I think it's painfully obvious we are a long way off the Manchester clubs as many pundits etc rightfully predicted. The United game offered us a false glimmer of hope but nothing more than that.

This season is shaping up to be one of the most exciting ever. Since when do we concede 5 at the Bridge, United 6 at Old Trafford, Arsenal who had the best away record concede 8 and Spurs hit for 5 at WHL?

My view is that 3rd and 4th positions are a straight 3 horse race between us, Spuds and Arsenal. I don't give Liverpool much of a chance in the long term I reckon they'll fade away and probably end up fighting Newcastle for 6th.

It'll be a tight race this year but I believe us and the Spuds will have to much for Arsenal come May. Arsenal who are known for their spectacular post-February collapses are bound to have a bad run once RVP picks up his inevitable injury but will surely strengthen in the January window.

I reckon it will be us or Spuds for 3rd but unlike them we have the experience and slightly more squad depth IMO. I would hope we can get 3rd because it means automatic CL qualification.

But there is a possibility (albeit unlikely one) that we could drop out of the top 4. I hope that doesn't happen as I really like AVB.

Thoughts on how the table is shaping up?

Too soon to tell really, as it all depends on how we react to these poor defensive performances.

If we change nothing and continue to leak goals at an alarming rate, it could be us who drops to 5th. If we sure things up and stop playing this ridiculous system, then we could finish 3rd or 2nd I think. But anyone who finishes above Man City is going to win it,

Edited October 30, 201113 yr by BlueSkies

Like you said in your post, united lost 6-1, defeats happen like we suffered yesterday. Get over it we will pull it around. It was only till yesterday that everybody was generally happy with the progress under our new manager, but suddenly after a shocking performance were now not going to be there or there abouts at the end of the season. It's a long way to go and I have full confidence that we can push on now and get a run going. AVB like Fergie I am sure will use those defeats to there advantage, they will have learnt a lot especially about specific individuals. They both will inevitably use those painful loses to create a a group that will become stronger and use it to spark passion into the side. We played poorly yesterday yes, but we still could have won, thats how crazy yesterday was. If malouda didnt make that pass I would have been confident that we could of gone on to get another goal.

Now that yesterday is over and we can focus on the rest of the season, not forgetting yesterday but moving on and continuing progress. Lets not have a ridiculous knee jerk reaction please that we might not qualify etc and how spuds have a better chance than us because they have problems of there own. They arent playing that well and they will come under pressure. A few weeks ago we saw what the team was doing at old trafford and everybody was excitied for the future months. Please continue with this excitement. Dont forget yesterdays result but lets continue to support the team we love and see how they react.

My last point is just a general feeling I have about us fans. Since winning under Abromovich many of us seem to have the attitude that if we dont win its a diaster. Probably due to the fact that we have tasted so much success. We wont win every game IE yesterday. Its not the end of the world I am just hoping for a reaction from the team and hope we can now go on a long lasting run. This doesn't mean I am a less passionate fan than others, I just personally believe you cant win every game, and that excitment of winning has decreased to the expectations of winning every game. I know a fan who has now lost his season ticket because we didnt win enough.

Lets not have this attitude that everything is terrible. We can move on progress and sort out those problems. (RANT OVER)

Let's settle a little bit here guys. There are issues no doubt. But we had to expect this. We have a young manager attempting to change a few things and that doesn't always come easy, particularly with the level of inertia pushing us back into a way of playing that we've been comfortable with for some time.

Lessons will be learned from today, and if nothing else I haven't enjoyed a football match as much (well the first 80 or so minutes) in a good while. It was a fantastic roller-coaster, the kind that is normally reserved for cup football.

And also... If JT didn't slip we're not having this conversation and in it's place is a thread about how Juan Mata is the best thing that has happened to us in a long time.

Like you said in your post, united lost 6-1, defeats happen like we suffered yesterday. Get over it we will pull it around. It was only till yesterday that everybody was generally happy with the progress under our new manager, but suddenly after a shocking performance were now not going to be there or there abouts at the end of the season. It's a long way to go and I have full confidence that we can push on now and get a run going. AVB like Fergie I am sure will use those defeats to there advantage, they will have learnt a lot especially about specific individuals. They both will inevitably use those painful loses to create a a group that will become stronger and use it to spark passion into the side. We played poorly yesterday yes, but we still could have won, thats how crazy yesterday was. If malouda didnt make that pass I would have been confident that we could of gone on to get another goal.

Now that yesterday is over and we can focus on the rest of the season, not forgetting yesterday but moving on and continuing progress. Lets not have a ridiculous knee jerk reaction please that we might not qualify etc and how spuds have a better chance than us because they have problems of there own. They arent playing that well and they will come under pressure. A few weeks ago we saw what the team was doing at old trafford and everybody was excitied for the future months. Please continue with this excitement. Dont forget yesterdays result but lets continue to support the team we love and see how they react.

