Match day eight kicked off this weekend for the Premier League. We saw Manchester United face West Bromich Albion two weeks after Manchester United took the win against Everton. Played in the house of West Brom, neither team was able to leave with three points. Instead, each team added one point to the table. In a game where we saw no Wayne Rooney due to suspension and Radamel Falcao starting off the bench due to jet lag, it was Phil Jones and Adnan Januzaj starting today’s game. There was also a no show of Robin van Persie even though he was in the starting XI. Throughout the whole game, we never heard of Van Persie until the second half, in which he had a chance to tie the game for Manchester United, but the ball hit the left post. Angel di Maria wasn’t at his best, he made horrible crosses and somewhere we saw the ball go out of bounds or didn’t even make it to any of his teammates. He lost the ball a number of times and only had one chance at the net.
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The defense was again vulnerable, allowing two goals and just not doing their best. Rafael caused many problems in the back while Jones and Marcos Rojo were nowhere to be found. Luke Shaw was here and there but nothing came from him as well. To make matters a bit more interesting, Manchester United have yet to win an away game, but continue their undefeated record against West Brom.
As the first half kicked off, it was United who got to a sloppy start and West Brom who started attacking with force when they saw that Man United wasn’t at their best in the moment. The first eight minutes was all West Brom. I’m saying the first eight minutes because that is when we saw Stephane Sessegnon put West Brom in the scoreboard and give them an early 1-0 lead. Andre Wisdom found space down the right flank and pulled the ball back to the edge of the Red Devils area, where Sessegnon found the top corner of De Gea’s net with his first time, laced effort.
Di Maria had a chance in which he forced goalkeeper Boaz Myhill into a save from close—range before testing the goalkeeper again with a rasping effort. Juan Mata had a chance to equalize with a free kick that went high and wide at the other end. Joleon Lescott put his header over the crossbar that would have given them a 2-0 lead.
In the second half Marouane Fellaini replaced Ander Herrera and what a great call manager Louis Van Gaal made by substituting in the beginning of the second half. In the 48th minute, three minutes after coming in, Fellaini put United on the scoreboard to even things out. With a cross from di Maria, the ball found its way to Fellaini, who controlled the ball with his chest, brushed off Lescott and smashed the ball in the right top corner of Myhill’s net. This would be the first ever goal for Fellaini since he joined Manchester United last season from Everton.
Fellaini had a second chance to equalize when Rafael made a cross to the middle of the box and Fellaini was ready to head it in, but the defender beat him to the ball. In the 66th minute is where we saw Manchester United’s defense mess up big time. Getting a pass from James Morrison, Saido Berahino latched onto a defense-splitting pass and outpaced both Rafael and Rojo to curl the ball beyond the grasp of De Gea to put West Brom up 2-1 against the Red Devils.
Robin van Persie’s chance came minutes later when his snapshot came back off the inside of the post and then Januzaj blasted the ball over the crossbar.
It was in the 86th minute that we saw Manchester tie the game once again. A cross from Rafael is all he needed.
Manchester United seemed to struggle but time will only tell how well this team will be. Their next few weeks consist of Chelsea, Manchester City, Crystal Palace, and Arsenal. Manchester United will have a tough schedule coming up and will have to work on the defense to be able to stop all these great teams.
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