Gee, maybe they were somehow incensed at yet again being robbed in a game against Chelsea by refereeing incompetence/bias, decisions that cost them a game they could well have won 1-0 or 2-0. If it's not Wiley or Webb screwing them up against Chelsea it's Atkinson, the idiot who made the howler a year or so ago that cost United the FA Cup. It's bad enough to have to deal with the biggest bunch of professional foulers/cheats in the game (read Terry, Cole, Drogba, Ballack etc) but when a linesman is so blind that he can't see Cole playing Rooney well onside in a situation where he was clear of the defense and one on one against Cesc, or Terry handing away what would have been a basic penalty for anyone else, it was Cole jumping up in the air theatrically to earn a free kick from a legitimate Fletcher tackle. Drogba then did his surly best to make sure Terry got the shot on goal by taking down Brown in the box, straying offside, and interfering with Van Der Sar. Nothing really there to feel hard done by, eh? The only thing we didn't have to put up with was Ballack indulging in his usual cheating, niggling, and gamesmanship. As for all the howls over Fletcher's 'Kung fu' kick on Drogba, take another look. The Scot took a big leap up into the air to try and reach the ball with his head. Drogba then flew full tilt into him while he was still up in the air, sending Fletcher flying and then going to the ground in his usual dramatic fashion, writhing all over the ground as if he was having an epileptic fit. Do they hand out manuals at Chelsea on how to con the ref at every opportunity, is it something that comes with playing with Terry? Give me Arsenal any day if United have to lose the championship to someone. Under Wenger they play the game in the right spirit and with a style of play that's lovely to behold, unlike the ugly and dirty styles employed by the likes of Chelsea, a team that needs officialdom to help further its cause.

Points duely noted, and you make some good ones. but you are bound to see the boy-who-cried-wolf scenario now when officials referee their matches away from Old Trafford, though I recognise that Stamford Bridge, for all its silence and lack of atmosphere, is also somehow becoming as much of a fortress for biased decisions.

I'd put this to you though, in the past season and a bit, how many of Utd's 19 dropped points against the "Big Four" have been down to bad refereeing?...