Manchester United 3-1 Chelsea: Things the Blues Can Learn from Sunday's Defeat

The performance was a dominant one, but the scoreline didn't quite reflect that. Chelsea's poor finishing, shaky defense and errors by the linesman condemned the Blues to their first defeat of the Andre Villas-Boas regime, losing 3-1 to Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday.

The Fernando Torres miss really epitomized his career in the blue shirt, and unfortunately ended up coming on a day when he played his best game since the big-money move to West London.

After the game, everything looked so negative for the Pensioners. However, it is important to acknowledge that there are plenty of positives to take from Sunday's match, and a lot to learn from the mistakes made.

Here are some important observations that Mr. Villas-Boas must have made from what he saw.

The Blues Had the Right Approach for the Game

One of the biggest things learned was that the Blues' approach actually left United on the back foot. If you attack the Red Devils from the word go, you will disrupt their natural game, and get a grip on the match. This will allow you to dominate them.

Andre Villas-Boas has brought a very entertaining style of football to the Bridge, and this allows the West Londoners to boss the game, creating many chances along the way.

The stats from Sunday are indicative of this: 22 shots on goal, eight on target. That's quite impressive when you're playing Man United in their own backyard. The Red Devils, meanwhile had six on target from 14 attempts.

The bottom line is: this is the right approach.

The Defense Needs To Tighten Up

While the Chelsea attack in the last few games has been a treat to watch, you don't need a Sky Sports pundit to tell you that the defense has been the weak link. John Terry and co. must pull up their socks.

The stats don't lie: six goals conceded in five games is not good enough for a team aspiring to win back the Premier League trophy.

While the linesman had his part to play in the first two goals against United, slack defending didn't help the cause, and was visible in all three goals that were let in.

The return of David Luiz will be a boost, but it is important that reliable performers like Branislav Ivanovic and Ashley Cole get back to their best. After all, these were the very same players who ensured the club had the best defensive record in the league last season.

Fernando Torres, THAT Miss Apart, Was Brilliant and May Be Back for Good

The phrase "form is temporary, class is permanent" has been used all too often. But it remains nothing short of the truth.

Fernando Torres, in my opinion, was the best player in blue on Sunday. Apart from his finishing, which still left a lot to desire, he was brilliant. His movement was superb, enabling him to get himself into scoring positions on numerous occasions. He scored a great goal too.

It's sad to see him become the scapegoat in a defeat where the real culprits were the Chelsea back four and the linesman.

The signs are there to suggest that the Spaniard is back to his best. He must not let that open-goal miss stick in his head, and look at the bigger picture.

It's All Far from Over

The most important observation is that Manchester United are not unbeatable, in fact, far from it.

If you can have the champions pinned back at their very own Theatre of Dreams, then dethroning them is certainly not beyond you.

As I have already stressed, Chelsea's two areas of weakness have been their defending and their finishing. But it's still early days, and the gap is only four points. Chelsea are very much in the title race and the Manchester duo are not far ahead.

So, as Andre says, turn your attention to the next game.