Good game for the neutral but ruined by incompetent officiating. I make that 3 offside goals, 3 incorrect penalties and 2 controversial red cards given against us v United in the last 3 games. I'll move on to the decisions later. We started pretty poorly and Cole and Luiz were exposed. I must say in light of everything I thought Antonio Valencia was superb for United, as was De Gea For they are two of few United players I have time for, talented but not crass. I thought tactically Fergie was spot on, the gameplan was to ask up pressure and counter. It was clear he couldn't take us on in a game of football and United were devastating on the break down that right flank, we were overran and in truth after 20 minutes or so could have been 2 down. The fightback was brilliant though. We got our well deserved goal and when Ramires got the equaliser I thought we would go on to win the game. No complaints about the Ivanovic red. As much as Young is a diving cheat, Brana gave him no choice, he was caught out by Young and we paid the price. The Torres red was the turning point, even 10 v 11 we wouldn't have lost that match. It was up there with the Drogba red against Barcelona in Camp Nou for me. I jumped up in excitement thinking it old be 10 v 10 with a free kick in an excellent position. Stunned doesn't even begin to describe it. Never a red card in a million years and any United fan that hasn't lost their marbles will admit that. My love for this Cash cow product called the "Premier League" is non-existent. At least in the CL it's less easy to influence the outcome. Over a 38 game period you've no chance when the odds are consistently stacked in favour of one team. Give Reading or Norwich these kind of advantages consistently and they'd be midtable. Take Barca out the equation then at least in the CL the playing field is fairly level. As each season goes by my love for football decreases. Proud of the players today. As I said earlier you can't legislate for what happened out their today. No amount of hard work, tactics or training can prepare you for that.
I lost my love of England as a team long ago. Now I am losing faith in the Premier League as well. Still, we can move on. No doubt we were the better team when we woke up. Proud of the lads.
We can go into Wednesday's game with confidence imo, we outplayed them for 75% of that game and we've consistently showed how good we are coming from behind this season. Let's move on from this with head held high and knock them out on Weds
Thought you lot were shafted today. Cannot say i'm surprised though. When there are tough decisions to be made - they go against United's opponents. They're too scared of their careers going down the drain if Fergie pops up in the media and says somthing.
What was your thoughts on Torres's first yellow? There's certainly an argument that should've been a red. Overall though, yes Man Utd played their ref card once again...
Yep two appalling decisions from Clattenburg another one and he could've kept the matchball. We didn't do ourselves any favours by leaving our flanks exposed -we've been slow coming out of the blocks in recent matches and Utd seized the opportunity. That being I was greatly encouraged by the team's spirited comeback and by the way they refused to buckle even in the face of appalling odds - have no doubt that we'll be there or thereabouts come May.
Was it for that high foot which made contact? I haven't seen it properly. I remember United getting away with it against us before. First in the Champions League final when Ferdinand almost kicked Joe Cole's head off in their penalty box. Another in the 2009/10 game at the Bridge in the league where Evans kung-fu kicked Drogba's chest. The former was ignored, the second bizarrely led to a free-kick and booking against Drogba.
Evans did the same thing to Drogba and Drogba was booked and left with broken ribs so in proportion I'd say no.
Did you think the Evans decision was correct at the time or wrong? Second question........ have you recently changed your opinion on the Evans to Drogba chest kick?
bad decisions not doubt but it happens so move on and forget it like all the other clubs do outside the top 4
