In the latest episode of The Devils' Advocate, Gaz and Joe are joined by The Guardian's Jamie Jackson to look back at United's pre-season and look ahead to Saturday's Community Shield final.
Listen to the episode on BBC Sounds
We asked for your views on how Manchester United's attack should line up after Rasmus Hojlund picked up an injury in pre-season.
Here are some of your suggestions:
Steve: Garnacho on the left, Amad on the right and Ivan Toney as our centre forward - yes, buy the guy! I would part exchange Sancho with Nico Schlotterbeck at Dortmund and sell Rashford to PSG.
Rory: I don't think any of United's wide players would have the physical presence up top that we need. That is why I would love to see Scott McTominay playing as a centre forward. He is a proven goalscorer and, as we have seen over the past few seasons, he gets into very dangerous pockets of space in and around the opponent's 18-yard box.
Jonny: This, surely, is exactly why Joshua Zirkzee was signed. OK, he hasn't trained with the squad yet, but there is no suggestion that he will be anything other than 100% fit once he returns from a post-Euros break.
Steve: For the start of the season, I don't think we have many options due to the injury to Rasmus and Zirkzee having not trained much with the team. I would go for a front four of Rashford on the left, Amad on the right, Mount in the 10 and Bruno in the false nine position. As the others return to fitness, this can be changed to suit who is available.
Duncan: We need a proven striker. Ivan Toney has a proven record as a top striker. Even if Rasmus Hojlund was fit, he is not in the same class as Toney.
Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter
Image source, Getty ImagesThe hamstring injury Rasmus Hojlund sustained not long after he had scored an excellent first-half opener against Arsenal at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles at the start of the trip was badly timed.
New arrival Joshua Zirkzee, who was on Netherlands duty at Euro 2024, is one of the players yet to train with the main group so Ten Hag again finds himself experimenting with a wide player in a central area.
He virtually admitted he had scrapped last season's idea to push Marcus Rashford through the middle, stating he preferred the England man on the left cutting in.
Jadon Sancho, back in from the cold, has been used in the role. He has not entirely convinced, though.
After flattering to deceive with two excellent pre-season campaigns that dissolved into little of substance when the real thing started, maybe the situation will be reversed this season.
More likely though, Ten Hag will revert to using skipper Bruno Fernandes in the false nine role, particularly as two of the players who have caught the eye on this trip, Mason Mount and Scott McTominay, have done so in the number 10 position.
How would you like to see United's attack line up? Have your say here, external
Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter
Image source, Getty ImagesManchester United completed their three-match tour of the United States with a chastening 3-0 defeat by old rivals Liverpool.
It meant Erik ten Hag's side returned home with a single victory, against Spanish side Real Betis.
Ten Hag did not appear overly concerned at United ending their American tour with defeat by Liverpool in South Carolina.
There was certainly not the air of chaos that surrounded their 2018 tour, which also included a heavy loss to Liverpool but was made more notable because of heavy public criticism of then-executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward by manager Jose Mourinho.
Within five months of United returning to England from that trip, Mourinho was gone.
This time around, Ten Hag has gone out of his way to stress the unity within the Old Trafford camp. In the aftermath of the defeat to Arne Slot's side, he outlined to reporters how keen the new executive structure is to build a squad capable of turning United into contenders again.
But Ten Hag understands, as would be the case with any manager of a big club in his position, that if United look like they are not going to improve on last season's eighth-placed Premier League finish, he will suffer the same fate as Mourinho.
His first task now will be to assess which of his squad that has returned late, following extended campaigns at Euro 2024 and the Copa America, will be fit enough to play a meaningful role in the Community Shield against a Manchester City side still smarting from that unexpected FA Cup final defeat in the same stadium at the end of last season.
Image source, Getty ImagesIn addition to losing Leny Yoro for three months, Manchester United will be without Rasmus Hojlund for six weeks.
Both men were forced off in the first-half of the 2-1 defeat at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
Hojlund scored United’s opener at the weekend but he succumbed to a hamstring problem and will be sidelined until after the September international break.
It is desperate news for manager Erik ten Hag, coming just over two weeks before his side’s Premier League opener against Fulham on 16 August.
