5-1 to city against spuds. united 6-1 up with 20mins still to play against arsenal.

how the hell are we going to compete against these boys now, they are really looking strong

No need to be so negative at the moment. I posted this in another thread, but I'll it here as well:

We haven't been very impressive so far, but a win is still worth three points and a league title has never been won/lost in August. We're only two points behind the league leaders and we've yet to find our form. Besides, who says the Mancs' form will last all through the season? The season has just begun, we've recruited new blood(and might sign another player still), the team is still trying to learn AVB's tactics, and it's still a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG way until the fat lady even starts to think about clearing her throat, let alone starts to sing.

KEEP THE BLUE FLAG FLYING HIGH!

I don't doubt we'll get better, but if City and United don't have a lot of slip ups it's hard to see us beating them.

That said, anything is possible...and when it comes down to it, we could be content with a third place, thanking the heavens, that we aren't Arsenal.

Although our opposition last season was a bit different from the teams that the Mancs have faced so far, but early on last season we did look like we'd steamroll through the season. I wouldn't make too many assumptions after just three matches. I admit that both Mancs have so far looked the most impressive, but can they can keep it up all through the season?

early days...although i said in other thread that we are third favourites at the moment, people were saying we had it all wrapped up this time last year too...and we all know how wrong that proved to be

Yes but I would say a major difference between us last year and them this year, is that we were still pretty much the same squad, we were aging. These 2 clubs have both strengthened since last year and are both full of youth and are tearing people apart for fun. That's not to say they're going to do it all season, there will be blips of course. But it's a brave/foolish man who bets against the title leaving Manchester this year.

Edited August 28, 201114 yr by BlueSkies

i just hope we can pull our socks up and get some from and decent performances in. im not saying we should be winning 8-0 but we should be looking to get consistent with our back 4 and midfield playing well. we still havent found the right balance or tactics yet and i think AVB should start to think about what he has to do to beat clubs like the manc pair

Both were impressive today but met with little resistance in midfield.Im hoping AVB has taken note of the perils of playing a high backline at Old Trafford and pray to god that Cech is fit for the clash.

Manchester 13 Norf London 3

Being the only club worth a toss in West London, I'm looking forward to our games in Manchester. Especially with our new players, and Sturrige back. Should be an interesting couple of fixtures.

Edited August 28, 201114 yr by flyrr100

Both Manchester clubs are definitly in great shape but if we make another signing (ie Modric) I can see us competing against them. Spurs and especially Arsenal are in shambles and cant be compared to Chelsea.

We went on to a flying start last season and everyone was asking, whos going to stop Chelsea? 3 games in no need to panic..

Like andreas said, no need to panic look how we started last year. United werent playing world beating football but they were getting the points on the board, like we are now. We can build into this season and hit our top form when it matters.

They were both fantastic and absolutely brilliant to watch but I think we need to get it into perspective.

Arsenal and Spurs moreso are nowhere near as good as their fans make them out to be. IMO both have been significantly weakened over the last 12 months in contrast both the Manc clubs have significantly strengthened.

I am in no way exaggerating when I say a Championship team would have beaten Arsenal today and I've seen Championship and even League 1 strikers better than Crouch. If Crouch is the best striker Spurs have and Jenkinson is the best full back Arsenal have in the moment then you do worry.

The left back position is a problem for Arsenal and has been since Ashley left them. I used to think Clichy and Gibbs were bad but they are like Paolo Maldini compared to Armand Traore. I don't think I've EVER seen two full backs destroyed throughout a game as much as Jenkinson and Traore were today. How Wenger could allow so much pressure to be on young heads isn't just unfair, it's criminal.

As good as the Manc clubs were, they were up against poor teams that didn't even put up a whimper.

I wouldn't be too disheartened yet, I don't think we can draw any conclusions until the Manc clubs have played a half decent team i.e Us. They might be scoring more than us but they are also conceding more than us as well, which is encouraging for our strikers anyway.

Edited August 28, 201114 yr by Myles_91

While I certainly wish we had won against Stoke, it might be interesting to see how our team fares not starting the season off in pole position. The last couple of years we have started off hot only to start slumping in December and January. Maybe it's time for the Manchester clubs to do something like that while we progressively get stronger.

I wonder if they were saying the same thing last season when we battered teams early on.