Was that the worst game in your lifetime?

To be able to act like a smug elitist after 5-0 defeat is surely one way to cope
I see you have mentioned Sunday’s score, which highlights exactly what I was saying about Liverpool only ever following after us...

We have had a 5-0 record win at Anfield previously, and Liverpool finally managed the same record 5-0 win at Old Trafford on Sunday. Of course they were never going to get to 6-0 because we have never done that at their ground, and until we do, don’t expect Liverpool to do it at our ground.

Like I’ve already mentioned, whether it’s a record win at their fiercest rivals’ ground, or whether it’s winning the biggest trophies before anyone else, Liverpool always wait for Manchester United to go and do it first.

Just imagine how pleased they were when the ‘European Super League’ was being developed, as it was finally a major trophy that they had a chance to win before us.

Now imagine how disappointed they were when that Super League was cancelled.
 
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Manchester United 0 - 3 Liverpool (2014)

Whilst not the heaviest defeat, to me it kind of signified the (hopefully temporary) end of us as the club I grew up supporting. We weren’t as abject that afternoon as we were yesterday, but it was the first time in my life we felt levels below our rivals and the best teams around and I felt little hope that we’d get much better
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You probably blocked it out but the very next match we lost again 3-0 at home but this time it was to Man City.

Back to Back 3-0 losses at home to our biggest rivals who were challenging for the title that season, and Moyes still had a job for another month.
 
The worst big game drubbing, absolutely. The worst feeling about losing to a rival too.

The absolute worst performance? I'd say this:


Huge rumours that half the team were on the piss the night before, was a New Years Day game and we were dreadful.

Was at that…,absolute nightmare
 
I was at Maine road when we lost 5-1 and in the late 80s there were some awful games not least a midweek game v Sheffield Wednesday where we drew 1-1. That was for the worst United game I'd ever seen. Until Sunday. In almost 50 years of watching us that was the most gutless amateurish embarrassing performance by both players and management I have ever seen.
How on earth Ole is still in a job baffles me.
 
City 5-1 89 two shite teams looking to get out of the doldrums….we looked much shitter after spending a fortune. Luckily it wasn’t a sign of things to come, it was the beginning of the end of the bad times.

United 0-1 Palace 89 we were a shambles that season and this game and period was similar to where we are now. A talented team with no direction. The difference being though that the club could see the work Sir Alex was doing behind the scenes. Literally making the club what it is today…..otherwise I think he’d have been sacked here

Liverpool 3-3 United 94. We were 3-0 up after 30 mins. Looked like Sunday in our favour and we fecked it.

West Ham 1-0 United. 1992 and the game that sealed our fate and ultimately gave Leeds the title. All the way to London on a Tuesday (I think) night, with a lad I haven’t seen since. Still believing we would win the league, the journey back was torture.

Liverpool 2-0 United 1992. Possibly the most painful. The scousers giving the title to Leeds by beating us. Abject failure of the worst kind. Felt like we’d never win the league from there.

Sheff Weds 1-0 United League Cup final 91. Went there thinking we would win easily, hoping to see my first Wembley trophy lift…we lost meekly and my Dads a Wednesday fan. We made up for it in Rotterdam though.
 
There are many ways to look at things.
The way I analysed the result was like this...
When you dish something out against someone, you have to be prepared to take it back.

We recorded our biggest ever win at Anfield 75 years ago when we won 5-0 on 16th February 1946
On Sunday Liverpool recorded their biggest ever win at Old Trafford with the same score.
The biggest surprise? It took them that long to do so.

You mention about prestige, and it is easy to see where our prestige comes from by looking at what we did before anyone else:
1st English team to win the European Cup
1st English team to win the Champions League
1st English team to win the Premier League
1st English team to win the Club World Cup
1st English team to win the most difficult Treble there is

A lot of fans are not aware of one of the most significant matches ever between Manchester United and Liverpool:
In 1977 Liverpool was on course to win the elusive ‘Holy Grail’ in English club football.
The League, the FA Cup, and the European Cup

They had already won the League, and they were through to the final of the European Cup. They then met us.
Manchester United beat them 2-1 in the FA Cup Final and ended their dreams.

