Swipe through 20 photos of the Reds’ Friday afternoon session at Carrington.
Amorim to lose two more two huge names for Brentford game, but still no Mainoo or Zirkzee in the starting XI – prediction
A tricky away tie to Brentford awaits Ruben Amorim and his men tomorrow as they aim to string two victories together for the first time this season.
The Manchester United head coach changed up his defence against Chelsea last weekend, dropping Leny Yoro and replacing him with Harry Maguire.
Defence
It looks as if Amorim is sticking with Altay Bayindir in goal for now, despite the signing of Senne Lammens toward the end of the transfer window.
That back three of Matthijs de Ligt, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw may not be retained, however. They looked fairly solid against the Blues for most of the match, although they were only up against 10 men for 88 minutes.
However, Amorim confirmed at the pre-match press conference that Noussair Mazraoui and Amad will be unavailable for tomorrow’s game. Amad has a family bereavement, while Mazraoui is unavailable until after the international break.
We therefore expect Shaw to take up the left wing back role with Patrick Dorgu switching to the right.
Yoro would then come in at LCB with Maguire staying in the middle and Matthijs de Ligt on the right. Lisandro Martinez is not expected back for a couple more weeks. Ayden Heaven is another option.
Diego Leon could come in at wing back but we think it’s unlikely he will start the game.
Midfield
In central midfield, Casemiro is suspended after his harsh sending off against Chelsea, so Bruno Fernandes is likely to be joined by Manu Ugarte.
Kobbie Mainoo still doesn’t seem to be able to get a start for love nor money. Mason Mount is another option but unlikely to be deployed in that role.
Forwards
Benjamin Sesko is yet to get off the mark in a red shirt and with Matheus Cunha now back, the Slovenian could be rested, with the Brazilian playing up top. Bryan Mbeumo should continue on the right side of the attack.
The gaffer has been trying Amad in the left forward role, but given his injury, Mount may be brought in there.
Josh Zirkzee, like Mainoo, gets few starts and we don’t anticipate that changing tomorrow.
With all that in mind, here is our predicted XI for tomorrow’s game:
Featured image Matt McNulty via Getty Images
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Red Billy
Red Billy is the managing editor of The Peoples Person, author of three books and totally obsessed with football’s transfer market. Billy still insists Matteo Darmian and Alex Telles could have made it at United given half a chance.
“I plan to stay”: Amorim reject explains his future plans following United’s brutal summer decision
Manchester United decided to cut Rasmus Hojlund loose this summer, following the Dane’s dismal 2024/25 campaign in which he managed a meagre four Premier League goals.
The 22-year-old was desperate to stay at Old Trafford, and believed he was better than new arrival Benjamin Sesko, but was not given the chance to stake his claim.
That left him heartbroken, as he eventually opted to join Napoli on an initial loan with the Serie A champions obligated to sign him if certain conditions are met by the end of the season.
The ex-Atalanta ace has one goal in three games, and in an interview with La Repubblica, he explained why he chose to come to Naples from Manchester.
Why Napoli & Serie A
“There’s a special football culture here, I felt it right away when I came to Naples for the first time as an opponent, with Atalanta. The fans were crazy and very passionate, which makes them different from the others.
“The city is truly beautiful, as is the climate. But above all, I found a family atmosphere, which is what I needed now in my career. My plan is to settle in and be accepted.”
The Napoli No.19 also explained the major differences between playing in the English top-flight and Serie A.
“It’s still the same as I remembered it from my season with Atalanta. The football here is very tactical, with lots of man-on-man duels.
On CR7 & Mctominay
“In the Premier League, however, the pace is a bit higher: everyone is fast, strong, and physically explosive. If I had to point out one difference between the two leagues, it’s precisely that.”
The Danish striker also revealed his love for United legend Cristiano Ronaldo, and why the love affair started. He explained that like the Portuguese, he also strives to improve all the time.
