5 Quick Reactions From West Brom Victory

1. Well done Wayne Rooney. A goal, an assist, and playing through the pain barrier when he was injured with minutes to play and we had no subs left. He looked in agony at the time, hobbled off the pitch with United fans fearing a lengthy injury, but before you knew it he was on his toes on the touchline, desperate to come on.
2. United are really struggling without wide players. No Nani, no Giggs, no Valencia, no Park. Having attacking players who can beat their opponents on the wing and then getting in a cross or cutting inside adds so much to our offensive threat and we’re missing that entirely at the moment. Gabriel Obertan had a poor game, giving the ball away too often, but hasn’t played in over a month, so what do we expect? Is it realistic to think that players will magically improve just through the work they do on the training ground? Players like Rooney and Cesc Fabregas are anomalies. Most young players are unreliable and inconsistent, but the more they play, the better they will get. Even with giving the ball away, he posed more of a threat than a lot of our players because of his pace, so it’s time United fans did away with their lack of patience.
3. Thanks to the lack of wide players, our midfield was padded out with central midfielders, which you would think would mean we’d dominate that area of the park. Yet neither Carrick, Fletch, Anderson, or Gibson for the last half hour, could get a grip of the game. It really is a worry and if there is any area we can strengthen in the summer, it has to be bringing in a world class central midfielder. Whilst Anderson hasn’t usually been lumped in with the rest of them since his return from injury, it’s so disappointing to see our players in this position looking like a shadow of their former selves.
4. It’s getting a bit sad with Gary Neville now. He should have conceded a penalty in the first half after clumsily diving in and was out of sorts for the 70 minutes he was on the pitch. He got a bollocking from Rio after being caught out of position and was skinned far too often. He should have hung up his boots at the end of last season instead of humiliating himself like this. Although you will be interested to know that GNev has started in both of our only two away wins this season.
5. “That’s why they’re champions,” the commentators have said time and again after United/Chelsea grind out a result. We’re not champions but it’s games like this which could see us lifting the title in May. Neither keeper had much to do, we didn’t play very well, but we came away with the three points. The ref missed Jerome Thomas’ handball in the area which blocked Fabio’s cross which made amends for the penalty West Brom should have had in the first half. But after Odemwingie heeled his awful penalty wide, you hoped United would be galvanised and go for the win. Chicharito’s winning goal came 10 minutes after the miss.

United, top of the league, United, United, top of the league!

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Video: Rooney and Chicharito goals vs West Brom