It has been a long 24 days since Manchester United played football but on Monday, they are finally back in action, set to take on Leeds United.
The last time they played, the Artemis II space crew were still on the ground, Arsenal still had the chance of winning a quadruple and Igor Tudor was in charge at Tottenham.
It's crazy how fast things can change in life, particularly in the footballing world.
Man-Utd-Michael-Carrick-Newcastle
For Michael Carrick's men, they've had a chance to take stock of the vast improvement in fortunes in 2026. It's easy to forget the Red Devils have only lost once in the last ten matches.
Yet, how can they bounce back from dropped points last time out? A game in which they drew 2-2 with Bournemouth. Well, a change up top could do the trick. That involves taking Bryan Mbeumo out of the side.
Why Bryan Mbeumo should be dropped by Manchester United
Man United made a big statement last summer when they signed Mbeumo from Brentford for a whopping fee of £71m.
Last season, the Cameroon international was one of the best wingers in the entire Premier League, scoring 20 goals on his way to earning a big-money move away from west London.
Bryan Mbeumo goals per season (timeless)
While Mbeumo has struggled to maintain consistency during his debut campaign at Old Trafford, he has been one of their most dangerous players in the final third.
Indeed, the 26-year-old has scored ten times after his move but he is arguably now in the roughest spot of his Man United career to date.
Across his last six matches, he has failed to score a single goal. In all of those games, he has failed to last the full 90 minutes. In fact, against the Cherries three weeks ago, Mbeumo was dragged off with 20 minutes to go by Carrick, evidence that the manager wasn't too happy with his performance level.
Mbeumo's last 6 matches
Oppo
West Ham (A)
Everton (A)
Crystal Palace (H)
Newcastle (A)
Aston Villa (H)
Bournemouth (A)
In the last two matches, he has played as the central striker in Carrick's system but it has not particularly worked. As a result, a change must be in the offing; Benjamin Sesko must start.
The Slovenian has benefited immensely from the interim manager's appointment, scoring five goals in his last eight appearances for United.
Cunha-Mbeumo-Manchester-United
He must come into the team, which means a start for the club's new Alejandro Garnacho on the right flank.
Man United's new Garnacho must start
Last summer, Man United made the decision to cast aside two wingers, namely Marcus Rashford and Garnacho.
While the former has enjoyed a fine spell at Barcelona, scoring 12 goals and registering 13 assists, Garnacho has had a rather indifferent time of it at Chelsea, which just about sums up his time at Old Trafford too.
Garnacho-Man-Utd
There was that famous overhead kick at Everton and while the Argentine threatened to show signs of his immense potential, he was ultimately inconsistent.
Garnacho found the net on 11 occasions last term, but only six of them came in the Premier League. Since his move to Chelsea, he has just one Premier League goal during a difficult first year at Stamford Bridge.
Well, in the present day, it feels a certain Amad is cut from a very similar cloth.
Under Ruben Amorim, he was perhaps the standout player. The Ivorian scored 11 goals, the same number as Garnacho last summer but like his former teammate, has been far too inconsistent again in 2025/26, netting twice in all competitions.
Perhaps we can cut the 23-year-old a bit of slack. He did play the majority of the opening half of the season at right wing-back but ever since Carrick came in, he has played exclusively as a right winger, further up the pitch.
Like Mbeumo, Amad is not in the best of form himself either. He's not scored at all during the new regime but he's got the quality to really cause problems for the Leeds defence on Monday night.
Amad-1
The easy route for Carrick to take would be to simply put Sesko in for Amad and move Mbeumo over to the right, but a tactical tweak and some time out of the firing line could be beneficial for the latter who is enduring his worst spell in a United shirt.
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