“It’s not out of presumption. In my career, I’ve never felt like the most talented player in the group, even though you have to be a top-notch striker to play for United or Napoli.
“But I’ve always had to work harder than others, and I’m aware of that. That’s why Cristiano is my idol: he always wants to improve and works hard to become better.”
On his future
On how it felt to reconnect on the pitch with former Carrington graduate Scott McTominay. Rasmus Hojlund also revealed how much the Scotsman has improved since his move to Italy.
“In real life, he’s still the same Scott: a great guy, a nice guy. But on the pitch, he’s grown a lot, playing in Italy. My goal is to follow his path.”
And on his future, the United loanee revealed that he hopes to stay at Napoli for the foreseeable future, and has no plans of returning to Old Trafford.
“I also played in Austria before, after leaving Denmark as a child. At 22, I already have a lot of experience under my belt. But now I’m in Naples and I plan to stay.”
Feature image Gabriele Maltinti via Getty Images
Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social
Ayantan Chowdhury
Ayantan has worked for 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites but his heart was always set on writing about his favourite club. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25
“I plan to stay”: Amorim reject explains his future plans following United’s brutal summer decision
Manchester United decided to cut Rasmus Hojlund loose this summer, following the Dane’s dismal 2024/25 campaign in which he managed a meagre four Premier League goals.
The 22-year-old was desperate to stay at Old Trafford, and believed he was better than new arrival Benjamin Sesko, but was not given the chance to stake his claim.
That left him heartbroken, as he eventually opted to join Napoli on an initial loan with the Serie A champions obligated to sign him if certain conditions are met by the end of the season.
The ex-Atalanta ace has one goal in three games, and in an interview with La Repubblica, he explained why he chose to come to Naples from Manchester.
Why Napoli & Serie A
“There’s a special football culture here, I felt it right away when I came to Naples for the first time as an opponent, with Atalanta. The fans were crazy and very passionate, which makes them different from the others.
“The city is truly beautiful, as is the climate. But above all, I found a family atmosphere, which is what I needed now in my career. My plan is to settle in and be accepted.”
The Napoli No.19 also explained the major differences between playing in the English top-flight and Serie A.
“It’s still the same as I remembered it from my season with Atalanta. The football here is very tactical, with lots of man-on-man duels.
On CR7 & Mctominay
“In the Premier League, however, the pace is a bit higher: everyone is fast, strong, and physically explosive. If I had to point out one difference between the two leagues, it’s precisely that.”
The Danish striker also revealed his love for United legend Cristiano Ronaldo, and why the love affair started. He explained that like the Portuguese, he also strives to improve all the time.
“It’s not out of presumption. In my career, I’ve never felt like the most talented player in the group, even though you have to be a top-notch striker to play for United or Napoli.
“But I’ve always had to work harder than others, and I’m aware of that. That’s why Cristiano is my idol: he always wants to improve and works hard to become better.”
On his future
On how it felt to reconnect on the pitch with former Carrington graduate Scott McTominay. Rasmus Hojlund also revealed how much the Scotsman has improved since his move to Italy.
“In real life, he’s still the same Scott: a great guy, a nice guy. But on the pitch, he’s grown a lot, playing in Italy. My goal is to follow his path.”
And on his future, the United loanee revealed that he hopes to stay at Napoli for the foreseeable future, and has no plans of returning to Old Trafford.
“I also played in Austria before, after leaving Denmark as a child. At 22, I already have a lot of experience under my belt. But now I’m in Naples and I plan to stay.”
Feature image Gabriele Maltinti via Getty Images
Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social
Ayantan Chowdhury
Ayantan has worked for 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites but his heart was always set on writing about his favourite club. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25
Tactical analysis: United will cruise to victory over Brentford if Amorim makes these two simple tweaks
Manchester United will be looking for three points when they travel to face Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.
Coming off the back of a 2-1 win over Chelsea, Man United will be hopeful that they can build a winning streak, particularly against a vulnerable Brentford that sits 17th in the league at present.
