Manchester United saw a sour end to their pre-season campaign with a poor 4-2 defeat to Ruben Amorim's AC Milan. The reunion swung in favour of the Portuguese manager, as his side outperformed Michael Carrick's men.

An early header from Harry Maguire saw United take the lead, with Bruno Fernandes back to his assisting ways, but Milan had answers for everything. New signing Gonçalo Ramos put the ball on a plate for Samuel Chukwueze to equalise with 37 minutes played. 

United had the chance to re-take the lead before halftime, as Youri Tielemans was fouled in the penalty area, leaving Fernandes with the chance to redeem his miss earlier in the week against Leeds United. However, the skipper failed to convert yet again, this time forcing a great save from 21-year-old goalkeeper Lorenzo Torriani.

The second half saw United quickly get the goal they were looking for, as Dorgu was gifted the ball and calmly converted.

But it was all downhill from there for Carrick's men, as AC Milan switched gear and carved open United's defence. A combination of substitutions and poor judgement form United off the ball permitted Milan to spread the ball wide in acres of space, particularly down United's left where they went on to score three goals.

The first coming from Alphadjo Cisse at the back post, followed by a Ramos header and ended with Ruben Loftus-Cheek breaking through and securing the win for Amorim.

Following the defeat, Carrick spoke out on his view of United's pre-season and ideas heading into the Premier League season.

He stated: "It's been good. I think there are a lot of positives to take from it: a lot of the performances, the group has grown and got stronger. 

"We were disappointed with today. We did not play well today. There are reasons for that. We need to learn from it and improve."

He continued to speak about upcoming opponents Hull City: "We have a good squad. We've had a good week's training to get some more work in.

"We'll be ready for next week."

Today's performance raised major concerns in the fanbase, with the transfer deadline day fast approaching and recurring shouts for defensive depth in United's squad heading into a busy 2026/27 season.

The major tell from United's performance is the lack of cover in the backline.

Last season, it was less of a problem with United sitting deeper and getting more joy from counter attacking goals. However, Carrick has tried to embed a new playing style where United have more control of games, hence the signings of Tielemans and Andrey Santos.

This style has been exposed today, with United looking extremely slow when oppositions find a breakthrough. Other Premier League sides have the defensive security in pace, such as Maxence Lacroix newly driving at Chelsea and Micky Van de Ven of Tottenham being the last ditch option to prevent a goal with their recovery pace.

If Carrick aims to maintain this dominant play style heading into next season, there must be more defensive cover, particularly if United want to push across all four club competitions, as even last season with only 40 games, United's centre-back pairings saw major changes over the course of the season.