ABU Behaviour Pattern Thread

Mr.Ridiculous__

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ABUs (All/Anyone But United) fans/media have some very curious behaviour patterns when it comes to their views/opinions on our club. So, this thread is just to call that out. I'll start with an example:

- Feigning concern for our younger players whenever we sign a big star. 9 years ago, I remember people (ABUs) writing that they were concerned that Welbeck's progression would stop due to RVP. Then 4 years later ,there were articles that Zlatan's signing would hamper Rashford. Currently the trend is to say that Ronaldo's signing hampers Greenwood, when they can easily play in the same team. Additionally Mason would be just 21 when Ronaldo leaves the club again.

What are other such ABU clichés?
 
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Sandikan

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The article about us "sacrificing" 12 years of James for 2 or 3 years of Ronaldo was a quire special one.
Unbelievable really.
 

Infordin

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My view of Manchester United is a neutral one. Man United don’t have a bitter rivalry with Barcelona, and we don’t have any controversies with each other, so we mostly let each other do our own thing.

As someone who has followed Manchester United reasonably closely since I joined this forum in 2016, I think that United haters have plenty of reasons to be worried.

United have a very strong defence and a tremendously talented attack on paper. The squad is also young, and your wage structure is good. United are in a very healthy position right now to challenge for big honours for the next five or six years.

Trophies are only a matter of time now, so United haters use these last few months as an opportunity to kick United when they are down. I think that most people who understand football know that United will likely be very strong in the foreseeable future.
 

dcrompton

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Jonathan Wilson in the Guardian did 2 Ronaldo pieces last week.
1st Why are United buying Ronaldo when he made Juventus worse?
2nd No excuses for Ole not to deliver title with Ronaldo!
 

CassiusClaymore

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Mr.Ridiculous__ said:
ABUs (All But United) fans/media have some very curious behaviour patterns when it comes to their views/opinions on our club. So, this thread is just to call that out. I'll start with an example:

- Feigning concern for our younger players whenever we sign a big star. 9 years ago, I remember people (ABUs) writing that they were concerned that Welbeck's progression would stop due to RVP. Then 4 years later ,there were articles that Zlatan's signing would hamper Rashford. Currently the trend is to say that Ronaldo's signing hampers Greenwood, when they can easily play in the same team. Additionally Mason would be just 21 when Ronaldo leaves the club again.

What are other such ABU clichés?
Click to expand...
Had the same thing about Greenwood from an Arsenal fan before the season even started and Ronaldo had signed. Said he won't get any games now and we abandon our youth players at the drop of a hat. :rolleyes:

Have took great pleasure in texting him every week after he's scored saying "Greenwood scored again. That can't be right, he's not even playing" ... especially as he's in my FPL team.
 

justsomebloke

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It may not be really healthy to go looking for patterns in the behavior of people you are convinced are acting maliciously and from hidden intentions. ;)

If you do, you will generally tend to discover lots of things that aren't really there, and acquire some excessively strong ideas about the outlook of a group of people that aren't actually a group of people.

Better to stick to calling out BS whenever you encounter it. Leave the patterns to the Bluemoon lunatics.
 

Oranges038

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dcrompton said:
Jonathan Wilson in the Guardian did 2 Ronaldo pieces last week.
1st Why are United buying Ronaldo when he made Juventus worse?
2nd No excuses for Ole not to deliver title with Ronaldo!
Click to expand...
He also had that great read about the wage bill after the Leeds game.

He's a total knob.

From the first one about Ronaldo. He also expresses his fake concerns about Greenwood being blocked by Ronaldo.

There was a time when clubs found jobs for former players gladhanding in corporate hospitality. Manchester United have gone much further. With Ole Gunnar Solskjær installed as manager and Cristiano Ronaldo up front, you wonder which other former greats can be brought back to the Old Trafford theme park. Martin Edwards in the boardroom? Gary Bailey back in nets? The toothpick-chewing ghost of Billy Meredith on the wing? A labyrinthodon who once roamed Newton Heath let loose on the shabby concourse?

