Video taking off 11x its usual first day

Paul Merson sees no shock in United's Como defeat

The Sky Sports News pundit argues that Manchester United's famous name is disguising the level of its team.

Channel:

Sky Sports News Story of October 22, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 150,167 views a day, 11 times a normal first day on this channel (13,197).

Paul Merson doesn't believe Como's 4-1 win over Manchester United was a surprise

Rooney, Ronaldo, Carrick: Paul Merson hears the weight of Manchester United's past in the way people judge its present. After the club's 4-1 Champions League defeat at Como, he wants the conversation to start with the players actually on the field.

His distinction is blunt. United remains one of the world's biggest clubs, he says, but that is not the same as having one of its biggest teams. "They're not one of the biggest teams in the world anymore, they're far from it."

The Sky Sports News Short has drawn roughly 81,000 views in its opening hours, an unusually fast start for the channel's short-form uploads. Its argument is less about identifying a particular tactical mistake than questioning why this result should qualify as a surprise at all.

Merson says he had expected United to beat neither Leeds over the weekend nor Como. Judging the squad against earlier generations of superstars, in his view, creates expectations the players cannot meet.

That gap between reputation and performance also runs through the comments. Viewers discuss whether media coverage still measures United against Alex Ferguson's standards, while others turn to ownership and responsibility for the club's position.

Elsewhere in Sky's coverage, Michael Carrick apologizes to supporters after the defeat. Merson's contribution asks a different question: whether the expectation of a United win was justified in the first place.

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What viewers say

As a United fan I've long accepted we're a mid table team, it's the media that is obsessed with the club. We've done nothing in the past ten years to suggest anything otherwise
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The facts

Channel: Sky Sports News
Subscribers: 1,950,000 ▲ 10,000 this week
Channel views, last 7 days: 3,891,375
Channel views, pace per day: 588,251 (on a normal day: 718,401)
Video published: October 21, 2026
Video views so far: 80,975 (less than a day online)
Video views, pace per day: 150,167

The numbers

Merson's clip is drawing views much faster than a typical Sky Sports News Short. Comments have also already passed the channel's usual full-day level.

the video's first day

usual first day here

13,197

this video

150,167

subscribers

1,950,000

▲ 10,000 in the last 7 days

total views

1,247,828,567

views per day

588,251