New Season, Same Strife Between the Sticks for Manchester United

Published: 18 August 2025. The English Chronicle Desk

The arrival of a new Premier League season often brings with it fresh hope, renewed optimism and the suggestion of a clean slate. At Old Trafford on Sunday, the summer sun was shining, the stands were draped in new flags, and Manchester United’s supporters came in buoyed by the anticipation that this campaign could not possibly mirror the disappointments of the last. Yet football has a way of refusing to conform to fresh beginnings. Matches are never isolated moments but rather continuations of narratives long in play, their roots stretching back into the frustrations of previous seasons. For United, the same old vulnerabilities resurfaced in their opening fixture, exposing a problem that has lingered far too long between the posts.

The echoes of last December still linger in this United side. Back then, Arsenal punished them twice from set pieces at the Emirates, capitalising on the Red Devils’ inability to defend against inswinging deliveries. André Onana was in goal that day, but the frailties were there for all to see. Tottenham, spotting the weakness, pressed the same bruise in the Carabao Cup, with Altay Bayindir conceding directly from a Son Heung-min corner. That sense of déjà vu returned once more on Sunday. Declan Rice’s inswinging corner, after only 13 minutes, was flapped at by Bayindir and only spared from being an own-goal by Riccardo Calafiori’s header from the line to give Arsenal the lead.

United could argue, with some merit, that Mason Mount had been impeded by William Saliba in the build-up, and that in the new climate of stricter officiating on holding, the decision might have gone their way. Yet the truth is harsher: no referee’s call should have been necessary had there been more commanding goalkeeping. The contrast was laid bare later in the game when David Raya punched away a Bruno Fernandes free-kick with authority, brushing aside Matthijs de Ligt in the process. It was a reminder of what United have long been lacking — decisiveness in their last line of defence.

Questions inevitably arise about the team’s priorities. Modern football, increasingly driven by digital narratives and highlight reels, has seen clubs lavish hundreds of millions on attackers who dazzle in clips and clips alone. Yet goals at one end mean little when they are undone so cheaply at the other. United’s summer investment in forward options, which was meant to spark life into their attack, was once again overshadowed by defensive frailty. The irony is stark: nearly £200 million spent on firepower, but still undone by the same old flaws.

There were glimpses of encouragement for Rúben Amorim’s side. Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha had their moments, with Cunha in particular forcing Raya into one of his seven saves, a tally higher than any goalkeeper on the Premier League’s opening weekend. Amad Diallo, deployed in an unfamiliar right wing-back role after the interval, was once again among United’s sharpest performers. Patrick Dorgu struck the post, and there were fleeting signs that United could salvage something from the match. But in the end, as too often in recent memory, promise was overshadowed by wastefulness.

Context is important. United drew this very fixture last season, yet the narrative feels bleaker now. Amorim’s managerial win percentage has already dipped alarmingly to 37.2%, the lowest of any United manager in half a century. Should his team fail to secure victory at Fulham next weekend, his record will fall below those of Frank O’Farrell and Wilf McGuinness, placing him among the most unsuccessful managers since Herbert Bamlett, who was dismissed in 1931. Such numbers inevitably erode patience, no matter how much mitigation there may be in individual performances or bad luck.

United’s predicament is not one of statistics alone. It is the creeping weight of history, of recurring flaws left unaddressed. The failure to fix weaknesses at set pieces, the lack of assurance in goal, and the inability to turn chances into decisive results all contribute to a growing sense of unease. Amorim can point to transition, to new players bedding in, to near misses, but excuses wear thin when the same mistakes repeat themselves.

Football seasons are rarely compartmentalised. The problems of one campaign bleed into the next, scars reopening with fresh wounds. This is the danger facing United now. If victory does not arrive at Craven Cottage, the following fixture against newly-promoted Burnley will already carry the weight of crisis — not just a game to be won, but a game they cannot afford to lose. For all the talk of new beginnings, the shadows of the past continue to lengthen over Old Trafford.