We all know what happened 22 years later... we won the elusive ‘Holy Grail’ and in doing so we became the first and only English club to achieve the feat of winning the League, the FA Cup, and the European Cup in the same season (a record that still stands to this day).

We have climbed Mount Everest.
Liverpool never has.

You can now fully begin to see why Liverpool are not us, and why we are not Liverpool.

In a nutshell the difference between the two football clubs is this:
Manchester United always lead the way..
Liverpool only ever follows after us.
I didn’t explain it very well obviously!
Last Sunday was a massive blow to our prestige.At home to them and we didn’t fire a shot !Plus we were revealed to be totally inept.
For the entire game their supporters were partying!
Of course I remember 77, it’s one of my favourite memories.
But fining comfort in that after last Sunday is a bit sad.It’s 36 years ago!
1946 ? Really? 75 years ago!
6 European Cups but they haven’t scaled Everest?
Don’t be daft.
 
Think it was the first time i’ve turned a game off, which was done after the Pogba red card.

Always watched to the end unless having to do other stuff. Sunday was absolutely brutal to watch and it baffles me that Ole still is in his job, that is a discussion for another thread though.
 
I didn’t explain it very well obviously!
Last Sunday was a massive blow to our prestige.At home to them and we didn’t fire a shot !Plus we were revealed to be totally inept.
For the entire game their supporters were partying!
Of course I remember 77, it’s one of my favourite memories.
But fining comfort in that after last Sunday is a bit sad.It’s 36 years ago!
1946 ? Really? 75 years ago!
6 European Cups but they haven’t scaled Everest?
Don’t be daft.

The Mount Everest comparison was regarding 'The Treble' we won in '99
...and we still remain the only English team to have ever achieved that feat.
 
Has to be. Not only did we get trashed by a high score, but we also never really even stood a chance. If Liverpool didn't hit the breaks in the second half, they could have embarrassed us even more. Now I understand what Real must have felt when they got whooped by Barca 5-0, but at least they didn't get whooped at their own stadium like we just did.
 
1976 FA Cup Final
Manchester United 0
Southampton 1 (Stokes 83)

The first time I had been to Wembley as a young boy, expecting a straight forward victory, instead getting mugged by a late offside sucker punch.
I have never forgiven Southampton, and still like to see them lose to this day.
 
Pretty close, first time I actually probably laughed at the amount of goals we conceded.

1-6 v Man City was pretty bad but this was worse. Worse thing to come out of it is that Ole is still at the wheel. At least you know Fergie would be able to rescue the situation back then.
 
It just dawned on me that we lost 5-0 to Liverpool at Old Trafford and we are doing absolutely nothing. I mean I could just about stomach it if it meant it was a fastrack exit for Ole and co and we finally decide to become a big club again but it seems nothing has changed. Pathetic.
 
Away to Leeds. 1972. 5-1. Wiped off the park and they took the piss, showboating towards the end. And then there was 1973-4………..But Sunday was dire, no doubt about it.
 
I'm 43, been watching United since I was 5.
Its the worst one I can remember.

There have been some awful results in the past, but any game fergie lost you knew he had earned a bad result and would fix it soon enough.

The context of the game on Sunday, with what is now a blatantly amateur managment/coaching setup, means it has hurt me more than any game I ever remember.
There is no fix on the horizon, dark skies are above us.
 
It just dawned on me that we lost 5-0 to Liverpool at Old Trafford and we are doing absolutely nothing. I mean I could just about stomach it if it meant it was a fastrack exit for Ole and co and we finally decide to become a big club again but it seems nothing has changed. Pathetic.
Sunday’s result was just clear evidence of the upward trajectory Liverpool have been on compared to Manchester United, since Ole was made permanent manager on 28th March 2019...
  • 1st June 2019 = Liverpool win 6th European Cup (doubling Manchester United’s tally)
  • 14th August 2019 = Liverpool win UEFA Super Cup
  • 21st December 2019 = Liverpool win FIFA Club World Cup (the first time in their history)
  • 25th June 2020 = Liverpool win the Premier League (30 years after last winning the league)
  • 24th October 2021 = Liverpool record their biggest ever win at Old Trafford (equalling Manchester United’s biggest ever win at Anfield)

What have we achieved in that time?

