Defeat was inevitable for tired Manchester United, but David Moyes won't yield

THIS has been called the most thrillingly unpredictable of English Premier League seasons.

Manchester United manager David Moyes watches his team slump to defeat against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

THIS has been called the most thrillingly unpredictable of English Premier League seasons but, for Manchester United fans, it is the sense of routine that is so scary. The chatter as we walked into Stamford Bridge was not whether Chelsea would win but by what margin. Has a domestic defeat for United felt so inevitable in 20 years?

Two set pieces, David Moyes pointed out, as he tried to cool talk of a crisis, to kill suggestions that this job is proving too much for him and, with justification, to stop anyone running away with the idea that this was a trouncing.

At 3-1, it was not, yet when it came to those set pieces, we knew which side would be sharper, more efficient; and it never was going to be the one aching for Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie to return from injury and shift the action to the other end.

We knew which defence would be creaking and it was not the one Jose Mourinho is turning miserly, as is his speciality, but a United back line in which Patrice Evra is turning old before our eyes, Nemanja Vidic struggling like a veteran old heavyweight who has taken one too many blows and the recidivist Rafael Da Silva demonstrating that his hot-headedness never was just youthful impetuosity.

Moyes started off this daunting job in July thinking that he needed a couple of top-quality central midfielders to keep United on top. Less than six months later he has added a left back, at least one top winger and a centre half to his shopping list.

Spending Pound150 million is not the only solution and certainly not the immediate priority given the dangers of panic buying in January, which would compound Moyes's problems.

For now he must work on tightening up those set pieces, though as Moyes reflected on the various missed tackles and poor positioning of Phil Jones, Rafael, Evra, Vidic and others that contributed to the goals, the United manager did not have a ready solution for that.

"You always practise, make sure you can do it, the people to pick up. It's hard to do more," he said, with exasperation.

As if life is not tough enough - "I'd hoped I'd be in a far better position than this, but we're not," Moyes said after a seventh league defeat with almost half the season left - he must bear comparisons with Mourinho, who is so happy with life that he is even going out of his way to set himself up as the best friend and chief defender of referees.

Life is sweet, results are good and expectations are being met, so Mourinho has no need for confrontation just now. With Alex Ferguson departed, he has set himself up as the senior figure of the Premier League dugouts, casting a statesmanlike eye over the game. Yesterday he talked about convening a managerial summit to help officialdom and even did so with a straight face.

For now he is officialdom's friend and yesterday Mourinho was in a London hotel being recognised for his contribution to the English game by the Football Writers' Association, and no doubt talking about how he feels so at home.

He certainly looks at ease, even more so after this victory.

As it is, he has inflicted enough damage on Moyes, for whom 90 minutes must have felt a cruelly long time.

"David Moyes, we want you to stay," they chanted at Stamford Bridge, but that was not the United fans singing.

THE TIMES