ManU lose, Siralex whinges about the referee.

As in politics, there is the action, and then there is the post-action spin. Whilst Chelsea have kept fairly quiet about yesterday`s game, the bleating from Manchester has reached Liverpool-esque levels of whining.

Deliberately trying to avoid the uncomfortable conclusions from the scoreline itself, Manchester United, aided by legions of partisan bloggers, are putting out an alternative reading whereby it was the referee who stole their rightful victory.

It`s an invention of a parallel universe that requires some pretty powerful LSD to enter. Apparently an unjustly given offside against Wayne Rooney on 8 minutes deprived ManU of a goal (even though there is little indication that Rooney could have actually scored). On the other hand, a few minutes later, a brilliant turn from Rooney, which was shot wide, was given as a corner. No amount of replays establish that the ball deflected off Ricardo Carvalho. You take your chances, had that corner gone in Chelsea would certainly have been aggrieved.

For the goal that Chelsea scored, ManU can feel that the decisions went against them. "You lose faith in the refereeing sometimes - that's the way the players are talking in there," said Siralex when a series of poor decisions allowed Chelsea to score. Firstly Darren Fletcher`s clean tackle on Ashley Coles was penalised as a foul. That allowed Frank Lampard to float in a free kick that was headed in by John Terry or Nicolas Anelka, pending the dubious goals` committee`s decision. "Clearly Darren Fletcher has won the ball," said Ferguson. "He's never touched Ashley Cole, who just jumped up in the air. And during the free kick, was there a tussle in the box? Yes, says Siralex. "[Didier] Drogba has pulled [Wes] Brown to the ground at the goal. The referee's position to make a decision there was absolutely ridiculous. He can't see it."

As if daring the F.A. to throw the book at him, Siralex dug his own grave. "There was 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?" How about accepting defeat graciously, Fergus. That might be a new one.

One could have a certain sympathy with Fergus for whinging about bad decisions, if he hadn`t been a tad more balanced. The suggestion is that whistleblower Martin Atkinson was biased against ManU. No, he wasn`t: Atkinson had a bad game all over. No mention, for instance, of Atkinson booking Didier Drogba, who had the temerity to hit Johnny Evans` studs with his chest, during a jump for the ball that saw the United centreback raise his foot to beyond a dangerous play height and sneakily kick Drogba in the chest. We fail to understand on what grounds Atkinson could have booked Drogba (and let off Evans), given that Drogba was so badly hurt he had to be substituted off a few minutes later. Had the referee seen it properly, he would have shown Evans a red card. In fact, there are pretty good grounds for a retro-active punishment. As it was, not only did Johnny Evans get off scot-free, Atkinson booked the victim of the ManU defender`s violent conduct. Carlo Ancelotti said that the Evans` 'challenge` (is that a euphemism for GBH?) was so bad that Drogba was now 'struggling to move`. Sportingly, Ancelotti agreed that Drogba could have been offside when that goal went in. "Maybe Drogba was offside, but it's very difficult to see this because there were a lot of people in the box," he said.

Was there a first-half penalty when Antonio Valencia tangled with Terry? Could have been, they have been given for less. But let`s not invent any childish conspiracy. It`s as laughable as the complaints that 5 minutes of added time were indicated, and Martin Atkinson gave exactly 5 minutes. ManU complaining that not enough extra time is given. Hmmm.

After all, Johnny Evans also tackled Ricardo Carvalho from behind. Both Carvalho and Evans were booked for that. How did that happen? And when Chelsea scored, Edwin Van Der Sar ran forward immediately to complain to the referee, in the process ploughing straight through Branislav Ivanović, who is knocked to the floor. Eh? That`s quite apart from the systematic crowding of the referee at any decision. "I think that the United players protested a lot, I don't know why - I don't like this," said Carlo Ancelotti, the Chelsea manager.

All this to say that any suggestion of referee unbalance is laughable: Atkinson was equally poor in handing out wrong decisions that penalised both sides. A key difference was that one side took their chances, the other whinged about their perception of the unfairness.

Then again, ManU have previous when it comes to undermining referees. In March last year, when his side lost 1-0 at Portsmouth, Ferguson was given a severe warning for criticising not only Martin Atkinson but also the Premier League head of referees. A few weeks ago, Ferguson went off on a rant about the fitness of Alan Wiley. Siralex admitted that charge, and is already facing the possibility of a fine or touchline ban for that. His latest remarks could land him into further hot water. The same can be said of Wayne Rooney, although the thick-necked one`s charge would be that he refused to shake the referee`s hand and he left the field of play mouthing the words `12 men` to the TV cameras. Whilst we can have little sympathy for any FA decision to Fergus, it would be absurd to punish Rooney.

Midweek, having been surprised by CSKA Moscow, Fergus declared that booking Darren Fletcher for diving (when he tumbled in the box in a legitimate penalty decision) was 'one of the worst he`d seen in his lifetime` (which seems like something of an exaggeration). Even Fletcher suggests that his reputation has preceded him. Arsène Wenger commented that Fletcher was responsible for systematic fouling without getting booked. Of the incident that saw a free kick given, Fletcher said "It was clearly not a foul. I knew at the time and I have watched it again on the replay. I back-heeled the ball and Cole just jumps up in the air and the ref gives a foul, I think we are starting to see Mr Wenger's comments starting to influence referees which is a shame really."

Maybe an alternative reading is that, when ManU systematically try to influence the referees through a variety of techniques (bullying, questioning integrity, insults, myopia), they shouldn`t be surprised when those referees are less than sympathetic. Besides, the way that ManU hound referees is simply part of Fergus` 'mind games`, to try to divert attention from his own shortcomings, to deflect criticism away, and also to instill a siege mentality on his players.

Those fans are happy to lap it up, to the extent that they have rewritten what actually happened to justify a delusion that the referee stole victory from them. "We've dominated the game, Siralex said. "we should have finished them off, but you do need a break. We did play well and were by far the better team", a sentiment echoed by a load of soft-headed ManYoo blogs. It`s rubbish. The 'better team` enjoyed slightly more possession, (53/47), but the statistics also reveal that Čech was by far the lesser used keeper: ManU had a pitiful 2 shots on target to Chelsea`s 6. Chelsea`s passing was also more accurate than United`s. Dominated the game, better team? Please. Had it been a draw, Fergus could have used that argument. He lost, his side failed to score any goals, the idea that a 'victory` has been stolen is childish.

The FA have just announced that Siralex won`t be censured for his post-match comments, apparently because he didn`t cast doubt on the referee`s integrity. A clever bloke, he presumably knows the difference between undermining the referee`s integrity and his competence. Well, Fergus certainly has experience as to what is not acceptable if he draws on his almost standing appointment at the F.A.`s disciplinary committee.

But we also have the experience that, whenever ManU don`t win, it is somehow the fault of the referee according to a one-sided view of the world whereby the errors of the referee in his sides`s favour are edited out. Whilst Siralex can feel aggrieved that some of the calls didn`t go his way, that a few of them went against him, he could also have recognised that there were a few incidents where the referee`s decisions were very much in his favour.

Still, whatever helps him and his fans get through the day … until their next slip-up.

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