[TrustInJanuzaj]

I think that we can firmly hold our head up high and say we gave it everything. Tactically we got it wrong first half and city got it oh so right. I'm disappointed that we didn't get more work for bravo to do because he looked like a mistake with every touch but having said that we really did put in a good effort second half. I loved the way that Mourinho changed it at half time and that made us so much better so it's certainly positive that we now have a manager that sees the game in front of him.

Special mention to Rooney who today was our best player by a distance and battled from the first to the last minute. I've been critical of him this season but that was a real captains performance and unlucky not to have got something more.

It's a long season and I still think we can push city all the way this year so let's look at the positives and push on!

 

[Ananke]

We woke up way too late. First half felt like we were playing at the Emptihad. They dominated everything.

Exciting second half but you can't be doing that in a derby.

 

[Magnus]

Very good second half. Proud to be United. But very poor first and can the fecking Fellaini get the feck off? And that fecking goalie should have been sent off and us getting a pen. Enjoy it littlebrothers you are nowhere near us you fecking twats. 20, 12, 3. What do you have you feckong arabs????

 

[Gopher Brown]

What the actual feck was that? Lingard was wank. Blind was wank. Pogba is not worth 90m. Ibra did jackshit for most of the game. What the feck just happened?!

Did you not feel your heart beating for the first time in 3 years?

 

[FCBarca]

Soooo early, the good is that the level of football has improved for both clubs which will pay dividends down the line

 

[NYAS]

First half was a mess, second half much much better. And against the best side in the league. Relax, Mourinho learned a lot about his players and formations today. He's just got here.

The improvement was there but it was nowhere near enough. Players of such stature should be taking advantage of such switches in momentum. Ibrahimovic taking aimless half volleys everywhere around the box just because he scored one when there was an open goal was selfish.
I'm not saying that we're not allowed to have shit performances, or that we should finish the season unbeaten, but I did expect more here. Guardiola has just got here as well, and he wasn't the one who was out of a job for half a season, nor was he the one who has been in this league before.
Both new teams, both new managers, both coming back from international breaks and they were missing their talisman. I'm sorry, but that was extremely disappointing from everyone involved apart from Rashford, and there's not a single excuse that can justify it.

 

[BringNaniBack]

I said they aren't better than us; a completely different thing altogether.

Fair enough. But they are better than us at the moment, by quite a distance on the basis of that game.

 

[Utdstar01]

Barring a total meltdown from City, they will win the league. Very very good performance from them. Can't play both Ibra and Rooney - it's one or the other for me.

The thing is the majority of us have known that we just look so static with Ibra and Rooney both playing. Tbh I couldn't really tell where Rooney was actually playing today and we seemed to put him into the number 9 position towards the end with the chance where he almost got onto that ball, with a quicker front man like Rashford then we would've definitely gotten a shot off.

 

[Ludens the Red]

Its got to be Rooney. Or Lingaard or the other wide player and you play Rooney wide if you absolutely have to have him on the pitch for some reason (corporate sponsorship term or something ridiculous like that).

yeah, I'd rather sacrifice a wide postion for Rooney than a midfield role because at least we've gpt Valencia and Shaw who can do enough in the wide areas.

 

[InfiniteBoredom]

I was surprised they didn't. I honestly thought he would pack the midfield and have Rashford to cause their defence nightmares. Now he knows.

I think my first post in this thread said just that. Need Rash pace and a midfield 3 to press them when they are on the ball. Everyman and his dog know what Pep was gonna do, Mou fecked up big time starting 2 players with v. Little game time.

 

[Shiva87]

Thx for that classless cnut,defending at home like a coward,oh well guess back to not winning big games...oh i yea,move Rooney here there here there,CB,GK every position before being subbed.I swear if you lunch a nuke at OT,Rooney would only survive.

We weren't defending at home! He started with a team that could do a job on City. Lingard and Mhiki not turning up wasn't his fault. On today's evidence, I don't think Rooney should have been subbed (I don't like Rooney starting by the way). I think all his 3 subs were right on the money.

 

[GwilDor]

It was a fun game of football to watch. Deserved result? I guess fans and pundits will disagree. The big match dciding moment was the one with Bravo and Rooney.
Very much a game of two halves. City caught us off guard in the first half, and deservedly lead after it. Could and should have been more than a 2-1 lead.
Second half we run the show, and have City adjustin to us, not the other way around. Naturally City get their chances on the break, and could have scored several.
If Bravo had been sent off though i think we'd have won...

