I'm going to start a completely self-indulgent thread, arrogantly presuming that my opinion is worthy of a thread to itself but also in protest against this "mega-thread" shite where any novel perspective or piece of news gets lost amongst the 40 or 50 pages discussing each players career and/or our Sunday League quality options in central midfield.



I've been dipping in and out of this place throughout the season and can't say I was expecting much rational thought after last night's defeat but you've still managed to surprise me. Even with low expectations I was genuinely astonished at how unamimous the pissing of pants was on here last night/this morning. You've excelled yourselves. Well done.



I've been reading United fans comments on various fan fora since about 2002. Every single season, without fail, people lose their shit for 24 hours after we lose a game of football. No matter the opposition, no matter the context, no matter the performance. Toys get thrown out prams, the team selections gets picked apart and individual players get scapegoated for the defeat. I can kind of understand it too. If your team gets beaten you're bound to focus on negative to try and see if we could have avoided defeat. This has to be seen in perspective, though. Guess what? We can't win every game. Especially when we're playing the better teams in the league. It's harder to take when we're beaten by teams we should be a lot better than. I'm thinking Wigan last season, or Bolton in 07/08. Speaking of 07/08, it's interesting to read all the comments about how we were an infinitely superior team in the league that season to the team we are now. Worth remembering that in that particular season City matched last night's scoreline at Old Trafford and also beat us at their place. Derby games have thrown up lots of bad results for us in the Premier League. I know 90% of redcafe are too young to remember but I'm still scarred by memories of Shaun fecking Goater in the last derby to be played at Maine Road.



Sometimes Manchester United loses a game of football. Sometimes they lose derbies. Shit happens. That's football. What has me really fecking bemused is the group hysteria which has somehow distorted reality to a point where the consensus on here is that City kicked our arse for 90 minutes. What the actual feck? We had 15 shots on goal to their 10. 10 shots from inside the box compared to 6 by City players. United had 55% of the possession. passed the ball more accurately (82% vs 76%) and made more passes in total (443 vs 353) We made more tackles and won a higher % of tackles attempted. Pretty much the only stat where City looked the better team was in goals scored, one of which should not have counted. Obviously, stats need to be interpreted in context and I don't think United dominated as much as you'd think from reading those statistics. I saw it as an even game, with both sides approaching the game with their usual, differing styles. We set up to soak up pressure and counter-attack (the way we fecking ALWAYS approach tough games like this, something that gets promptly forgotten by the hive mind on here this season the moment we fail to pick up all three points prompting hysterical outbursts about "cowardice" from the team/manager) and City tried to find space in the middle of the park for Silva and Toure to pass and probe with Tevez and later (spit) Aguero trying to pull our defenders out of place with clever movement. For most of the game the two teams cancelled each other out, with neither keeper making any kind of meaningful save until we gifted (oh Ryan) City their first (offside) goal, scored from a set-piece and eventually got undone by a moment of individual brilliance. What definitely did not happen, despite thousands of words posted on here to the contrary, was City comprehensively outplaying United or somehow dominating the game. That's just hysterical nonsense. Last season we got our arses handed to us by City, last night we most definitely did not.



Now, to look at the game in context. This was the first time we've dropped any points in the league since fecking January! the first game we haven't won after a run of 7 consecutive victories. Obviously, we didn't win all these games by wide margins but we've always looked very much in control. A lot of people have been getting all giddy about the form of De Gea but (cup games aside) when was the last time you've seen him make a really good save or come under any sort of pressure? We put together that run of 21/21 points while rotating heavily to play in some really tough cup games and still managed to dispatch those seven teams without ever really looking like dropping points. That's an extraordinary run which had to end some time. No great surprise or shame that it does finally end when we play the reigning champions. Honestly, it's really not that big a deal. Stuff like this happens in football.



I know a lot of caftards are still menstruating heavily after getting knocked out of the cups but again, we lost to quality teams by very fine margins. Sure Chelsea are having a poor/transition season but, love him or hate him, their fat Spanish manager has a knack for getting his teams to go on decent cup runs and has the players at his disposal to get results when it counts. Obviously, we lost that tie at Old Trafford when we couldn't keep up our first half domination for 90 minutes. In the context of the gut-wrenching injustice we experienced mid-week it's not hard to see why so many United players struggled to keep their composure. Which brings me on to the Madrid games. two fixtures that, for me, only reinforced how good our current team is. To be honest, I feared an absolute thumping. Would never have predicted the Madrid keeper to be by far the busier of the two, throughout 180 minutes of football, including a lengthy (and totally unjustified) spell of 11 vs 10.



So yeah, get a fecking grip. There's a reason Fergie didn't look very rattled in his post-match interview and it's more than just trying to make his players feel better. He's able to see the performance and result in perspective. Just a shame that hardly any fecker on redcafe is capable of doing the same.



Anyway. Good to be back. What's the craic?