This shows the vast chasm mentality-wise between United (and by extension Ole) and City (Pep). You could even throw us (LFC) into the equation for the sake of comparison. In the 18/19 season we were so far ahead at Christmas, some pundits were saying we had the league sewn up and there was no way back for City. Some said City could do it because they'd done it before; they knew how to win leagues and they had the mentality of champions. And yes, they kept clawing back and hoping we would slip up, and we, in turn, kept drawing games we should've won. But the point is that Pep and his team never stopped believing until the end, and with a few favours from refs (like Kompany not getting sent off for a clear red card tackle in the pre-penultimate game), they did catch us, and they did win the league.
This weekend City lost to Chelsea and gave United the tiniest sliver of hope. And what did they do with it? Pulled their trousers down and took a big shit all over competitive integrity is what they did, pissing away the first real opportunity they've had in years to fight for the big prize. They seem to take it for granted that they'll be there or thereabouts again next season, but can they be so sure?
Another chance like this may never come in the next decade, especially with the scrutiny VAR and the PGMOL are likely to be under next season (plus the fact Howard Webb is now retired). Anyone who's been paying attention knows they are nowhere near Top 4 in the league without all the penalties they've been gifted since last May. It's only gonna get harder and harder to mask all the "favours" they tend to get.
Schedule be damned...United had a duty to fight until the end, engender some excitement for neutral fans by making a title race out of even the slimmest of chances. And they blew it...Not through valiant yet thwarted effort but through sheer spite and cowardice.
And it just goes to show the state of the journalism in this country that they're not being called out for it, or that no one is questioning how their decision to field such a weakened starting 11 at this crucial stage of the season, when so much is at stake for everyone (including themselves), impacts on the integrity of the game. Instead, Sky and BT are celebrating a soulless victory by the league's richest team.
Our society is fecked from top to bottom, and what's going on with the football is symptomatic of dangerous levels of corruption among the powerful, and apathy among the rest of us. We all need to wake the feck up.