United suffered a succession of injury problems last season and Ten Hag was hoping to avoid those this term after being given backing from new co-owners Ineos.
Manchester United are turning their search for a midfielder away from Paris St-Germain's 23-year-old Uruguayan Manuel Ugarte. (Athletic - subscription required), external
West Ham's hopes of signing Aaron Wan-Bissaka have been dealt a blow with the 26-year-old defender understood to be pushing for a multi-million pound pay-off from Manchester United to leave the club this summer. (Sun), external
Fulham remain in contact with Manchester United over a potential deal for 27-year-old Scotland midfielder Scott McTominay. (Sky Sports), external
Image source, Getty ImagesManchester United have confirmed defender Lenny Yoro has had successful surgery on a foot injury.
The 18-year-old summer signing is still expected to be sidelined until October after sustaining the injury in United's pre-season game against Arsenal in Los Angeles.
Yoro is expected to miss nine Premier League games, including matches against Liverpool, Tottenham and Aston Villa, and the start of United’s Europa League and Carabao Cup campaigns.
A statement from United said: "Yoro’s rehabilitation starts now and we look forward to the 18-year-old returning to fitness in around three months."
Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter
Image source, Getty ImagesSir Dave Brailsford, Omar Berrada, Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox will not kick a ball for Manchester United this season.
But that quartet will be at the centre of how the 2024-25 campaign pans out for the club and Ten Hag.
In a sense, they are dealing with a few fundamental problems and a legacy of bad recruitment.
They did not buy Casemiro, but they have to deal with the financial reality of the Brazilian being on an enormous salary for another two years while delivering the type of flawed performance that allowed Fabio Carvalho to ghost past him inside the penalty area for Liverpool's opener on Saturday.
A 'tight' Profit and Sustainability situation is the result of correct checks and balances not being in place previously to prevent the kind of overspend that saw £81.3m committed to sign Brazilian winger Antony from Ajax two years ago when the reality is he is probably not even worth half that.
It is desperate luck for Leny Yoro to get a serious injury within a fortnight of his £52m arrival from Lille but at 18, the centre-back was never going to be the answer on his own.
United need to bring in another central defender. But to do that, they need to sell Victor Lindelof, and maybe Harry Maguire, and that is not easy.
The same is also true at right-back, where Aaron Wan-Bissaka could make way for Bayern Munich's Noussair Mazraoui.
The problem at United is all across the squad there are players on huge contracts they will struggle to get elsewhere, and who have simply not delivered performances that make them value for money.
Ask any manager what the key to success is, at whatever level, and they will say recruitment.
United's new structure features Ineos-backed board members and a new chief executive, sporting director and technical director.
It is their collective job to ensure the mistakes of the past are not repeated.
Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter
Image source, Getty ImagesManchester United’s new sponsors insist ‘Old Trafford is Old Trafford’ but they would be interested in some kind of commercial partnership around the club’s stadium plans.
United will have the Snapdragon logo on their shirts for the next three years, with the option to extend for a further two after a £60m-a-year deal with US-based Qualcomm Technologies was announced at the beginning of last month.
That will take it to around the time United hope to be close to completing their stadium project, whether that is the 100,000-capacity new build on land close to Old Trafford which is the preference, or a slightly cheaper remodelling of the current stadium.
Having committed itself to United for such an extended period of time, Qualcomm’s chief marketing officer Don McGuire feels it would be natural for the organisation to be interesting in a naming rights deal, which is one of the methods co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Taskforce on the project is looking at to meet a construction cost that could exceed £2bn.
"Old Trafford is Old Trafford. It should always be Old Trafford," said McGuire.
"But there could be a brand attached to that in some way shape or form, a ‘powered by someone,’ or an “at” or whatever."
United’s US tour game with Spanish side Real Betis was played in San Diego, in a stadium officially called the Snapdragon Stadium at Bashor Field, which was the name given to it in 2019 when local businesswoman Dianne L Bashor donated $15m (£11.71m) to help pay for construction costs.
"This (sponsorship) deal is not inexpensive anyway but we are working very closely with the team on the reimagination of Old Trafford and Carrington from a technology and innovation standpoint. But if it makes sense we are always looking out for opportunities."
