It makes it more painful that old cuddly Sir Al was being nice about us again on Sunday as not for the first time this season, we came up short at Old Trafford.
Jens Lehmann - 7 - A couple of fine saves to demonstrate that while he may not be as nice as Manuel he is still probably the better keeper.
Kolo Toure - 7 - A few dodgy moments, but did well in the main as he adjusteds to a new position.
Alex Song - 6 - Coped well under the circumstances.
William Gallas - 6 - Our most experienced defender was guilty of a moment of stupidity. At least he held his hand up afterwards.
Gael Clichy - 8 - Excellent from start to finish.
Emmanuel Eboue - 6 - A bright start and some excellent tracking back to help Kolo with the threat of Ronaldo, but faded as a force as the first half went on.
Gilberto Silva - 7 - Provided an excellent shield to the back four and was harshly penalised before Utd's winner.
Cesc Fabregas - 7 - The fulcrum of an impressive attacking performance.
Robin van Persie - 7 - Slowly getting his match fitness back just in time for the season to end. Fine work on the goal.
Alex Hleb - 8 - A real threat to United all afternoon and some dazzling skills.
Emmanuel Adebayor - 6 - A couple of poor misses, but refused to hide even if the ref somehow couldn't see his blatant handball.
Substitutes:
Theo Walcott - 5 - Not the impact of Anfield unfortunately.
Nicklas Bendtner - 6 - Proved a handful but missed his chances.
Justin Hoyte - n\a - Could have kicked Ronaldo a lot harder.