16 Conclusions From Chelsea 3 United 3

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* We hoped we wouldn't be here again. But after Liverpool fans booed Patrice Evra last week for having the temerity to be racially abused, Chelsea fans booed Rio Ferdinand because his brother may or may not have been racially abused by their captain. Words cannot describe the idiocy.

* To the football and it became a classic despite there being few moments of genuine quality. But do we need moments of genuine quality to make a classic? It seems not because Juan Mata's goal aside, it was a game blessed with passion and intensity rather than than breath-taking football. Or at least it was after the break. You won't hear this too much on Sky Sports, but the first half was a dud.

In contrast, the second half was truly compulsive viewing. As soon as United scored their first, you knew there would be a second. As soon as they scored they second, you suspected there would be a third. We have to give Chelsea some credit for making sure there wasn't a fourth - the home fans leaving before the final whistle clearly thought it was coming and so did we.

* Wayne Rooney was right to talk of "two points lost". It might feel like a win to some fans in the immediate aftermath of the game but this was not a great United performance and it's far from being a great result. Manchester City would have taken 3-3 before the game - the fact that they were 3-0 down is pretty irrelevant in any other terms but confidence.

* Andre Villas-Boas has been defensive about Fernando Torres' goal drought, pointing to his contribution elsewhere on the pitch, but we rather hope he was screaming at the Spaniard to get in the box when he stood impotent wide on the right in the fifth minute while Daniel Sturridge and Raul Meireles exchanged passes and presumably glances heavy with 'what the hell is Torres doing?'

He's a striker and he's not scoring goals. You don't have to blessed with the expertise of Alan Shearer to realise that part of the problem is his reluctance to put himself into a position where he might miss. Or even score. Imagine that.

* You might guess that all that was written before Chelsea's second goal for which Torres pinged in a perfect cross from the right wing. But the difference on this occasion was that Sturridge, Florent Malouda and Mata were all within ten yards of the goal waiting for the cross. Now that's the right time to drift out to the flank...

* In the opening ten minutes, many Man United fans were screaming at the TV when David de Gea flapped at a ball under his posts when he could have quite comfortably done a pirouette before catching the ball, such was the lack of pressure. We really don't want to pick on the fella but that was utterly, utterly terrible goalkeeping.

Late in the game came the reassurance that De Gea has the potential to be an utterly brilliant goalkeeper (if only he could catch).

* Manchester United might have missed Ashley Young but we haven't missed his propensity to hit the deck at the very slightest invitation. As soon as he dribbled into the box, you knew it was only a matter of time before he went over with one arm already in the air. On a weekend when we have seen Adam Johnson 'look for contact', even the Daily Mail could not argue that diving is a foreign disease.

Replays may have shown that Young's shirt was being pulled, but you cannot dive forward when you're being pulled back and expect a penalty. Sorry Ashley, but that's not how momentum works.

* You wonder whether that played any part in Howard Webb's otherwise-inexplicable decision not to award at least a free-kick for Gary Cahill's clumsy challenge on Danny Welbeck. He may have got a touch on the ball but the way he took Welbeck's legs in the follow-through ensured that the Manchester United striker had no chance of reclaiming possession and continuing his surge towards goal. Inside or out? For me it's outside so no penalty.

As for Sir Alex Ferguson's contention that it should have been a sending-off - we'll have to agree to disagree because it looked very much like Welbeck was heading far enough away from goal for Luiz to cover.

* And with that decision, all the wind seemed to go from Manchester United's sails. Instead of putting pressure on a Chelsea backline that looked vulnerable, they seemed to settle for feeling sorry for themselves. The passing was sloppy, the urgency was non-existent. They allowed Chelsea to wrestle control of the ball and the match and the opening goal - though tinged with luck - seemed inevitable as the Blues grew in confidence.

* Before the game it looked like Jose Bosingwa would be the left-back in trouble against an in-form Luis Valencia, but while the Manchester United winger was utterly failing to get around the back of a full-back playing on the 'wrong' side, Sturridge made Patrice Evra look like a chump on his 'right' side. Quite why Evra - with all his experience - showed Sturridge the byline when he had cover inside, we will never know. The result was a ball across the box that De Gea and Jonny Evans contrived to pinball into the net.

* The half-time Sky Sports line was that United had dominated the first half and the 1-0 scoreline was some kind of travesty. This despite United failing to get a shot on target until the 38th minute, when Chelsea's opener finally woke them from a 25-minute slumber following the Welbeck penalty appeal. The statistics showed that they had recorded a very poor pass completion rate of less than 70%. They were undoubtedly getting better but it was far from being a performance of quality from either side.

* What a phenomenal start to the second half from Chelsea and from Juan Mata. The excellence of David Silva means that Mata's contribution to the season has been underplayed but, just like Silva, he has been a delight to have in the Premier League. No histrionics, no moaning about the weather, just some wonderful football. The volley for Chelsea's second was sumptuous and the delivery for their third was pinpoint - though Rio Ferdinand should have been closer to David Luiz - and brought his eighth PL assist of the season. We probably don't need to tell you the identity of the only player to claim more.

* There is no more compelling sight in English football than a United side who sniff the chance of a comeback. Again, the football was not breathtaking but the desire and momentum was addictive. Rooney showed true gonads to bury two penalties after his recent travails from the penalty spot - his first-half performance was once again poor but he was at the centre of United's comeback. Cometh the hour and all that.

* The penalties? The first was nailed on - despite Jamie Redknapp stretching his love affair with Sturridge by talking of 'foreign players looking for contact'. The second was unlucky on Branislav Ivanovic but Welbeck was always going to go over his leg. Those are the penalties you earn when you put pressure on your opposition. Breathe down their neck for long enough and they will get the chills and do something silly out of fear.

* Just as we were thinking that David Luiz had been far more impressive in recent weeks, he combined with Cahill to allow Javier Hernandez all the space and time in the world to head home Ryan Giggs' cross. In a game littered with some pretty rotten defending, this was perhaps the nadir.

* It was inevitable that Rooney would be given the man of the match award but Giggs would have been a far more fitting candidate - he was consistently United's most creative player and eventually made the equaliser with his beautifully dinked cross. On a day when Valencia failed to live up to recent promise, it was the old man who delivered.

Sarah Winterburn