TheBrownBottle

Nah, the fanzine brigade are the worst of the lot. It’s usually rampant narcissism on show - they tie events in which they’re spectators and actively try to frame their lives around it (with little actual irony applied). The Nick Hornby wannabes - ‘XXX club ruined my life’. People who use a form of entertainment to explain why they’re so fucking miserable all the time. I don’t like watching NUFC lose finals either. But there’s fuck all I can do about it, you can only hope that at some point a manager and team we have at the club manages it. Me twisting my arse about it won’t make any difference - somehow Mick Martin thinks that if our collective attitude is more critical, we’ll be rewarded with more trophies. It’s fucking delusional.

The master of terrible takes. The man just moans for a living. It’s that weird thing where grown adults think that their attitude towards an event can influence the result despite having zero contact with the people involved. Just say we hated the weekend and everyone there had a shit time - how would that impact that result or any future ones? Bizarre egocentrism - it’s the flip side of those who believe that singing or atmosphere makes a difference. It doesn’t make any difference to the result; it makes a difference to the spectacle.

I find stroking them into the box gets the best results, rather than whacking them at no-one in particular

He signed a fortnight ago FFS - can we at least give the lad a month before we write him off? I suspect he meant ‘major’ not ‘domestic’, which some quarters don’t recognise it - mainly because UEFA don’t recognise the Fairs Cup (unlike FIFA)

That’s sort of where my thinking is too. Almiron’s one trick has been picked up and he just looks like the Almiron of old at present. The side needs something fresh to me, but I don’t think Howe is that type of manager

Agreed, I don’t think Pope stops that either

As do I. Not the same thing as being world class, though.

Sadly, it isn’t. The LC runners up don’t get a European slot under any circumstances

Yep. And never forget, we’ve played in the Cup Winners Cup, despite never actually winning a domestic cup as in the entire duration of that competition’s lifetime.

The Man Utd supporters actually from Manchester I’ve met in the past after games have been consistently sound. The spoiled, petulant cunts who brag about the achievements of others tend to be from elsewhere, treating being a fan as a bizarre penis extension.

Could it be the opportunity to do it? It’s a free hit. Though I’m guessing that if we change it up for that one and get hammered then it’ll kill the change stone dead

Neither are world class - neither actually start for their national team, never mind get into a world XI

Agreed - while I understand that one of the world’s better goalies might get fingertips to the second, the reality is his positioning was fine and he was beaten by an unfortunate deflection

I can see ASM being moved on in the not too distant future, but I think the others will all be members of the starting xi in a couple of years time

He wasn’t our worst performer, but I thought he had a poor game. Daft foul for the opener too.

Agreed. Bruno certainly didn’t look close to Casemiro’s class, and Botman is still all potential.

Bruno and Botman didn’t look close to that today. Thought they were two of the worst performers.

This is why the rebuild will take longer than that, and if people are expecting a revolution in the summer they’re going to go on being miserable as sin. I’ve no doubt there’ll be two or three really good players added, but I don’t think top four was the aim this year or next year. We’ve got at least three or four more windows to go before we will have the strength in depth - people need to stop stressing about ‘top four challenges’.

I think that final sentence contradicts the point you made in your first. Though I think that fallacy is the least of the issues, like.

He didn’t manage the first half last year in fairness. Though I think the WC break this season has a big part to play. That Howe has this squad where it is speaks volumes. He’s been the perfect man for the role - I think he’s one of those managers who are smart enough to learn from everything. I don’t doubt today will hurt him, but if (when!) we get to another final with him, he’ll take shitloads of learnings from today and make sure he implements them. The man inspires complete confidence from me

Chucking that FA Cup tie at Hillsborough doesn’t seem such a great idea atm *ducks*

A tired Man Utd sitting back and watching us ineffectually knock the ball around might just skew some of the possession statistics. They looked more dangerous than us second half via their counterattacks. They played Barcelona a couple of days ago, yet somehow looked fresher first half. If we scored, they’d have stepped back up a gear.

Have to say I’d like to see ASM start again vs Man City, with Isak and Gordon also up top.

Yeah, I’m not convinced by that

He’d have been sat with Gordon if we signed him in Jan, mind. Though getting an attacking MF in the summer is likely to be high on the list. The issue is that there are a few positions where that can be said - which is why this isn’t going to be a quick rebuild