David Moyes will have been pleased with his side’s performance (Picture: AP Photo)

After the disappointment of defeat in Piraeus just under a fortnight ago, Manchester United earned a second straight domestic victory against West Bromwich Albion with the Champions’ midfield guiding the visitors to an impressive victory.

David Moyes continued with the familiar 4-2-3-1 system with Juan Mata positioned on paper, as a right sided midfielder with Wayne Rooney just behind the lone striker Robin van Persie. These positions, as against Crystal Palace, were not set in stone and once again we saw Van Persie moving across the line throughout his time on the pitch with Mata and Rooney filling the space created.



Albion started the better team with Pepe Mel’s much talked about heavy pressing game when not in possession of the ball in full view.

The same group of players who were rumoured to be unhappy with such a high octane pressing style put Manchester United under sizeable early pressure, with Victor Anichebe in particular pressing Phil Jones when the England centre half was on the ball in his own penalty area.


Fortunately for United this pressing game was short lived once Marouane Fellaini and Michael Carrick began interchanging with short passes to take the sting out of Albion’s approach.

West Bromwich’s midfield two were more than a physical match for Fellaini and Carrick with Youssouf Mulumbu and Claudio Yacob providing a lot of early protection for the back four.

Once Yacob was substituted through injury in the fortieth minute, United had a much easier time in the midfield battle. With James Morrison selected as Yacob’s replacement an element of physicality was lost and Fellaini could move into his role as a box-to-box midfielder and put the home backline under real pressure.

This meant the Albion defence had one more man to mark from a cross and United often found a free man to aim for inside the box which has been a real struggle so far this season.

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Wayne Rooney was able to add United’s second with a free header (Picture: Reuters)

As David Moyes has so often iterated this term wing play is incredibly important, with Rafael and Patrice Evra getting forward whenever possible. Indeed, at times the pair almost played as wide midfielders in a continental system, where Carrick was the protection for the back two.

Rafael and Evra both put in excellent performances going forward and didn’t sacrifice defensive solidity. The crosses put into the box by the two full-backs were a big improvement on recent weeks and it was no surprise that United’s second goal came from the wide areas.

In the end it was a very fluid United performance with the midfield pairing complementing each other well, although it did serve as a reminder of the lack of quality in depth away from the starting two Moyes has in that position.



Whilst not a season saving result there was real signs of progress and if United can manufacture Adnan Januzaj into the fluid front line rather than the teenager being restricted to the left hand side, things going forward certainly look bright for next season.

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