 

[FCBarca]

I imagine their players will get more confident and comfortable when it comes to playing out from the back too. Once they do, they will be even harder to stop.

Yeah, there were times where they looked Barcelona-esque early but when it got tighter you saw them look shaken at the back. That will come with time playing together, in theory.

They have so many pieces to incorporate too, I mean conceviably it won't be until next season when you really see them hit their stride but who knows

 

[The red panther]

A big important derby and City were victorious again.

When something is on the line they always win against us, it is starting to piss me off. They got that Fa cup by being jammy winners, they won a title on goal difference, they got CL footy on goal difference, they won this first big match up again with the smallest margins. It is really doing a number on me, I fecking hate them.

 

[redhoop]

Did you not feel your heart beating for the first time in 3 years?

It is rather nice having that feeling back - it was all feeling a bit distant for a while - now it's back to visceral intensity.

 

[wolvored]

Lets face it we were second best today, ive watched it on tv and the stats show it as well. Exciting though it was. I hope we can show more invention than lumping it up to Fellaini vg plan b. We looked good the first 10-15 mins in the second half. Lets hope Mourinho keeps that formation and with a change of personnel it would work well. Pogba Fellaini Rooney especially were poor today. Herrera did ok as the tip of a 3. Rashford after a good start wasnt in the game.

 

[An Irish Red]

Fair enough. But they are better than us at the moment, by quite a distance on the basis of that game.

If Clattenburg sent off Bravo when he should have we would almost certainly have been level and playing against ten men for half an hour.

City had a lot of luck today.

 

[EricaNo7]

We could have had a point with a little more luck

 

[BringNaniBack]

What the actual feck was that? Lingard was wank. Blind was wank. Pogba is not worth 90m. Ibra did jackshit for most of the game. What the feck just happened?!

Correct on Lingard and Pogba. Blind and Ibra did ok though.

 

[Reyoji-Utd]

First half lost us the match. Got the decision wrong from the start but fight back in the 2nd half. The team doesn't look click yet. Haven't figured out the best 11 yet. I think it will be the same case when we play big team with Mourinho have to decide the best for the team.

 

[Red Dreams]

If Clattenburg sent off Bravo when he should have we would almost certainly have been level and playing against ten men for half an hour.

City had a lot of luck today.

in other words Clatenburg fecked up...again.

 

[itso 7]

First half ruined us. I honestly think there is very little in it.

True plus we are playing too many slow players to be effective against City's style.

 

[Hugh Jass]

The minute I saw the formation I said we were in trouble. What we should have done was played a 4-3-3 from the start. What you then do is let them have the ball, let them pass it around etc. and frustrate them. And the more frustrated they get, the more they will make a mistake.

If we play like we played in the second half we will beat most teams. In fact if we were to go out tomorrow and play city again and play like we did in the second half we would beat them. In the first half we were petrified of them. Lingarrd doesn't have it and he doesn't have in it psychological terms. He gets too nervous. You cant depend on him.

Blind as well made a huge error. I would much prefer Smalling in there and if Smalling was there De Bruynes first goal wouldn't have happened. I have seen enough from Blind despite all the good stuff he does that he is prone to a mistake.

We didn't fail today. We learned. Still though the first half was a write off. Not because they had most of the ball but because we were afraid of them. That's what Guardiola does to teams. He makes them afraid and because you are lacking confidence you don't play as well. Six months ago that City team was useless. Now suddenly they are good. Why? Psychology. In the first half they had the more will to want to win.

I cannot believe Jose went a 4-3-2-1. When Herrera came on, he controlled the play. Then we had a better chance of winning.

 

[tob]

That was terrible! Too many wrong decisions. Too many individual errors.
Now I can't be bothered watching anymore football this weekend.

 

[Shiva87]

We won't catch City this season. No way we are beating them to the title. They are levels above us.

No they are not. They have a style of play, we have ours. We should win as many games as them. It will come down to the games between us, Chelsea, and City. City will also find it much harder against Klopp's counter-attacking team than we will. There is a lot of the season still to play, and this one game says nothing!

 

[Bobcat]

If Clattenburg sent off Bravo when he should have we would almost certainly have been level and playing against ten men for half an hour.

City had a lot of luck today.

It was a 50/50 and neither a red nor a pen.

And while City had some luck, they also had some bad luck. They won deservedly in the end

 

[pauldyson1uk]

If Clattenburg sent off Bravo when he should have we would almost certainly have been level and playing against ten men for half an hour.

City had a lot of luck today.

Not the refs fault , we lost that game in the first 30 mins.

