Chin up!

[HRiver 1,512]

What hurts me most though, is that after Torres missed that chance, United fans and neutrals have either forgot or are ignoring the fact that we dominated in most of the game and that we played quite well.

I never expected such a performance from the team away at Old Trafford. AVB is a brilliant manager with great courage. The team kept attacking and attacking.

I really can't wait until we face them at the Bridge.

[GodZola 630]

Some of us remained positive throughout the 'close season of discontent' but I hope now the knockers will take a back seat & give the team & TORRES a break after todays performance, another game with Utd's luck we would of won today with goals to spare.

AVB I salute you, brave tactics that I havn't seen for sometime, my man of the match by an absolute country mile - to have so many chances & to lose the game by some poor officiating is testament to his outstanding management who is clearly not afraid to 'go for it'

Time will tell but I remain confident that we WILL be there at the business end - loving it!

[Badboy 1,526]

I am so happy with watching how well we played, Mata makes such a difference to our side its scary. If we get 1 more creative midfielder i think we will be as unstoppable as the Mourinho side ! We are 1 creative midfielder and 1 Right footed winger away from being unbelievable ! Obi and Rambo will be in midfield for some time with say a Moutinho who will pull the strings with Mata for the runs of Danny and Torres !

[Blue Armour 4,289]

What hurts me most though, is that after Torres missed that chance, United fans and neutrals have either forgot or are ignoring the fact that we dominated in most of the game and that we played quite well.

Not true..in fact there were some hilarious comments on The Sun forum after the match:

Gunners fan:

'United getting away with the ref again. No surprises there. What can you do against 12 men?"

United fan in response:

"What the hell are these gooners doing on a thread thats about two title contenders"

The majority of United fans (apart from the plastics) will tell you that we gave them a good game and are genuine contenders, even if they say that they deserved to win.

Its the f***ing MEDIA that continues to be biased with everything including the Torres issue. Glad that citeh crumbled today, else it would have been even more revolting...

Edited September 18, 2011 by Blue Armour

[Rambo 1,729]

Our defense needs some re-organizing and I think AVB will look into that.

Edited September 18, 2011 by Tech9C

[Ollie 4,400]

I wasn't even that upset about the result because i know we played well, just the Ramires and Torres misses pissed me off. We didn't do much wrong but what can ya do? Answer = Move onto the next game and forget it.

[Rambo 1,729]

If I counted correctly, Torres could've scored 4 goals and Ramires 2. The Torres miss just summed up the game for us, the chances were always there but the finishing was unlucky.

[Kojo 4,676]

To be honest right now.. It doesn't feel like a loss, and I'd rather we lost it like that rather than a controversial win for us whilest playing shit.

[qadsawee 0]

Well written ... in fact this the first time since 1996 that my Manchester UTD fans "friends" didn't annoy with calls or messages or even dropping by my house trying to ruin my evening because they knew as their manager acknowledged that were lucky and we weren't .. and we went through easily. I believe that the best is yet to come and I sir Purple Nose is having nightmares about his noisy neighbors after his teams performance in their first big test !!! KTBFFH

[xjdd 11]

Alright, so we lost. But we didn't fail.

I saw a team play out there. Team being the keyword. I saw an eagerness and hunger to play football, not ugly, boring park-the-bus nonsense. I saw a team that was more than ready to take on the much more fancied opposition on their own turf, and I saw them achieve this. We battered them, and we bettered them. We played positively, with purpose, without inhibitions, with no fear and with conviction, certainly something to be extremely proud of. How many teams would have responded the way we did, after going 3-0 being at HT (a scoreline that was unjust, let alone flattering)?

Our attitude was faultless. Shoulders didn't drop, heads didn't bow. Sure we were guilty of being ruthless in front of goal, but that I can excuse if I see passion and commitment on the pitch. We rallied together, stayed strong and gave better than we got. It's early in the season and sterner tests await, there'll be disappointments along the way but I'm massively encouraged with the performance today. We're heading in the right direction, don't let a mixture of bad luck, small fallacies and refereeing incompetence overshadow a fine outing.

I can't agree more mate, you are so damnly right

many ManU supporters in China is worrying about their visit to our homeground.

Cheer up ! let's defeat them on the bridge .

[Kieran. 6,317]

It's encouraging that when February comes around and we play United again, we can look back positively at a 3-1 defeat.

[francozola 2,040]

Well done AVB. Really pleased with mostly everything that went on. Only thing I was disappointed with was the Lukaku sub. but other than that, that was the first time in... years that we reacted like that. We have always lacked passion in such situations but we were excellent yesterday up. Pity that Torres missed the chance or I would have bet my house that we would have gotten a point.

But even after the final whistle, I was smiling because I was delighted with the way we went about our football. KTBFFH!

Most of you won' believe me, but I was almost sure Rooney wouldn't score from that penalty. It brought back old painful memories though

Me too! Especially after seeing that fucker grin at the referee/his players right before taking it

[ulsterchelsea 3,221]

I personally don't think we should have to get our chins up! This is the best ive felt aftet a defeat to those Shit bags. We are definitely moving forward under avb and playing more expansive exciting football. There is a long way to go in the league and we will be there or there about a come the end. I honestly see this season as a building project so anything above improvement in the team is a bonus.

[warnie_666 1,081]

It is kinda wierd. There is an air of positivity amidst all Chelsea Fans even though we lost by two goal margin and even after Torres howler, which is a good sign of things to come. The loss hasnt really felt like one and is one of the reasons why Evra and Fergie have stressed that Man Utd need to raise their game which in other words means "we were lucky to win as Chelsea could have banged in 5 with an inform Torres".

Everyone is positive about the team and Torres in particular. Which is a good sign and for once I have the sense of feeling that man utd felt they were lucky to win it.

The sad part is, media doesn't see it that way. They see 3-1 scoreline and write a heading that says PL needs a strong Chelsea to challenge Man UTd. Well if we can get an offside goal and a pin ball assist right under our feet to tap it in then I guess we can be as strong as them

Edited September 19, 2011 by warnie_666

[Tortilla9 390]

Sometimes its better to fly under the radar. Let the media write off Chelsea while AVB gets his evolution going one game, one training session at a time.

[manpe 10,861]

To be honest right now.. It doesn't feel like a loss, and I'd rather we lost it like that rather than a controversial win for us whilest playing shit.

Am I the only one thinking arsanal with this? It's scary close to how their fans speak

But I agree, the performance was there, result was not

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Shit happens when you play at Old Trafford. I feel incredibly positive about the remainder of the season - we're so far ahead of the teams behind us and still very close to those ahead of us.

[Laylabelle 9,359]

And think the fact AVB feels happy even though we lost helps a bit,focusing more on the postives then the negatives not bringing down morale and all