Manchester United 1 West Bromwich Albion 2 | As It Happened & Review

As It Happened:

10′ – BOOKING – Mulumbu with a late challenge on Kagawa. The Congolese international is the first name in referee Michael Oliver’s book. Oliver was also the man in the middle when United travelled to Albion for the 5-5 draw on the last game of 2012/13.

13′ – SUBSTITUTION – Scott Sinclair is replaced by England U-21 star Saido Berahino who picked up a knock following a challenge from Kagawa. The academy graduate Berahino has scored 2 in 2 for his country thus far.

15′ – BOOKING – Carrick receives a yellow card for unsporting conduct, a late tackle. Carrick has picked up more yellow cards than any other Man Utd player in Premier League games this season.

24′ – CHANCE – Rooney heads straight at Myhill from a well took Nani free-kick.

29′ – CHANCE – Substitute Berahino heads just wide after being set up by Amalfitano who delivered a pin point cross for the young striker. Just prior to this Olsson returned to the field of play with his head freshly bandaged up following a collision where blood was drawn.

31′ CHANCE – Anderson, making just his second start of the season strikes straight at Myhill from the edge of the area.

42′ – MISS – Sessègnon fires over from a couple of yards out after finding himself open at the back post following a corner from Amalfitano. Albion had 8 corners today, 3 more than their opponents.

Half-Time – SUBSTITUTION – Adnan Januzaj comes on for Shinji Kagawa. It is Januzaj’s second Premier League appearance this season. He has netted once in 3 games for United’s U-21 side this season.

47′ – CHANCE – Following a superb bit of trickery from Sessègnon, Berahino strikes too close to De Gea. The former Atletico Madrid goalkeeper De Gea has made 16 saves of note this season (following this match).

54′ – GOAL – Morgan Amalfitano picks the ball up, runs through a trio of United defenders, nutmegs Ferdinand and scores with a cool dinked finish over De Gea as he goes one-on-one. His second goal of the season. 1-0 to West Brom.

57′ – GOAL – Wayne Rooney’s teasing free-kick delivery evades everyone including Boaz Myhill in the Albion goal. Rooney’s third goal in the Premier League this season. 1-1.

58′ – SUBSTITUTION – Robin van Persie replaces Mexican hit-man Hernandez.

61′ – CHANCE – Olsson who has now been with The Baggies for over 5 years heads against the bar from Amalfitano’s corner. Unlucky!

65′ – BOOKING – United’s no.4 Phil Jones is the second United name to be written in the referee’s notebook. He rashly bought down Sessègnon as it was clear he didn’t have the pace to keep up with the former Sunderland man.

67′ – GOAL – Saido Berahino. Write the name down and remember it. A great left footed strike following a superb lay off from Amalfitano. Advantage West Brom, 2-1.

68′ – SUBSTITUTION – Fellaini is on for Anderson. The newly signed former Everton midfielder makes his third Premier League appearance for the red half of Manchester.

73′ – BOOKING – Buttner caps off a poor afternoon as he is booked for an unfair challenge on Sessègnon.

84′ – CLEARANCE – Great clearance from Olsson as a ball is fizzed across the area, one of 67 made by the big Swedish player this season (following the game).

85′ – DISALLOWED GOAL – Fellaini taps in at the back post from a Nani cross however the ‘goal’ is rightly chalked off, offside. It would have been the Belgian’s first united goal.

86′ – BOOKING – Morgan Amalfitano is booked for a foul on Portuguese international Nani.

88′ – SUBSTITUTION – Victor Anichebe goes off to a rapturous applause from Albion’s supporters. He has played through the second half with an injury and it’s showing as he takes his time to walk off. On comes Uruguay captain Diego Lugano to shore up the defence, his first Albion league appearance.

90′ – SUBSTITUTION – Rosenberg comes on for the final moments in place of Sessègnon.

90′ (+ 2) – SAVE – Myhill makes a solid save from Carrick’s effort and the danger is scrambled clear.

90′ (+ 4) – FULL TIME – Manchester United 1-2 West Bromwich Albion.

Post-Match Facts

Albion celebrated the 50th anniversary of Tony ‘Bomber’  Brown’s league début with a win that will be remembered for years to come. On 28th September 1963, Brown made his Throstles début aged just 17 against Ipswich Town at Portman Road and marked it with a goal as Albion won 2-1. Brown went on to score 278 more times for the Blue and White stripes in almost 20 years at the club. A Baggies legend.

It was Tony Brown who was on the score-sheet (two goals) in Albion’s last victory at Old Trafford, which came almost 35 years ago. That day Albion overcame the Red Devils by 5 goals to 3, as Cantello, Regis and Cunningham also netted.

United manager David Moyes probably wouldn’t have expected such an attacking line-up from the away side. It’s one thing lining up ready to take the game to Manchester United but seeing the game out and snatching 3 points is a much tougher prospect. Albion didn’t boss the possession or passing stats (not many teams will at Old Trafford) but when they had the ball, the link up play between the front players was positive, along with the option of a way out through Anichebe and bring the more creative Amalfitano, Sessègnon and Berahino into play. Those three players were all made the top 5 for successful take-ons with 10 between them, Sessègnon alone can be credited with 6 of those.

Defensively Albion were very alert, aside from the poor communication for The Red Devil’s equaliser. Bandaged Swedish centre-back Jonas Olsson blocked 3 United shots  and made 10 defensive clearances. Olsson has now made more Premier League clearances than any other player this season, on 67. His partner at the back, Northern Ireland international Gareth McAuley, isn’t miles behind with 49 successful so far this term.

One man who is certainly making people sit up and take note is deadline day signing Morgan Amalfitano. The one cap France star had been in and out of Marseille’s starting XI for the last two seasons, and apparently on advice from his brother Romain (who is on loan in France at Dijon from Newcastle United) he decided a move to the Premier League would be a smart one. Amalfitano has started three games for Albion and in that time he has shown an array of different capabilities. In his first game against Fulham, he tracked back and worked hard to support Billy Jones in the right-back role, attempting 3 tackles and winning 6 ground duels. Last week versus Sunderland, combined with this game against United, he has created 6 goal scoring chances for his team mates, including the neat lay off for Berahino’s winning strike. Two of Albion’s goals against Sunderland came from Amalfitano crosses and of course he has netted two for himself, both of immense quality. It would appear that West Bromwich Albion have quite a player on their hands.

On 13 minutes the tricky Great Britain Olympic forward Scott Sinclair was substituted after picking up a knock in a challenge from Kagawa. On came Saido Berahino in a bold move by Albion Head Coach Steve Clarke (on his 50th game in charge of Albion) who could have gone for the safer option of Dorrans but didn’t. Berahino went on to have the biggest moment of his short career on 67 minutes, when he netted a superb left-footed strike from the edge of the box, his first Premier League goal. If we take a closer a look at Berahino’s exploits it is actually his ninth of the current season, across the four competitions he has took part in (England U-21 internationals, U-21 Premier League, League Cup and of course the Premier League). His goals per minute ratio is a fantastic goal every 62.4 minutes!

After what some would call a patchy start to the season, the Throstles’ sitting midfielder Claudio Yacob has carried on where he left off last season in terms of tackles won. From 25 attempted so far this season he has come out on top 20 times, 7 of those came in this fixture. Only Aaron Ramsey on 29 has won more. He is well on his way to reaching last season’s total of 90 tackles won.

The Baggies are now unbeaten in 3 Premier League games and await the chance to take on Arsenal at home next week in what could well be the toughest match of the season so far for The Baggies.