About a day after losing second place to Leicester, Manchester United tonight (Sunday) recorded a very disappointing game for Masada and finished 1-1 with West Bromwich Albion, in a game that apparently brought even closer to city rivals Manchester City towards the championship title.
Ola Gunnar Solskjaer saw in the last round his team loses an advantage in extra time against Everton and finishes 3: 3 and today he was sure he was on his way to a much easier game, facing the team from the penultimate place in the table, which has not won five consecutive games.
The Norwegian manager started with the most offensive line-up, including Edinson Cavani and Anthony Marcial at the front, with Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandez playing alongside them. In practice, the “buggies” were the ones who surprised with a huge goal in the second minute of the game, after Ambia Diana overtook all the defensive players in red and hit David de Gea’s net.
Despite the multiplicity of attacking players on the pitch, the ability Manchester United displayed was unconvincing and without a number of saves from De Gea in the second half, it would also have returned from Birmingham empty-handed. Now, Solskjaer will try to prepare his team for the upcoming game against Real Sociedad as part of the last 32 stage of the Europa League (14.2).
The vehicles
West Bromwich’: Sam Johnston, Lee Peltier (Darnl Perlong, 46), Sammy Ajay, Kyle Bartley, Conor Townsend, Okay Yukoslow (Jack Libermore, 67), Robert Snodgrass, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Conor Gallagher, Mathews Pereira, Ambia Diana.
Manchester United: David de Haa, Aron van Bissaka, Victor Lindloff, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Fred (Donny van de Bike, 79), Scott McTominy, Bruno Fernandez, Marcus Rashford, Anthony Marcial (Mason Greenwood, 66), Edinson Cavani.
the progress of the game
Minute 2, 0: 1 to West Bromwich! What a surprising opening to the game! Gallagher picked up a ball for United’s pitch, Diana overtook Lindloff and slammed into De Hae’s net.
8 min, Manchester United’s first threat: The players in red tried to get back into the game with a quick attack, which ended in a kick from Fred into the hands of Johnston.
28 minutes, West Bromwich Albion almost doubled the advantage: The hosts were close to a second goal of the game, but de Hae top a dangerous shot from Snodgrass to the corner.
44 minutes, Manchester United back to 1: 1! A great attack by the Red Devils ended with a lift from the field to the field and a huge kick from Fernandez’s air to West Bromwich’s net.
58 min, another Fernandez threat: The Portuguese tried to complete a double with a long-range kick, but his ball was too weak and stopped.
70 min, double miss United: Substitute Greenwood got into a good kicking position near the five-yard box and was stopped on the goal line, McTominy kicked the return ball but was also stopped.
78 minutes, a huge miss by Bromwich! Maguire again made a huge mistake when he lost the ball in the box to Diana, the striker came in front of de Hae without interruption but the Spanish goalkeeper provided a big shot and saved his team.
87 minutes, another big miss by Bromwich: Diana was close to a double in the game, but the striker missed close against De Hae and provided a big miss for him.
90 + 4 minutes, almost a turnaround for Manchester United: Just before the final whistle Maguire rose high and slammed a powerful ball towards Bromwich’s goal, goalkeeper Johnston flew and pushed the ball to the crossbar.
