Reviving this thread which seems to have died a death for no good reason - or perhaps you are all Chelsea fans? Anyway, United have laid down a serious marker this weekend - unlike last season, when they won the league with a string of mainly mediocre performances, they are really setting the pitch alight. I doubt City’s challenge will last much beyond Christmas, so United must be short odds on to retain their title. Hopefully they are also playing well enough to win the Chamions League as well, so that Fergie can step down. Don’t get me wrong, it will be devastating to see him go, but I would far rather he left a young team behind, which may make things slightly easier for his successor, than an old one. Although history suggests that whoever succeeds him is screwed anyway.
Dead Cat, I think I disagree with you on 2 big points.
First, I don’t agree that City’s challenge will be over by Christmas. The depth and talent they’ve got is really, really good. There are many players with Champions League experience, too, so I don’t think we’ll see them collapse in the league while competing on 2 fronts like Spurs did last year. Off the top of my head, Tevez, Dzeko, Balotelli, Aguero, Silva, Nasri, DeJong, Hargreaves (save the jokes), Kompany, Toure, and Clichy all have played in at least the group stages, if not the knockout rounds of the CL. The question for me is will Chelsea make it a 2 horse race or a 3 horse race? But then again, if United just keep winning, City and Chelsea could end up with great seasons and still finish well back (6 points or more).
I don’t remember if I said it here, but I thought before the season that, for United and City, draws will feel like losses, and losses will be destructive. United and City should both top 90 points, and maybe even push for 100. Then again, I thought Real Madrid and Barca would be in the same situation, and they’ve both dropped points within their first 3 matches, so what do I know?
Regarding Sir Alex: are you crazy?! If you think his successor is screwed anyway, then why even suggest leaving after this season? As long as he’s healthy, I hope he’s in the dugout. He always talks about how being around young people is great for him. There are always going to be youth players to make the leap, and he’ll always want to be there to watch them grow into players. If I had to bet, I’d say he goes through at least the 2013-14 season before calling it a day. And then Jose comes in! (I’m a big fan of Jose, but I also think someone with an outsized personality is a must to follow SAF. Even if he were to manage for just 2 or 3 years, it would be a necessary buffer for whomever is thought to be the long term replacement, if that’s the route the board/owners decide to go one day.)
On topic with this season so far, Arsenal…I just don’t know what to think. I don’t like them, but it’s better for the league if they’re good. But so long as Koscielny is 1st choice in the back, I just don’t see them competing (am I alone in thinking he’s terrible? On another board, an Arsenal fan defends him vehemently, and I just don’t see why). No one seems to be cementing themselves to the floor yet, and no club is really surprising me with an unexpected great start. Everything actually seems to make sense so far. Maybe that’s why this thread was buried in the Dope.
Most of the Arsenal fans I see on forums think Kos sucks.
My only comment on it all is that I can miss the target for a lot less than £50M. 
Well, maybe a lifetime of watching City being consistently inconsistent is blinding me to the talent of their new squad, so I certainly accept I could be wrong on that one. But I believe that many of the players are rather volatile (though ditching Adebayor has certainly helped in this respect) and there could easily be a dressing room bust up which will wreck their form. Time will tell.
Re SAF, I’m nowhere near old enough to remember it, but my concern is a post-Busby-like slump after he goes, and the longer he stays, the more inevitable that seems. Maybe Mourinho would be just the man to avoid this - I can’t say I actually like him yet, but he did earn my grudging respect as Chelsea manager and has now proved that he is the best manager in Europe (arguably, SAF aside), so I would certainly not complain if he came in. The worst thing would be for SAF to carry on so long that his skills declined and he had to be sacked (a la Clough - though probably not for the same reason, no libel intended there!). He has always maintained that he wants to go out at the top, but when he has had the opportunity to do this, he has been too addicted to winning (and who can blame him).
How come all the newspapers and websites have failed to report Wigan’s two equalizing goals that they must have scored?
Ooof. United 1-6 City
City were clinical and certainly took advantage of Evans’ red card. United haven’t looked good since the 1st half of the match against Chelsea. It’s odd to say, but I think Cleverley was what got United to tick in midfield, and he’s been greatly missed since the Bolton match.
Duff result for Chelski too… 2 x red cards and a very unhappy manager.
Who would have thought today would have a 1-0 win for the home team and a 6-1 for the away team, with United and Chelsea on the wrong side of those scores? Complete shock. I’m really disappointed by the game, but it’s just 3 points and United have a pretty good schedule through the rest of 2011. Two other big surprises in Europe this weekend were Bayern finally losing in the Bundesliga and Barca getting a 0-0 draw at home. Football, bloody hell.
