FA Premier League

Manchester United 0:0 West Bromwich Albion

Old Trafford

Kick-off
Sat, 1 April 2017 @ 3:00pm BST
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Discussion Your Lineup Prediction

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    Android1974 said:
    If Martial doesn't start tomorrow, what would that say about the way he's been training?
    Click to expand...

    Possibly nothing. Mourinho is quite a pragmatic manager and may choose someone else on the left, who he believes could perform better against West Brom.
     
    top1whoisman said:
    Possibly nothing. Mourinho is quite a pragmatic manager and may choose someone else on the left, who he believes could perform better against West Brom.
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    If we feature a 3 at the back again, then I would agree with you, Lingard could well be there instead of Martial, having performed much better on the left at Middlesborough. But if we want to play possession and/or revert to 4-2-3-1, which I think we should, then Martial should definitely have a start. Mourinho can't afford to burn so many players (Shaw, Schweinsteiger, Martial…)
     
    Sandikan said:
    Hope Fellaini shakes his knock off, as he's suddenly a vital part tomorrow! Without him we're going to be devoured if they set pieces.

    We can still put a decent team out, just weak in the air.

    De Gea
    Valencia Bailly Rojo Young
    Carrick Fellaini
    Miky Lingard Martial
    Rashford
    Click to expand...

    I like that line-up, but Mourinho would probably play Darmian instead of Young, for the height in defending set-piece. Rooney may replace Lingard too for experience, extra height defending set-piece, and goal threat... I hope he still has it and perform in this game, if he plays. Martial and Mkhi should have a great go, attacking West Brom's defence.

    De Gea
    Valencia Bailly Rojo Darmian
    Carrick Fellaini
    Mikhi Rooney Martial
    Rashford​
     
    If Fellaini is out, might we see Blind in midfield next to Carrick? Because I'm struggling to think of anybody else to play there, unless Jose goes mad and tries Fosu-Mensah.
     
    Was Afro man also mentioned as an injury concern in the pre game press conference?
     
    I think Manchester City and Tottenham would need to really collapse to lose their place in the top four given their fixtures they have remaining. Realistically its three teams battling for the final spot, Liverpool, United and Arsenal. The fixture list is certainly against United, we have 6 really hard matches in the final ten games and really can’t afford to drop points against West Brom. We have had so many bad draws at home to sides in the mid to lower half of the table, Stoke, Burnley, West Ham, Hull City and Bournemouth. That’s 12 points United have dropped which would have put us in title contention and pretty much assured our place in the top four. The Europa League probably is our best route back to the Champions League, but we have three Premier League games before the quarter-final and if we put 9 points on the board between now and then it would build some good momentum and the outlook may change. The story of our season has really been about making things hard for ourselves with the silly draws at home. We simply cannot afford to not win this sort of game against West Brom anymore, it will only make a hard run-in even harder, so I would expect us to do everything we can to get the result tomorrow. The International break should have eased the physical and mental tiredness in the squad which was really obvious in our last game against Middlesbrough.