 

[fellaini's barber]

The one positive to be taken from this is that we now know our best squad/formation

 

[Ekkie Thump]

The game was lost in the first half because De bruyne constantly found enormous spaces behind Utd's midfield while Utd's wingers felt the pressure and massively underperformed - no reliable attacking outlet invited pressure and destroyed chances of effective counters. Second half was a far better showing, far more equal and far more encouraging.

Sad to say but Pogba was the most disappointing player to play the entire game given his cost and pedigree. Nice touches and skills but the game seemed to pass him by for the most part. Maybe not his fault. Zlatan seemed a bit off it too apart from his goal.

 

[Earthquake]

I cannot believe Jose went a 4-3-2-1. When Herrera came on, he controlled the play. Then we had a better chance of winning.

We were playing 4-2-3-1 with Herrera on, Rooney was playing as a right winger from that point until we got desperate.

 

[Seven Seas Sardines]

Wonder if SAF will have a word with Mourinho about Rooney...

 

[An Irish Red]

It was a 50/50 and neither a red nor a pen.

It was absolutely stonewall. He went in studs up and didn't get the ball; doesn't get much clearer than that.

 

[3KDré]

Did you not feel your heart beating for the first time in 3 years?

I was screaming most of that game. Half because of United half because Acestream decides to not work.

 

[The red panther]

I don't see all this extra quality people keep talking about. They have a good team, but so do we. We just need to show it.

Well that is kind of the point isn't it ?

What Good is a legendary striker if he doesn't get his shots on target ? What good is the highest rated midfielder in the world if he can't control the ball let alone the game, what good is quality if it doesn't show on the pitch ?

City always show their quality in the big games, especially against us when something is on the line and they have knicked the 3 points from OT again and together with it the first place in the BPL.

First half City were absolutley destroying us and were playing football that I have never seen from a United team. I'am very pissed off at this

 

[njred]

Both teams gassed out at 85 minutes despite a reputation for relentless action

You're surely joking. If anything that was a reason the league is the most exciting league in the world. A neutrals dream. Christ,if you think that was embarrassing, you really should go watch the slow motion in the other big leagues.

 

[The red panther]

We still need to work out our best starting 11. Sorry don't think it's with Rooney....

Best player for us today but I agree it probs not with Rooney but to fair it is probs also not with Blind and certainly not with Lingard

 

[Utdstar01]

It was a 50/50 and neither a red nor a pen.

And while City had some luck, they also had some bad luck. They won deservedly in the end

If you honestly believe this, then I'm not surprised we have referees making these kinds of decisions.

 

[welshwingwizard]

yeah, I'd rather sacrifice a wide postion for Rooney than a midfield role because at least we've gpt Valencia and Shaw who can do enough in the wide areas.

I thought Rooney is quite effective when he plays out wide. I agree thats the only area we should put him though.

 

[Shiva87]

The minute I saw the formation I said we were in trouble. What we should have done was played a 4-3-3 from the start. What you then do is let them have the ball, let them pass it around etc. and frustrate them. And the more frustrated they get, the more they will make a mistake.

If we play like we played in the second half we will beat most teams. In fact if we were to go out tomorrow and play city again and play like we did in the second half we would beat them. In the first half we were petrified of them. Lingarrd doesn't have it and he doesn't have in it psychological terms. He gets too nervous. You cant depend on him.

Blind as well made a huge error. I would much prefer Smalling in there and if Smalling was there De Bruynes first goal wouldn't have happened. I have seen enough from Blind despite all the good stuff he does that he is prone to a mistake.

We didn't fail today. We learned. Still though the first half was a write off. Not because they had most of the ball but because we were afraid of them. That's what Guardiola does to teams. He makes them afraid and because you are lacking confidence you don't play as well. Six months ago that City team was useless. Now suddenly they are good. Why? Psychology. In the first half they had the more will to want to win.

I cannot believe Jose went a 4-3-2-1. When Herrera came on, he controlled the play. Then we had a better chance of winning.

Agreed. But City made us pay for his 1 mistake this season. Happens all the time with good teams. Blind played the ball to Rashford for the disallowed goal. No way Smalling makes that pass. There are benefits to having Blind in the side.

Jose's 4-3-2-1 was targeted at controlling the inverted full backs, but Pep outfoxed him with his full backs playing a more traditional position today. He changed it in the second half. Plus, his two 'harrowing' players in Lingard and Mhiki not turning up today didn't help.

 

[BringNaniBack]

Really not sure how so many posting are ok with the performance and aren't worried about City. They played us off the park for 80% of that game.