Gary James
Well-Known Member
Of course it's hard to take at the moment and because it was against you-know-who at you-know-where it hurts more than usual, but we do need to try and look forward. We need to move away from the actual game and be positive about where we are and where we are going.
For me City achieved a moral victory last night. Sure that counts for very little in the end but already we have shaken up football - and utd - so much that we are now seen as real players.
Thinking specifically about last night's result.... First utd did all they could to ensure they selected their strongest possible squad. They even appealed against rio's obvious and deserved punishment just so that he could play against City. That means this was a game utd HAD to win and I would say they needed to win more than us in the end (though again it doesn't feel like that at the moment).
Had they lost they would have lost more than us. It also means that rio will be missing for highly significant League games for utd (assuming the facts are accurately seen) - who knows he may even have an extended ban and that could damage utd's longer term ambition. Short term thinking on utd's part because they knew they could not lose to us - but they can see how the football world is changing.
Next... the fact Neville was nowhere to be seen meant they knew he was a liability. They hid him away. We don't have to do that with our players. We're not ashamed or embarrassed.
Bottles... when Bellamy went to take that corner they threw everything they could at him. Greatest fans in the world? Unfortunately, that incident did disrupt us and I don't think it's coincidence that directly from that corner they made their break and scored. Personally, I'd rather have impeccable fans than that.
Looking forward Mancini has said we'll win the FA Cup - great! I know there's been criticism of others on here for this type of comment but, let's face it, every season we are told that utd will win the Euro Cup but more often than not they don't. It's seen as ambition when others say it, so let's go with it.
Didn't Malcolm Allison boast about what City would achieve. Sometimes he was right, sometimes he was wrong. When he was wrong we always seemed to be a bit more determined the next time (or we conveniently forgot about it).
To me, today hurts, but the future is an awful lot better than it felt when Blackburn knocked us out of the Cup in the qtr final a few years back. We are going somewhere. We will find success. For the first proper time in years I feel that.
For me City achieved a moral victory last night. Sure that counts for very little in the end but already we have shaken up football - and utd - so much that we are now seen as real players.
Thinking specifically about last night's result.... First utd did all they could to ensure they selected their strongest possible squad. They even appealed against rio's obvious and deserved punishment just so that he could play against City. That means this was a game utd HAD to win and I would say they needed to win more than us in the end (though again it doesn't feel like that at the moment).
Had they lost they would have lost more than us. It also means that rio will be missing for highly significant League games for utd (assuming the facts are accurately seen) - who knows he may even have an extended ban and that could damage utd's longer term ambition. Short term thinking on utd's part because they knew they could not lose to us - but they can see how the football world is changing.
Next... the fact Neville was nowhere to be seen meant they knew he was a liability. They hid him away. We don't have to do that with our players. We're not ashamed or embarrassed.
Bottles... when Bellamy went to take that corner they threw everything they could at him. Greatest fans in the world? Unfortunately, that incident did disrupt us and I don't think it's coincidence that directly from that corner they made their break and scored. Personally, I'd rather have impeccable fans than that.
Looking forward Mancini has said we'll win the FA Cup - great! I know there's been criticism of others on here for this type of comment but, let's face it, every season we are told that utd will win the Euro Cup but more often than not they don't. It's seen as ambition when others say it, so let's go with it.
Didn't Malcolm Allison boast about what City would achieve. Sometimes he was right, sometimes he was wrong. When he was wrong we always seemed to be a bit more determined the next time (or we conveniently forgot about it).
To me, today hurts, but the future is an awful lot better than it felt when Blackburn knocked us out of the Cup in the qtr final a few years back. We are going somewhere. We will find success. For the first proper time in years I feel that.