The State of the Anti-United Media (Or just the state of the club it seems)

Castia

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That ball wasn't a Penalty, also welcome to world of football, because in another scenario Mata would have scored the third and the own goal would have been useless.

How can anyone find something to criticize for yesterday is baffling. We played a perfect game from first to last minute. Destroyed them in first half and defended brilliantly in second one. Liverpool got zero chance to score even when in possession. There's not half arsed chance I can mention for them. We were in full control of the game and the game could have lasted till now and they wouldn't have scored yet.

Football is game of transitions and it was clear Liverpool were going to commit players more forward after being 2-0 down. Everyone predicted that. We still nullified them and let them control possession aimlessly. That was Mourinho at his peak game.

I’m not criticising the performance, im just wondering why we couldn’t have pushed forward like the first half. The Fellaini incident most definitely was a pen by the way and when the player coming off for him scored 2 goals earlier in the game it would be a massive talking point today.

You’re right though it’s all if’s and but’s at the end of the day we won, I would have loved it if we carried on like the first half that’s all because it was the best I’ve seen us for ages.
 

FlawlessThaw

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Did he neck, it was tactical. He would have replaced him Lingard in that regard but he brought on Fellaini, who in turn should have had a stone wall penalty against him. It was the right decision in the fact we got the win, if that pen was given it would be looked at the worst sub in recent memory.
Was not a stonewall penalty despite what MOTD say.
 

prath92

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Did he neck, it was tactical. He would have replaced him Lingard in that regard but he brought on Fellaini, who in turn should have had a stone wall penalty against him. It was the right decision in the fact we got the win, if that pen was given it would be looked at the worst sub in recent memory.
Yeah tactical. Why would you bring on lingard? You needed another midfielder then. It’s an obvious substitution.

And I don’t think it was a penalty. Plus you don’t have the benefit of hindsight. There is no question that it was the right sub to be made at the time
 

FlawlessThaw

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I’ve not watched MOTD nor care what they think, I used my own eyes and it most definitely was a pen, it’s not even a close decision.
I’m using my own eyes and logic and I am saying it’s not a definite penalty. I’m not alone either so therefore by definition it cannot be a stonewall penalty.

You might think it is one but that doesn’t mean for certain it is.
 

cyberman

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Well in the first half they created nothing and even in the second half they didn’t have a shot on goal. Mane was poor, Salah too and Firminho didn’t offer much we played well defensively. Baily despite the mistake is a class above and Young was brilliant, I’m not here criticising the players just the second half approach.

You could see straight away at the 46 minute mark our intention, every man was sat back whilst Lukaku stayed upfield trying to be a target man. We didn’t do anything like that first half, it was a completely different gameplan because we had he 2 goal lead in my opinion.
You seem to be missing the point. That must be four times in two years when their forwards have had off days against us.
It's almost as if big games are really close affairs decided by managers making razor thin decisions.
You seem to be upset it was even a contest yesterday
 

Castia

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Yeah tactical. Why would you bring on lingard? You needed another midfielder then. It’s an obvious substitution.

And I don’t think it was a penalty. Plus you don’t have the benefit of hindsight. There is no question that it was the right sub to be made at the time

Lingard because he’s a wide attacking player? you said Rashford was took off because of the yellow card, he was taken off to be replaced by a midfielder to close the game up.
 

FlawlessThaw

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He took Rashford off in case he got another yellow and put Fellaini on to ensure we won the midfield battle we were losing.

Questionable penalty moment aside Fellaini did enough helping us get more of the ball and was able to get more counter attaching moments out of it or at the least relieve some pressure.
 

el3mel

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I’m not criticising the performance, im just wondering why we couldn’t have pushed forward like the first half. The Fellaini incident most definitely was a pen by the way and when the player coming off for him scored 2 goals earlier in the game it would be a massive talking point today.

