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Manchester United have looked more threatening in front of goal across their last two Premier League outings, netting seven times against Ipswich Town and Everton. However, shoring up the defense is now the pressing concern for manager Michael Carrick.
United suffered a 2–0 defeat to Hull City on the opening weekend of the season last month, while Everton grabbed a 96th-minute leveler to claim a 2–2 draw on Sunday. The fact that Ipswich also managed to breach the backline twice in a 5–2 loss ultimately proved inconsequential, but it continued to expose defensive frailties.
That makes it three consecutive league games in which the Red Devils have shipped two goals. This has only occurred on one previous occasion in the Premier League era, back in 2020–21, when Ole Gunnar Solskjær's side conceded 11 times across the opening three fixtures—a 3–1 loss to Crystal Palace, a 3–2 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion, and a humiliating 6–1 thrashing at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur.
The next most recent instance of United conceding two or more goals in each of the first three league games of a season dates back over fifty years to 1972–73. The Red Devils, just four years on from becoming England's inaugural European Cup champions in 1968 yet only two seasons from relegation, were enduring a far more turbulent period.
That campaign opened with three straight defeats to Ipswich Town (2–1), Liverpool (2–0), and Everton (2–0). It proved to be the final season for veteran icons Bobby Charlton and Denis Law, and marked the twilight of George Best's time at the club. Manager Frank O'Farrell was dismissed just four months into the season.
Such defensive vulnerability at the start of a season has become increasingly uncommon for United, and was far more prevalent in the 1960s and earlier, when teams typically fielded more attackers and 3-2-5 formations were standard in English football. Under Matt Busby's stewardship, the Red Devils conceded at least twice in each of the opening three league games of 1964–65, dropping one and drawing two, yet still managed to claim the title by the season's end.
Man Utd's Leaky Starts to a League Season
Season | Game One | Game Two | Game Three |
|---|---|---|---|
2026–27 | Hull 2–0 Man Utd | Man Utd 5–2 Ipswich | Everton 2–2 Man Utd |
2020–21 | Man Utd 1–3 Palace | Brighton 2–3 Man Utd | Man Utd 1–6 Tottenham |
1972–73 | Man Utd 1–2 Ipswich | Liverpool 2–0 Man Utd | Everton 2–0 Man Utd |
1969–70 | Palace 2–2 Man Utd | Everton 2–0 Man Utd | Southampton 4–1 Man Utd |
1964–65 | Man Utd 2–2 West Brom | West Ham 3–1 Man Utd | Leicester 2–2 Man Utd |
Carrick Targets Improvement As a Team
This season, Carrick attributes the defensive lapses to "small moments we can handle a bit better."
There is no single solution. Against Hull, set pieces were the root cause. But the deeper concern is that conceding goals places an unsustainable demand on the attack to outscore opponents. Last season, United's goal tally was broadly comparable to Arsenal's (69 versus 71), yet they conceded nearly double the amount (50 versus 27), and the gap translated to a 14-point difference in the standings.
Goals win games, but defense wins championships.
"The mentality is there," he said. "They were two really well-struck efforts from distance from [Everton's] perspective. Sometimes they find the top corner, more often than not they probably don't. But we clearly can't overlook it. We need to concede fewer goals to give ourselves a better chance of winning. There are areas we need to improve on as a team."