My last point is just a general feeling I have about us fans. Since winning under Abromovich many of us seem to have the attitude that if we dont win its a diaster. Probably due to the fact that we have tasted so much success. We wont win every game IE yesterday. Its not the end of the world I am just hoping for a reaction from the team and hope we can now go on a long lasting run. This doesn't mean I am a less passionate fan than others, I just personally believe you cant win every game, and that excitment of winning has decreased to the expectations of winning every game. I know a fan who has now lost his season ticket because we didnt win enough.

Lets not have this attitude that everything is terrible. We can move on progress and sort out those problems. (RANT OVER)

Good post Mike. I agree. We also shouldn't underestimate the effect that the media circus had on the build up to the game yesterday. No matter what is said in the official press conferences I think that weighed in a little too. Sure our defense has been giving up goals all season but our whole team performance looked off yesterday, especially in the second half. Our reaction to this game will be important starting with Genk midweek.

So the "We are sh*t and out of the title race" threads are starting to pop up and already worried we might not end up in top 4. WOW!

How many times did we see this when we won the Premiership with Carlo in the end. the season has just started, f**king hell!

I agree Andreas. Only last week United were the team in crisis and they were hardly convincing yesterday either. Going back a month or so everybody assumed United would walk it this season after their start. Its very possible that City will self destruct at some point soon too. I think its way too early to write this season off as a two horse race.

As far as other contenders are concerned as much as I'd like to write off Liverpool I still think they will be in the mix for Champions League places towards the end of the season. What about Newcastle too? Is everybody assuming they will fade? I think they might go the way of Bolton last season where they start to fade in the last third of the season. But they've done well so far and seem to have a decent set up.

The old cliche that a week is a long time in football has never been truer. Pre QPR game I honestly thought we were in with a good shout of winning the PL this season. Quietly going about our business whilst the two Manc clubs take all the headlines. A week later with two disasterous results in London derbies and I'm wondering if we can make top 4?

It looks like one of those seasons where everyone is going to take points off each other. City look the best at the moment, but hopefully at some point, they will have a week like we have just had.

Hopefully we will learn from this last week and now go on a decent run but I do worry that AVB is showing a little too much faith in certain players. It's still very early days though and I wouldn't write anyone off due to how quickly things can change.

So the "We are sh*t and out of the title race" threads are starting to pop up and already worried we might not end up in top 4. WOW!

How many times did we see this when we won the Premiership with Carlo in the end. the season has just started, f**king hell!

But how many times did we let in 5 goals at home? And against a Arsenal side that isn't even that good?

But how many times did we let in 5 goals at home? And against a Arsenal side that isn't even that good?

I think yesterday's result would be better compared to the 4-2 defeat at home to a poor City side a couple of years ago. It also followed a week of intense media pressure on our captain. That season of course we went on to win the double. Not to say we will do that again but I think this year's Arsenal seem to be a better match to the City team of 2 years ago.

We came from worse to finish second last year, so we are still in it, but I feel 12 points would be too far. We must start winning this weekend. Games aganst Liverpool, Spurs etc will be huge now, lose one of those we will be a few points outside the top 4 and out of title race well before Christmas. Like someone said, this is first crisis under AVB, if he's not careful, he can find himself in deep trouble like Carlo last season.

I'm with the calm down camp. Who's to say that next week City implodes and we go on a 10 game winning run? We're also doing fairly well in the cups at the moment, City and United are struggling in their CL groups. I'm confident that we'll come 3rd in the league at a minimum and we'll probably win something out of the other three depending on how things pan out.

With Genk midweek, we'll give them a hiding and restore some confidence. All things considered its a pretty good time to have a blip.

If we lose away to Blackburn next week, I will be concerned that we are heading into a dip like the disasterous one we suffered last season...As for this week its been a bad one, but we still won away at Everton. The QPR result was imo a combination of us expecting to turn up and get 3 points and our players being caught cold by the rough house tactics and poisonous atmosphere of Loftus Road. Our second half display while ultimately futile was impressive, especially as the ref was not prepared to give us anything...

Saturday was bad, theres no getting away from it, but we have to accept the team is in transition, AVB is implementing a new system, he wants to change the way we play and we may have to get used to more days like that. Its difficult to change the ethos of a team while still trying to grind out results throughout the season.

In short am I worried ? NO I'm just p*ssed off that we lost to a team who no matter how bad they are at the moment will probably still be challenging for a 4th place spot come May. Its unfortunate for us that Van Persie is back and firing on all cylinders when Arsenal come to the Bridge, he'll probably be injured again when they play one of our major rivals.

Chin up folks, win or lose...up the Blues...

Actually I think I meant to post that on the reasons to be worried thread...ah well never mind...

Can't believe were now sat behind Newcastle with Spuds likely to jump us as well....gutted.