To be fair though, when people were almost confidently predicting we'd do shite under Lampard, with the ban and loss of Hazard, to now be 3rd, it's quite amusing to see how things turned out
Pretty much this. You just have to scroll through the first few pages of this very thread, especially after the 4-0 loss at Old Traford, to see why some would find us annoying right know.
When you consider that both teams were pretty at the same level last season, where it took an upturn of form from us and an implosion on United's part, to secure Chelsea a CL place over them. Then we loose Hazard(who was responsible for almost 50% of our attacking output last season), only able to make Kovacic loan permanent, have to rely on 5 academy players of whom 3 were making their first premier league outing and one was coming back from an Achilles tendon injury.
Then you compare all this to United who went on to spend £130m on their defence, and a further £65m on attack (James and Bruno)+ a manager who has already been with them for half a season...then its understandable that rival and neutral fans won't give us a dog's chance of making top 4 at start of the season. However, rival fans should also understand why we are excited about our team and the prospects of Lampard when after all that, with just 4 matches left of the season, we are 3rd on the table.
Things may change, might as well end up 5th. Regardless I'm very much happy with Lampard and the players and I humbly employ United fans not to get irritated by my confidence in my team on here. I'm not one to keep dark grey clouds on my head for too long. Its just footie after all.