Nothing.
 
This was 100% the worst game I’ve seen from Utd. The crazy thing is though it didn’t even feel like it at the time because you could see it coming a mile off, so I’d prepared myself and already accepted we’d get hammered. That’s the saddest part.
 
The city 6-1 game happened on my birthday and I was in the stadium until the end but that was basically a goal blitz at the end after the 3-1 where we were pushing after Fletcher's goal

This was way worse and probably the worst in terms of 90 minutes
When the lineup was announced I thought it was suicide, but then after ten minutes the game is over. There was no fight (except for the kicking out) , we were outclassed and just humiliated. Liverpool actually felt sorry for us which is the worst thing and it was on our home ground

Our best ever performance at Anfield in ages was maybe the juanfield game and we only won that 2-1?

This wasn't even the best Liverpool I've seen at old Trafford yet they were toying with us, playing 'ole' passes

Other games you can look at and think, ok we will bounce back. But after this one, it's hard to think how. Any other manager not named Ferguson probably gets sacked after a result and performance like that.

I can't think of a game as humiliating as this for 30 years given the opponents, the stadium, the performance and result
 
You probably blocked it out but the very next match we lost again 3-0 at home but this time it was to Man City.

Back to Back 3-0 losses at home to our biggest rivals who were challenging for the title that season, and Moyes still had a job for another month.
I hadn’t blocked it out, I’d considered listing it but because it was basically the same feeling again it maybe didn’t hurt quite as much because by that point I’d realised what we were if that makes sense?
 
Oct ‘89, 0-3 at home to Spurs. It was almost diehards only attending Old Trafford at that time and we were truly awful, with no end in sight. It was such a disappointment after spending big in the summer and beating Arsenal 4-1 on the opening day. Things got worse and a month or so later we lost, again, to Palace with a high number of the Stretford End around me calling for Fergie’s head. Bleak times, and yet a lot of camaraderie amongst those is us who went most games. Sunday is on par though, for sure.
 
Barcelona 09 was incredibly painful to watch. We were European champions and at the top of our game and they were on another level. Then the same thing two years later but at Wembley. Fergie ended up getting the last laugh most times but not that time.

Sunday’s thrashing by comparison wasn’t something to get angry or upset over. That was just a pathetically run football club exposing itself. Again.
 
Sunday’s thrashing by comparison wasn’t something to get angry or upset over. That was just a pathetically run football club exposing itself. Again.

Basically, yes.

I won't say I expected them to humiliate us - or even that I expected us to lose (to be honest, I actually had a feeling we'd somehow manage to fluke a win). But that isn't the point.

The point is that I have no illusions whatsoever about where we are at the moment. We aren't anywhere near the level required for us to comfortably go up against Liverpool (as in, a level where you might reasonably expect us to win more often than not).

And consequently, neither the performance nor the result bothered me too much (relatively speaking, of course - we're talking about the worst games in our lifetime here).
 
Still Barcelona finals. We were on the verge of absolute history and it was the highest level of football we could have played. Opposition was excellent but so were we, I suffered a longer while after those defeats.

yesterday was extremely painful but expected and doesn’t really result in us having a better or worse season as we don’t challenge for the league anyway.

Not really. The 2009 squad was quite good but SAF picked a poor team for the final. Anderson should never have started, Rooney was deployed as a workhorse on the wing where he was generally pretty ineffective as an attacking force.

The 2011 team was actually pretty poor all being said and done, and were fortunate to reach the final by beating Marseille, an out of sorts Chelsea team and a poor Schalke side in the knockouts. Any of the top teams in recent years would've wiped the floor with that United side of 2011.