Football Update: EPL News- Poor Defending Lets West Bromwich to Score a Point At Old Trafford
After the international break of two weeks, Manchester United players had an easy task ahead of them. They faced West Bromwich Albion, at Old Trafford, which is considered as a fort for the Red Devils. However, things did not turn out to be good, as Manchester
United threw away another victory and got a draw instead.
Manchester United was already having trouble in this season. Sir Alex Ferguson has been tinkering with the formation and his players, but he has not been able to get desirable results. However, United has been able to secure victories in all three home games,
despite struggling and getting draws in four away games. This game, against West Brom, was being played at home as well, so everyone hoped for an easy victory for the Reds.
This time, Ferguson had two of his more established midfielders, i.e. Ryan Giggs and Michael Carrick in the squad. However, Wayne Rooney was still warming the benches, as Dimitar Berbatov was finally brought back to the first team, after missing the first
team in last match, alongside Javier Hernandez. With this selection, Manchester United seemed like a good squad which can easily beat a team like West Brom.
However, Manchester United had yet another poor performance like many other in this season. Ferguson’s men took a two goal lead in the first half, but this two goal cushion did not prove enough to win the match. It was the same old story, like United’s failure
to defend their lead against Fulham and Everton. The defence made two fatal errors, which resulted in a comeback for West Brom. On the other hand, Man United players’ confidence had been considerably shaken, which prevented them to score a winner after rewarding
West Brom with two stupid goals.
The match started well for Manchester United, as they started attacking immediately after the first whistle. A controversial foul by James Morrison gave the hosts a free-kick, just outside the penalty area. Nani stepped up for United, and the resultant kick
bounced back from the keeper, Scott Carson. The rebound was met by Javier Hernandez in the box, who threw the ball in the back of West Brom’s goal, as the defenders were no way near him.
After this goal, Manchester United did not look back, while West Brom remained on the back foot. However, the next goal came in the 25th minute, and this time Nani was the goal scorer. Dimitar Berbatov was involved in creating this goal, while
West Brom’s defenders made mistakes. Therefore, Manchester United capitalized, once again, on the poor covering by opposition defenders.
The low point for Manchester United, in first half, was an injury blow to Ryan Giggs. The Welsh midfielder limped off the field and was replaced by Darron Gibson, while Wayne Rooney still sat on the benches.
However, against the play, things took a dramatic U-turn in the second half. Within six minutes, United gifted two goals back to West Brom, after major lapses in their defence. First goal came in 50th minute, as many players were involved in the
whole drama. Ultimately, it was Patrice Evra who scored the own goal, while Anderson also had a major role to play in it. In the 55th minute, it was Manchester United’s ultimate wall, Edwin van der Sar, who fumbled an easy cross, setting the ball
for Somen Tchoyi for the second goal. This was a great setback for United, who had been throwing away their lead more than often.
Later on, Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes were brought on, but they could not save the sinking ship. West Brom held on to the draw and got one point from this outing. Manchester United is getting further away from their title challenge, which would be a big
blow to Ferguson. Now is the time when people would start blaming the manager for his wrong decisions, which had serious repercussions up to this point of the season.
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