What a wheeze it would turn out to be if, in this season universally acknowledged as the most miserable in Manchester United’s recent history, Louis van Gaal’s army eventually managed to consign Pep Guardiola to the Europa League and win that competition themselves, which would of course involve beating Liverpool along the way.
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“You give as a referee within five minutes two yellow cards to the same person and you know also who is Juan Mata”.
In midfield, Morgan Schneiderlin drops to the bench and is replaced by Michael Carrick, who will wear the armband. There were also three ex-Reds on the opposition side with Ben Foster, James Chester and Fletcher all named in the Baggies’ team.
The noise inside the Hawthorns rose several notches with that decision and – shortly after Gareth McAuley headed inches wide, unaware the offside flag was raised – it went up further.
The ten men were enjoying their first concentrated spell of pressure in the game, but thanks to three towering defensive headers from Rondon at United corners, Albion weathered the storm. Firstly, Mata was booked on 24 minutes after he was adjudged to have infringed a Fletcher free-kick, before the pair collided again moments later, with Mata tripping the former Red and being shown his second yellow card. He earned two bookings in just 158 seconds – the first club red card of his career – as he landed his team-mates in trouble.
Injuries and a lack of form from his senior players has seen Van Gaal call on more and more youth as the season has progressed, with Marcus Rashford the latest academy product to shine.
Stephane Sessegnon drilled a long-range shot on target which De Gea saved comfortably before a couple of important tackles from McAuley and Claudio Yacob stopped Martial and Jesse Lingard at the other end. The breakthrough came against the run of play on 66 minutes as substitute Sebastien Pocognoli’s cross from the left was met by Rondon, who controlled and fired home from 15 yards for his eighth goal of the season. “I’d rather people just say, “You’ve had a really bad game”, which is probably what it was!”
Salomon Rondon’s fourth goal in six Premier League games was enough for West Brom to beat ten-man Manchester United today, writes Matt Wilson at The Hawthorns.
West Brom midfielder Fletcher said of the result: ” First and foremost it takes us to 39 points, one more from 40 and then we will look to keep going.
Pocognoli’s first-time cross fizzed across the box and even though Rondon had acres of space in the United area, it was still a confident touch that killed the ball instantly followed by a clinical finish past De Gea.
“We have played 60 minutes with 10 against 11 and this is the fifth match in 14 days I believe, so it is very hard to play against 11 players”.
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“It is very hard managing teams in the lower half of the Premiership”.
