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 Monday 26th December 2005, Barclays Premiership, Old Trafford, Kick-Off 3:00pm
Manchester United: van
der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Brown (Richardson HT), O'Shea, Fletcher, Park,
Scholes (Smith 61), Giggs, Rooney, van Nistelrooy
(Saha 66). Subs not used: Howard (gk), Bardsley
Albion: Kuszczak,
Albrechtsen, C Davies, Gaardsoe (Gera 67), Watson,
Robinson (Kamara 32), Greening, Wallwork, Chaplow,
Carter, Ellington (Campbell 61). Subs not used:
Kirkland
(gk), Horsfield
Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear)
Half-Time:
Manchester
United 2-0 Albion
Attendance:
67,972
Conditions:
MATCH REPORT
BY: ALBION TEAM NEWS: Albion boss Bryan Robson was without Neil Clement and Junichi Inamoto who were both declared unfit whilst Kanu and Diomansy Kamara were both rested. Steve Watson, Thomas Gaardsoe, Darren Carter and Richard Chaplow all returned to the starting line-up whilst Zoltan Gera, returning after five weeks out was named as a substitute.MANCHESTER UNITED TEAM NEWS: Sir Alex Ferguson had Cristiano Ronaldo missing through suspension but Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Edwin van der Saar all returned to the starting line-up after sitting out the midweek Carling Cup clash against Birmingham City. EASY FOR UNITED AT THE 'THEATRE OF DREAMS' For the second time in a month Baggies’ fans travelled up to Old Trafford more in hope than in expectation. It had been 27 years since an Albion victory at Old Trafford - the famous 5-3 win in December 1978. Those supporters who travelled up on Baggies’ Travel coaches were lucky enough to be shown a video of the game - for most it was probably the highlight of the day. The team news wasn’t really much of a surprise due to the number of games the players face over the coming eight days. For the first time this season, boss Bryan Robson’s ploy of resting players was justified, although as it turned out both Neil Clement and Junichi Inamoto were unavailable anyway due to injury. With one up front and a packed defence and midfield the tactics Robson deployed were clearly designed to stifle United and it’s probably fair to say that he went for the draw. The most interesting part of his team selection and tactics was the decision to play Paul Robinson as a man to man marker on Wayne Rooney. It was a decision that paid off, the England star hardly had a kick during the opening spell of the game and at times appeared frustrated at his inability to find any space away from Robinson. The first shot of the game came from the visitors, Nathan Ellington blazing well wide after making space for himself on the edge of the penalty area. Almost immediately we saw United’s first attack and it should have brought the opening goal - the unmarked Paul Scholes heading over a Gary Neville cross from less than six yards out. With Albion containing both Rooney and Ruud van Nistelrooy with surprising ease it was United’s midfield that was posing the most threat; Ji-Sung Park was just inches wide with a 10th minute shot. Albion continued to hold their own though and United defender John O’Shea was fortunate to escape a booking after a blatant block on Martin Albrechtsen. If it had been an Albion player committing the foul he would have been booked without question. The Irish international did finally go into the referee’s notebook in the 12th minute for another poor challenge, this time on Jonathan Greening. United again came close to opening the scoring on 20 minutes. A Ryan Giggs free-kick, given for a Wallwork foul on van Nistelrooy was deflected off the wall, leading to a moment of panic in the Albion defence before the excellent Curtis Davies cleared under pressure. Davies again showed he has the ability to reach the very top with another impressive display of defending. With the absence of Neil Clement the young defender was named captain for the day and he led by example throughout. Compared to the very quiet and unsure Clement, Davies makes an excellent captain with his total commitment and non-stop encouraging of his team-mates. Although the home side continued the press for a goal they never really looked like scoring, the decision to play Robinson as a man-marker was working perfectly although it was unfortunately not to last. In the 26th minute an innocuous collision with Thomas Gaardsoe saw the ex-Watford man knocked unconscious. At the time, Baggies fans laid the blame on Rooney, which in turn led to ugly scenes between the two sets of supporters. On watching replays later that night Rooney was perhaps somewhat harshly treated by the travelling support. After a six minute delay in which Robinson was stretchered off the game restarted and it didn’t take United long to take advantage of Albion’s loss. In the 34th minute, following a run and cross by the impressive Rio Ferdinand, Scholes netted from the edge of the penalty area to give the home side the breakthrough. One-nil at the interval would have been an acceptable score for Albion but disaster struck three minutes into first half injury time when Ferdinand powerfully headed home a Ryan Giggs corner. Davies should have perhaps done better with his marking; his only real lapse of the afternoon. Half-time saw United make a change with ex-Albion loanee