Manchester United's Defensive Issues Under Scrutiny
Manchester United’s soft centre is back under the microscope – and this time, the criticism is coming from one of their own.
Last season’s third-place finish and return to the Champions League papered over a glaring flaw: United shipped 50 goals in 38 league games, while champions Arsenal gave up barely half that. The warning lights were flashing. United chose to look elsewhere.
Instead of reinforcing the back line in the summer of 2026, the club poured more money into midfield, having already strengthened the attack the year before. The recruitment strategy is now being picked apart as Michael Carrick’s side stumble through the opening weeks of the new campaign.
Four games. Four points. No clean sheets.
They have conceded twice at Hull, twice at home to Ipswich, twice again away at Everton, then allowed Erling Haaland to snatch a controversial winner for City in the Manchester derby at Old Trafford. The pattern is brutal and obvious.
Former United full-back Danny Simpson, speaking to GOAL on behalf of Free Bets, did not bother dressing it up.
“They're conceding too many goals,” he said. “Yes, we're good going forward though, most of the time. But I think it was well documented that we needed a left-back with Luke [Shaw]. Even though Luke was fantastic last season, I think everyone knows Luke can't play two games a week. We want to be in all the competitions. So there's now eight games in the Champions League, and you want to go far in the cups.”
The schedule is relentless. The squad, at the back at least, does not look built for it.
Simpson pointed to the weekend’s derby as a snapshot of the issue. “Patrick Dorgu, he's in at left-back. We've seen that at the weekend [against City]. The way he played last season before he got injured, higher up, was a decent threat. Centre-back? I think Harry [Maguire] and [Lisandro] Martinez are the two.”
That spine, in his eyes, is sound. Everything around it? Far less convincing.
Full-back roulette
Simpson’s biggest concern lies in the full-back positions, where United have drifted into a kind of tactical lottery.
“I do worry about full-backs,” he admitted. “I think the inconsistency - one week it's [Noussair] Mazraoui, then it's [Diogo] Dalot, then one week they are an eight, next week they are five. I don't think anyone in any league, whether you're playing in the Premier League, the Champions League, trying to do well, you can't have players in your defence that are one week doing eight and the next week five.”
The contrast with attacking players is stark.
“I think up top you can, because if you've got a winger that's playing a five, you're going to change him and he normally gets swapped after six or seven. You can't do that with your defence. You need a set back four that's a seven every week. And then if they're not playing, who comes in?”
That last question hangs over Carrick’s squad. On paper, there is depth. In reality, too many of the alternatives remain unproven or unconvincing.
Yoro under the spotlight
Leny Yoro is the most obvious example. Signed from Lille in 2024, the French defender arrived with huge promise and has already made 69 appearances. He is still only 20. The expectation was that he would grow into a dominant presence.
Simpson is not seeing it.
“Yoro hasn't kicked on at all. He's been here two years now? You look at everything, when he came in he was young and slight, why is he not in the gym? Why has he not got any bigger? Why is he not stronger? He doesn't look like he's done anything in two years in terms of his physique. You know the Premier League is tough.”
It is a damning assessment, and it feeds into a wider sense that United’s defensive development has stalled. Talents arrive, play, then plateau.
The picture is no clearer at right-back. Dalot is currently sidelined, and the next man up has already been exposed.
“Dalot's injured, [Ayden] Heaven, we haven't seen him since the Hull game, not surprised, probably the wrong game for him to play in. Hull away in the start of the season against Oliver McBurnie, probably not the best.”
Thrown in early, then quickly withdrawn. Another sign of a plan that feels reactive rather than assured.
Carrick’s defensive dilemma
Strip away the rotation, the experiments and the injuries, and Simpson’s preferred back four is simple: “So, your back four is your back four - which is Shaw, Martinez, Maguire and Dalot.”
That is the unit he trusts. That is the group he believes can offer the steady “seven out of ten” every week that title challengers are built on.
The problem for Carrick is obvious. Shaw’s fitness cannot be managed on hope. Dalot is injured. Yoro has not yet grown into the role expected of him. Mazraoui and others swing between excellent and erratic. Heaven is still learning on the job.
United wanted to spend big and build a side that could attack with flair and dominate midfields. They have done plenty of that. But with the Champions League group stage expanding, domestic cups looming and the Premier League already punishing every lapse, the question now is unavoidable.
Can a team that still hasn’t solved its back four really carry the weight of a season that demands perfection?
