Now that the dust has settled and I’ve had nearly 24 hours to think about it, the same question keeps coming to me;
“Was that the worst game of my life as a Manchester United fan?”
Now I know that title might seem over the top and dramatic, but I think it’s a question worth considering. To qualify the question, I should mention I’m in my mid-20s so never saw us get relegated, or the country being dominated by Liverpool in the 80s so I’ve no idea how disappointing or embarrassing that might have been past what family members have told me. The first 20 years of my life I was spoiled and saw us win everything.
As if the torture of watching yesterday’s game wasn’t bad enough, I was then racking my brains to think of my lowest moments as a United fan...
Manchester United 1- 6 Manchester City (2011)
This was the first and obvious example, and afterwards that obviously really really stung, got worse with the added context of losing the league on goal difference to them lot. But we were playing well 11 vs 11, went a man down and then started chasing the game once we scored to make it 3-1 - which was the score up until injury time.
Manchester United 0 - 3 Liverpool (2014)
Whilst not the heaviest defeat, to me it kind of signified the (hopefully temporary) end of us as the club I grew up supporting. We weren’t as abject that afternoon as we were yesterday, but it was the first time in my life we felt levels below our rivals and the best teams around and I felt little hope that we’d get much better.
Manchester United 1 - 2 Norwich City (2015)
That December period under LVG was the first time I think I started to resent watching United. I didn’t look forward to it like I used to, and not just because of the results but also because the club didn’t resemble the thing I fell in love with in any way.
Sevilla 0 - 0 Manchester United & Manchester United 1 - 2 Sevilla (2018)
The game(s) Jose Mourinho lost me. I really thought Mourinho, with the players we already had and the financial backing we’d give him, was going to get us back to the pinnacle of English & European football. With plenty of dull and abject performances leading up to it, that tie vs Sevilla was the culmination of the proof that he was never going to that for us. He’d turned us in to a cowardly unambitious club masquerading as the biggest club in the world. Then of course there was the infamous “football heritage” rant that followed to rub salt in to the wounds.
Manchester United 4 - 4 Everton (2012)
This is up there with the angriest I’ve ever been at a group of players in my life. We threw away two 2-goal leads at home which effectively threw away a league title to City.
Sunderland 0 - 1 Manchester United (2012)
I don’t want to talk about it.
Manchester United 1 - 2 Real Madrid (2013)
This is the angriest I’ve ever been at a referee. Even if now when I look back at it with a clearer and older head I think it probably was a red for Nani, at the time I thought it was the worst decision of all time. I was convinced we were going to win the Champions League that season, the only team I was at all worried about was Bayern but I just don’t see a version of events where Fergie’s last ever game as manager is the CL final and we don’t win.
Manchester United 1 - 4 Liverpool (2009)
Obviously the result was terrible and watching the game was dreadful, but the real kicker for this game was going to school the Monday after. It wasn’t just Liverpool fans... I got stick from everybody for days after that. Just one that sticks in the memory for me.
Manchester United 1 - 2 Manchester City (2008)
I hadn’t experienced many Manchester Derby defeats by 2008, but that’s not the reason this one sticks with me so much. I watched this game with my late grandfather who remembered the Munich Air Disaster, and I can’t think about this game (I don’t really remember much about it, I don’t think we performed that badly, just one of those games) without just remembering how upset he was before kick-off and throughout the game. It’s one of my clearest memories of him, he passed away in 2010, and it’s the only time I ever saw him cry.
Barcelona 2 - 0 Manchester United (2009) & Barcelona 3 - 1 Manchester United (2011)
Now that I’m older, wiser, and can appreciate that period of time’s Barcelona teams for how good they were and that cushions the blow for these two defeats. That said, they were both bitterly disappointing, 2009 especially, I thought we had a great chance of winning and we just never really got close. That first final was also obviously Ronaldo’s last game (or so I thought) which was just an added bitter taste. 2011 also has an added bitter taste because that’s the last Champions League final we played in, and it was over a decade ago now. That’s a horrible thought.
