Gary Neville described Manchester United’s second-half display as the worst he had ever seen from the club.
I’m not sure I would go that far. Since Sir Alex Ferguson left, the standard has fallen so dramatically that the competition for that unwanted distinction is already crowded.
As this column has noted before, one of the biggest tests for any Manchester United manager is handling the wild swings in mood: euphoria after a win and outright panic after a defeat.
Michael Carrick understood that challenge before the season began, but each setback is bringing the issue back into sharper focus.
The reality is that the United team on display now is the one some observers expected to emerge.
They will not spend the entire campaign in the lower half of the Premier League. This squad is better than that.
Michael Carrick is once again confronting the extreme reaction that follows every Manchester United win and defeat
At the same time, they are not built to mount a serious title challenge.
Carrick guided United into the top four last season when circumstances aligned almost perfectly. His side had no European football, had exited both domestic cup competitions early and could prepare for one match a week, while avoiding a damaging run of injuries and watching several major rivals struggle badly.
The situation is different now. United lack the squad depth—and perhaps the manager—to handle the demands of a far more taxing campaign.
The substitutes’ bench against yesterday offered a telling snapshot. Which players were capable of changing the game?
Until United assemble a squad capable of surviving a season of more than 50 matches, it is difficult to see the wider problems being resolved.
Hall will have other offers
Criticism of United’s recruitment strategy is understandable, particularly the apparent plan to strengthen midfield and attack this year before turning attention to the defence next summer.
That strategy has made Lewis Hall a leading target for United ahead of next summer’s transfer window.
However, if the talented 22-year-old continues producing performances like the one he delivered for Newcastle in Saturday’s victory over Hull, United may regret waiting.
Could Liverpool be searching for a left-back next summer? It is possible. Chelsea, Hall’s former club, could also be interested.
United cannot assume the competition for Hall’s signature will disappear by the end of the season. January will provide an opportunity to move early, and they may decide it is one worth taking.
Manchester United may be unwise to wait until summer for Lewis Hall, with rival clubs likely to be watching closely
Arsenal will need to examine their season carefully if they fail to retain the Premier League title
Gunners beware
Arsenal possess the Premier League’s deepest squad, the strongest back four, an outstanding goalkeeper and a manager who has already won the title. If the Gunners fail to defend their crown this season, they will have to take a hard look at why.
They say going back-to-back on a Premier League title is harder than actually winning it in the first place. I would dispute that this season, particularly now that it already looks like a two-horse race between Arsenal and Manchester City yet again.
Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United already look short – by a distance in some cases – of what it takes.
Tottenham? There must be a joke there somewhere.
Arsenal’s start to the season had been imperious until they arrived at Brighton on Saturday. What took place at the Amex Stadium looked and felt like a huge wake-up call, not just for Arsenal but for the Premier League as a whole.
A day to remind us that we may yet have a title race and a day when Arsenal learned that you can’t just turn up and win a football match, whoever you are.
If it serves to remind the champions of some basic fundamentals of the game, it may serve them in the long run.
But Arteta’s own words after the game were telling.
‘They were another gear from us in the basics of the game,’ said the Arsenal manager.
It’s too early to make sweeping statements on the champions, but this is their opportunity to put the league in a choke hold
‘We were not respecting the game. This cannot happen again.’
Footage of the game backed Arteta up. Given that Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler accused them of playing anti-football last season, Arsenal should not have lacked motivation.
But they were outrun and outfought by their opponents.
Declan Rice should be embarrassed by his kick out at Malick Yalcouye – he should have been sent off – while Gabriel’s dive under zero contact from Yasin Ayari was not befitting of a Sunday parks player, never mind the best defender in the land.
Given the way Arsenal have started the season – with a 100 per cent record prior to the weekend – it’s too early to make sweeping statements about the champions. They showed last season that after two or three near misses, they have matured into the real deal.
Arteta’s squad is frighteningly good. He has the type of quality on the bench that is reminiscent of peak City under Pep Guardiola. In these days of five substitutes, it is arguably the biggest advantage they have.
None of it means much if you don’t run, though.
Season 2026-27 represents Arsenal’s opportunity to put the Premier League in a choke hold and make it their own. If they don’t do it, they will have the rest of their careers to regret it.
It will be a long international break for some Arsenal players.
Arbeloa has failed his team
Fulham are yet to win but look to have plenty about them and in Josh King, have a young midfielder who is just joyful to watch.
Manager Alvaro Arbeloa would be advised to do better than throwing wild accusations about referee bias around, however.
All it does – apart from getting him a well-deserved FA sanction – is draw attention away from some of the excellent things his team did.
