Shearer 1 Man Utd 2

"We weren't playing Noboby United, we were playing Manchester United", opined Sir Bobby, in an unsettlingly upbeat post-match interview on Saturday. Well, it might be another one for the ever-growing list of Bobbyisms, but it's no consolation for the fact that, for the second time in less than six months, we've been outclassed at home by those Red Fuckers. We just HAVE to get over this ridiculous inferiority complex when it comes to playing Man Utd and Arsenal - if WE don't believe we can beat them and challenge for the league title, then who the hell else is?

Most worrying, though, was the utter lack of spirit in our performance. Spirit is something we've had in spades over the past couple of seasons, and it's served us in good stead, getting us out of situations where our prospects had looked bleak. But on Saturday it seems even that deserted us - at home to the champions, 2-1 down with 30 minutes to play, all we could muster was a single shot. More crippling defensive errors proved our undoing - that, and the fact that our bunch of talented midfielders are all struggling for form. Shearer must be despairing at having to play teams almost on his own.

We need a good performance, and fast. Failure in the Champions' League qualifier on Wednesday is unthinkable.