That was my thread, and it has nothing to do with refs favouring anyone, but how fickle pundits and fans can be. How they write Man Utd off before a ball is kicked and then one win later they are top dogs again, and how everyone spooged about Chelsea as dead certs for the title and are now writing us off because we didnt get into double figures against Hull
It is f**king astonishing that United as champions are only third favourites. That would not have happened with Ferguson on board, Maureen or no Maureen. With SAF at the helm, definite favourites (if champions) or second favourites (if previous runners up). This shows that they are not too confident in DM's ability in his first year. I have the impression that we will see so called pundits changing their forecast as the season goes on.
Of course. Not saying we will retain our title but if we are in the mix watch them eat their words and attempt to save face claiming they always knew DM had it in him.
the press love mourinho, they want to bum him every time they see his face, i would love it if we beat the rentboys on monday love it just to see the arrogant twat's face.
They won't give Moyes any credit. If he wins the title it will be because he inherited a championship winning team (albeit one that is regularly referred to as average and only successful due to Fergie). If he fails to win the title he will be condemned for failing with a championship winning team. People desperately want him to fail. The last thing they want to endure is a third Scot overseeing a successful era at United!
That's spot on, he's on a hiding to nothing in the short to medium term. When the inevitable blip occurs the media will look to stone him to death.
True, but then the media were looking to stone SAF to death for years. Every time we failed to win the title the knives came out and it was the end of an era and the signs that SAF no longer had the magic touch. Yet every time he was written we bounced back and the media had to eat their words. Bet there are a whole lot of frustrated journos out there with a massive pile of stones labelled 'Utd' they have been building up over the years just waiting for a chance to hurl them.
nah, Ferguson had massive respect in the game & the media, yes of course they always looked to overblow a couple of poor results into a 'crisis' but the stories never gained any traction as he always turned it around very quickly. Imagine the press reaction to Moyes if he suffered the same 1-6 home reverse to City? There's your yardstick mate.
Only to say that predicting what would have happened if we had won that game would be pure speculation as no one knows what would have happened
That's the key point mate - SAF always turned it around before the press got traction. If Moyes suffered a big home defeat then he'd face a major press reaction, but as long as he turned it around over the next few games he'd be fine. After all the 6-1 home defeat under SAF resulted in the usual hacks pulling out the same old articles about the power shift, decline etc etc. It would only be if we really struggled for a long period, and fell out of touch with the leaders, that the knives would really be out. But then that was always the same with SAF - just look at the number of journos who wrote us off from 04-06.
shock horror, they've had help from the referee tonight, Ivanovic should've been sent off, and Villa should've had a penalty.
Ivanovic is in my Fantasy League team, so I'm delighted. I reckon referees should be included in next year's Fantasy League. Every yellow card: 1 point. Every red card: 5 points. Every penalty: 3 points.
