The Great Big Season Preview

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#1030 | Ed and Wayne are back for the season preview after a mixed pre-season: two wins from six and a 4-2 defeat to Milan in the last match. Neither is panicking about that result specifically, but it exposed problems that were already there. The defence is the biggest concern. Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire remain first choice and neither has the legs for a higher, more front-foot approach, while Lisandro Martinez and Matthijs de Ligt can't be relied on for fitness. Ayden Heaven and Leny Yoro have the potential to solve those problems but it’s a big ask for two young players. There’s a different problem in midfield: plenty of technical quality in Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans, not enough physicality to handle the games that get scrappy. United need two more signings before deadline day, a genuine upgrade at left-back and a proper ball-winner in midfield, to have a real shot at matching last season's third-place finish. Without them, expect some regression with a much busier schedule. They finish with a run through the rest of the league: Arsenal have strengthened again, Liverpool are an interesting watch under Iraola with the Bezos ownership question in the background, Spurs have spent big, and nobody fancies predicting what Chelsea will do. 0:00 Six games, one freak-out 1:50 A disjointed pre-season 9:44 Shaw and Maguire: the defensive issue 15:09 Carrick's tactical direction 17:33 Midfield's missing ball-winner 27:28 Lacey: keep or loan? 34:33 Dorgu, Sesko and Zirkzee 40:31 What United need before deadline day 51:17 Rivals: Arsenal 54:07 Rivals: City after Guardiola 1:00:06 Rivals: Liverpool and Iraola's scalability 1:04:04 Bezos, Liverpool and the TV deal 1:11:37 Rivals: Spurs 1:14:23 Rivals: Newcastle 1:15:53 Rivals: Chelsea 1:18:00 Wrap-up If you are interested in supporting the show and accessing a weekly exclusive bonus episode, check out our Patreon page or subscribe on Apple Podcasts. Supporter funded episodes are ad-free. NQAT is available on all podcast apps and in video on YouTube. Hit that subscrib