One game in, and the table already looks wrong
16th. Zero points. A 2–0 defeat away to Hull City to open the season, and Sunday brings Ipswich Town to Old Trafford with United needing a result for reasons nobody sat down for six weeks ago (1)(4). This was meant to be the clean start under Michael Carrick, the first full season after the chaos. Instead it opened with a loss to a side United should be beating, and Carrick said it plainly: "We were really frustrated with the result against Hull City" (21). Frustration is one word for it.
Rashford back, and not a moment too soon
Marcus Rashford makes his first Premier League start since December 2024, confirmed by the team sheet for the Ipswich game (3)(13). That is 626 days between league starts (15). Think about how much football that misses, and think about how badly this attack needs a finisher right now. The Hull loss was not created by a team scoring freely, and with Joshua Zirkzee the subject of a £25m accepted proposal and potentially out the door before the deadline, the forward line is thin exactly where United cannot afford it to be (5)(18). Rashford starting is not sentiment. It is necessity.
The squad is being trimmed, and that is fine
Toby Collyer left permanently for West Brom on a four-year deal, worth up to £7.6m with a 40 percent sell-on and a buyback (2)(12). Habeeb Ogunneye went to Arsenal (10)(20). You can read that as United selling prospects, or you can read it as the club finally doing the quiet business of trimming a bloated squad without overpaying to keep everyone. Gary Neville is out there telling United to sign two defenders before the window closes on Tuesday, and a 20-year-old Stuttgart centre-back named Jeltsch is the name being floated (6)(22). The defence conceded twice at Hull for a reason. Neville is not wrong.
What to watch
Everton away next Sunday, then Sabah FK in the Champions League on the 10th, then Manchester City at home on the 13th. Before any of that, the Ipswich result has to land, because dropping points at home to a newly promoted side after losing the opener is how a season starts to feel like last season. Rashford starts, Carlos Baleba gets his unveiling in front of the crowd despite being injured, and the ground will want a win from the first whistle (11). That is not asking for much. It is asking for the minimum.
