Better than 3-5 at Old Trafford?

[Albionmad]

Explain yourself? 

Im 55. I recall that date in Dec 78 well, 30th Dec. We had to put in perspective the might of them, we walloped United 4-0 twice at home in previous seasons. They hadn't won the league in over a decade and been relegated once in the meantime. They were nothing as a footballing force, but only in name for those a generation older who recall the Busby Babes. They were a faded star.

Televised games were rare then. We had 3 games on ITV Star Soccer and about 2, maybe 3 on MoTD. Some of the games were from Div 2.

Half of games were missed. Thousands of wonderful games galore just stuck in our memories.

We just so happened to be on telly that day. Just before then we supposedly were amazing in a 2-1 win at Highbury.

Yesterday was astonishing, but might be a one hit wonder. It's like saying Baker St(I know Gerry Rafferty had more than that) is better than anything the Beatles ever did. It's subjective.

Yesterday, was unbelievable. It was wondrous and joyous. It wasn't though a do or die moment, which is why it falls well short of things like the Palace win in 2002, Pompey 2005 etc. However a curt comment like that lacks depth.

Your wish is my command. 
A number of reasons 
1. I was at the Old Trafford game. I went by myself on the special from New St, met some great lads on the train and had a ball. The whole day will always have a special place in my memory 
2. We scored 2 of the top 3 ITV Goals of the Season that day. 
3. It was a seminal performance and is still remembered by football fans from many different teams over 40 years later. 
4. Despite United not being a dominant team of the time, they were still a force with the big money players and the ever present arrogance. Smashing them on their own patch in front of the cameras was still a massive deal. Anyone who says otherwise either wasn’t there or doesn’t have a clue. 
5. We didn’t play against 10 men for more than two thirds of the game. It’s not our fault that Chelsea went down to 10 men but we only really started playing well once it happened 
6. The United game was a high point in an incredible - but ultimately frustrating - season as opposed to being the high point of a dull, disappointing season that most of us would gladly forget in a heartbeat 
So .... as I said, in my opinion it doesn’t even come close

Well done Bristol. That’s a good explanation. Part of it is rose tinted due to you being there. Also, as a 90 minutes it epitomised the much loved team of that era. 

Saturday was a bewildering performance but likely to be a weird random highlight in a season of misery. That’s not disputing though it’s to my mind in 90 minutes the best performance of the Prem years.

Local ITV Star Soccer usually devoted most of the air time to a match played locally.
IIRC Gary Newbon came on and said there'd been a change to the scheduling.
The main match would feature a local team playing away from home.
Gerald Sinstadt commentated and he was bowled over by our quality. Especially Cantello's screamer and Regis' goal at the end.

The ManU game was historical for reasons already stated.
We had a superb team which, if it hadn't been one of the coldest winters on record with countless games called off, we would have won something.
If only we'd had under-soil heating. Matches that were played were on heavy sapping pitches which drained our players energy.

Our squad was paper thin compared to today's teams and we nearly made it. Liverpool won the title with record points (in the days of 2 points for a win) and Forest pipped us to second right at the end. We went out of the UEFA Cup in the quarter finals to Red Star Belgrade in the last few minutes of the home leg when extra time beckoned.
Ipswich took advantage of us as a tired team and we lost the semi.

The Chelsea game was wonderful, like a springlike day in midwinter. If we go on and get 20 points from the last 8 games we'll look back on this as a defining moment.
But if you're over 50, 1978/9 is thus far unbeatable.

Decent synopsis but think you’ve it wrong regards Ipswich as that was the season before. I believe we lost to Southampton in the 5th round in 79.

Stand corrected. Brain cells depleted with age and other things.
Nevertheless fixture pile up and small squad did for us.

[Hopalong]

I was at Old Trafford that day, and may be that is the reason for my opinion, but that was a better performance.

Or it could be that Man U didn't  play badly that day, Chelsea did. At Old Trafford it was a true battle, which we came through with flying colours because we were genuinely a very good team. By the end of that game we were in complete control, but we had to be outstanding to achieve that.

On Saturday we took complete advantage of Chelsea's  poor play.

It's why I think Allardyce has some really difficult selection decisions to make for the Southampton game, it is unlikely they will be as inept as Chelsea were.

I could see them maybe resting one or two as they have the FA cup semi the following Sunday.   Maybe Ings and Ward-Prowse?