The Manchester derby officials get a kicking but there’s not a great deal of sympathy for Bruno Fernandes.
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United we stand, United we fall
I guess it is true after all; the bigger teams do get the crucial game changing decisions going their way.
Mike D
Manchester derby officials stand accused
Well there you have it. I have been banging this drum for years and can add that offside decision to the pile of evidence. Incompetency and corruption clearly runs deep when it comes to PGMOL. They can keep their apology this time, vacant words mean nothing – in any other profession the perpetrators would be collecting their P45s.
Incompetence can be forgiven when decisions are being made in ‘real time’. But when two or three of the clowns are making terrible decisions after watching an incident in slow motion at least twenty times, clowns who are supposed to know the laws/rules of the game, to make such blatantly wrong decisions verges into corruption.
We started the game well and were on top before the red card. Oliver got a decision correct (for a change) as it was definitely a red card. Bruno deserved a yellow, but kicking out like Foden did is always asking for trouble. I have no idea why we then took our foot off the gas and allowed City to dictate the play as much.
Carrick should have brought Sesko on at HT; I personally would have had him on from the start. The Cunha false 9 experiment needs to end here – he goes wandering too much and often takes up space occupied by Bruno (who had a poor game truth be told). We definitely made mistakes and didn’t take advantage of the extra man, with both our fullbacks being notably wasteful. We didn’t deserve to win, but also didn’t deserve to lose to such a shocking decision.
One thing I will give to the City fans, at least they filled their allocated seats which doesn’t happen at the Etihad. 115 charges have disappeared and still getting awful decisions in their favour. The universe must be storing up a typhoon of schadenfreude, and I will enjoy the delivery of that immensely. More than I enjoyed Dalot’s deliveries that’s for sure.
Garey Vance, MUFC
READ: Man City reap rewards of two dodgy decisions as Carrick’s Man Utd still lack ‘passion’
…They should at least publish the costs so other teams can weigh up whether they want to cheat too.
Moses
You sweet, sweet bag of Karma
To have Bruno’s (what a pathetic sportsman) play acting, red card causing, character summarising bullsh1t antics offset by a clearly offside winner for City is the most divine, succulent piece of Karma I have ever witnessed.
Too afraid to let actual football do the talking because, lets face it, Utd are back to being a mid table team again after getting a ton of points last season against the run of play. Bruno instead tries to ruin the spectacle for everyone when Foden moved his limbs in a way humans often do. There was no kick. Bruno’s kick on Foden half a second prior was far more of a kick for Christ’s sake. But Foden didn’t play act like that pathetic excuse of a player did.
Let’s also not forget Bruno’s goal a few seasons back when an offside Rashford played the ball til the last milisecond before Bruno scored and Utd came from behind to win in a season when top 4 was incredibly competitive.
Yea, Karma is fuck1ng real guys.
Patricio Del Toro
…I’ve just seen it. The only thing Foden did wrong was that it wasn’t hard enough.
Bruno is a rat.
Aidan, EFC, Hoxton
Making it about Liverpool as per…
Following Will Ford’s article headlined ‘Could Alisson’s Liverpool admission see Andoni Iraola sacked in January again?’, are we going to see a ‘Could failure to beat 10 men Man City see Michael Carrick sacked in June again?’ equivalent?
Or you saving the bullshit for the new manager with 6 points, rather than the guy who has been in place longer who has only 4?
A, LFC, Montreal
Red Invincibles?
Other Liverpool fans need to stop hyperventilating… there’s obviously going to be one or two draws during an unbeaten season.
Oliver, London
A bit brutal?
Are there four or five types of top league football taking place?
What do the Dutch and Duetch footie afficionados think of our ‘prem stuff’?
Do the Italian footie fans look down upon it?
Do the spanish footie fans see it as aggressive, brutal, faster & stronger than you ! artless mince?
Thoughts on a postcard.
Peter (top kits: Forest, Brentford Sunderland, Hull. Andalucia)
Guess who’s back…
Remember when Frank Lampard managed Everton and Chelsea in the same season, and there was a debate about who was the worst team in the league that year? Was it Frank Lampard’s Everton or Frank Lampard’s Chelsea?
Well, after his surprising success last year, we’re back to form.
Colin Brown
Championship not so bad
Obviously it is great to see West Ham top off the league with 4 consecutive wins and 16 goals scored in the process. We’ve even managed to keep a couple of clean sheets in that run, though the defence remains a big concern.