While Brentford seem ripe for the plucking, there are some important tactical decisions that Ruben Amorim will have to employ if he hopes to help United come away with the win.
More urgency
There was one area where Amorim criticised his team following the Chelsea win, and that was their failure to put the game away. As he mentioned, United were aggressive early on but lost their edge as the match wore on.
And he was right.
This has been an issue that United fans have become all too familiar with. While the team did well to go two goals up in the first half, the visitors almost found their way back into the match after clawing a goal back. From then on, Chelsea seemed the likelier of the teams to score.
This is a flaw in mentality that United need to overcome, especially when facing a struggling team like Brentford, where it’s easier to become complacent.
Amorim will need to take responsibility and ensure his team understand the importance of maintaining their forward momentum where possible.
No more set-piece flaws
Yet another issue that United fans have grown all too accustomed to is the club’s knack for conceding from corners and set pieces, which happened again against Chelsea.
It’s clear that Altay Bayindir is struggling to command his box, meaning that perhaps the time has come for Amorim to give Senne Lammens a chance to prove his worth.
Still, as Dimitar Berbatov pointed out, if United had stopped the initial cross, so too would they have prevented the goal that followed.
Ultimately, United’s defenders switch off all too often, and this is a nasty habit that must be rectified.
If United can tighten up at the back and maintain positive momentum throughout the match, then they could secure a comfortable win over Brentford that will see them rise further up the Premier League table.
Featured image Matt McNulty via Getty Images
Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social
Mathew Cohen
A faithful Manchester United supporter, Mathew has worked as a football writer and analyst for SB Nation, FanSided, and now The Peoples Person. Mathew’s heroes include David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Sir Alex Ferguson, all of whom played their part in creating some special childhood memories.
United Women’s Brighton fixture change
United Women’s Brighton fixture change
Friday 26 September 2025 16:30
Manchester United Women’s away fixture at Brighton & Hove Albion has been moved to an earlier kick-off.
The Reds are still meeting the Seagulls at Broadfield Stadium on Sunday 2 November, but it will now kick off at midday, instead of 14:00 GMT.
The Barclays WSL clash will see United make a return to action following an international break.
Our home clash with Chelsea is also confirmed as a 19:30 BST kick-off on Friday 3 October.
Meanwhile, our regular home venue at Leigh Sports Village has a new name.
It will now be called the Progress With Unity Stadium, from immediate effect, after the change gained approval at a Wigan Council meeting.
UPCOMING WSL FIXTURES
Sun 28 Sep: Liverpool (A) 12:00 BST
Fri 3 Oct: Chelsea (H) 19:30 BST
Sun 12 Oct: Everton (A) 12:00 BST
Sun 2 Nov: Brighton & Hove Albion (A) 12:00 GMT
Click here for ticket information.
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“It doesn’t taste particularly good…” United youngster urged by former Danish international to find another club if his minutes aren’t increased
Manchester United striker Chido Obi has been advised to consider moving to another club if his playing time in the first team isn’t increased.
This comes after the youngster was benched during the Man United U21s 2-1 win over Athletic Club B, where he remained an unused substitute.
It was reported that Obi stormed off the pitch in frustration due to his coach’s decision.
While U21s coach Travis Binnion apparently did this in order to give Obi a rest due to a busy schedule, not all observers agree with this decision.
Danish coach speaks out
In August, Danish U21’s head coach Lars Knudsen took issue with Obi’s lack of first-team action this season.
While he refused to declare whether or not it would be best for the teenager to find a new club, he did emphasise the importance of giving young talents enough playing time to help them develop their skills.
Still, not all Danish footballers and coaches appear to share his balanced view.
Former Danish international Mikkel Bechmann refused to mince his words when speaking out on Obi’s current predicament.
Clear advice for Obi
Bechmann was highly critical of the decision to put Obi in the U21s.
