Chaotic Reds: Chelsea away before United dent Liverpool's title hopes
A new weekly round-up from Stretty News editor Dale O'Donnell.
From getting the Monkey Bus to Chelsea away to seeing the Reds dent Liverpool’s title hopes, it’s been a busy week for Stretty News editor Dale O’Donnell.
New here? I’m Dale O’Donnell, a 28-year-old season ticket holder at Old Trafford and freelance football journalist. I cover Manchester United daily for Stretty News and love nothing more than reminiscing about the Reds.
What’s on the agenda?
👊 Chelsea away. First time travelling on the Monkey Bus, chaos, London traffic and good tunes.
🪪 New season ticket details coming? Get your app ready. It won’t be long before they require your passport…
🐀 Denting Liverpool’s title hopes. Jurgen Klopp’s side feel they deserve more, but a quiet Liverpool away end leaves with fears of losing ground in the title race. Podcast 195.
😎 Tune of the week.
👊 Chelsea away
In the middle of a gastro flare-up, I rose from my bed at 1 am on Thursday to catch a bus that would bring me to Dublin airport for an early flight to Manchester, where I would then catch a coach to Stamford Bridge.
The unexpected flare-up threw me right off, but I wasn’t letting it get in the way of a good day out with the lads. It was also my first time on the Monkey Bus so I was delighted to be greeted by a few familiar faces, including one of the first contributors we’ve had at Stretty News, Nathan Thomas.
It took us the bones of five hours to get to Stamford Bridge and I no longer had the patience to search for away pubs up along Earls Court. Kick-off was an hour away and United fans were making their presence known. From listening to angry Chelsea supporters nearby, I quickly gathered that quite a few of them genuinely fear their new owners are Glazer 2.0. One Chelsea fanzine editor told the UWS Podcast that he wanted Mauricio Pochettino’s side to lose on the night.
As I attempted to enter the away end, a nearby sniffer dog attracted itself to me like shit stuck to the bottom of my shoe. I was immediately pulled to the side, brought into a room and searched - only for the time-wasting f*ckers to find nothing other than an insulin pen, which I require as a type 1 diabetic.
Chaotic at our best, chaotic at our worst
After seeing United throw away a stoppage-time lead at Brentford to draw 1-1, this felt like our final shot at re-emerging in the race for a top-four finish.
But United started the game abysmally and we trailed 2-0 after 19 minutes. It was another example of United being chaotic as Erik ten Hag’s side pulled their way back into the game, with the away end bouncing after Alejandro Garnacho’s second goal made it 3-2. The referee, who gave us fuck all on the night, pulled 8 minutes of stoppage time from his backside and it became like Brentford but worse. The Reds conceded two goals during stoppage time to lose 4-3.
Zigga Zagger zigga zagger
What followed was a 4+ hour coach back to Manchester. A journey that consisted of post-match discussion, the MUFC songbook and great music. This classic has been tattooed into my brain ever since.
I was happy to see my hotel room at 4.30 am.
🪪 Get yer app sorted… no other choice now!
Manchester United intend to make all home tickets next season app-based. It has been heading this way for some time as the club explains their so-called methods to tackle touting in football, so these tickets will have a dynamic QR for the turnstiles.
This means every season ticket holder will need to download the app or anyone who wishes to receive a ticket (members). The club may argue this is how they’re moving with the times, but they are forgetting that a lot of younger and older people do not have access to smartphones.
It’s only a matter of time before they demand our passport information.
🐀 United dent Liverpool’s title hopes at Old Trafford
Manchester United dented Liverpool’s title hopes as Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo scored two incredible goals in Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Old Trafford.
The Reds were left to rue their decision-making as they let a 2-1 lead slip to draw 2-2.
It was a costly result in Liverpool’s bid to win the Premier League title, but it wasn’t a draw celebrated by all fans – including one I met arriving at the airport from the game.
Liverpool took the lead through Luis Diaz’s acrobatic effort but they failed to build on that, despite it being a one-sided first half. Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo rallied back for United with stunning goals, only for Aaron Wan-Bissaka to give away a penalty late on.
Replays show it was never a penalty in the first place.
If you said to me 2-2 before the game, I would have taken that.
On a final note, why was the Liverpool end so dead? They’re going for the league title, we are so hit and miss, yet the other time they made noise was in the minutes after their goals then complete silence again.
Perhaps they’ve suddenly realised their domination period consisted of Jurgen Klopp winning one league title in nine years.
🎙️ Strettycast 195 - Fans have patience with Erik
Voices include Jason Toomey, Noel Kelly and more.
That K's tune grew on you pretty quickly :)