United And The Problem Of Perception

redbornandbred (Manchester United) says...

@teutonicfaith Why weren't united competing against RM until the referee intervened. As for the tenor of this article if United are not as good as 10 years ago, what does it say about the rest? As for Bayern and the german league, Arsenal made them look pretty ordinary yesterday without two of their best players. Never let the facts get in the way of a crap story ......

Posted 10:47am 14th March 2013

monkey_d_luffy (Manchester United) says...

I think it's impossible for anyone to know how competitive this or that year was. The stats and the memories clash, giving contrary perceptions. It's like an optical illusion. The only certainty is that Ferguson circa now is a monster of a manager. Remember Real Madrid away 1-3 and before that 2-3 at OT(Keane scored og) in the CL. Ferguson's growth seemed to have been mirrored in his assistants. The moment Rangers took Archie Knox and Brian Kidd replaced him, Ferguson improved. Then The future Wally with the brolly came just in time for the treble. Mclaren slashed injuries by half. Later Carlos Quieroz did wonders for the defence, helped Fergie enormously. Now Ferguson doesn't need a good assistant. Ferguson is now the complete manager. We'll miss him when he goes.

Posted 8:14pm 12th March 2013

teutonicfaith says...

I'm going to be pithy- no, it does not matter. I would like Man Utd to do better in Europe and in terms of competing against sides of the standard of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Dortmund and Bayern- yes, this Man Utd team are in transition. However they are favourites to win the league and I think they haven't got enough credit from journalists and certain sections of the media for some of the performances this season (not bothered about what rival fans think). When Utd win comfortably in a 4-0 or 5-0 win, the other team were awful and 'rolled over for them'; when they scrape a 3-2 or 4-3 win, some player (usually RVP this season) has 'spared their blushes'; when Utd win 1-0 or 2-0 they 'ground out a dull victory'. So every manner of victory can get diminished if the reporter chooses to do so. And of course any draws and defeats can be reported as disastrous results that would never have happened to the 1999 team, etc.

Posted 4:20pm 12th March 2013

phyodabomb (Manchester United) says...

People keep saying the league is poor. Have they checked the tables in La Liga and Bundesliga? Bayern has conceded only 10 goals this season, granted they've played 3 less games than United. Barcelona are on par with 30 goals conceded. On the scoring side, Bayern has scored 67 goals in 25 games. Don't even talk about Barca's goals. United have scored 68 and conceded 31. You can't say that the EPL is poor if the league leaders are doing just about the same as other league leaders. But like everything else, you can't win any arguments. If United scored 5 goals a game, then people will say everyone's just rolling over for them. When United is grinding out 1-0 wins, the team is sh*te. And FYI, Barca is ahead by 13 points, Bayern by a ginormous 20. I think everyone's doing fine.

Posted 2:10pm 12th March 2013

wezmond (Manchester United) says...

Currently - worse first XI, better squad than the 'great' United teams. Just a different approach required by different demands of the game.

Posted 1:11pm 12th March 2013

Synergy says...

@pete_borota (Chelsea)> Please name the top 5 teams from the 99 season. United beat Arsenal by 18 points in that season.

Lets get real, the PL was a 2-3 team league in the past (United, Arsenal and occasionally Pool, with a couple of 1-2 season wonders). The sugar daddies buying their playthings in this league has made it very competitive. People whining about City not restocking (restock what, they lost only DeJong), Chelsea are in transition, but were even more rubbish last year and Arsenal are Arsenal (aiming for the 4th place Wenger special trophy).

On the flip side each of the lower teams has top players who could start for the top teams and they give the top teams good games, without having to park the bus and rely on hoof ball.

Its nice to be romantic and assume the league was competitive in the past. Honestly speaking it wasn't. Its way more competitive today. Only difference is one team has stayed consistent and eked out victories while others have floundered.

Posted 10:29am 12th March 2013

crookster (Manchester United) says...

@ HARRY - have to disagree with you brother. I don't believe the teams below the top six have improved at all. Liverpool have stop-started all season. They used to beat the big sides and drop points to the little guys.. they are doing the opposite now. Everton are the very same as they where last year more or less but worringly for them ship an unreal amount of goals - something like two clean sheets all season. Stoke, sunderland, villa, qpr, wigan, reading have been poison all year long. West ham were not there last year and have done just about enough to stay in the league fair play to them. I'll give you swansea and west brom - both have performed very well all things considered. Fulham hard to call - are they better having lost dembele and dempsey but gained berb.. i'll say no marginally. I can honestly say I strongly believe the quality has not improved this year. It has moved backwards some what. The top teams haven't helped this (che & city) with their performances to date. While I agree they have quality in personell that means little or nothing if you are not getting that quality out of them. Standards have dropped significantly in my opinion. It's been a very poor premier league this year. Still, how happy I will be if we claim back the crown come may. We will have deserved it for being the most consistent performers this year without question.

Posted 9:27am 12th March 2013

nicobellik (Manchester United) says...

The team is not as good as in years gone by, but the overall squad is very good. Perhaps it's not a team sport anymore, may the best squad win..

Posted 7:27pm 11th March 2013

r.milne says...

Johnsen (Ronny), Blomqvist, Greening, May, van der Gouw. All members of our 1999 Champions League winning squad (and two of them started!)

Posted 5:37pm 11th March 2013

lucianobecchio (Leeds United) says...

r.milne- do people often give credence to your opinion; biased or not?

Posted 5:04pm 11th March 2013