    Tactically the game should be pretty straight forward. West Brom average the lowest share of possession in the league, so United will dominate possession. Given the injury situation, three at the back isn’t really and option and would not be needed against a side that basically will play 4-5-1 so United will return to a back four. With no Pogba or Herrera in the midfield, 4-2-3-1 makes most sense. Carrick should get plenty of time on the ball to dictate our play, West Brom are a side that will form a strict, disciplined midfield that protects the defence rather than press. They defend narrow so can be vulnerable to overloads down the flanks. United will be allowed plenty of possession, but must ensure they switch play rapidly to exploit any gaps, Carrick and the full-backs will be vital in the possession phase of our attack. Our wide players like to drift in-field so the full-backs must provide the width. Valencia has been excellent doing that this season and I would seriously consider playing Luke Shaw at left-back because he is probably the most dynamic option for that role. Before he joined us and at times during his United career Shaw, has shown he can do his best work in the opposition half. At his best he always wants to be darting forward into the opposition half. There is clearly problems behind the scenes with him, but I think he needs to given the chance to get to grips with his siltation because it would be a tremendous waste of talent for him to fail at United. He and Martial could cause Chris Dawson, who is basically a centre-back playing at right-back problems down the left. West Brom will be extremely difficult to break down. Only 6 teams conceded fewer goals last season and will sit very deep, probably on the edge of their own penalty box for long periods, but their centre-backs lack speed and if we can catch them high up the pitch in transition Rashford running in-behind could expose them. West Brom will look to catch us on the counter-attack particularly down the flanks with Nacer Chadli. Salomon Rondonis a lone front-man and shouldn’t cause our centre-backs too many problems as he will be isolated 2v1. West Brom’s most likely route to goal will be set-plays. West Brom are the division’s most effective side at scoring goals from set-pieces – they’ve managed 18 this season, by far the most in the Premier League. Pretty much 50% of their goals have come from the dead-ball, with Fellani highly likely to be in the side height and aggression in the air should not be a problem for United and I would expect us to be able to cope with this situations. Mourinho is a master at working on these details and no doubt United will have looked at West Brom’s set-plays so i would expect us to do a far better job then what Arsenal did against West Brom in their least Premier League game. Overall I would expect United to keep a clean-sheet, it will be hard to crate regular good chances against a very well organised side so the question is can we get convert the chances we do create?



    Subs - Romero, Blind, Darmian, Fosu-Mensah, Young, Rooney, Redmond.
     
    Memphis, Schneiderlin and Bastian could have been useful at this stage but it's more reason to play 7 at the back again for Jose
     
    So many players missing even Shaw must fancy his chances of getting a minute or two.
     
    I'd like to see Shaw starting so it might free up Blind to play in midfield giving us a bit more protection, but I feel Mourinho doesn't trust either player in that position :(
     
    The only 2 spots I'm unsure about is Blind or Darmian at LB and Martial or Rooney on the left of the 3 in behind Rashford.
     
    Don't know how we'll line up but one certainty is that with Mata out, Lingard will get a start.

    I think we might line up like this

    ...........Rashford
    Martial...mkhi...lingard
    .....Fellaini..Carrick...
    Rojo...Blind...Bailly...Valencia
    .............DDG

    Edit: @Damien can you remove BFS' thumbnail from under the "Submissions close 2 hours.." line?
     
    Adam-Utd said:
    Best way to defend against WBA will be to ATTACK.Don't sit back and give them crosses and corners like we did at Boro FFS.Keep them pinned in their half and we don't need to worry about how many giants they have.
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    Easier said than done my optimistic friend but since my rose-tinted glass is always half-full too, I agree totally!

    sammsky1 said:
    Why are people choosing Young and Shaw over Blind at LB. Am I missing something?
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    Yeah, clearly Jose likes Blind over Shaw all day long ... and he likes Young in a more attacking role.

    Inigo Montoya said:
    Groin op. Given the stage of the season,it's hard to envisage him playing again
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    FECK ME SIDEWAYS! That is about as bad as news can get at this stage of the season.

    AndyJ1985 said:
    A few injuries to key players make you realise just how poor our squad depth is.
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    C'mon ... at a time when the spuds cry because one player is out hurt, Citeh can't score without Aguero & Livershoite will defo lose without LLLLLama, it is pretty tough not to be at least a little peeved to lose two of four CB's, now two, likely three midfielders as well as manage two suspensions.
    All that said, the team will still compete ... assuming the three missing midfielders include Felly

    It'll be DDG in net,
    protected by Valencia, Rojo, Bailly & Blind
    Carrick will need support from Young, Lingard & Mkhi in midfield
    with probably Rooney & either Rashford or Martial for support up front.

    That will leave Shaw on the bench as an attacking defender to come on as well as either Rashford or Martial (whichever doesn't start obviously) to help out if we go behind, or even if we find ourselves with only a pint after 60 minutes.

    PS Game is live on the box here in Canada :D
     
    I think it's about time we moved blind back into central midfield. I'm just not comfortable with midfield pairing of Carrick and Fellaini.
     
