Defeat Hurts Sir Alex

Sir Alex Ferguson was left frustrated on two counts at Stamford Bridge on Sunday as Chelsea’s dubious winner and United’s inability to convert dominant possession into goals led to a disappointing 1-0 defeat.

United might be able to take positives from this commanding performance, although Sir Alex found it tough to hide his disappointment.

“It's very hard to take, sickening actually," admitted the boss. "I don’t think it was [one of our best performances] this season. Stoke City, Tottenham and Wigan were all excellent away performances.

"We didn’t win today. We did play well and were by far the better team, but Chelsea have gone five points clear and if we had won we’d have gone top.”

Refereeing decisions were again the subject of Sir Alex’s post-match ire, though even his most hardened critics will surely see his side of the story. Darren Fletcher’s challenge on Ashley Cole for the free kick that led to John Terry’s winner was perfectly legitimate.

“Clearly Darren has won the ball,” the boss complained. “He never touched Cole who has jumped up in the air. Then Drogba pulled Brown to the ground for the goal.

“The referee’s position for the free kick was absolutely ridiculous. He can’t see anything. He’s got a Chelsea player standing right in front of him and he doesn’t even move.

"It was a bad decision, but what can you do? There’s nothing we can do about it. You lose faith in referees sometimes, that’s the way the players are talking in the dressing room. It was a bad one.”

But Sir Alex didn’t just point the finger at the officials, he said his players needed to shoulder some responsibility as well.

“That goal should not have been allowed, but we dominated the game and had some chances to win the match,” he added. “We had great opportunities in terms of the football we played to get to the edge of the box, and some good chances in and around the box. But we should be finishing it off.

"We only have ourselves to blame in that respect. Sometimes you need a bit of a break, and we never got the break we needed.”