Manchester United's Defensive Woes: A Major Concern

Manchester United’s defensive problems are no longer a subplot. They are the story.

Last season ended with a third-place finish and the promise of Champions League nights returning to Old Trafford, but the numbers behind that surge carried a warning. United shipped 50 goals in 38 league games. Champions Arsenal let in almost half that. The gap at the back was glaring.

United chose not to fix it.

The 2026 summer window came and went without a defensive signing. Money went into the midfield, after the attack had been reinforced the previous year. The recruitment plan followed a clear pattern, just not one that addressed the soft underbelly of Michael Carrick’s side. Now the questions are stacking up.

Four games into the new Premier League campaign, United have just four points and not a single clean sheet. They conceded twice at Hull. Twice again at home to Ipswich. Then again on the road at Everton. And when they seemed to have steadied themselves in the Manchester derby, Erling Haaland twisted the knife with a controversial winner at Old Trafford.

The pattern is brutal. The defence keeps creaking, and opponents keep cashing in.

Former United full-back Danny Simpson, speaking to GOAL on behalf of Free Bets, did not bother to sugar-coat it. “They're conceding too many goals,” he said. “Yes, we're good going forward though, most of the time.” That attacking edge is not masking the structural issues behind it. Not anymore.

For Simpson, the alarm bells have been ringing for a while, especially on the left.

“It was well documented that we needed a left-back with Luke [Shaw],” he said. Shaw was outstanding last season, but everyone inside and outside the club understands the physical limits. “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 has grown. The squad in key areas has not.

Patrick Dorgu has been dropped in at left-back, including in the derby against City. Simpson likes what he saw from Dorgu higher up the pitch before injury last season, calling him “a decent threat”, but the experiment underlines how stretched Carrick is in the role.

Centre-Back Pairing

At centre-back, Simpson is clear. “I think Harry [Maguire] and [Lisandro] Martinez are the two.” That pairing, in his eyes, gives United their best chance of stability. The real uncertainty sits either side of them.

“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.”

That volatility is killing any chance of rhythm. Simpson’s point is simple: no serious side can live with that kind of swing in its back line.

“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.”

Up front, you can roll the dice. Swap a winger on 60 minutes. Change a No.10. Refresh the front line with little damage to the structure. At the back, it is different.

“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.

United do have numbers in reserve, but too many of them are still in the “maybe” pile. Leny Yoro, signed from Lille in 2024, is the clearest example. The Frenchman is only 20 and has already made 69 appearances for the club, yet Simpson is unconvinced that those minutes have translated into meaningful growth.

“Yoro hasn't kicked on at all,” he said. “He's been here two years now?” The issue, for Simpson, is not just tactical adaptation. It is physical.

“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.”

That toughness is exactly what Simpson believes United’s defensive core must embody. Right now, he sees one obvious backbone and not enough around it.

His ideal back four is bluntly defined: “Shaw, Martinez, Maguire and Dalot.”

The problem? Dalot is injured. Mazraoui has blown hot and cold. Youngster Ayden Heaven has barely been seen since a difficult outing at Hull.

“[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 into a physical battle early in the campaign, Heaven has been eased out of the firing line. It leaves Carrick with a theoretical first-choice quartet and a supporting cast that has yet to convince a former defender who knows what a solid United back line looks like.

The attack can still hurt teams. The midfield has been upgraded. But until United stop leaking goals and find a settled, reliable four in front of their goalkeeper, the same question will keep circling: did they build this squad the wrong way round?