Man United is sinking in disappointment after just losing to Man City in the Manchester Derby. The biggest disappointment for the "Red Devils" is not the 0-1 score, which is the deadlock to the end when playing with one more player in about 70 minutes.
The Man City force that brought 3 points at Old Trafford that day was marked by many new players such as Enzo Fernandez, Elliot Anderson and Iliman Ndiaye. They themselves troubled Man United's playing system, forcing the home team to fall into a position where they could not organize attacks. New players like Youri Tielemans could not coordinate with old stars. Those who seemed to have to shine this season could not play their forte, or played below par in a too chaotic system.
INEOS is reorganizing Man United in stages rather than doing it thoroughly at the same time as Tottenham or Chelsea. Last summer, they invested in the attacking trio, this summer in the midfield trio. According to this habit, summer 2027 will be the time to overhaul the defense to aim for the championship in 2028. This is a very vague plan, no one believes it will come true. If Man United can win the championship in 2028, it is only hoped that Michael Carrick (if he has not been sacked at that time) can recreate the achievements in the second half of last season throughout 38 rounds.
Man United only spent a total of 155 million pounds to buy players in the summer of 2026, this number is even far less than the value of the Anderson - Fernandez duo of Man City (241 million pounds). One of the reasons for this caution is that INEOS owners currently do not want Man United to plunge into blockbuster deals and then receive all in return as inexpensive deals. However, they are seemingly standing outside the market rather than observing it carefully to make the right decision.
Man United needs to understand that at the present time, it is no longer rare for a player to be worth over 100 million pounds, even mass-produced. Sometimes, that price is just market legitimization for a deal that the club is eagerly pursuing. Many teams are willing to spend heavily to get the player they need, rather than using that money to divide it among lower-ranked stars. Three players worth over 30 million pounds are not necessarily as good as a player worth 100 million pounds, the personnel market is not calculated in such a basic arithmetic way.
Man United is neither short nor full. If you pick out the number of personnel, the team can always meet 2 players/position. However, quantity has never been implicitly accompanied by quality. INEOS was too subjective when believing that Carrick can operate well with internal resources, just adding a little bit is enough.
There will be no INEOS sacking Carrick early because they understand very well that a change on the coaching bench will pull the whole ship back further, even though it has been in a state of suspension for a long time. However, any endurance is limited and fans cannot forever wait for goals only on paper anymore.
