Manchester Utd 4 Hull City 3 – thoughts on the match

Well, well, well…

That was a title I didn’t expect to type.  At half time I was saying I’d be “happy” if it went to 5-1, because at least we’d scored at Old Trafford.

Watching it live through an online streaming thing makes you feel a bit dizzy and sick after a while and it’s hard to properly follow what’s happening.

Like everyone, I’ve watched ManU hundreds of times, so of course I knew they were good.  And bloody hell we allowed them to be great in the first half.  Their passing and speed and constant hassling is, well, awesome. 

Even comparing them against Chelski the other day, they just looked so good – and the team effort that really stands out with them.  Every ManU player is obviously schooled to harrass and press whenever the opposition has the ball.  Chelsea have a team of great players, but ManU play great as a team.

Enough of this Scum-loving now!

Well, I was scared of the ManU midfield sitting at home, so I can completely understand why the Hull players lost heart.  The passing was atrocious in the first half, but I really think Ashbee was missed – he would have kept it a bit neater (or have been sent off for breaking Rooney’s leg…)

Geo was especially guilty of giving the ball away – and as every armchair pundit knows – against the top teams POSSESSION IS EVERYTHING ALAN.

So, a very good free kick got us a goal back – and that almost seemed enough.  At half-time, 3-1 – not too shabby.

When they went up to 4-1, the Setanta pundits were writing us off and Steve and I were making ridiculous, hopeful statements, like:  “It would be even better than Liverpool in the Champions League final if we equalise ha ha ha…”

First half is not so much Scotland against Brazil, but San Marino against Brazil.

Once again, it seemed that when all hope seems to be lost, all the fear and self-consciousness in the players evaporates.  All the nerves that make home games so testy are washed away as (what seems like) genuine bloody-minded outrage at being beaten takes over.

It helped that Brown made another of his mind-bogglingly good substitions.  In previous posts I’ve dismissed Mendy as shit, but when he came on it changed the game.

He had pace on the wing – and then – that GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!  Yes, it was a goal, but it took us ages to realise and for quite a while I wondered if the City players realised it had been given.

4-2.  The Sentanta commentators are dribbling on about Hull continuing to bother to play even though they are shit, ManU are shit hot and why do they bother, you’d think they’d realise that they should just concede the game now…

God obviously hates patronising pundits too because it’s clear the newly 4-5-1 City are now passing the ball around well, Ronaldo is having an off-day and reverting to dying swan routines because his attempts on goal go wide, Rooney’s starting to get a frustrated (there’s a brilliant close-up at one point of him shouting about a decision that didn’t go his way where you don’t need to be a lipreader to see he’s saying “fuucccchhhhhhhin penalteeeee”) and it generally looks more even.

ManU are still horrifically scary when they get the ball though, but it must be the tension that causes Rio to pull down Mendy in the box.  PENALTY!!!!

I can barely watch Geo go to take it, but – wow – great penalty.

4-3.  We want to equalise so much, but then the patronising commentators (who are of course now Hull City cheerleaders) point out that ManU haven’t conceded since the first game of the season – and now they’ve conceded 3

If we’d had 5 more minutes, I reckon we would have definitely equalised – if not won…

By the way, the absence of a West Brom match report is no reflection on my thoughts about that game – I just developed a particularly nasty cold after it and have basically have been living in a world of phlegm.

Breaking news:  Congrats to Stoke on beating Arsenal – hope they’re enjoying it as much as we did!