I think that’s it for a greatest (worst) hits of moments supporting United, and at this moment in time, I believe this most recent defeat has me feeling lower than any of those ones did. We have; David De Gea, Raphael Varane, an £80m Harry Maguire, Paul Pogba, Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes, Edinson Cavani, Mason Greenwood and Cristiano fecking Ronaldo, and we still look absolutely miles off.
Liverpool didn’t just make us look poor yesterday. They didn’t just embarrass us. The match highlighted every single issue we have and exposed it for the whole world to see. We’re an absolute shambles. I don’t think before yesterday I would say that before yesterday I was ever ashamed to be associated with Manchester United, but yesterday came close. I usually conversations about desire, passion, fight and respect for the badge and the club to be reductive and pointless - but when we were so totally devoid of any kind of positive going for us from a footballing perspective, it was so much more noticeable how little of the other stuff we had too. Even Pogba’s red didn’t feel like a defiant outpouring of rage at the state of the game, it just felt like a guy who doesn’t really care about the club checking out of the game.
On to more footballing related matters; the way we set up was hilarious. There’s been a lot of conversation about how and why we don’t press properly, which I’m not going to have again now, but was blatantly obvious in the first 5 minutes when we conceded the first goal. Wan-Bissaka was basically leading our ‘press’, our midfield was nowhere to be seen, our central-defenders had no idea where to position themselves and it left Luke shaw ‘defending’ against a 3 vs 1. It set the tone for the whole game. We were horrendous.
This is all before we consider who we were up against. Liverpool, our oldest and biggest rivals, and the players’ performances and body language suggested they couldn’t have given less of a shit, as they just took the piss out of us for 90 minutes. They were missing plenty of first-teamers and most players to injury throughout the game and didn’t need to get out of second gear either, they didn’t play that well and put us to the sword for an hour until they took their foot off the gas. And even then we barely created anything and still looked at risk every time Liverpool were within 40 yards of our goal.
Sorry this has turned in to a bit of a rant. I appreciate any of you who have taken the time to share in my woe. If any of you can think of a time you’ve felt worse than I do now, I’d appreciate it.
“Was that the worst game of my life as a Manchester United fan?”
Now I know that title might seem over the top and dramatic, but I think it’s a question worth considering. To qualify the question, I should mention I’m in my mid-20s so never saw us get relegated, or the country being dominated by Liverpool in the 80s so I’ve no idea how disappointing or embarrassing that might have been past what family members have told me. The first 20 years of my life I was spoiled and saw us win everything.
As if the torture of watching yesterday’s game wasn’t bad enough, I was then racking my brains to think of my lowest moments as a United fan...
Manchester United 1- 6 Manchester City (2011)
This was the first and obvious example, and afterwards that obviously really really stung, got worse with the added context of losing the league on goal difference to them lot. But we were playing well 11 vs 11, went a man down and then started chasing the game once we scored to make it 3-1 - which was the score up until injury time.
Manchester United 0 - 3 Liverpool (2014)
Whilst not the heaviest defeat, to me it kind of signified the (hopefully temporary) end of us as the club I grew up supporting. We weren’t as abject that afternoon as we were yesterday, but it was the first time in my life we felt levels below our rivals and the best teams around and I felt little hope that we’d get much better.
Manchester United 1 - 2 Norwich City (2015)
That December period under LVG was the first time I think I started to resent watching United. I didn’t look forward to it like I used to, and not just because of the results but also because the club didn’t resemble the thing I fell in love with in any way.
Sevilla 0 - 0 Manchester United & Manchester United 1 - 2 Sevilla (2018)
The game(s) Jose Mourinho lost me. I really thought Mourinho, with the players we already had and the financial backing we’d give him, was going to get us back to the pinnacle of English & European football. With plenty of dull and abject performances leading up to it, that tie vs Sevilla was the culmination of the proof that he was never going to that for us. He’d turned us in to a cowardly unambitious club masquerading as the biggest club in the world. Then of course there was the infamous “football heritage” rant that followed to rub salt in to the wounds.