After successive pre-season tours to California it remains to be seen where United will target in 2025.
McGuire says China and India are huge markets for the Snapdragon brand and one of the reasons for their tie-up with United was the number of fans they have in both countries.
"We’d love for them to play in China or India," he said.
However, arranging a pre-season trip to either country is not straightforward for climactic reasons.
United have not visited China since 2019 when they played Tottenham in Shanghai. Three years earlier a planned match against Manchester City was scrapped after heavy rain in Beijing left the pitch at the Birds Nest stadium unplayable.
No major European team toured China this summer amid reports a planned tournament involving PSG, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid had to be scrapped as promised payments to the clubs were not met.
In 2020, United had been due to play in India for the first time but that was scrapped following the outbreak of Covid-19.
We asked for your thoughts after Sunday's friendly game between Liverpool and Manchester United.
Here are some of your comments:
Liverpool fans
Tom: Great pre-season but we can't get carried away. New manager, new system and no new players. They need to bolster as this style will exhaust players and bring on injuries.
Stuart: Salah, Quansah, Jones and Kelleher looked sharp. Carvalho is working very hard and producing results with another goal. Steady progress is being achieved, but with most of the squad still to come back time is very short indeed. It might be up to some of these players to get our season started. Arne Slot is certainly not getting carried away yet.
Eug: It is always good to beat United but it's only a friendly so let's not get carried away. Still no new players have been brought in so Slot must be happy with the squad he's got. This must be Salah's last season with Liverpool too. He's getting on a bit but is still good.
Ian: I’m interested in seeing what Arne Slot will do with Carvalho as he looks really promising.
Man Utd fans
Hrundi: In the final third United still seem to wing it. An individual takes a pot shot or hopes for a fortuitous cross. There are no patterns of attacking play forming yet. Even without our best XI we should be seeing it by now.
David: The result didn't reflect the game. There was much better pressing from Man Utd. If we can carry that forward there is hope for next season.
Paul: I don't see any good coming from friendlies in the United States. It was last pre-season that both Mainoo and Malacia became long term injuries. In this pre-season tour the same has happened again to both Yoro and Hojlund, with further injury setbacks to Rashford, Evans, and Lindelof. We collect injuries instead of victories. Not happy with our prep!
JP: I think United have shown what we can expect with Ten Hag at the helm and that is poor tactics, lack of direction and an inability to encourage the team to play at their best. I really don't believe he is cut out for the job. We're losing friendlies left, right and centre and I'm expecting more of the same over the coming season.
Manchester United and Arsenal are interested in a cut-price deal for 26-year-old Italy forward Federico Chiesa, who is in the final year of his contract. (Teamtalk), external
Want more transfer stories? Read Monday's full gossip column
Image source, Getty ImagesManchester United boss Erik ten Hag on whether there will be any more changes to the squad before the Premier League season starts: "It is always difficult to say. We hope.
"We are always looking and this new leadership team is really eager to do business and to make deals. They are on it.
"But we have to wait if the timing is there and if the opportunities are there."
Ten Hag, who trialled Jadon Sancho in the centre forward role in United’s last game before the Community Shield showdown with Manchester City, admitted using him in that role at Wembley is more appealing than playing Marcus Rashford there: "If Jadon wasn’t an option we wouldn’t have played him there.
"Marcus has done it before and it is definitely an option but I think he is more productive from the left, when he is coming inside."
Image source, Getty ImagesLiverpool concluded their US tour with a 3-0 victory over Manchester United in Columbia.
What did you learn from this game?
Reds fans, let us know your thoughts on the match, external
What did you make of the performance, United supporters?, external
Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter
Image source, Getty ImagesManchester United's international contingent are returning to pre-season training after their exploits at Euro 2024 and Copa America.
Alejandro Garnacho came back at the end of last week and his Argentina team-mate Lisandro Martinez is due at Carrington on Monday.
England's Kobbie Mainoo is also set to return next week but has spent his holidays in Los Angeles, where United have been based for the majority of their three-match United States tour.
Mainoo called in at UCLA to watch a training session, then hung about for a chat afterwards.
