Now, personally, I have a reputation for worrying. I've made a life out of it. I thought I'd come here to see some rational talk to calm my fears, but I haven't found much, so I'm now realising that it might be me who needs to apply some rational logic here.
Is this undue panicking based upon three points lost since the derby really based upon reality, or is it as I felt in February 2018, when the overwhelming voice in my head that said "what if" kept pecking away like an excitable woodpecker?
Fear has taken over reality because of two things combined. One is that we will have lost the biggest title lead in history and the second is that it would be to United. We'd never hear the last of it.
However, let's analyse this a bit more deeply. If we were eight points clear of a team in the same form as United, but they weren't actually United; they were (say) Chelsea, would there be this level of panic? If we had never been more than eight points clear and we were now eight points clear, would there be this level of panic?
United play well against the better teams away. Today's result is no shock. Where they have dropped points is unexpectedly, to the poorer sides. Despite the fear, the chances are they will drop some more points. Maybe not many, but perhaps 2, 3, or even 4.
If they just drop the two, given our much superior goal difference, that would mean needing eight points. Palace will have nothing to play for. Chances are Newcastle and Brighton will be safe. Everton will have nothing to play for. Villa are a shadow of the team without Grealish - and they have nothing to play for.
It seems to be a belief now that Pep will field a reserve team for all league games. Even if we did, this was a reserve team yesterday worth about £400 million. One that had 29 shots to 2. With those kind of stats, you win 9 times out of 10. However, this was a game when we had a huge buffer beforehand. That buffer is lesser now and therefore the manager will know that the 'joker' card has now been played. It will not be done again. There will be changes, but line-ups like that will not likely be seen until if and when the job is done.
We've dropped 6 points in four months and we now have a run of fixtures that, despite rumours to the contrary, is (bar the Chelsea game) one you couldn't have hand picked much better. We also play four out of six away, which will better suit our passing game that is being restricted by the state of our pitch.
If we don't beat Villa, then I'll join in the flap, but there's nothing that flapping will change for the better in the next ten days and we've two other important games first. Games that, unlike the Leeds game, are do or die. No second chances. We have second and third chances in the league.
At the end of the day, this team and this manager are serial winners. They won't be suffering from the same nerves. Nobody, but nobody from outside of our club believes for a second we will blow up. It could happen, but it isn't likely. The odds are about 50-1. The reality is that if you spend your life continually worrying about 50-1 chances coming off, then you'll never do anything but worry.
I'm sure we will drop more points, but dropping nine whilst United drop none, given the fixtures we both have left, is a fear that is based more upon a phobia than rationale. The calculable odds are very small indeed.
