My take, for what it's worth.
Now this is getting frightening.
There is a cold determination about this team that we haven't seen for a long, long time, in my opinion. Not since the first half of the 2011-12 season. Perhaps we should partly thank the media for that. I think it got well up the players' noses that nobody in the media — absolutely nobody — was rating us for the title at the beginning of August. So take a bow, Messrs Tyler, Merson, Savage, Carragher, Souness and all the rest of your crew.
Saturday was clearly a test in a way that no match has been so far (although Everton was pretty stern). Let's be honest. For the first half hour or so, they were on top. Especially down their right hand side (so, our left), there was danger virtually every time they broke. And yet… and yet, if you look at it calmly, they weren't actually making much out of it. Although Kolarov was having a poor game, he was being more than competently covered by his defence. That wasn't happening last season. There was panic. There is no more panic. Mangala looks calm, settled. Superbly athletic — we knew that — but not diving in. It looks as though he's found his place. And his timing.
If you look at it, over the whole match, sure, Palace missed a couple of chances that they could have put away. We missed a chance — Navas — that definitely should have been put away. And Joe, in fact, had to pull out one great save, but one only. That, he knows how to do. Five matches in and nobody has found a way through. If we're solid at the back, the goals up front will take care of themselves. Even without Silva, Sterling, and in effect, Aguero, we won the match. We've just got too much quality in midfield, and up front. What amazed me about De Bruyne's debut was how sure he looked, right from the get-go. How much authority he was already playing with, in a team that he basically doesn't know yet. He wasn't faultless, but he was constantly trying things out, with a total absence of fear. No, really, I wonder just how good this can get.
Now this can't go on forever, of course. Somebody will score against us, somebody will take the lead. The next test of this team, then, is how we react to that. Because a team that goes one goal down and goes on to win the game is looking very serious candidates for being champions. Interesting times. Roll on Juventus and West Ham.
Our rivals? I think it's going to take a long, long time for this to sink in for their supporters, but I strongly suspect that it'll be many years before Liverpool are even going to be challenging for top four again. They seem to have a talent for taking good players and then turning them into dross. Without Coutinho, there is nothing in midfield. Mindless. People say that we depend on Silva. Well no, actually. But they do depend on Coutinho. It's not clear that Liverpool are now anybody's rivals, except, I suppose, for Europa League spots.
United? They have flattered to deceive. I'm certain of it. They were a team bereft of ideas for much of that match on Sunday, made to look acceptable by an even more barren team, and a great goal — I admit it — out of virtually nothing, right at the death. But watching that match was like a form of eye torture. And that's the second time I've seen them and thought that, this season.
That leaves Arsenal and Chelsea, unless we consider that an outsider is going to put in a serious challenge. It might happen, who knows? Chelsea have now effectively put themselves in a position where they've got to win this upcoming match against Arsenal, merely to tread water. It seems ridiculous to say it when we're not even into October, but if we beat West Ham, and they lose to Arsenal, then I don't see that there's a way back for them. We'll drop points, but not that many. And they'd have to go on an insane run. If Arsenal win, on the other hand, they are the most credible candidates to stay the pace. But they still don't have much fire power up front, and even with Cech, their defence is suspect. They've got a very skilful midfield. It may be a good thing that we've got Arsenal at the Etihad as our last home fixture.
We're going to be competing in four competitions, and this year, we could go a long, long way in all of them. We've got to be ruthless about the two domestic cups, in this sense: second team, for both of them. I love it when we've won the League Cup, and even more the F.A. Cup, which still holds its magic for me, but been there, done that. Second team, from Caballero up, for both. No question in my mind. Our second team is still pretty bloody good, if it's going to include players like Zab, Demichelis, Nasri, Bony and Delph.
Question: Fernando, so far as I know, is still an employee of MCFC. He's become Mr Invisible. Not even mentioned any more in press conferences. If it is the case that he was carrying a groin injury for all of last season, he may be a better player than we've given him credit for. Let's at least entertain that possibility. I'd want to take a second look at him, at least in that second team.
