That is an interesting angle for the discussion. I am both deeply analytical and wildly romantic/doe-eyed.
The stadium is infinitely preferable to the sofa because it adds non-footballing flavour. People, sounds, things to smile about, unexpected feelings.
When I watch football, I constantly do so with an analytical mindset. But if United play, there is a second layer of what I simply call affection/love and a sense of belonging. This second layer means that I always love watching us in a ground with mates and strangers irrespective of result or performance. I can see if players are misused or having a mare, but it takes weeks of poor performances for me to start disliking any players personally. Or some stand-out feature I generally dislike in people which is quite rare (I am looking at you, Tony McMahon).
All of that means that United always make me feel happier for watching them than if i miss a match. Even Wigan at home in 2007 left me sad rather than angry. And as the whistle went, I still knew that I had witnessed something existential at first hand in the way it was meant to be watched.
Watching on TV (or playing Man City, it must be said) kind of removes the touchy-feely level of childlike glee just by being there. It's far more often that I think "God, are we hopeless" on TV than I do in the ground. It's more often that a TV match leaves me kind of annoyed. The pure analysis that I always do (I am - after all - the voice of reason

) is more painful without the atmospherics of being at the perfect place at the perfect time.
TV football is far more of a commodity. It can be paused or re-watched. The meaning you bring yourself, the surprises, the inexplicable observations, hunches, the context, the joy of seeing others being far more disappointed, irate or dick-headish than you are, all isn't there.
Assuming that some of this is universal rather than my personal quirks, hints at a disconnection in this discussion: I often view Pommpey to be over-critical and far too personal, as if United owe him a certain standard of performances rather than their mere existence. United exist therefore I love them.
If I watch on TV, I find myself agreeing with the gist of My Takes more than if I was in the ground. The same applies to general discussions of players or the negativity on the board after any defeats.
So being in the ground clearly does not give me a more valid or superior opinion. That would be bullshit. But at least for me, it mellows me out, makes me more forgiving and more likely to be protective of the team when people frame their observations or judgments in emotive or incendiary tones ("X is wank", "Y is a wage thief" or the like).