Kieran Richardson replacing Wes Brown. Richardson received a good reception from the Baggies’ fans, most of whom would love to see him back at The Hawthorns in January. Despite impressing at Albion in a midfield position his manager at Old Trafford seems intent on using him as a left-back, a position in which he simply doesn’t look good enough. With his chances of a call-up to the World Cup uncertain, a return to Albion would surely suit all concerned. It’s just a shame then that’s it’s unlikely to happen.The second half was virtually all United. Albion seemingly lost interest and with the completely out of their depth Richard Chaplow and Darren Carter in midfield, Albion produced nothing. With Greening and Kamara again putting in poor displays it was left to former United man Ronnie Wallwork to run the midfield. After all the stick he has had to endure this season his last two performances have been two of his best in an Albion shirt. The up until now ineffective Rooney came close to extending the hosts lead in the 59th minute when his scorching shot flew just inches over Kuszczak's bar. United didn’t have long to wait for their third goal though - on 63 minutes van Nistelrooy headed in substitute Alan Smith’s cross from close range. With still almost half an hour left of the game it was starting to look as though it could turn into a rout. The introduction of the lumbering Kevin Campbell and Hungarian midfielder Zoltan Gera made no difference, infact, as on a number of occasions this season right-back Albrechtsen was Albion’s main attacking threat. Whilst his defensive displays are sometimes hit and miss he does make a difference when picked, due solely to his ability to attack - something our midfield seems incapable of doing. Thankfully United then eased off a bit and although van Nistelrooy came close to grabbing his second goal, the game became dull and lifeless - both United and Albion seemed content with 3-0. It’s hard to say what the outcome would have been if Robinson had stayed on the pitch, sure we were containing United well but we didn’t seriously look like testing van der Saar in the United goal. In the end the result was what everyone expected - an easy win for the home side but what’s more important is what happens Wednesday night at home to Spurs. With a trip to Anfield on New Year’s Eve coming up it is absolutely vital that Albion take at least a point off Martin Jol’s men. If we don’t, we could well be starting the New Year in the bottom three. MAN OF THE MATCH: Curtis Davies PLAYER RATINGS OUT OF TEN
Kuszczak 6 - Not at
fault for goals, decent display.
Albrechtsen
7 - A totally committed
performance by the Dane. Got forward well.
SUBS:
Kamara
4 - Never got into the game. REF WATCH
Mark Clattenburg 6 - Controlled the game well,
should have booked O'Shea earlier than he did though.
FAN
WATCH
wba.co.uk
Bryan Robson:
"All the video tapes of
United's recent games showed Rooney has been running the show and I wanted
to put him out of the game. Robbo is our best player in terms of distance
running and high-intensity work and he has the aggression to do that job.
Robbo was a big part of our gameplan and he put Rooney out of the game with
his man-marking. It was working really well and Rooney was getting
frustrated. We were fairly comfortable in that period but we switched off
when Robbo went off and it cost us.”
"It was frustrating to get
another injury after the disruptions of yesterday - and that is what cost us
the game. It really disrupted us when I had to take Robbo off because I
don't really have another player who can do that specific role. It also
summed up our plans because I thought Clem and Ina would be fit. But
yesterday they both failed fitness tests.”
"As soon as the game
restarted after Robbo's injury, United got a goal and then slack marking
from a corner just before half-time allowed them to score again when we
could have still been in the game. Once you're 2-0 down to a team like
United, it is very difficult to come back because they pass the ball so
well."
"It is important we bounce
back from this defeat. We've got a home game coming up against Tottenham
which will be tough but we have been going well at home of late and we need
to keep that going. I've told the players how important it is we bounce back
against Spurs."
Source: wba.co.uk
Sir Alex Ferguson:
"It was a convincing
performance, I think the good thing about it was that the players saved
their legs. We're back in action on Wednesday night and I thought we
conserved our energy very well. Paul Scholes was suffering with a bit of a
cold and he was going to come off at some point anyway. As soon as the third
goal went in it gave us an opportunity to take off Ruud and keep him fresh
for Wednesday. Wes Brown had to come off with a slight groin strain at
half-time. Other than that everyone was okay."
"I think West Brom were
unfortunate to lose Robinson with concussion. It was an accident, Wayne
Rooney appeared to shove him a bit and he went into one of his own
colleagues. At that point I thought they were doing pretty well and it
changed things and we started opening them up a bit."
Source: manutd.com
The attendance of 67,972 is the largest league crowd
Albion have ever played in front of. |
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