Manchester United 4 - 4 Everton (2012)
This is up there with the angriest I’ve ever been at a group of players in my life. We threw away two 2-goal leads at home which effectively threw away a league title to City.
Sunderland 0 - 1 Manchester United (2012)
I don’t want to talk about it.
Manchester United 1 - 2 Real Madrid (2013)
This is the angriest I’ve ever been at a referee. Even if now when I look back at it with a clearer and older head I think it probably was a red for Nani, at the time I thought it was the worst decision of all time. I was convinced we were going to win the Champions League that season, the only team I was at all worried about was Bayern but I just don’t see a version of events where Fergie’s last ever game as manager is the CL final and we don’t win.
Manchester United 1 - 4 Liverpool (2009)
Obviously the result was terrible and watching the game was dreadful, but the real kicker for this game was going to school the Monday after. It wasn’t just Liverpool fans... I got stick from everybody for days after that. Just one that sticks in the memory for me.
Manchester United 1 - 2 Manchester City (2008)
I hadn’t experienced many Manchester Derby defeats by 2008, but that’s not the reason this one sticks with me so much. I watched this game with my late grandfather who remembered the Munich Air Disaster, and I can’t think about this game (I don’t really remember much about it, I don’t think we performed that badly, just one of those games) without just remembering how upset he was before kick-off and throughout the game. It’s one of my clearest memories of him, he passed away in 2010, and it’s the only time I ever saw him cry.
Barcelona 2 - 0 Manchester United (2009) & Barcelona 3 - 1 Manchester United (2011)
Now that I’m older, wiser, and can appreciate that period of time’s Barcelona teams for how good they were and that cushions the blow for these two defeats. That said, they were both bitterly disappointing, 2009 especially, I thought we had a great chance of winning and we just never really got close. That first final was also obviously Ronaldo’s last game (or so I thought) which was just an added bitter taste. 2011 also has an added bitter taste because that’s the last Champions League final we played in, and it was over a decade ago now. That’s a horrible thought.
I think that’s it for a greatest (worst) hits of moments supporting United, and at this moment in time, I believe this most recent defeat has me feeling lower than any of those ones did. We have; David De Gea, Raphael Varane, an £80m Harry Maguire, Paul Pogba, Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes, Edinson Cavani, Mason Greenwood and Cristiano fecking Ronaldo, and we still look absolutely miles off.
Liverpool didn’t just make us look poor yesterday. They didn’t just embarrass us. The match highlighted every single issue we have and exposed it for the whole world to see. We’re an absolute shambles. I don’t think before yesterday I would say that before yesterday I was ever ashamed to be associated with Manchester United, but yesterday came close. I usually conversations about desire, passion, fight and respect for the badge and the club to be reductive and pointless - but when we were so totally devoid of any kind of positive going for us from a footballing perspective, it was so much more noticeable how little of the other stuff we had too. Even Pogba’s red didn’t feel like a defiant outpouring of rage at the state of the game, it just felt like a guy who doesn’t really care about the club checking out of the game.
On to more footballing related matters; the way we set up was hilarious. There’s been a lot of conversation about how and why we don’t press properly, which I’m not going to have again now, but was blatantly obvious in the first 5 minutes when we conceded the first goal. Wan-Bissaka was basically leading our ‘press’, our midfield was nowhere to be seen, our central-defenders had no idea where to position themselves and it left Luke shaw ‘defending’ against a 3 vs 1. It set the tone for the whole game. We were horrendous.
This is all before we consider who we were up against. Liverpool, our oldest and biggest rivals, and the players’ performances and body language suggested they couldn’t have given less of a shit, as they just took the piss out of us for 90 minutes. They were missing plenty of first-teamers and most players to injury throughout the game and didn’t need to get out of second gear either, they didn’t play that well and put us to the sword for an hour until they took their foot off the gas. And even then we barely created anything and still looked at risk every time Liverpool were within 40 yards of our goal.
Sorry this has turned in to a bit of a rant. I appreciate any of you who have taken the time to share in my woe. If any of you can think of a time you’ve felt worse than I do now, I’d appreciate it.
