Dion

Yeah, Roussef was the I was rooting for. Sort of, mostly because I'm a bit of a leftist. Ideally I wouldn't have chosen either. IMO both are terrible choices. And what's really interesting (you must remember it) is that people went to the streets last year to protest against corruption and to ask for changes and we end up having to choose between the current president and the candidate from the party who used to be on charge before. So much for a change. Also I just don't understand how can people trust so much either of them. You see people talking about their candidates as if they were the Messiah, people betting their cars and stuff like that. I mean, I wouldn't completely trust my own brother with whom I grew up with not to end up being corrupted by power, never mind two strangers whose political parties have been involved in multiple corruption schemes, even if those schemes couldn't be traced to the candidates themselves (like if there's a difference). And actually both are more similar than they want us to believe, difference being the Laborers Party has a slightly stronger emphasis on social programs and leftism whereas the Social Democrats is more right wing and aligned with economical liberalism. I dunno, in the end I'd have preferred if both went to prison or got death sentences along with most of their political party mates. I consider corrupt/bad politicians the worst kind of people a society may have. Whilst normal criminals/bandits/drug dealers may be killing or affecting the lives of hundreds maybe thousands of people at most, a bad politician is turning the life of millions into shit with bad educational system, healthcare system etc. People don't realize how much detrimental to a nation they may turn out to be. And at least the criminals usually have an "excuse" to be the way they are. Some are mentally ill. Some came from bad backgrounds. Most politicians don't even have that going for them, they're just shitty people greedy for power and money. And what makes me laugh the most is people calling the ones who didn't vote for the candidates they supported stupid when in reality both are shitty, I honestly don't hold it against anyone not voting for whom I preferred because I found it difficult myself to choose, so poor was the level of them both and their parties. In addition, Brazilians seem to look for the person only and not for the political party, it's like all that matters is that person they're seeing in debates and ads. As if a single individual held all the power in all decisions, like his political party doesn't factor in the government at all. That's also amusing. This was longer than I expected. And also came off as a rant. Not intended. Sorry.

@Barbara, How is your Facebook feed after the elections? Mine is pure garbage. Looking worse than here after a loss. But also sort of funny in a way

Yeah, hindsight is a bitch. We cannot know what would have happened if we went for scoring the second with more intent, maybe we would have conceded two and lost the game, then people would complain why couldn't Jose just settle for the 3 points 1-0, greedy as fuck and all that. IMO in long championships by points it's better to play it safe, it's all about consistency and playing it smart against the teams who are contending for first place. Jose knows this and that's what makes his teams so strong in domestic leagues. Maybe not the best choice spectacle-wise but certainly efficient. One point away is huge as long as we can grab 3 at home. I'm actually more worried about how we played than about the result. I think the draw was really good but I expected a lot more control from our midfield. If Oscar and Cesc play like this against sides whose midfielders are both physically imposing and technically gifted we're going to get slaughtered.

I didn't like Mikel either but I understand the reasoning behind it. It was not only because he wanted to improve us defensively but because of yellow cards. Pretty much everyone was booked in our midfield on that point (we had 6 yellow cards IIRC by that point) and I guess Jose thought having someone who could stop a dangerous counter attack (or just about any attack in general) without being sent off on top of his defensive contribution was an important asset at the time.

It's just that he started the first half in horrible fashion. I distinctively remember ESPN narrators saying in the first couple of minutes he had 33% of pass completion and then when the game progressed to about 15-20 minutes I guess they said he still had 44ish%. He got a bit better as time went by but the first half was horrendous. Nervousness and sloppiness from him and Oscar all the freakin' time. Second half both of them did slightly better and it showed, we started to contest possession and dominate Utd. Until Jose decided to try to maintain the 1-0 at least.

Honestly, now that I've seen a couple matches from him wearing our blue, I can safely say he's better going forward than I previously thought from watching him on Brazil NT. Great player all around.

It was a poor finish no matter what. If the shot went more to the left, closer to the post, then it would have been more about De Gea saving it (supposing he could reach it, which I doubt), but the way it happened his shot went too central, too close to De Gea. Not the greatest finish from Eden there. The great finishes both outsmart the keeper as well as put it beyond his reach.

Problem when people make these kind of assumptions is in real life things don't usually happen like that, like the way we usually think when comparing two teams. You can't take the average level City is playing and the average level United is playing and just assume that will be true on the day they face off. If that was usually true we would have smashed United today. But they stepped it up a notch against us and we played worse than usual (in part because they played well too and also nerves). And that kind of thing happens often in matches involving rival or big clubs. Those are the toughest games to predict.

So much overreaction after a draw on a strong opponent's home turf, you'd even think we'd lost. Maybe people forgot but I still remember most people predicted Utd finishing top four of the league and that was even before Di Maria was signed. Maybe they're not in a good moment and not playing to their full potential yet but they still have plenty of quality attacking wise and beating them at OT against the ref is not an easy feat. Fabregas didn't have a great game but it happens. Messi and CR7 were some of the worst players on the pitch just yesterday, it happens even to the best of the crop.

He was poor today but he has been good or decent in other tough matches. You guys are letting his fame cloud your judgements. Everyone was a bottler at that Arsenal because the team sucked and Barcelona didn't suit him. Anyhow, even if it was true and he was a bottler it's not impossible to change. Just look at Robben.

Maybe this should have been posted in Ivanovic's thread? But a dive all day to me, on full speed from live angle it didn't even look like Brana touched Di Maria.

Man Utd with the classic last minute goal aided by the ref, nothing unusual here.

This ref is a joke.

This was a great save. Amazing reflexes.

Luis? What game have you been watching? Luis has been great.

GET IN THERE!

Beautiful play. Too bad we didn't score.

Mourinho needs to calm down the lads. We're still looking too nervous.

Why?! So close DD.

He looks like an alien. Seriously.

FFS Willian!

Filipe Luis has been our best attacking outlet so far. Oscar has been dreadful.

Good thing they look as nervous as we are. The amount of misplaced passes is unbelievable.

Nice first touch from Willian there, if only he could follow up with a perfectly weighted pass.

Which is sort of expected given his role on the team and the declining of both Xavi and Iniesta. Even then I remember Iniesta had some really exceptional number of assists once or twice in the last 5 years. Xavi's impact was more about controlling the tempo and setting the conditions for attacking, not the assists per say.