United will go into the international break ruing, what could have been, a draw (even, to the optimists, a win). Prior to the game, whilst I predicted a 1-1 draw, a nagging feeling told me a defeat to Chelsea was a perfectly possible — and in a parallel universe, even deserving, given our recent form — and I had my mind made up preparing for the worst.

What transpired actually surprised me.

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This has been billed as win or bust by a lot of people — especially United fans. Not since the era of Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea (at their peak) have we gone into a match against Chelsea with the billing of underdogs. And for good reason.

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A lot of you might have noticed the poppy flower adorning attire of managers, broadcasters, players’ shirts etc. to mark Remembrance week. Sportsmail (or, indeed, the Daily Mail) have led this campaign to get all Premier League clubs to have an embroidered poppy on club kits. Personally, I didn’t have much of a problem with a campaign of this sort. But somewhere, this thing went wrong.

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Darren Fletcher is expected to return to a side beset with absentees — to injuries and personal reasons. The manager took time out to shower yet more praise on Fletcher.

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… we are of course talking of Wayne Rooney’s newborn son — who we haven’t really signed but we imagine will be tearing up the pitch in about two decades from now — Kai Rooney, born at Liverpool Women’s hospital.

According to the spokesman, “Mother and baby are both absolutely fine. Wayne and Coleen are thrilled with the wonderful addition to their family life.” We wish Rooney all the best as a daddy.

Also, the baby must have broken record of sorts as he gets his first fake twitter account within minutes of birth. So far, it’s funny as hell!

Just two clips for today. Some curious bit of stuff from Ferguson.

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Defeats to Liverpool makes me sick. But looking forward to exciting young talents making their first team debuts helps lift the gloom. The official site reports Gabriel Obertan is expected to start on the left wing against Barnsley tomorrow.

Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed to ManUtd.com on Monday, “He’ll play tomorrow against Barnsley, it’s a good start for him.”

Let’s make no pretence about this: we were beaten fair and square by Liverpool. We can talk all we want about refereeing incompetence; true there were a few errors but the crucial ones were offset on the other side too. Nothing however disguises the fact that yesterday was a defeat that was fully deserved.

This makes it a hat trick of Liverpool wins and that’s what makes it hard to stomach.

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RoM has an exclusive interview with Phillippe Auclair, the author of Cantona: the rebel who would be king. Worth a read.

The Guardian has an interesting piece on a forgotten tale involving United players, 100 years ago. Here’s an extract:

The first meeting of the Association Football Players Union in 1907 was chaired by United player Billy Meredith – the “Welsh Wizard”, who was one of the first footballing superstars. The union campaigned against FA rules such as the £4 ceiling on wages and the lack of compensation for injured players. In 1909, the FA withdrew its recognition of the union because it didn’t like its authority questioned; players were ordered to resign from the union or have their registration cancelled. Many players did resign, but not all. Heroically, the whole of the Manchester United team refused.

Read the whole piece. Well worth your time.