By colorado 
Right, so today I was gonna figure out who’s starting for Man United against Barnsley. Fancied checking the confirmed lineups before kickoff. Wanted to see if McTominay was getting a start, you know?
Started off the usual way. Grabbed my lukewarm coffee, plonked myself down at the kitchen table with my phone buzzing. First thing I did? Just tapped open the BBC Sport app. Always my go-to, figure it’s reliable enough.
First Try: The Trusted Source
Scrolled down like mad looking for the preview. Found the Man United fixture easy enough. But guess what? They only had the probable lineups listed. Just predictions, no confirmed starters. Felt a bit cheated, honestly. Needed the real deal, the proper names.
Thought, “Okay, maybe the official club site?” Typed in * on my phone browser. Site loaded kinda slow, that big picture of the stadium taking forever. Finally found the ‘News’ section. Scrolled through articles about sponsorships, community stuff… nothing about the Barnsley lineups. Bloody typical. Club sites never make it simple when you’re in a rush.
Hitting Up the News Sites
Decided it was time for the big news outlets. Jumped over to Sky Sports. Their football page is always chaos, ads everywhere. Searched “Man United Barnsley confirmed lineup” right in their search bar. Bingo! Got a headline saying “Confirmed: Manchester United team to face Barnsley”. Sweet! Tapped it… only for the damn article to waffle on for paragraphs about form, injuries, manager quotes… and I’m sitting there screaming “Just show me the XI!” internally. Scrolled down… down… down… finally spotted it tucked away. Saw McTominay was listed! Onana in goal. Rashford starting too. Good stuff. Checked the Barnsley lineup below it out of curiosity. Some kid called McAtee starting for them apparently.
Figured I should double-check. Didn’t want any last-minute changes catching me out. Switched to the Guardian’s live blog for the match. Those are usually spot on for the teams once confirmed. Found it quickly enough. Scrolled to the top where they post the teams an hour before kickoff. Yep. Same names Sky had:
- Onana
- Dalot, Lindelof, Maguire, Reguilon
- Casemiro, McTominay (There he is!)
- Pellistri, Hannibal, Rashford
- Hojlund
Barnsley had that Devante Cole fella up front. Confirmed. Phew.
Job Done… Almost
Just as I was about to close everything, remembered Erik ten Hag sometimes does late surprises. My phone buzzed again. Manchester Evening News app notification popped up: “CONFIRMED: United XI vs Barnsley”. Clicked it immediately. Another article, but they usually plaster the team sheet right at the top in a big graphic. Yeah, there it was. Same damn team! McTominay definitely starting in midfield. Hannibal in there too. Okay, finally felt solid about it. Put the phone down. Coffee was stone cold by this point. Absolutley sucked it down anyway. There it is – confirmed starters, finally nailed it. Just had to bounce around between Sky, Guardian, MEN like a total idiot before the game starts.