I know we were irredeemably ****e yesterday and City could have easily scored 5 or 6 with better finishing, but I still think some of the reactions I've read on here are over the top. After one poor game against the best team in the country people are saying our defence is woeful and not up to standard, despite it being one of the plus points in the season so far in my opinion (before today we'd only conceded 4 games against some tough opposition). City were on fire yesterday and would've dismantled most Premiership teams on that form. In addition, I've seen people writing off England international Adam Johnson as a failed signing already when he's yet to play a game for us at 100% fitness, people talking about us being doomed to relegation, and even murmurings about Martin O'Neill's future after only one defeat so far this season away against the champions and the most expensive team in history. The game against the Mags is certainly a big one in terms of our season, not only because of the rivalry but because of the impact it could have on our morale. I would remind people though that we went into the last derby on the back of a 4-0 mauling against West Brom and still produced a spirited display with 10 men, and were unlucky not to hold on for an away win. The defence managed to keep Cisse and Ba largely anonymous last time, though of course if you stick Ameobi in front of a red and white shirt he temporarily transforms into Drogba at his best. At the other end the Mags don't seem to have the same defensive solidity they had last year All in all, I hope people realise we are still a work in progress and are unlikely to be anything more than a mid-table side this year, and our best chance of some excitement will come in the cups. If we were to go on a losing run then I will certainly be asking questions of the way the team is set up, but after only one defeat against a world class side, I'd say it's not time to press the panic button yet.
When Steve Bruce was the manager a lot of people were calling for him to be replaced by Martin O'Neil, on a few occasions I said Martin O'Neil wasn't the man for this job, I've got this terrible feeling that I may be right, I hope I'm dead wrong. Yesterdays game wasn't the first time we've played as badly with a few players having to to asked questions, it won't be the last, we may even get away with it for a couple of games, but there will be games, most of them where we cannot afford to play as badly, we have to get our act together, sooner rather than later
