You will hear a lot of crap from the media in the coming week. They will talk about spirit, character, hole in defence and of course their favourite obsession, Frenchman Arsene Wenger.
The truth is that we actually played well but we did not get the breaks at the right moment.
We conceded when exerting a lot of pressure in the first half on United. In fact, we started as the much better side and were passing our way confidently around the United players.
Diaby looked impressive and we were superior to United. They scored with their first real chance of the game. But we kept our heads up after their goal and resumed our constant pressure (without success) until the end of half.
The second goal was again at the wrong time - just so early in the second half.
Other than that, I thought that the players gave a good account of themselves. Almunia produced three stunning saves, Chamakh again looked good when introduced and was unlucky not to score.
In fact, we had 59% possession compared to United´s 41%. And we had 16 goal attempts compared to United´s 10. The same journalists who banged on about our lack of possession against Barcelona will now tell you it does not matter but that is all you need to know about their consistency.
I am not too disappointed with the defeat as I was not really expecting us to win at Old Trafford, where the home side reigns supreme. I knew that our best chance was the Premier League as United are very fragile away from the place where Scholes and co are allowed to kick with no repercussions.
Away from home is where they drop their points ( 4 wins only out of 14 is a fact that the media does not talk too much about this United side) and I am confident we will beat them at the Emirates.
The fans need to remember that we also went out in the FA Cup and the Champions League in the same week in 2004.
There were positives to take from the game: the unexpected good form of Almunia, the return of Ramsey and the fact that the lads were so positive despite the Barcelona defeat.
The only negative is Djourou´s injury but I am expecting Vermaelen to feature for us in April. In any case our three next games are against WBA, Blackburn and Blackpool and the Premier League is very much in our hands.
