A trip to Manchester United may not be as tough an ask as it once was, but the Red Devils under Michael Carrick are a whole different beast to the team that Kieran McKenna’s Ipswich Town side faced in 2024-25 when the Tractor Boys should have arguably come away with three points at Old Trafford.

Carrick initially returned in a caretaker capacity but made an immediate impact, steering United back into the top four and securing vital Champions League football, boasting an impressive 70.6% win record. That rate extrapolated over a whole season would have taken them to enough points to win the league.

They had a pretty strong pre-season out in the USA before facing former manager Ruben Amorim’s AC Milan in their last friendly and losing 4-2. That was then followed by the shock result of the opening weekend as they lost 2-0 to Hull.

Goalkeeper

Belgian International Senne Lammens was signed at the beginning of last season in United’s latest attempt to solve their long running goalkeeping issues, a position that hasn’t really been settled since the departure of David De Gea. The 24-year-old performed well over the course of the season, making 79 saves and keeping eight clean sheets.

Karl Darlow, who saw more football than he might have expected at Leeds last season, making 22 appearances, joins to become the back-up keeper.

Tom Heaton is still knocking about as third choice but is currently injured and young Northern Irishman Dermot Mee got some game time in pre-season.

Defence

There’s not been too many changes in defence. Two of Carrick's preferred four from last season started against Hull. Noussair Mazraoui had a superb World Cup, playing at left-back for Morocco, making a number of crucial defensive interventions, but ended up as more of a right wing-back against the Tigers.

Harry Maguire moved across to the right side of central defence to allow Ayden Heaven to play on his favoured side as a natural left footer. The 19-year-old only made 11 starts last season but is highly thought of by the United coaching staff.

At left-back, Luke Shaw is in the most robust stage of his career. After a few seasons of injury problem after injury problem the Englishman played every single match last season.

Diogo Dalot has been freed from some of his defensive responsibilities under Carrick and is tasked with providing more attacking impetus, and it was perhaps a surprise that he didn’t start against Hull. He only managed 10 minutes off the bench, but United did look more threatening with him on the pitch.

Lenny Yoro, who was signed with much fanfare back in 2024 before suffering a serious injury before he properly got up and running, had to settle with a place on the bench having been trusted by Carrick at the back end of last season. This switch has potentially been made as Carrick searches for a left and right-footed balance at the back.

Matthijs de Ligt is a long-term injury absentee, but Lisandro Martinez could be fit enough to replace Heaven for this one having limped off in the World Cup final and missed the majority of pre-season. He wasn’t risked against Hull but was on the bench.

Midfield

This has been the chosen area of overhaul in the Manchester United squad this summer. With Casemiro moving on to Inter Miami, United have made two new additions to the engine room.

Twenty-two-year-old Andrey Santos joined from Chelsea for €56.3 million to take on the defensive work of his Brazilian counterpart. He’ll play at the base of the midfield and keep things ticking over. He finished with a 90% pass completion rate last season.

It’s his midfield counterpart that will be the one tasked with breaking the lines as Youri Tielemans has also joined from Aston Villa. He averaged 7.36 progressive passes per 90 last season and created a big chance every three games. Something that is an underrated part of his game is also his tackling. For someone who is more of a playmaker, he reads the game well and isn’t afraid to stick his foot in.

You can see from the average positions from the Hull game that this new structure is to get main man Bruno Fernandes into pockets of space. The Portuguese international broke the Premier League assist record last season with 21 but drew a blank against a stubborn Hull defence.

Kobbie Mainoo is the other option United have in central midfield and could play in any of those three roles, whilst Manuel Ugarte is still with the Red Devils but is out with a long-term injury and Mason Mount is on the road to recovery from a more minor injury.

Forwards

One of the other tweaks that Carrick made towards the back end of last season was to move Patrick Dorgu further forward. It worked then as it took away his defensive responsibilities, something which was not his best attribute. As you may remember, he was sent off in the first half on Town’s last visit to Old Trafford. Against Hull, he ended up playing quite narrow and struggled to get into the game.

Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo have both been used as the main striker over pre-season with Benjamin Sesko coming back from injury and it was Cunha who got the nod against Hull as more of a false nine with Mbeumo shifting across to the right.

Cunha did well in that role during the World Cup for Brazil but like Dorgu on the left that experiment didn’t work last week. He was often way too deep against a packed defence and wasn’t able to utilise his link-up play.

Mbeumo was the one who had the most success in an attacking sense but always ended up in wide areas. The flip side of that is that it gave Ryan Giles way too much space to attack going the other way, something that Leif Davis could look to exploit in the same way on Sunday.

Carrick does, however, have options in those forward areas. I’ve mentioned Sesko, who came off the bench against Hull and could come in for this one to bring a more physical presence, but there’s also the return of Marcus Rashford, after two years away with first Aston Villa and then Barcelona, and Amad Diallo, who missed the Hull game with a knock.

Joshua Zirkzee scored a couple in pre-season but looks quite far down the pecking order, whilst 19-year-old right winger Shea Lacey got 10 minutes off the bench against Hull, having impressed in pre-season.

Prediction

Town come into this off the back of a hard-fought win against Sunderland and yet another statement signing in the transfer window with the introduction of Ezequiel Palacios. United do look vulnerable and it was evident against Hull that Carrick is still experimenting with certain things, so it looks like a decent time to play them. I’m going with a 1-1 draw for this one.

Blogs 300 bloggers