Thomas Hein
Final Score: West Bromwich Albion 1-2 Manchester United
Manchester United did their best to stay in touch with Manchester City as we picked up a win over a hapless West Bromwich Albion side. It was West Brom’s old boy who did the initial damage for the Baggies. Romelu Lukaku played for the Albion and scored 17 goals during his loan spell during the 2012-13 season and he opened the scoring for us in the 27th minute.
The lead was doubled before half-time as Jesse Lingard, one of the better players from our current campaign, added to Lukaku’s goal and put a lot of pressure on Pardew.
Gareth Barry scored one for the home side and there was a chance for them to mount a comeback but we held on to win the three points and stay 11 points behind Manchester City.
Our first-half performance was good but the second-half didn’t go as planned.
Here’s how the players fared on the night.
Manchester United Player Ratings
David de Gea – 6.5/10
The Spaniard couldn’t do much to avoid the ball from going into the back of the net but barring that, De Gea had a decent enough game for us.
Antonio Valencia – 7/10
Valencia was up for it once again and did a brilliant job on James McLean before being replaced due to an injury.
Chris Smalling – 7/10
In the absence of Eric Bailly, Smalling has done a pretty good job and made a couple of important challenges to snuff out Albion attacks.
Phil Jones – 7/10
Another great display by the Englishman and hopefully, the pairing of Smalling and Jones can keep the goals out till Bailly’s return.
Ashley Young – 7/10
Young would not have liked going up against Oliver Burke but the Englishman did a decent job, even though he isn’t a natural left-back.
Ander Herrera – 6/10
Herrera brought a lot of energy to the midfield but it seemed a little out of place at times and he never looked comfortable with the ball at his feet.
Nemanja Matic – 8/10
Matic was a beast in the midfield as he broke up the play throughout the second-half, especially when we started losing control of the game.
Juan Mata – 6.5/10
Mata was all about the flicks and tricks and even set-up Lingard’s goal too.
Jesse Lingard – 7/10
Lingard got a goal for all his effort and he was all about running as he tried to get into the game on a constant basis.
Marcus Rashford – 7/10
Rashford did the job once again when he got a chance to start, as he assisted Lukaku’s opening goal.
Romelu Lukaku – 7/10
Lukaku might have got the first goal but he did have a couple of good chances to extend our lead but he just could not get that second goal.
Substitutes
Marcos Rojo – 5/10
Rojo had his head taped up but that didn’t stop him from finishing the game.
Anthony Martial – 6/10
Martial came on late in the second-half but couldn’t do much in the game.
Scott McTominay – N/A
The youngster was brought on with just a few minutes left and couldn’t affect the match in a major manner.
