Match Day Thread United vs City

Interesting that you mention Arsenal. Solskjaer is one defeat away from a press/media clamour for his sacking. After that defeat the press as one called for his sacking. Yet here we have a team with 4 consecutive home defeats, red cards galore, 15th in mid December and only one point from the last month of games. Not a single call from media pundits for his sacking. Ok, Arsenal may not be as big as United but they are big 3 in terms of size and have significant recent pedigree too.

Most of the ex Arsenal players stay quiet. Yet are vociferous in calling for Solskjaer to go. Double standards ?

 

There is no double standard. Or rather let me rephrase that... There are various standards across the league. Not just double. Arsenal can rot in the gutter for all I care, we should not be using it as a benchmark for where we need to be. So hypothetically, if Arsenal gets relegated, should we be grateful to finish 16th?

One key point is that we have the largest wage bill in the league. It is rightly so that all eyes will be on us. If you're paying top dollars which ultimately is at the expense of the supporters, then performance should be in line with that. Not this hot and cold nonsense that we get served up right now.

 

if you think that the press and media do not target United then you are burying your head in the sand. This is not about whether Solskjaer is doing a good job or not. He may or may not be sacked in the near future. And I am not comparing our club with Arsenal. My point is that Solskjaer gets treated differently and much worse by the media pundits. Even when he wins his critics use that as confirmation of his inconsistency. Pundits call for his sacking immediately after a loss while with Arteta he gets lots of slack.

I personally think whether it’s solskjaer or Arteta, managers should be given time. Mourinho and Van Gaal were supposed to be great managers but did we mourn their dismissal? Their football put us all to sleep and we even had people saying they preferred to lose the match playing a more attractive football. People have short memories.

 

That's a fair point Smithy but that game against City was far from attractive Same with the games against Arsenal and Chelsea.

Had we done so and lost I would've happily taken that stance you mention. I actually think we would've won though... certainly more points than the 2 we got out of those 3 games.

 

yepp, using Arsenal as a benchmark for now does not seem like an ideal case

 

I'm glad that you brought up Mourinho and Van Gaal with the point being - it doesn't matter who is the manager of the club, of course they will be treated differently by the press. Why is this even news? It's exactly part and parcel of what the club is about for as long as I can remember. United attracts critical attention on both ends of the spectrum regardless. We know this! Ole knows this!

As for using wins as an excuse to point to team's inconsistency, rightly so! This is not the press just making sh* up. The results speak for themselves and I fail to understand why we continue to gloss over that very fact.

We are a deeply inconsistent team on the field. You never know what gets served up and this squarely down to the manager, not the perception or bias of the press. And certainly, let's stop talking about Arsenal because that has zero relevance to our situation.

 

While no one can argue about the inconsistency, who else is really consistent? City for all the consistent praise they get are on the same points as us and played a game more. Chelsea and Lampard get lots of praise too but they are not much further ahead. The RS and Spurs again are top but then are not miles ahead and play each other. Their managers are being praised as the best thing since sliced bread.

Look. You of course have a point about the inconsistency. For me Solskjaer deserves to get a chance despite that. Those who call for a new manager at this point are misguided.

I am quite happy to agree to disagree.

 

Look fck what's gone before. What are we going do now? With results over the last few days, we've been presented with a fantastic opportunity to extend a lead over City, leapfrog Chelsea by about 4 points and establish ourselves in the Top 4. And whatever happens between Spurs and Liverpool will give us the opportunity to close the gap further at the top and actually challenge, believe it or not.

So what are we going to do now? And what are people's expectations... because mine are fcking high and not in the least bit unreasonable. So barring injuries, no more excuses.

 

I've learnt not to have expectations in this seasons league. Absolutely ****ing crazy. If you expect to win easily you are in trouble. No expectations no disappointments

And to throw cold water over your obvious excitement Sheffield are going to fight like demons. Don't expect an easy 3 points.

 

See that tells me even you deep down have little faith in what Ole's able to achieve

I would never say easily, but with the players we have we should be able to take advantage of our rivals dropping points. If we're a top club, that much you expect.

 

I have always "expected it" but even under Fergie they so often proved me wrong when i comes to taking advantage of others failures.

 

Mate Ole has a long way to go before he's earned the right to be compared to Fergie.

This, what we're seeing now should be part of that.

 

Every team is expecting to take advantage of others dropping points

 

I can't believe ppl are making excuses for him before we've even played these games

You already fear the worst deep down, but then have a go at others for expecting the worst as well.

 

Wasn't a comparison, just a fact that we have always tripped up when we could have caught up.

 

Not always and far less than you're making out. Certainly moreso towards the end of his tenure but fcking hell at the same time he got us winning titles with some poor players who were worse than what we have at the moment.

 

After 6/7 years of trying?

 

I thought you weren't comparing?

Anyway lets not go too deep on this. Is it fair to say we should look to take advantage of our rivals dropping points and that this is a good opportunity to do so?

If we do, then I'll be applauding Ole as much as the next man.

 

" Ok. You want the truth? Can you handle the truth? "

I am hoping for 0-2 but prepared to cope with a 1-1 last minute equaliser...

 

Good man, just back the team and hope we get what we want/need