Manchester United have been handed a reality check after their 2-0 defeat to Hull City yesterday, says pundit Tony Cascarino.
The Red Devils suffered a hugely disappointing start to the season as they were beaten with some ease by one of the newly-promoted Premier League clubs.
Man Utd’s new midfield signings Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos didn’t make the best first impression as they made their competitive debuts, with Cascarino suggesting that Carlos Baleba looks like another signing they really need in that position.
Baleba is widely expected to complete a move to Old Trafford, with Fabrizio Romano reporting earlier today that everything has been signed off…
? Manchester United and Brighton have exchanged all documents as signed it all for Carlos Baleba deal.
£65m plus £5m and sell-on clause agreement, 100% confirmed. pic.twitter.com/G3q8S9FMVJ
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 23, 2026
Judging from how yesterday went, there’s clearly room for someone like Baleba to help out Michael Carrick’s struggling midfield after a poor start from the other two signings who’ve come in so far this summer.
Manchester United need Carlos Baleba after Hull defeat
Speaking on talkSPORT in the video clip below, Cascarino made it clear he wasn’t too impressed with how Tielemans and Santos played against Hull.
The pundit feels Baleba looks like he could improve this MUFC side after the “reality check” they received yesterday…
“The two midfield boys Tielemans and Santos were really off the pace,” Cascarino said.
He added: “You’re thinking wow Man United fans have had a real reality check.”
When asked about Baleba, he responded: “Well, because he can he can get round the pitch, you know, high tempo, pressing, closing down.
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“I played against numerous Manchester United teams. They didn’t let you breathe. You you went to Old Trafford, you had a tin hat on and that was basically because you were going to get battered because Manchester United could not only were great technically, they had great mentality, they also could fight.
“This team yesterday didn’t look like they had a fight in them.”
What next for Manchester United?
Carrick made a great start as interim United manager last season, but this campaign was always likely to be a bigger challenge.
When Carrick took over, United were out of all other competitions, so were able to put everything into improving their league form, which resulted in them finishing third in the table and securing qualification for the Champions League.
Now, however, they will need to deal with midweek games and Carrick may no longer be feeling that ‘new manager bounce’ that he benefited from when he replaced the unpopular Ruben Amorim.
Explain why MU refuse to sell Fernandes he is the main problem with the MU team everything has too go through him he disrupts the teams effort to play attacking fast football which is MUs DNA spits his dummy if something goes wrong pointing the blame at others sell him lets move forward