping an Asprilla lob over an advancing defender and volleying it into goal. Playing a man up didn’t seem to do much for United’s scoring, with the 1-0 lead and Middlesbrough asleep they breezed through the game. Brandon Williams would head in a corner at 90’ to pour some salt in Carrick’s wounds, but on some level he might have gotten his revenge. Casemiro would be booked during the game and earn a suspension for the next game, which would end up being Arsenal in the quarter finals.

After taking control of their Champions League group, downing Liverpool, and advancing in the Carabao Cup Erik ten Hag would end up with a wild month that would put everything good and bad going on with the club on display. Two Champions League home games would give United the chance to clinch the group, which is something ten Hag had publicly stated he was focused on, but it would turn out to be something that would be more of a distraction.

United’s second squad would open the month with a game at West Ham, and ten Hag would walk out with a headache. With Dortmund looming it seemed smart to play the second squad, but this game had just a wide array of concerns that a 4-2 couldn’t paper over them. Anthony Martial would put them up 1-0 after just 5’ thanks to a weaving run and a monstrous shot from above the arc that would bang in off the post, but then United would give it back at 28’ with one of the worst displays of defending all season. With seven United defenders against two West Ham players in their third, they wouldn’t be able to get the ball off Vladimir Coufal and he would boot the ball into the box for Gianluca Scamacca to head in despite being completely surrounded by defenders. They would sleepwalk through the game until Hannibal would make it 2-1 at 70’ thanks to a silky assist from Casemiro. The next seven minutes would see Vitor Roque make it 3-1 before another infuriating lapse in defending would allow Coufal to score himself. It wouldn’t be until 90+6’ that United would finally pull away without enough time to mess it up, with Anthony Elanga scoring from a Scott McTominay assist.

“I, uh [laughing], see we make mistakes” was all ten Hag had to say when questioned about their defensive miscues.

There was an enormous amount of excitement around Dortmund coming to Old Trafford, but in the end this game turned into something worth glossing over as Edin Terzić’s side were thrashed 5-1. Dortmund headed home ready for an inquest, with Pedro Porro getting booked twice in the span of two minutes Dortmund were a man up from 50’ on. They were already down 2-0 at that point thanks to Christian Eriksen and Marcus Rashford, but Terzić had to stand there and watch his team give up even more goals with the advantage. Ceding a penalty and goals from former Dortmund stars Jadon Sancho and Jude Bellingham made everyone forget about Karim Adeyemi scoring a lightning strike goal to make it 3-1 at 65’. The win would basically clinch the group, still with a six point lead and a commanding +17GD compared to Olympiakos’ -6.

United were on fire, setting a new club record for consecutive wins across all competitions with (17), clinched qualification for the next round of the Champions League. Everything was coming up roses for United, nothing could possibly stop them, not even hated rivals Leeds. A trip to Elland Road for the Roses Derby would be a formality, just a minor speed bump on United’s way to taking the league again. Sancho would receive a ball cutting inside from Bellingham, he’d lob the ball up the middle for Rashford to score and just like that it’s 1-0 at 4’. United had this one wrapped up, until they didn’t. Jack Harrison would be allowed to run through two layers of United defenders, with Antony and Tyrell Malacia putting in token efforts to defend, before sending in a cross from the end line for Patrick Bamford to head in. Just 7’ in and it’s 1-1, but United have done this before and know what to do. United were so confident they just decided to stand around and let the game come to them, and come it did at 32’. Obite N’Dicka was allowed to freely run into the box and pass to Harrison, with nobody challenging him, and he would score to make it 2-1 Leeds. United must have been partied out after stomping on Dortmund, because they did nothing of note for the entire second half aside from give up.

“This is on us, we didn’t play our game, we should have been more focused,” said Rashford after the game, gazing down at the floor. A number of other players voiced similar sentiments, refusing to let ten Hag take responsibility alone.

Whatever transpired over the next few days, there was at least one Players Only team meeting, it got United back into the right headspace. Losing a game is one thing, but just coming out flat for a rival is different. They need to bottle that meeting and save it for big occasions, because Leicester and Red Star Belgrade found themselves on the wrong end of United. United would run roughshod over the Foxes, crushing them 5-0 with a Rashford hat-trick and an Antony double. The win was so bad that United could have made it 7-0, with Rashford and Varane having goals disallowed, and Leicester only had three shots all game with only one troubling Diogo Costa. Ten Hag would use his second squad for Red Star, needing to rest the first team for Manchester City in December, and they saw the Leicester beating and said ‘hold my beer.’ The collection of youngsters at vets would rout Red Star 8-1, with a Yaser Asprilla goal being disallowed, thanks to Sékou Sanogo drawing a straight red at 24’ for a nightmare tackle on Asprilla. Hannibal would walk out with a hat-trick, but four others would score on their way to clinching first place in their group. Dortmund and Olympiakos would play to a 1-1 draw, so Dortmund need United to win big against the Greek side in their final game to have a chance.

United would get more good news as the month came to a close with Goal releasing their GOAL50 for 2023. Four United players would land on the list; Varane (33), Bellingham (34), Costa (37), and Pedro Porro (47). As expected Erling Haaland would get the top slot with Mohamed Salah, Pedri, Kylian Mbappé, and Kevin De Bruyne rounding out the Top 5.