Fuck me, that’s embarrassing. I switched off MOTD2 after 5-1 thinking it couldn’t get any worse, especially seeing that the fifth was at 92 minutes! But clearly United had given up by then - which is stupid, because goal difference could be a key factor at the end of the season (even if it doesn’t decide the title - which is unusual, hasn’t happened since 1990 I think - it can be very important psychologically, and shipping a net difference of 10 to your closest rivals could be fatal - keeping it down to 4 or 6 would have been worthwhile).
It’s especially annoying that I am seeing a good friend of mine two or three times this week who is an ardent City fan - normally I catch up with him once a year or so. I can’t remember the last time he was able to gloat about a Manchester derby result.
Nevertheless, I maintain that City will implode at some point, probably just after Christmas. I must admit it is looking less likely now, with the Tevez affair seemingly dying down and Adebayor gone, but it’s City - the crown princes of f***ing up.
I’m adding a “Grounds of the championship” book to my Xmas list…
I’ll admit to being very surprised Bolton is near the bottom. Blackburn and Wigan are understandable, and you pretty much have to count on at least one promoted side going back down every year. The plus side for Bolton is that they’ve played (I think) United, City, Liverpool, and Chelsea (and maybe Spurs, too?). It’s not a good situation to be in, but I think Bolton can be up to safety by Christmas. Are there any stars from the Big 4/5 they can bring in on loan like they did Wilshere and Sturridge? I’d like to see Macheda get loaned out, so maybe he’ll go there in January.
Arsenal is the other big one we’ve played, but I don’t want to hide behind that. It’s not that we’ve lost to these teams, it’s the manner of the loss. Yes I expect to lose to Utd, Chelski etc, but not by 5 goals in each case, and we’ve also lost to Norwich and Sunderland. There are some major issues with the team, and if Coyle doesn’t fix them, then we are going down.
Having said that here is a spot of analysis I did comparing the same fixtures (where possible) from last season.
2011/2012 2010/2011
Swansea V Bolton ? Loss
Bolton V Sunderland Loss Loss
Wigan V Bolton Win Draw
Bolton V Chelsea Loss Loss
Arsenal V Bolton Loss Win
Bolton V Norwich Loss Draw
Bolton V Man Utd Loss Draw
Bolton V Man City Loss Loss
QPR V Bolton Win Win
6 pts 9 pts
Assign QPR= West Ham, Norwich = Blackpool, Swansea = Birmingham
If we beat Swansea on Sat, we are on a par for points with last season.
There can’t be that many different ones since you were last there, surely? 
Although I couldn’t resist making that joke, it’s probably not even factually correct (I can’t remember when Bolton were last promoted) - Bolton have come a long way since their years as the perennial yo-yo team, and are really part of the Premiership furniture now. Having said that, I’m afraid that I can’t say I’d be that sorry to see them go. QPR and Norwich have played some good football so far and I wouldn’t mind seeing them stay for a while instead.
Worse for Bolton. Wrong time to get relegated (if there ever is a good time) - you just never know whether these nefarious American owners are going to stop promotion and relegation, thus freezing you out for good.
Tongue is in cheek, FYI.
Big win for Bolton today. I suppose Stoke will blame it on their trip to Israel, but 5-0 is 5-0. OAOW, I think your club will be safe for another year.
Bolton Wanderers, Bolton Wanderers FC
They’re the finest team the world has ever seen!
What an sfternoon. I am hoping this bookends the period which began with a 5 - 0 loss to Stoke in the FA Cup Semi Final. That was the team I am accustoemd to watching
Wow. Luis Saurez got an 8-match ban for his racial verbal abuse of Evra. My guess is that it’s long with the expectation he’ll appeal, and it becomes 4 or 5 matches. Too bad for him! Too bad for Liverpool!
Arsenal are in 5th because Wenger and the Board are too cheap to buy the players that are needed. They should have bought Mata when they had the chance. Instead they let Chelsea get him.
On Reddit fans are delusional enough to think they can finish above Tottenham. Need I remind everyone that Tottenham is at least two games ahead in points?
I don’t totally disagree with this. But they did buy the BFG and Arteta. They really need a fullback and some help with the strikeforce (RVP can’t carry the team forever, can he?). It’s too bad Arshavin died and was replaced by that little boy with no touch they sometimes run out there.
I think they can finish above Spurs. Won’t be easy, but not impossible. 5 points behind (with Spurs having a game in hand). Not even half the season has been played, ya know.