Man Utd have had injury issues this season and they are coming in areas that are hurting Michael Carrick's team.
Danny Welbeck and Morgan Rogers
Manchester United need a back-up striker like Danny Welbeck in their squad
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It probably sums up Manchester United's luck this season that, having decided against strengthening in two key areas they looked at this summer, injuries have already struck, bringing those judgements into the spotlight.
Left-back is probably the most obvious and arguably most damaging example. It seemed clear United needed cover for Luke Shaw in a more demanding and challenging season and the only natural left-back in the squad has already missed three of the first seven games through injury.
In his absence, neither Patrick Dorgu nor Noussair Mazraoui looked convincing and Michael Carrick will be desperately hoping that Shaw can stay fit for a crucial and potentially defining run of games after this three-week international break.
The problem for United in that position is that they wanted to sign a long-term successor to Shaw. Lewis Hall was the chosen target, but he was too expensive and they left it too late to try and do a deal. After that, it was looking at a series of B-list options without ever alighting on the right player.
But Carrick is having problems in attack as well. Benjamin Sesko was supposed to be over his shin injury after a low-key pre-season and nearly four months without playing a game, but after just two starts this season, it is back and he could be set for another spell out of action.
Sesko is the only natural striker in Carrick's squad, and when he's unavailable, it greatly changes the way this team can play, whether he starts or proves a useful weapon from the substitutes' bench with a knack for scoring goals.
With no Sesko to call on at Fulham, Carrick went for Joshua Zirkzee as his first sub. The Dutchman isn't an out-and-out striker and is hard to define. His goalscoring record at United is poor, and he hasn't scored as a substitute since his header in the Europa League quarter-final first-leg at Lyon in April 2025.
He doesn't have a record of influencing games off the bench and it feels like Carrick is now short of attacking options. Matheus Cunha is starting as the false nine and although it's clearly not working, if Sesko is now out, there are very few options to shift things around.
As much as United needed a left-back, maybe the most obvious and rectifiable blunder was not signing another striker, especially since the ideal option moved this summer and would have cost almost nothing. When Chelsea's interest in Danny Welbeck broke, you expected United to rival them for their former academy graduate.
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United looked at signing Welbeck from Brighton in 2024 and 2025. Although he is now 35, he had his best goalscoring season in the top flight last term and looks as fit as he has ever been. It felt like a low-risk, fairly cheap deal that would fill an obvious hole in the squad.
But after coming particularly close to signing Welbeck last year, they decided not to compete this year. It should have been the easiest deal to do all window, instead, he is now at Chelsea, offering valuable back-up to and support for Joao Pedro.
How United could do with him now. With Sesko still struggling, Welbeck could fill in as a starting striker, allowing Cunha to compete for a spot on the left with Marcus Rashford and giving Carrick greater bench depth.
Money was clearly tight at Old Trafford this summer, but this wouldn't have been an expensive deal to do and the cost of it would have been covered by allowing Zirkzee his deadline day move to Everton. Welbeck is clearly an upgrade on Zirkzee.
As it is, Carrick is having to find alternative solutions but the injury to Sesko is threatening to be another problem that could derail this season.