“Those reserve team matches…it doesn’t taste particularly good. It’s like when we have our Future Cup matches at home. It’s the reserves that play, and it’s just far from the same as playing first-team football,” he stated, as quoted by Tipsbladet.
Still, he is unsure whether Obi is ready for first-team action at United either.
“I just don’t think the time is right for Amorim to suddenly try out Chido Obi at United, as United are doing right now.”
“I think he is very, very far from the first team at United. I would like to see him play some senior football at a higher level than just reserve at United,” Bechmann concluded.
Although Bechmann believes Obi could have a future at United, he is of the belief that the youngster should go on loan to another club, such as one in the EFL Championship, for more experience at the first-team level.
Featured image Matt McNulty via Getty Images
Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social
Mathew Cohen
A faithful Manchester United supporter, Mathew has worked as a football writer and analyst for SB Nation, FanSided, and now The Peoples Person. Mathew’s heroes include David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Sir Alex Ferguson, all of whom played their part in creating some special childhood memories.
“A lot of players are relying on it too much”: United legend pours scorn on silver lining to club’s difficult start to the season
Manchester United have made an underwhelming start to the new season and sit 11th in the Premier League table after five games.
The Red Devils were handed a difficult run of fixtures to kick off the new campaign and have already faced two genuine title contenders in Arsenal and Manchester City.
United lost both encounters but deserved to beat Arsenal on opening day, and also secured a difficult three points by beating Chelsea 2-1 last weekend.
Positive stats
Despite sitting in the lower half of the table, Ruben Amorim’s side actually have the highest expected goals (xG) of any team in the league, as per WhoScored.
Expected goals measure the quality of chances and is thought to be a more accurate indication of a team’s performance in front of goal. United’s xG over the first few games is 9.98, leading Chelsea in second place on 9.35.
But where overachieving Chelsea have actually scored 10 goals, excluding own goals the Red Devils have only netted four times – their xG underperformance of -5.98 is streets ahead of anyone else.
Rooney realism
But where these stats may give some fans reasons to be cheerful, United legend Wayne Rooney is sceptical of the metric and believes it is skewing owners’ view of the game, and of what success looks like.
Speaking on his BBC podcast, Rooney lamented the lack of exciting long shots being unleashed in today’s game and blamed it on the fascination with xG. He said: “Owners want high xG because they think if you’ve got high xG you’ve got more chance to win the game.
“If you’ve got Frank Lampard for instance, who had lots of shots from the edge of the box, his xG would be really low. But he scored 200-and-odd goals in his career.”
He added: “The closer you get to the goal, the higher the xG is. So teams are actually not shooting from the edge of the box anymore.”
His comments are not limited to United, whose impressive xG is something of a saving grace for them. He is addressing a wider trend in the Premier League where there are far fewer shots taken from outside the box per game than there used to be.
When asked how early in a player’s career the data becomes important he explained: “Players get all of the footage, they can look through the footage during the training sessions and in the classrooms of what they’re doing, which is fine, but I think a lot of players now are relying on it [footage and data] too much.”
Fireworks in Birmingham
In the same episode, Rooney gave some illuminating insights into United away days. The 39-year-old recalled that fireworks let off outside the team’s hotel were not uncommon during his playing career.
He said: “There was one year, we played New Year’s Day and we stayed in a hotel in Birmingham. Because there were parties downstairs in the function rooms, they put us on the top floor. But they forgot to tell us that there was a firework display on the roof of the hotel.
“At midnight all the players were woken up by all these fireworks going off right above us.”
Featured image Richard Heathcote via Getty Images
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Joe Ponting
Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried.
Amorim’s pre-Brentford press conference
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Friday 26 September 2025 15:27
Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has revealed he is “more than happy” with forward Bryan Mbeumo since his summer signing.
Mbeumo joined the Reds from Brentford, who we’re set to meet on Saturday lunchtime, giving the Cameroon international an early opportunity to return to his former employers.
