Defeat may have left West Bromwich Albion in the thick of a relegation battle, but defender Paul Robinson couldn't get over how much he had enjoyed being on the receiving end of United's display.

"Sometimes when they're going forward, when they counter-attack, it's like watching the Red Arrows in the sky the way they twist and turn everywhere," said Robinson.

"But I did enjoy that game because I was playing against two of the best youngsters in the world, Wayne Rooney playing up front and Ronaldo in my eyes is a world class winger. For me to play against him and to have that challenge is a great honour. I tried to do my best and if my best isn't good enough then I'll hold my hands up."

United's visit followed Chelsea's a couple of weeks before, and while the London side ahead in the Premiership, Robinson believes there is less disgrace in losing to Sir Alex Ferguson's side.

"I think United play more football than Chelsea," he said. "Man United love to keep the ball, they play one touch and it's very difficult to get close to them sometimes.

"With Chelsea they look for (Didier) Drogba quite a bit, who's got quite a presence and (Hernan) Crespo, they play off them, and their midfielders in Frank (Lampard) who just bombs on and gets loads of goals. So you can see why Chelsea are champions because of the way they do it, but United have had to chop and change and they've brought some fresh faces in, but I fancy them next year."

Robinson is confident that his side can fight their way to safety. "The top sides are the ones you want to play," he said. "But we also have to play teams around us as well and it is those games that we need to be winning.

"We can cause a lot of teams a lot of problems. We can't worry about what's going on around us, we just have to get back to what we're good at and take the game to teams."