And if there was ever a pointless (sic) stat table ever invented, then this would be it.

Not really. It shows how well teams are doing with generating points from their spending. There is no question about it, if you spend enough you will win trophies. There is very little skill to it.

Try it on Football Manager. Give yourself a £1,000m budget to spend and see what it does.

City can't expect any acknowledgement for their 'achievements' this season.

Everton to be crowned Champions then?

If City win something they'll have spent the money well. As every other winner of the Premier League will have done...

what's poor is when a side spends and doesnt win anything. City to date and Liverpool and Newcastle in teh last decade have spent, without trophies to show for it.

Also, going back to those early 2000s figures for United's spending - money alone cannot buy you the premier league. It was Aresnal then Chelsea who won the title more in that period despite United's spending. Both spent better you might say.

City's second half counter-attacking was as good as anything I've seen in a long, long time, fair play to them for that. They were excellent in all areas yesterday and were well worthy of the crushing victory.

They were helped by an incredibly poor midfield performance from Nited. Though when you're options are Fletcher, Anderson, Carrick, Gibson, Giggs then you are asking for trouble. Almost every Nited fan I know has said for 2, 3, 4 years that the midfield is woefully weak and it looks like, at last, it's come to bear. If fergie doesn't recognise it now then he never will.

Still a long way to go and 5 points isn't a monumental gap AND we've played the 5 other best teams in the league now whereas City have only played two (admittedly with an aggregate of 11-2 in their favour

). Let them enjoy this result, we most certainly would if we'd have won 6-1 against them. It wouldn't be unlike Nited to go on a 7 or 8 game winning run now but whether this result will fire them up or not is another matter.

Didn't think you'd miss me that much.

Awful result for United yesterday and probably the worst performance I've ever seen. I remember the 5-1 at Maine Road but City are the real deal this time around. They were a different class and woefully exposed United's threadbare midfield.
Despite other clubs having disappointing results it was interesting to see United getting the headlines. I understand that as the biggest club in the country that's par for the course but I think City deserve more credit than they've got from some quarters.
Interesting arguments with regard to levelling the field. Would have been nice to see that brought on in the 70s and 80s. As for the salary cap, you don't need to go as far as the States. The greatest game of all, rugby league, has shown what can happen if it's implemented. If you're wondering what effect a cap would have on a sport in this country have a look at Super League.

I don't care how much money they've spent, I don't care what players they have at their disposal, beating Manchester United, the champions, 6-1 on their own turf is a pretty amazing achievement.

I think everyone is now assuming the title is Citeh's for the taking. I think that's retarded. When Chelsea beat United 5-0 everyone assumed United were done for, United won the ****ing treble that year.

Citeh have obviously got some excellent, excellent players. They have a pretty decent manager. But that doesn't mean they have a championship winning team. They could easily suffer a huge downturn in form or suffer from a serious fall out in their squad.

And I don't think Citeh fans should give a **** whether anyone acknowledges their "achievements" or not.

why should they put a cap on it?? all teams in the PL spend big now. its not like every game is 1 sided either theres not many games this year were i have thought they will batter them. For example a few year back who would think a newly promoted team would go too a high spending anfield and get a point?? who would think QPR would beat chelsea. The PL is so open these its still probably the best sport in the world. Rugby Leage needed a salary cap cause they have money problems football hasnt so you cant compare them. Anyway lets get back too yesterday



was a unreal game united started really strong and i was worried, But hate him or love him you just know Ballotelli is always in the game that finish was awseome, As for Silva what can you say its always expecting of him now hes one of the worlds best now
alongside Messi, Ronaldo and the likes that ball for Dzekos goal was probably the best pass ive ever seen. Think the one player not getting enough credit yesterday was Jimmy Milner worked tirelessly and kept pushing Nani back and harrasing him all day. What a lovely day too be a blue

I think the difference between Man City and Chelsea and the rest of the league is that they aren't run as a business, they can more or less spend what they want when they want. Granted, other teams have spent big but may have had to buy some average players to offset the bigger signings whereas these two teams can just buy a big name every time. A form of salary cap is the only way the league will ever be fair again but i fear there is just too much money in football now and they can never go back.

What are you talking about? Are you trying to say that anyone in the league can win it? Are you saying that sides like Norwich have a chance of reaching the Champions League? You are utterly clueless if you don't think football has money problems. Every year clubs are going into administration, every year clubs sell off their assets to 'raise funds' because they can't afford to match others without selling. Only a select few have the luxury of spending big without consequence, and even then it could turn around to bite them in the backside. If City's owners were to do a u-turn and sell the club to somebody without the bottomless pit, City would probably gone within a couple of years, such is the level of over-achieving in the financing department. It's embarrassing that you're trying to say all sides spend big. Do Wigan spend like City? Do Everton? Do Bolton?

Just because sides get the odd result, doesn't mean that everything is fine, because it's not. We try and con ourselves into believing the league has a top six, i.e. United, Chelsea, City, Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool. But we don't, we have a top three, then Liverpool, Spurs and Arsenal, and then the rest. None of the other sides have a chance of winning the league or even the top 4, it's not open at all, it may be down the bottom half of the table, but that's only because they're as poor as each other.

Absolutely splendid letter from Al Fayed on the Fulham website. Superb stuff.

I've probably said it before, but for a Kopite, you're very realistic and honest about football... you're an example most footy fans should follow