You’re right though it’s all if’s and but’s at the end of the day we won, I would have loved it if we carried on like the first half that’s all because it was the best I’ve seen us for ages.
Because Liverpool weren't going to watch you win without trying to make anything. It was predicted they'll push forward at second half. The key was we nullified them and make the period of their dominance aimless. They did nothing with it.

Fellaini ball wasn't a penalty in a hundreds years, but it has a thread about it anyway so won't drag this point any farther.
 

Castia

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You seem to be missing the point. That must be four times in two years when their forwards have had off days against us.
It's almost as if big games are really close affairs decided by managers making razor thin decisions.
You seem to be upset it was even a contest yesterday

Nah the result and first half performance was brilliant, the second half defensively was brilliant my only criticism is that I’d have loved to play like we did in the first half, meh we got the result that’s all that matters I suppose.
 

prath92

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Lingard because he’s a wide attacking player? you said Rashford was took off because of the yellow card, he was taken off to be replaced by a midfielder to close the game up.
Yeah which was the most sensible sub you could make at the time.
 

Beachryan

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As I posted in a separate thread, I really believe a better PR strategy could help with this, and that constantly having the media against us will impact games.

These idiots, sorry pundits, generally have the mental capabilities of, well, a footballer. They're clearly susceptible to flattery and bribery. Why do you think no one dares mention human rights and City in the same sentence?

We should be shameless in manipulating these idiots because it's easy and might help us one day on the pitch.

Also, the same pundits love Juve and Atleti, so, erm...?
 

Rafaeldagold

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It seems like the media won’t praise us unless we win 5-0 every game- (and even then it would be feint praise while discussing how poor the opposition were to lose 5-0) If Liverpool did the same thing to us it would be praised as Klopp tactically outwitting Jose.
 

Hed Zitin

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We're pissing them off. Good. Shows we are OK.

Most of these idiots are no better than the loud mouth in the pub.

Sunday supplement is a joke. More fool Sky for paying these cretins. Especially Alice Band.
 

Nik70

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I’ve not watched MOTD nor care what they think, I used my own eyes and it most definitely was a pen, it’s not even a close decision.
Are you serious? It was never a penalty. Fellaini uses his left leg to try to shield the ball from Mane and Mane is the one who clatters the back of his leg. Of course Mane made a theatrical dive to try to win the penalty. If anything it should have been a free kick to United.
 

Canagel

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According to many it was a smash and grab victory. I'm like do they even watch the games before talking nonsense? The 2-1 scoreline flattered Liverpool and like Mourinho said our 1st half was a half with goals and danger. Mata had the best chance of the game but Liverpool created nothing and were restricted to shots from distance. Let them keep talking shite and we do our talking on the pitch.
 

Xaviesta

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If it's any consolation, Martin Samuel praised Mourinho and had a positive outlook on United's season to this point in his column today.
 

Dante

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If it's any consolation, Martin Samuel praised Mourinho and had a positive outlook on United's season to this point in his column today.
This thread isn't about balance. It's about constructing a paranoid delusion that everyone isn't against United.
 

Crimson King

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I try not to get too sucked in to the ABU stuff, although I do think there is some truth to it.

However, I am disappointed that in recent weeks we've put in decent performances and beaten Chelsea and an in-form Liverpool, despite not being in great form at all ourselves, and also come back from 2-0 down away to Palace, yet most of the coverage is very negative.

All the talk is recycled clickbait garbage, and only shows how the media can spin perception. Somebody in my office didn't think we'd win against 'pool because we never score more than 1, and i had to point out we've won 4-0 quite a few times this season, and put 3 past palace last week!

It really is the part of football I can do without. I gave up reading the coverage and newspaper columns ages ago, just listen to a few podcasts now.
 

Bobski

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Utd-Liverpool matches are normally ugly, scrappy games where the tension and pressure is too much for any great football to break out. Mou implemented his strategy to perfection, identified a weak area and exploited it, then sat and invited Liverpool to show how one dimensional their attacking play is. Nearly perfect game from Mourinho's point.