However the most pleasing thing this season is the certainty of being able to celebrate a goal without wondering if VAR will stick its beak in. Even when a goal or decision goes against you, it is so much better to just be able to call the ref (or Max Kilman) a c**t and move on. Another added bonus is the lower added time in each half. I’d got so used to seeing 7+ that it felt weird when matches were finishing after 94 minutes.
It’s not just the lack of 3 or 4 minute reviews, it’s also the absence of the 10 second delay while something is checked that disrupts the flow of the game.
We haven’t had any absolute howlers yet and maybe my opinion might change a bit if Josh Coburn punches one in for Millwall next week. But even then I think I’d advocate that this is a much better overall experience for fans (both match going and on TV).
Andy the Hammer (Friday night wins feel even sweeter)
The good, the bad and the ugly from Villa Park
Why not start positive, right? They did a goal. That’s a start. Manzambi and Mbaye showed glimpses of what’s to come. Add Gomes back in and Goretzka and Madjo as further options and there’s reasons to be optimistic. Spurs next in the PL. That’s going to being an uncomfortable watch for everyone.
The bad… Forest deserved the win. The game management in the 2nd half was awful. Kamara trying a flick for no reason leading to the Forest opener. Using 5 subs by 60 second minutes does sort of ask for trouble. I don’t like digging out players, but my word Tammy Abraham was atrocious. A general lack of composure all round (McGinn excepted).
The ugly… The ‘challenge’ on Maatsen (looks like he’ll be out for a while) by McAtee was awful. It probably isn’t a red, but it really was cowardly. Villa then end up down to 10 men and Forest take all the momentum (fair play). Feels a bit unfair that rule. Appreciate players can’t just go down to get an extra sub on, but when you’ve booked the oppo player for a cynical foul, maybe a sub should be allowed?
The ugly part II. The carcass of the North Stand really isn’t a good look. Sort of a visual representation of the rebuild Villa are going through on the pitch.
Win the two games before the international break though, and things will feel different.
Gary AVFC, Oxford (Still patiently optimistic).
Have Liverpool and Spurs draws really proved anything?
Responding to a post today (14/9/26) from “RHT/TS”, seemingly mourning a bygone era from the 90s/00s.
Now, I’m as easy to nostalgia bait as any, and I do think there’s merit as to the quality of *entertainment* being sub optimal. But the actual quality of teams, players and coaching has only gone up.
Compare the bottom/mid table teams from previous decades to now. The player quality alone is light years away. Man for man, most premier league teams are solid, 7/10, well coached sides. Look at how the PL sides have been in the Europa/Conference leagues.
I also take umbrage with the phrasing of “proving” the quality is lower.
1) there is no “proof.” It’s sport. It’s subjective. Even I can’t claim to be “correct” about *anything* here (except maybe this?)
2) a handful of boring games does not make a full picture. Every year, 20 teams play 38 times. Every year, a lot of these will be crap. Welcome to life!
I rewatched the the invincibles doc recently, some of those games were awful!
I would really appreciate it if we could collectively agree to stop drawing permanent conclusions from temporary situations. Pretty please? And maybe, just maybe, we can enjoy the fact that the premier league has never had a deeper talent pool.
I have my own gripes with modern football, as do we all. So let’s at least appreciate the good bits!
Jv
(I just like to enjoy things…)
And the grumpy man is back again…
….and Arsenal put the cherry on the stinking turd of a cake that is the PL in 2026. Gabriel is beyond embarrassing now, just a shameless blatant cheat. Saka isn’t far behind him either, every breath an opponent takes in his general vicinity results in him on his back (always on his back, whatever contortion he needs to make sure he can land face up and wave his right arm about while he looks up at the ref and whines). Guess he needs to cover up those ever decreasing numbers somehow.
The most egregious bit of all of it though is that it’s so unnecessary. I mean, look how good Raya is when he’s not throwing himself on the floor. Or Guimaraes having the ability, balls, and calm head to lash in a worldy while an entire stadium makes rude allegations about his female relatives.
But yeah, this is waaaaay better than watching Henry & co ripping it up back in the day. I mean, they were still cheats to an extent same as all PL teams are, for Saka read Pires, or the big hairy semi-sentient thug Keown rumbling around twatting people, but by God, they mostly played high quality attacking football that made us all squeak like GNev opening his latest bank statement.
RHT/TS x
(Benn getting splatted in round two improved my mood greatly later on though – now stfu and go away please Conor, Stevie Wonder could see you were a nepo baby fraud at a thousand paces)