Manchester United earned a 2-0 win over Sunderland AFC at Old Trafford ahead of the international break, with goals from Mason Mount and Benjamin Sesko and a clean sheet for Senne Lammens in his United debut.
You can boost the result’s impact by acknowledging that Sunderland was in fifth place and playing well in the league going into the match. You can negate its impact by acknowledging that Sunderland is a newly-promoted side and those are the teams that United seem to enjoy the most success against
under Ruben Amorim.
However, no matter how you look at it, the result was a positive one.
And we’ll get this out of the way at the top. In this same space last week, I wrote that it was time to move on from Amorim. I still think that it’s the correct move looking forward. If this fixture went a different way, the hornet’s nest would’ve been properly kicked up. Now, it’s more likely than not that this result simply kicked the hornet’s nest down the road if you’ll allow me to combine idioms.
I like to think I don’t have an ego about this. I certainly don’t think I’m an expert; I’m writing a weekly piece on vibes after all. I desperately want to be proven wrong about last week’s assessment. That would mean Manchester United is successful again. That’s all I want. I’d be as happy to see Amorim’s United lift the Premier League trophy as I would be if it were Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s United lifting the trophy.
So, we’ll see how this plays out. On to the vibes reading…
United scored two goals in the first 31 minutes of the match, which was crucially important, forcing Sunderland to change shape and sub in an extra centerback. This ultimately was to United’s advantage, whose other most recent win (Chelsea) was solidified because the opposition made detrimental changes that did not allow them to fully comeback in the match.
Even better was the way United scored its goals.
Mount’s opener came from open play, starting with the focused control to bring down Bryan Mbeumo’s cross before putting the ball on his other foot and deftly shooting it around a defender for a wonderful finish. Sesko showed off his timing on a set piece, easily tapping in a deflected ball following a long throw-in from Diego Dalot.
Mount has been positive in spurts for United. Here’s to hoping he continues to stay healthy. It’s quite the sight to see Mount score, play well and be replaced with the likes of Matheus Cunha. That’s some next man up stuff that United have missed in that area.
Sesko scoring in back-to-back matches feels like a really good sign. Keep feeding him. Let’s see what he can do as a volume shooter.
On the other end of the pitch, Senne Lammens got the perfect first run out for United. He made a couple of athletic saves for the highlight reel, was aggressive in picking the ball out of the air, which his predecessors routinely failed to do, and, ultimately, didn’t have a whole lot else to do thanks to a solid defensive effort ahead of him. It’s important that he was able to get that first start out of the way and build some confidence ahead of the team’s next big test: reigning champions Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, Oct. 19.
Unfortunately for United, the opportunity to build momentum and get back into Europe has slimmer and slimmer margins.
Sitting in 10th — one point behind ninth-place Sunderland — United are sitting clearly in the league’s middle class after seven matches. Awkwardly, Bournemouth is in fourth(?!), while sixth-place Crystal Palace recently claimed the title of “best of the rest,” while long-time “best of the rest” title holders Everton sit in 8th place after handing Palace its first loss of the season. Behind United are 11th-place Newcastle United, 12th-place Brighton and 13th-place Aston Villa.
The wiggle room for United to climb up the table seems low, and they have some really good teams behind them with similar aspirations.
A win at Liverpool, reeling from two straight losses, could do a lot for the confidence and narratives of this team.
MD7 Vibes Reading
Now, the Manchester United 2025-26 Vibes-O-Meter is a very specific device developed with the most advanced science available to us: our gut.
The Vibes-O-Meter uses a scale of 1-10 based on the contemporary highs and lows of the Post-Fergie era; one being the feelings last week following the Brentford loss, and 10 being the feelings while following Amad’s breakout on loan at Sunderland.
5/10
Positive Influences
- Mason Mount scored!
- Benjamin Sesko scored again!
- Senne Lammens’ first start!
- Senne Lammens’ first clean sheet!
- Only had to watch five minutes (and stoppage) of Manuel Ugarte!
Negative Influences
- Away at Liverpool next.
- This team needs to break the cycle of laying an egg following a positive result. That is what will start to finally chip away at the pessimism.