Not going to pretend it was a great watch though and we see this approach time and again from him in big games(and many that are not), risk averse, sit deep, long ball and wait for a mistake. Would like to see a braver Utd willing to carry the game, especially as the home side and with the money spent, but this is the Mourinho experience. Great week for him with 2 big wins at home, and expect Utd to dispatch Sevilla with some comfort, results are there.
 

TheLastQuestion

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I try not to get too sucked in to the ABU stuff, although I do think there is some truth to it.

However, I am disappointed that in recent weeks we've put in decent performances and beaten Chelsea and an in-form Liverpool, despite not being in great form at all ourselves, and also come back from 2-0 down away to Palace, yet most of the coverage is very negative.

All the talk is recycled clickbait garbage, and only shows how the media can spin perception. Somebody in my office didn't think we'd win against 'pool because we never score more than 1, and i had to point out we've won 4-0 quite a few times this season, and put 3 past palace last week!

It really is the part of football I can do without. I gave up reading the coverage and newspaper columns ages ago, just listen to a few podcasts now.
I feel the same as you, think it's just something we have to accept to a certain extent while having Mourinho as manager and being fans of this club. Too many people in the media hate him and United for it to stop.

It's become hard to talk football with some of my liverpool friends now because they cannot praise us at all. Every comment is negative and a lot of them are like you said, recycled garbage. Even heard totally serious comparisons between Liverpool and Barcelona recently...
 

Bobski

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Tonight is exactly why they are negative towards Utd, but mostly Mourinho. His approach to this tie was an embarrassment.
 

iluvoursolskjær

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Performances and consequent results like today gives ammo to the agenda driven wanks out there and witnessing what we did tonight you can’t really blame them for it. Mourinho allows them by throwing them bones like he did today and it’s fair fecking play the way I see it at this moment in time...
 

Bastian

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It's still their main story. A few scathing comments by none other than the honourable football authority Chris Sutton. The way this "story" is going around it's like some heavy weight intellectual is making these comments.
 

Bastian

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Radio One have been reporting it all morning as the second most important piece of news they have
Barney Ronay had an opinion piece on the Guardian a few days ago saying similar things with a bit more articulation. Strange that they need a nobody to say these things a few days later to create their headline "news".
 

Witchking

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It's still their main story. A few scathing comments by none other than the honourable football authority Chris Sutton. The way this "story" is going around it's like some heavy weight intellectual is making these comments.
It looks like a hit job. Sutton is a pundit, he talks shit, but Jose should hopefully ignore it and move on. But like the Frank De Boer one, he will pick this up and give the crappy tabloids something to write about for the next 2 weeks. Only United loses out in such childish stuff.
 

gajender

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Honestly speaking guys did you even read the article there is nothing malicious or even remotely controversial in the article it's more or less spot on atleast the part by Sutton.
 

AlwaysRed66

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I have been critical of Mourinhos' tactics & agree with some of the comments in the article, but then I saw who had written it. Sutton is a moron, who was an average footballer, & one of the worst pundits on televisions. The only person who matters to him is Chris Sutton.
 

Bastian

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It looks like a hit job. Sutton is a pundit, he talks shit, but Jose should hopefully ignore it and move on. But like the Frank De Boer one, he will pick this up and give the crappy tabloids something to write about for the next 2 weeks. Only United loses out in such childish stuff.
I hope he doesn't take the bait. Just laughs it off. And continues in that fashion. If a major figure puts him down, fair enough, tear them to pieces. But not some nobody.
 

Bastian

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Honestly speaking guys did you even read the article there is nothing malicious or even remotely controversial in the article it's more or less spot on atleast the part by Sutton.
He says he's "changed personality". That in itself is so absurd that I have no words. He says when he first arrived he was a genius but now looks outdated. There is no appreciation of context. There is no deep analysis. The Ronay opinion piece was at least something.