Talk of the Devils: The Athletic FC's Manchester United show

The Premier League returns after the extended international break and it's a chance for Michael Carrick to reset and get the campaign off on a better footing. If league form is anything to go by, Tottenham Hotspur SHOULD be a useful opposition in that regard, but before last season this fixture hadn't been kind.There are several questions over fitness and availability going into Saturday's game. Will Carlos Baleba make his much awaited debut, what should we make of the various withdrawals from international commitments, and what can we expect from some of United's longer term absentees?And, there have been several news stories away from the pitch as well, big, small, and huge. We update on those, of course, but the main thing is to see an uptick in league form; hopefully a massive international break is as good as a change for Carrick and co.

After a brief aside (!) we return to our discussion of Manchester United's greatest ever players, as adjudicated by Andy Mitten. If you thought the countdown from 25-11 was tough enough, we're into the top ten and it is not getting any easier.This episode will see us count from 10 to 6 and, on footballing talent alone, it wouldn't be far off a top five. Fascinating characters who created some incredible moments, both on and off the pitch, and a mix of local talent with charismatic imports... causing arguments; it's what Manchester United is all about.

It's taken eight years to arrive, but the verdict of the Premier League's independent commission has sent shockwaves through football, finding Manchester City guilty on almost all charges of financial misstatements and failure to cooperate with their investigation.The Athletic's David Ornstein broke the story late last week, with statements following from the Premier League and its Chairman Richard Masters. City also made a statement denying their culpability and making clear their intention to appeal.There are now so many questions; what will happen next? What is an appropriate punishment? Might the history books have to be rewritten? (of course, some things simply can't be retrospectively altered) Importantly for us, what will Manchester United's reaction be, and how will it affect football in its aftermath?

Who are the greatest players in the history of Manchester United Football Club? And where would you even start if someone asked you to try and figure it out!?Well, that's what happened to Andy Mitten when he decided not to go to the World Cup last summer. Luckily for us, he made a mighty fist of this titanic task with a series of articles for The Athletic.In this first episode of a three-part special podcast series we'll talk about Andy's process, discuss the reaction (both from those chosen and those who missed out), and we'll begin the countdown with numbers 25 to 11.

Financial results... not exactly a subject that gets the heart racing, but with Manchester United they do quite often raise the blood pressure. The Athletic's football finance expert Chris Weatherspoon joins us to analyse the latest numbers, which are more than a little worrying.Inevitably, debt is a headline again, but is it now really starting to put pressure on the club's ability to compete? Perhaps Michael Carrick's performance should be put into context, here; a third-placed finish, it could be argued, was an over-performance when measured against the club's wage bill.It's all a bit gloomy, so we look forward to a break, maybe a trip to the cinema, and to put aside arguments and petty differences with some special podcast episode's on Andy Mitten's all-time Top 25 MUFC players... hmmm.

Another weekend, another deflating performance in what has been a hugely disappointing start to the new season. Mateus Cunha's late equaliser may have rescued a point but does it do anything for the mood of fans who had been optimistic after the end of term surge last time around.As media commentators dig through the potential causes of this season's struggles, the running stats have become a hot topic. We look at those, and others, to try and get a firmer grasp on what is going wrong and how improvements can be found.And, as we go into a three-week international break followed by a tough run of fixtures, we look at Michael Carrick's reaction to recent results, whether a tactical switch is in the offing, and try to muster some optimism about an October reboot.

When Brighton fought back from an early two-nil deficit at Old Trafford on Wednesday night they were the first team to achieve that feat in fifty years but the mood around the game and the performance felt much more recent. We try to shake off the deja vu of it all and work out why the spark wasn't there despite Shea Lacey's cracking early goal.Michael Carrick has now lost two consecutive games for the first time as manager. Out of the EFL Cup and with just Fulham to play in the league before a lengthy international break, it feels like there is a growing list of issues for the coaching team to contend with... not all of them fix-able with a Carlos Baleba.Adding insult to insult, club executives are also having to deal with the potential exit of youth team star JJ Gabriel in a very public way. The 15 year-old has asked to have his registration annulled with interest from major clubs in Europe and it looks likely he will leave... what does that mean for the United academy?

Not the result we wanted for our first ever post-match livestream, not by a long stretch.What started off as a normal derby flipped its energy dramatically when Phil Foden was sent off for kicking out at Bruno Fernandes; but, if you thought that decision would be the controversy of the day, you were wrong. Erling Haaland gave Manchester City the lead despite a VAR review and the failure to call for an on-pitch review has prompted a statement from the Professional Referees Organisation calling it an 'error of judgement'.Ultimately, though, the team have little justification in blaming referees for the defeat; a lacklustre performance saw them create very few good chances against ten men and those they did were squandered. It's now officially a disappointing start to the season and there is significant pressure to get results against Brighton in the League Cup and Fulham in the league before the international break.