How bad has our start to the season really been?

It feels like an absolutely disastrous start to the season so far of course. Just one win in the Prem and no victories in four home games but have we been crap or unlucky?

Well, the fixture list has hardly been kind to us. We met Liverpool equipped with both Gerrard and Torres and played Tottenham when they had both Modric and Defoe in the team. In both games we were unlucky to lose, undone by defensive slips, with Cole's catastrophic pass to Defoe and Hines and Tomkins showing their inexperience for the first Torres goal. Whilst Liverpool and Tottenham were at full strength, we were of course depleted, even ignoring the absence of Ashton. To lose Upson and Behrami to injury within the first 27 minutes of the game is taking bad luck to a new level. I doubt any club could take a double blow like that in their stride and come out victorious. Arsenal at home was another difficult game, where typically our opponents had all their key personnel available. Yes I know Walcott was absent and Nasri was only on the bench, but the key men for Arsenal are Van Persie and Fabregas and, as with Tottenham and Liverpool, we found ourselves playing against both where other clubs have benefited from these key players being absent. Would we have lost to the Liverpool team that played at Sunderland? I doubt it! Would Tottenham have beaten us without Modric, King and Defoe? I don't think so because, as Stoke showed, without these key players Tottenham are vulnerable.

We groaned when we lost at Wigan but we failed to appreciate how well this Wigan team are playing. They have won at Villa, beaten Chelsea and became the first club to win at Burnley. Was a single goal reverse such a disgrace therefore? We expected a tonking at a rampant Man City and we got it. People will say, you were lucky with injuries and suspensions there because Aidinbonkingawhore and Ribena were missing, but that meant we had to contend with Petrov, Wright-Phillips, Tevez and Bellyache. Who knows, had Parker's goal not been unfairly struck off, we might have got something from that match despite going in to it without Upson, Gabbidon and Behrami. Has there ever been a more inexperienced centre back pairing than Tomkins and Da Costa? The Wolves result was fine, as was the draw at Blackburn, so that takes us down to two bad results so far, the loss at Stoke which assumes a new perspective following their victory at Tottenham the following Saturday, and the shocking draw against 10 man Fulham. Mind you, Fulham were in a false position when we played them and were good enough to come back from 2 goals down against Man City at the weekend.

The truth is, we have yet to play a "banker win" game apart from Fulham at home. We can't keep making excuses but, sooner or later, our luck has got to turn. Maybe Sunderland will be without Bent and Jones - then we could be in business even without Parker who was incorrectly sent off! The table makes grim reading but, if we look at things logically, the Grim Reaper may still be some way from our door!

(Why the picture? You explain!)