And what does this mean for Mason Greenwood, who after excelling in the opening game of the season, suddenly finds an additional and expensive obstacle between him and regular first-team football? United’s future is in danger of being blocked by the ghosts of its glorious past.
Click to expand...
And then..

Juve had won seven scudetti in a row before Ronaldo arrived. They won it again in their first two seasons with him, but finished fourth last year. He scored 81 league goals in three seasons, but Ronaldo made Juventus a worse football team.
Click to expand...
Because them turning shit had absolutely nothing to do with them changing the manager from Allegri to the fag butt chewer and then to Pirlo. it was the guy who score 81 goals that was the problem.

The second one, the title is totally misleading. The title says that and then he goes and rambles for several paragraphs about the game at St Mary's and patterns of play and the midfield and then signs it off with what turns out to be the title.

Increasingly at elite level, it is the ability to organise an attack that separates the very best from the rest. With the squad he now has, there can be no more excuses. This season is a test of whether Solskjær is up to the job.
Click to expand...
 

redrobed

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Especially in America there’s always a vendetta that if we support Utd and haven’t been to England it must be just because the club is successful.

Always hear ABUs accusing us of spending similar sums to the likes of City and Chelsea too.
 

youngrell

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Ole's screen said:
Any joy United fans take in any progress or good performances is derided with "Look how the standards have fallen!'
Click to expand...
This one is always particularly ridiculous (and that goes for any fan of any team). If you can't celebrate wins and goals for your team, what are you watching football for?
 

Kaos

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I'm not one of Solskjaer's biggest fans, but even I roll my eyes at the disproportionate criticism aimed towards him, especially in comparison to the leeway other managers are given. They seem to splurge out hit pieces on him, calling him a fraud and out of his depth, while failing to direct the same reservations towards the likes of Lampard and Arteta.

Similarly their obsession with our spending - while there's a point to be made about us having spent poorly over the years, there seems to be a fraction of the condemnation aimed towards Saint Pep, the footballing prophet and the fact he's spent a small country's GDP to get the City squad to his liking, and Arsenal splurging close to £150 million to not improve the team.

And regarding us signing players that would supposedly hamper the development of our younger players. No one seemed to care about Phil Foden's development when City spunked out £100million for Jack Grealish and were looking like they were going to add Kane to the mix too. But I suppose the fact they were English made it more palatable to them.
 

Mr.Ridiculous__

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justsomebloke said:
It may not be really healthy to go looking for patterns in the behavior of people you are convinced are acting maliciously and from hidden intentions. ;)

If you do, you will generally tend to discover lots of things that aren't really there, and acquire some excessively strong ideas about the outlook of a group of people that aren't actually a group of people.

Better to stick to calling out BS whenever you encounter it. Leave the patterns to the Bluemoon lunatics.
Click to expand...
Not really, I don't mind criticism that's valid or invalid onces that are a bit creative. These ones are neither.
 

tenpoless

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ABU traits:
1. Suggests improvements when we're shit to make themselves look good
2. Saying we're shit after improvements to make us look bad
3. Cant stop talking about Ronaldo or any other world class players that we have
4. Works as a "pundit"
5. Looks like a bellend. None of them are handsome
 

Moonwalker

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I used to think, for the longest time, that 'ABU' is a completely valid concept. The logic behind it would be that there is an ethos among football fans the world over, of supporting the underdog, whenever you're watching a contest that you are supposed to be neutral to. United had an unprecedented period of dominance for the better part of two consecutive decades in the English game, and this has led to an accumulation of dislike from any onlooker. United, being perceived as the dominant force is disliked, every other team is perceived as the underdog and therefore favored.

It isn't a different category of phenomenon to me than wanting Bayern (a similarly dominant force in another country) to lose, every time I tune in to watch Der Klassiker; (which I sometimes do) or wanting Barcelona to lose to Atheltico Madrid when I watch those matches.

