When looking at the mainstream media's news regarding our great football club, 9 times out of 10, it is very negative. That 10th time, it is only slightly negative.
I hardly ever see anything positive regarding United nowadays from the mainstream and even some ex-players/legends.
It appears that all they want to do is talk shit about some of our players; there's the regular player leaks about some issues regarding the club, team-mates or manager; and speaking of Erik ten Hag, he is their favourite topic when it comes to slagging off MUFC.
I'm not saying that it is all sunshine and rainbows at Old Trafford (it's actually quite difficult to say anything positive about us at the moment), but no matter what we and especially the manager do, it will never be good enough.
Damned if we do, damned if we don't.
When this whole 'hate' campaign started against United, I don't know. Why it started as well remains a mystery.
Erik ten Hag took over one of his former sides in FC Utrecht in a testimonial game during the international break. He won 2-1.
These were the headlines from mainstream British media outlets:
They then got their shit straight and changed their headlines.
Even if he did lose, so what? It's a testimonial. With all due respect to Mark van der Maarel - the player whom the testimonial was played for - nobody gives a shit what the result was or how the teams played. This is a match to commemorate a player's career at a club not the Champions League final!
This indicates a clear agenda specifically towards the MUFC boss. However, there are constant negative headlines surrounding the players he brought in during his time in Manchester as well.
Antony, Andre Onana, Lisandro Martinez, Casemiro, and now, Matthijs De Ligt.
The Dutch centre-back did make a couple of errors on international duty for the Netherlands that led to goals for the opposition. It is unacceptable especially for a player of his quality which resulted in manager Ronald Koeman subbing him at halftime in their recent fixture against Germany.
The way his errors were presented across social media though, one may have thought that De Ligt had never seen a football in his life considering the amount of negativity towards his mistakes.
He wasn't completely terrible during these two matches yet only his errors were highlighted. Harry Maguire made a similar mistake to De Ligt in United's 2-1 defeat at Brighton in which he let the cross come right across his body instead of clearing it away. This led to Brighton's first goal.
And that's the thing, only his (De Ligt's) errors were highlighted.
For their second goal, De Ligt was blamed, at least when you read the headlines, for what was poor defending at the back post by the Dutch allowing for a simple tap-in for Joshua Kimmich. De Ligt followed his man to the near post but despite getting something on the ball, it managed to squeeze through and make its way to Kimmich. Three Ducth defenders all stood there and watched as the German put his country 2-1 up.
No mention of that defensive gaff.
And what about players of other countries during the break? Did EVERYONE on international duty score a perfect 10/10 and only De Ligt was poor?
Read the news and it comes off in this manner.
I'm not saying that these players don't deserve criticism because at some point, they've been shite (although some are still currently shite) but for the new signings and let's be honest, the foreign players, the media are in on them like hounds.
Marcus Rashford has been as poor as any of them, no criticism. Luke Shaw hasn't played for MUFC since February but played in the latter stages of the Euros. How is this not discussed even more? Mason Mount is unreliable after having picked up another injury in just over a year at United. No issues with him though. That wasn't a waste of £55m but the £85m on Antony was. Harry Maguire has been nowhere near good enough in his five years at the club. Nothing said about his quality.
This scrutiny towards this manager in particular and all his signings has been clear to see since Erik ten Hag took over at United two years ago. It wasn't something that was there before his arrival as it looked like the media were all on board with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer although they did have it in for interim boss Ralf Rangnick.
Do they not like foreigners or something?
I know Solskjaer is Norwegian but he spent so much of his life in Manchester that he's virtually Mancunian. He's also a legend of the club and an all round nice guy. Very easy to like him.
This dislike towards our club and ten Hag though, is something I can't understand. Why do they (British media and ex-players) like to hate on a club from their own country so much? And the club that is kind of the flag bearer for English football.
Yes, they can disagree with some of the choices made by the club and manager and they can even dislike the club and ten Hag, but to be constantly putting negative stories out there about all things MUFC and our manager is absolutely ridiculous.
There's no club bigger than United in England and while Liverpool may have one more trophy in total than us, we all know who the top dog is.
I feel that a part of the reason they put all this negativity out there as well is to gain interactions. People like the negative news coming from United and it draws the eyes especially with a wider audience, not just United fans.
Mention some positive news, and the interactions won't be as profound.
I believe that United being shit gives them the material they need to keep going. Without us being shite, which we are, they have nothing.
They need us more than we need them.
I guess you're doing something right when people hate on you and can't wait to see you fail and fall.
Background Image: Matthijs De Ligt against Germany | Photo by Pim Waslander/Soccrates Images/Getty Images via Bavarian Football Works