Amorim discussed that occasion, along with team news, an update on Amad’s absence and searching for back-to-back Premier League wins, with the assembled media at Carrington before the team travelled down done to west London on Friday afternoon.
Keep scrolling for everything the boss had to say in the first part of his press conference…
Afternoon Ruben, looking ahead to tomorrow, what’s the availability?
“I think Licha [Martinez] is out. Casemiro is out because of the red card. Amad is not here, someone in his family passed away, so we are giving all the support to Amad, and we understood that was important for him to have his time and to return home [in Manchester]. The rest are fit and ready to play.”
And [Noussair] Mazraoui?
“He’s not also. He’s not going to be [available] until we stop for the national teams, so he’s out also.”
You got a very important win last weekend. How important is it now to finally get back-to-back Premier League wins?
“Yeah, it’s really important, and we talked about that at the end of the game. It’s really important for us to have that sense of urgency that we need to win no matter what, and it’s going to be really difficult. Every time we start preparing the game and you watch the next opponent, you think, ‘It’s going to be really, really tough’. I have that feeling. We cannot control the result of the game, but for me, the most important thing is to start the game the way we started against Chelsea, the way we started against Burnley, the way we started against Arsenal. These kinds of games, we need to be really focused and to have that feeling that we need to win every match.”
It’s a big game for Bryan Mbeumo on his return to Brentford. In his short time here, how important has he become to your team?
“It’s really important for everything that he has been doing. The light that he brings to the dressing room. He’s not the guy who talks more, but you can feel it, that he is always there to help us. He runs a lot, he presses a lot. It’s a different threat compared to last season. He can take set pieces, and that is really important in this league. So, I’m more than happy with Bryan.”
Has he surprised you at all? Because some players struggle to deal with the demands of playing for this club, but not him, obviously?
“That is also the good thing, to have time to know the player when you want to bring players [in], then you can see every week the player [in the Premier League]. That was really important for us to bring new players from our league. So, you can understand what they are doing week by week against the opponents they are going to face, so that can help us, so the risk is completely different from other players. But in the end, you never know. So, we were lucky with Bryan.”
Just on Bryan, and also bringing in the likes of Matheus [Cunha], obviously you brought in Premier League proven players this summer. How important was that? And do you think that’s a strategy you can see continuing going forward?
“It depends because you can see that every player that you want to buy in [the] Premier League is really expensive, so you have to also manage that. But if you look to our moment last year, you want to take the least risky move. It was really important to have top players in our team. And I think if you look at Bryan, and Cunha, it’s not just one year, they are doing this for years. So, it was really important, of course, was something that we look for, players in the Premier League.”
Just on Amad, the club and yourself have shown a bit of compassion to let him go home after a family bereavement. I just wonder, does the footballing world maybe need to show that as well, maybe with fans? Because he received a lot of messages on social media after the Chelsea game…
“I’ll always say the same thing to my players: shut down social media. Nowadays it’s like that, it’s the price you have to pay. But the important thing is that the club and the friends, that is real life for Amad. We are here for him. It’s a tough moment and in these kinds of moments, it’s not important, the next game. We can win without Amad, and we want to win also for Amad.”
If you want the improvement that you’re seeking, you need to win games in a row. Do you feel confident about that? Because I think a lot of fans don’t really trust the team to be able to play two games back-to-back well…
“I don’t say playing well because I think we did that this year, but it’s normal [for the fans to say this], they don’t know what is going to happen the next game. And to be completely honest, I have an idea, but I don’t know how it’s going to be, and I’m the manager of the team. That has to be with the moment that we live for so many months. So, I think the best way of dealing with that is that every game is the last one. It’s just not thinking about two games. Okay, it’s not too many games for Manchester United. Yes, it’s a big deal for Manchester United. So, the next game is going to be the most important game for a long time in Manchester United. So, I understand the feeling of the fans. So, let’s start changing that feeling, and to present ourselves with that urgency that we need on the pitch.”
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