Beyond that, I don't think there is, or ever was, anything to this concept. Just a general dislike of dominance.

The thing is, we have been irrelevant for such a long time now, that this whole rationale as a basis for why everyone would hate us, is becoming less and less convincing every year, and the stuff some of the people who employ this term come up with, seems like Rawk repertoire.

Everyone's against us, everyone hates us, 'Scouse pundits' 'why everyone is mentioning incident X when they should be talking about incident Y'. This pundit has it in for us ever since that incident from 24 years ago, when a United player pulled his shirt. Gauging Martin Tyler's voice to see which goal he was more excited about...
It's laughable at the best of times, and other times downright spooky and deranged. It's like that Scouser that chimed in at Talkshit to say how Mo Salah isn't given enough credit in the meeja. It's like a collective PPD.

Any perceived bias is much better explained away by something more closer to home, which is your own affective bias in loving a particular club, to the extent that whenever this feeling is not mirrored by everyone else - it comes off as a slight against it.
 

justsomebloke

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Mr.Ridiculous__ said:
Not really, I don't mind criticism that's valid or invalid onces that are a bit creative. These ones are neither.
Click to expand...
You don't see any validity in pointing out the problem with going looking for patterns in something that is fairly self-evidently not in any sense or way actually co-ordinated? What exactly do you imagine those patterns are going to tell you?

Wouldn't be surprised to see this thread posted and laughed about at Bluemoon or RAWK, they way we (rightly) laugh about theirs.
 

WakeAndBeek

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When we’re doing badly on the pitch, they mock us for that, when things are looking up they turn to myths about our support, biased officials, etc etc.

I saw one video on Twitter of reds at the station back from wolves singing about Ronaldo, and the comments were full of “probably on the way back to London” kind of stuff. Yep, going back to London from Wolverhampton- via Manchester, one hell of a detour:D
 

Blood Mage

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Can't wait to see the ABUs collectively orgasming when we lose Pogba for free next summer. The same Pogba that they've been trashing for years will suddenly become the best midfielder in the world.
 

Mr.Ridiculous__

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Blood Mage said:
Can't wait to see the ABUs collectively orgasming when we lose Pogba for free next summer. The same Pogba that they've been trashing for years will suddenly become the best midfielder in the world.
Click to expand...
"United's been holding him back"
 

Mickson

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Nice paranoia here. I don't think United will get particularly much better with Ronaldo either. Jonathan Wilson's article was excellent with some excellent points. He would be a better fit for City, who are missing a striker who puts the ball in the net. United's problems are deeper than that, we are missing a steady midfielder or two, that's our biggest problem, problems Ronaldo won't fix because he isn't involved in the build-up play. In summary: Our problems aren't putting the ball in the net, our problem is creating the chances. Something Ronaldo won't contribute to very much.
 

V.O.

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roonster09 said:
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The fecking state of this. :lol:

I'm sure we'll regret this just as much as when we had a few years of a declining van Persie instead of a decade of Mame Biram Diouf. :(
 

RetroStu

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That any big name player we have signed post SAF is a 'panic buy'.
 

Becks00

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Mickson said:
Nice paranoia here. I don't think United will get particularly much better with Ronaldo either. Jonathan Wilson's article was excellent with some excellent points. He would be a better fit for City, who are missing a striker who puts the ball in the net. United's problems are deeper than that, we are missing a steady midfielder or two, that's our biggest problem, problems Ronaldo won't fix because he isn't involved in the build-up play. In summary: Our problems aren't putting the ball in the net, our problem is creating the chances. Something Ronaldo won't contribute to very much.
Click to expand...
We do create chances but don't control games, two entirely different things. Signing Cristiano does help a bit as regards that because I suspect as the season progress we would see less and less teams willing to press us solely because he is up top. Believe what we need to work on more is dealing with counters and stop making so many unforced errors.
 
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