When I spoke to United manager Erik ten Hag on Thursday, I asked him about Mainoo's progress and his hopes for the 19-year-old.
"It is amazing what he did last season," said the Dutchman. "He achieved a high level in every game.
"Of course, we are aiming to get the same but at the end of the day, he has to do it.
"It depends a lot on his focus and his attitude and how he is coming into the season.
"But I don’t worry. I see now he is a very mature guy already."
Bayern Munich have rejected Manchester United's joint bid for Netherlands centre-half Matthijs de Ligt and Morocco full-back Noussair Mazraoui. (Telegraph - subscription required), external
While Inter Milan have joined West Ham in the race to sign United right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka. (Football Insider), external
Want more transfer stories? Read Saturday's full gossip column
Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter
Image source, Getty ImagesSaturday's all-Premier League friendly between old rivals Liverpool and Manchester United is expected to be the highest-ever grossing event at the Williams-Brice Stadium in South Carolina.
Both clubs conclude their three-game US tours with the match, which is also expected to have the highest attendance for a non-American football game at the 77,559 venue.
The stadium itself, which opened in 1934, is home to the South Carolina Gamecocks college football team.
Unlike last weekend at the SoFi Stadium in California, when a grass pitch was prepared especially for a single match, the stadium for Saturday's game has a natural grass pitch.
The stadium is named after Martha Williams-Brice, who left a substantial sum of money to the University of South Carolina in the 1970s to increase the capacity.
Image source, Manchester United via Getty ImagesManchester United manager Erik ten Hag has downplayed the importance of having a strong start to a season in order to be successful.
United lost the first two league games of Ten Hag's first season in charge, and had a similarly rocky start last year, losing six of the first 10 matches in all competitions.
"The start is always important but it is the end that matters," Ten Hag told BBC chief football news reporter Simon Stone.
"We saw in the first season [2022-23] we bounced back, we had a successful season with many games and two finals. We went quite far in Europe and we were third in the league.
"The start is the foundation. If you have a good start it gives you a foundation to run into a successful season. But if you don't get it, you have to keep going. It can still be a successful season because seasons are very long and trophies are always won in April or May.
"You don't have to [have a good start] but it is very helpful if you do. But the season is long. Of course we are aiming for this. In this period of the year we are aiming to get a successful start."
Image source, The FA via Getty ImagesErik ten Hag believes Manchester United are capable of winning another trophy in 2024-25.
The former Ajax boss could become only the second manager in United's history after Sir Alex Ferguson to win trophies in three consecutive seasons.
"I definitely believe it is possible to win another trophy. But that [the personal achievement] is not my goal, it is not about me," Ten Hag told BBC chief football news reporter Simon Stone.
"It is about the club. That is the most important thing. We have to put the club in front.
"Everyone has to be aligned and go for a greater purpose. It is not about individuals. It is about the team. It is about unity. It is about togetherness to achieve at the highest."
Asked about the potential for United making more signings this summer, he added: "That is the plan. We want to make improvements in the squad and we want a squad as good as possible, although that is the aim of every club.
"It is very important when you want to be at the top level, in a season like this, which will be a season of 'survival of the fittest', you need squad depth."
Image source, Manchester United via Getty ImagesManchester United manager Erik ten Hag says he has "left behind" the memories of the uncertainty over his future following the club's FA Cup triumph.
Ten Hag won his second trophy as Red Devils boss on 25 May, but his position was reported to be in question and news of his contract extension only became official at the start of July.
"It feels like it is years ago," Ten Hag told BBC chief football news reporter Simon Stone.
"I left it behind and I am looking forward. I know why I am here. I am here to win. I am here for the project and to win trophies. We want to move forward.
"I know this project and we are going in the right direction. We had won two trophies and I was preparing for the season. That is what I did in this period. And of course I took a break, I needed it. It was a tough season."
Ten Hag says he was not certain he would be allowed to stay in his role, adding: "But for me that was not important. I was focused on the reality. The reality was we had a tough season and I had to plan the squad. I had to prepare pre-season and the season and the decision-making and we are here.
"We are working now very good together. We are all here on the tour preparing the season. The leadership group, the new staff, the new coaching staff, also some new players. We are working on our improvements and making the next step level in the new season."
