West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Manchester United: Three Things We Learned

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Manchester United are back at it – the Red Devils have squandered another two points in the Premier League, as they managed to only get a 1-1 draw against West Bromwich Albion. After losing to the worst team of the league, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side has now managed to get just a point against the second worst team this campaign and another side that is inching closer towards the Championship. Everything started with an early goal from Mbaye Diagne, which shocked the Devils just two minutes into the game.

A poor performance from the entire side had been enough to only get the equaliser, as Bruno Fernandes had a moment of individual brilliance, a moment which overshadowed his not so wonderful individual performance overall. However, that moment was enough for United not to lose this game.

Man United Reverse To Old Habits

Manchester United get to back to their usual fluctuations in results. After a now somewhat incredible and unrealistic run of 13 matches in which they managed to get 10 wins and only three draws, the Devils had seen themselves sit top of the table. Less than a month later, it seems like Manchester City are running away with the title.

While it is not surprising that United were never really a title contender, as we have been pointing out even before this slump in results, it is suprrising for United to only get six points from five matches, despite scoring 14 goals in the process. The only win was that incredibl 9-0 win over Southampton, but there have been the loss to Sheffield, a drab draw against Arsenal, a chaotic draw against Everton (3-3) and now this draw again. Solskjaer’s team was simply on a run that was not sustainable and now the team is getting back to their reality. In fact, strip off that 9-0 win and United’s goal difference is 41-31 from 23 matches. That is telling.

Martial Keeps Disappointing

Solskjaer has had some decisions in recent weeks to put Anthony Martial on the bench, to give the chance to Edinson Cavani up front and Marcus Rashford on the left, but the manager had opted for finding space for Martial in the starting XI this time and that did not work. Rashford had to be shoehorned to the right flank where he does not belong and Martial’s performance was far from good. During the 66 minutes he spent on the pitch, the Frenchman had no shots towards West Brom’s goal, no key passes, just 40 touches of the ball and no attempted dribbles to change something. It was no wonder when Solskjaer realised Greenwood needed to come on and move to the right flank, so that Rashford could come back to his favourite position. Martial’s form is a concern

Centre-Back Reinforcement Needed

Manchester United need a world-class or a near-world-class centre-back if they are to drastically improve this defence. Victor Lindelof’s mistake early on and the entire performance have proved that the Swede is simply not at that high level that is necessary. Eric Bailly is not someone who could be relied on due to his constant injuries and Harry Maguire would definitely be better off if he was to partner with someone of higher quality than he is. That might sound weird for a player who was paid the world record fee for a centre-back, but it is not his fault the club had overspent his move in 2019. This summer could offer some solutions to this long-term problem…

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