On a frustrating evening at Old Trafford, United slipped to a third consecutive defeat for the first time in over 14 years. The Reds went close twice in the first half through the returning Robin van Persie but West Brom’s stubborn organisation proved difficult to break down.
A second half free-kick from Chris Brunt deflected off Jonas Olsson to give West Brom the lead on 62 minutes. Myhill saved a van Persie penalty 10 minutes later and the struggle to get through continued for the home side.
The loss sees United stay in fourth place in the Premier League table, with only five more points needed to guarantee that same position at the end of the season. Elsewhere, Manchester City have to play Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday and Arsenal have two games in hand on United. If both sides pick up maximum points, it may be a struggle for the Red Devils to clinch the second or third place berths.
For the third game in a row, United lacked the required tempo and clinical instinct to use their dominance to completely kill a game off. With Luke Shaw absent through injury at left-back, his energy was missed, whilst the usually sprightly duo of Herrera and Mata were slightly off-colour in terms of creativity. Captain Wayne Rooney struggled to have his desired impact playing in a deeper role but did produce a bit more in this game than against Everton.
It is clear that work is still needed on this side in the summer transfer window, but going forward against teams like West Brom, the current crop of players should be more than capable of unlocking the defences. Wave after wave of United attack was stifled in and around the opposition box, before Boaz Myhill produced two stunning stops from Robin van Persie and Angel Di Maria in the dying minutes of the game.
One big question to answer in the summer comes in the form of Michael Carrick – who should we bring in to assert the same confidence and control in case he picks up any more injuries next season? He has clearly been missed and United’s form always seems to dip without the veteran Englishman in the side. Ilkay Gundogan has been heavily linked to a move to Old Trafford, as has Radja Nainggolan of Roma.
United’s remaining fixtures are Crystal Palace (A), Arsenal (H) and Hull (A) and with the team needing just two draws and a win or two wins to guarantee at least fourth place, it’s hard to say exactly what will happen. Louis van Gaal has to change something for the run-in, and find a way to motivate his men to finish the job they have been working towards all season. Perhaps it is time for his faith in his largely unchanged starting eleven to be usurped.
The squad will have to work hard in the summer to get everything and everyone singing from the same hymn sheet if a title charge really is on the cards for 2015/16 season, alongside competing in the Champions League.
Darren Fletcher, who captained West Brom today, said “We knew we’d have to ride our luck and we did that today” – were the Baggies lucky to take three points away from the game, or were United simply not good enough?
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