Fulham manager Alvaro Arbeloa should not be throwing round wild referee accusations
Hart now holds the title
Joe Hart’s analysis of United goalkeeper Senne Lammens’ difficulties in conceding the Fulham goal was excellent on Match of the Day and bettered only by his superb dissection of Rayan Cherki’s for City against Sunderland.
The likes of Neville and Jamie Carragher on Sky continue to set the standards for soundbites and candour but when it comes to breaking down the minutiae of what actually happens on the field, Hart has established himself as the best pundit in the country.
The question is: Will the BBC be able to afford to keep him?
Wirtz problem was clear at the World Cup
Carragher went big on his criticism of Florian Wirtz, saying the German wouldn’t be in his Liverpool team to face Manchester City the other side of the international break.
I have seen marginal improvement in Wirtz this season but it still feels as though the £115million signing of summer 2025 has some big steps to take if he is ever to become a Premier League star.
Wirtz can do some wonderful things and was not without influence as Liverpool edged a close one 1-0 at Bournemouth.
But one worry is that the way he can sometimes look half a yard off the pace exactly mirrors the way he appeared to me for Germany during the World Cup.
The 23-year-old was taken off in the two World Cup games that really mattered to his country – against Ecuador and Paraguay. When Germany needed impetus and influence, they looked somewhere else.
I hope it doesn’t get to that stage at Liverpool too.
Florian Wirtz has a way to go to to become a Premier League star and his problems were clear at the World Cup
Coaching worth its weight in gold
We have only played five Premier League games but already some of our big clubs are being shamed by the likes of Brentford and Brighton.
It won’t last but it’s good to know that, for a short time at least, top-class coaching and indeed recruitment can get you ahead of those who spent large parts of the summer setting fire to money.
Scrap the Friday games
I was at the Gtech to watch one of our big spenders – Chelsea – being taught a lesson at the start of the weekend and we could talk about their deficiencies all day.
More broadly, the whole experience merely convinced me that Friday night is not a time for football.
It just doesn’t feel the same and I don’t think it ever will.
Over the years I have come to understand and appreciate the rhythms of a football weekend TV schedule that goes Saturday 12.30pm & 5.30pm and then Sunday 2pm & 4.30pm.
But Friday will always feel wrong. Friday night is a time for anticipation of the sporting weekend, a time to dream and get excited by what is to come.
I mean imagine being a Chelsea fan. You haven’t even had time to change out of your work clothes and the weekend is ruined already.
Friday night is not a time for football – it should be a time to feel anticipation for the weekend
Is Cole truly committed?
Cole Palmer looked fleetingly impressive against Brentford and it’s disappointing to see him withdraw from the England squad after playing 90 minutes.
Full details will doubtless emerge but at the moment it seems the decision has been made to enable him to manage a muscle concern.
It’s a three-week international period and it’s hard not to wonder whether Palmer could not have reported to camp and played limited minutes or at the very least spent some time reintegrating himself with a squad that travelled to the World Cup without him.
It would be a surprise at this stage if he makes the England cut for the next squad in November.
And where would that leave him?
Fab for Fabio
It was uplifting to watch Fabio Carvalho come off the bench to score Brentford’s third goal.
The Portuguese midfielder is still only 24 but much has happened – not much of it good – since his early move from Fulham to Liverpool back in 2022 didn’t work out.
Carvalho has suffered injuries at Brentford and his goal on Friday was his first in the Premier League for a year and only his second since one for Liverpool back in August 2022.
I was lucky enough to spend some time with him last season and he’s a good player who cares deeply about the game.
Fingers crossed for better luck as he is a talent.
Fabrio Carvalho is a talented player and came off the bench for Brentford to score against Chelsea on Friday
Nicolas Jackson appears to be loving life under Unai Emery and could recapture his form
Was I wrong on Jackson?
Emi Martinez continues to look a little bemused by life at Chelsea – if Premier League crowds could stop booing all the Argentina players it would be nice – while Aston Villa may just have found an upgrade.
Zion Suzuki – Japan’s American-born international goalkeeper – was outstanding as Villa withstood Tottenham pressure to win on Saturday lunchtime. He is only 24 so we can expect him to improve, too.
Meanwhile Nicolas Jackson gave me cause to reconsider my view after leading the line magnificently for his team and scoring a super goal.
Erratic at Chelsea, I expressed in an earlier column my amazement that Villa paid £45.5m plus add-ons for the centre forward.
But Jackson feels that being reunited with his former Villarreal coach, Unai Emery, will be the key to a good season.
‘I am with the coach I wanna be with,’ said Jackson.
We will see…