It would be easy for Manchester United to hide behind Juan Mata’s brainless sending-off midway through the first half for this defeat. There was no doubting it was a significant moment in the game but the reality is that United were so tame, so timid, for such long periods, that there was precious little evidence to suggest they would have fared much better with 11 men on the field.
There was barely an attack of note to mention, let alone a shot, from United after Salomón Rondón, the game’s best player, put West Bromwich Albion in front with 24 minutes remaining. In the past, West Brom would invariably have had to withstand a siege to escape with three points but the ease with which they saw out the game spoke volumes for how passive, how meek United have become since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.
The former manager was in the crowd at The Hawthorns yesterday and could not have looked more glum-faced at the final whistle. Few took defeats as badly as Ferguson but the lack of fight will have angered and frustrated the Scot more.
United had built a nominal head of steam over the past fortnight but fans were kidding themselves if they believed a run of four successive wins marked the start of an upward curve.
Among the myriad problems that have surfaced under Louis Van Gaal, a brittle core is principal among them and, surveying the characteristics in that squad, it is a shortcoming that will probably be addressed only with the arrival of a glut of leaders and strong-minded characters. Defeat left United in sixth spot, two points adrift of West Ham United and three behind Manchester City, who are fourth with a game in hand and their next opponents in the league. Lose that and United, who have two wins in their past five league matches, can probably forget about Champions League qualification, unless the Europa League provides some salvation.
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It is worth pointing out that West Brom were the better team before Mata departed but the Spaniard’s 26th-minute sending-off certainly put an extra spring in the home team’s step. Aside from a fleeting flurry from United early in the second half, West Brom, driven on by the relentless running of Rondón, were the dominant side and the surprise was that it took until the final third of the game for the home team to make their numerical advantage count.
Even on a weekend of daft red cards, Mata’s dismissal took some beating in the witless stakes. Mata is one of the game’s more intelligent thinkers but he temporarily failed to engage his brain as two needless bookings in the space of 158 seconds culminated in the first red card of his career and emboldened a West Brom team who, in truth, did not look like they needed much of a helping hand.
Mata’s first yellow was entirely avoidable — the midfielder deliberately obstructing Darren Fletcher’s free kick — and the second just a stupid one to incur so soon after the initial offence. Fletcher was again involved, Mata’s swipe at his former United team-mate’s ankle leaving Mike Dean, the referee, with no choice but to brandish a red card.
West Brom were seldom out of United’s half after that. Rondón led the line superbly, the striker using his physique to good effect as he roughed up Chris Smalling and Daley Blind, and Craig Dawson and Stéphane Sessègnon teamed up to good effect down the right flank. Dawson had two chances to score in the first half, heading wide from Rondón’s cross from an inviting position and then almost lobbing David De Gea with a 25-yard volley that whistled agonisingly wide.
Saido Berahino twice had shots blocked by Smalling and Gareth McAuley was wrongly ruled offside after heading a free kick from Craig Gardner across goal and wide of the far post. Something had to change for United and, at half-time, Van Gaal shifted Marcus Rashford, anonymous in a central role, out to the right and pushed Anthony Martial through the middle as Mata watched on from a seat behind the glass-fronted media suite. United enjoyed a brief uplift, with Martial’s pace occasionally troubling McAuley and Jonas Olsson.
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After one Martial run, the ball rolled to Rashford, whose scuffed shot deflected wide, United’s only effort on target in the entire game. When Olsson fouled Martial on the edge of the penalty area, Ander Herrera wasted the subsequent free kick.
Rashford has enjoyed an electrifying start to his United career with four goals in his previous three games but this was a more sobering experience for the 18-year-old. With Rashford clearly struggling on the right, it seemed odd that Van Gaal waited until nine minutes after Rondón had scored to withdraw the teenager and bring on Memphis Depay. Depay actually fared little better than Rashford but then, to a man, United’s reaction to Rondón’s goal was feeble. Similarly, why did Van Gaal bring on a young defender, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, and not Marouane Fellaini with seven minutes to go and the game to chase?
West Brom had just been finding their feet again when the ball was passed out wide to Sébastien Pocognoli, a substitute. His cross was a peach but when they review the goal United’s players should be appalled by the time and space they gave Rondón to control the ball, turn and shoot low into the bottom corner. And that was that, West Brom calm and composed in those closing stages, United toothless. The blame should not be cast solely in Mata’s direction.