    Devil may care said:
    The only 2 spots I'm unsure about is Blind or Darmian at LB and Martial or Rooney on the left of the 3 in behind Rashford.
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    Yeah, regarding the left-back position, me too. Although I'm still unsure we won't maintain the 3-4-3, in which case Rooney would hardly start, I guess.
     
    Android1974 said:
    Yeah, regarding the left-back position, me too. Although I'm still unsure we won't maintain the 3-4-3, in which case Rooney would hardly start, I guess.
    Click to expand...
    José considers Darmian somewhat of a CB, so 3 at the back is still possible.
     
    dichinero said:
    Memphis, Schneiderlin and Bastian could have been useful at this stage but it's more reason to play 7 at the back again for Jose
    Click to expand...
    Nope - we have a great sqaud hence can put out a very good team despite 5 big injuries. .

    those guys needed to be moved on
     
    sammsky1 said:
    Rooney still has the full respect of the younger players. I think his experience would help. Id certainly pick him over Lingard,
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    Not after his MOTM performance against Middlesbrough. What message would that send to the players if good performances are not awarded with more starts.
     
    Reaferia said:
    On a side note, the cafe is fun today, suddenly Fellaini is our most important player:D. Says a lot of how important his roles are for the squad.
    Click to expand...

    Yes, we need Fellaini for his height so that he can defend against all the freekicks he gives away through his clumsy challenges just outside the box.
     
    de Gea
    Valencia Bailly Rojo Blind
    Carrick Fellaini
    Lingard Micky Martial
    Rashford
    _________________________
    ​
    Massively down on numbers, but if we can put out the above side then we should be winning this match. Don't allow them many set pieces or corners and keep them locked in their own half.

    That front 4 could be fantastic IMO. Pace, trickery and an eye for a goal. All can interchange between positions so will be difficult to pick up.

    2-0, Micky x1, Fellaini x1.
     
    We're fecked.

    De Gea
    Valencia Bailly Rojo Shaw
    Carrick Blind
    Lingard Mkhi Martial
    Rashford
     
    Jaybomb said:
    We're fecked.

    De Gea
    Valencia Bailly Rojo Shaw
    Carrick Blind
    Lingard Mkhi Martial
    Rashford
    Click to expand...

    Really?

    For a team currently hit with an injury/suspension crisis that's hardly a bad lineup. Yes, centre midfield is an issue but both Blind and Carrick would easily get into WBA's midfield over their current options so - at least on paper - we shouldn't be too negative.
     
    Heading to the game from London. Reminds me what a killer it is not going up the night before.
     
    theyneverlearn said:
    de Gea
    Valencia Bailly Rojo Blind
    Carrick Fellaini
    Lingard Micky Martial
    Rashford
    _________________________
    ​
    Massively down on numbers, but if we can put out the above side then we should be winning this match. Don't allow them many set pieces or corners and keep them locked in their own half.

    That front 4 could be fantastic IMO. Pace, trickery and an eye for a goal. All can interchange between positions so will be difficult to pick up.

    2-0, Micky x1, Fellaini x1.
    Click to expand...

    That has to be the team if all are fit you would think, no doubt Jose will Chuck a curve ball or two though.
     
    groovyalbert said:
    Really?

    For a team currently hit with an injury/suspension crisis that's hardly a bad lineup. Yes, centre midfield is an issue but both Blind and Carrick would easily get into WBA's midfield over their current options so - at least on paper - we shouldn't be too negative.
    Click to expand...
    Blind and Carrick lack the legs to be playing in midfield together. I would play Fosu Mensah in CM and Blind at LB to be honest but I can't see it.
     
    pocco said:
    A fully fit Shaw isn't 5th choice. Where have you heard that about Martial and Fellaini? If Fellaini is back then great, but if we only have one CM available then that is clearly a problem.

    Let me guess, you're a Mourinho hater trying to set your stall out early in downplaying injuries because, secretly, you know full well that we have a big chance of dropping points tomorrow and want to be able to complain about it without hearing about injuries.
    Click to expand...
    Mourinho has done a press conference and made no mention of Fellaini, Shaw or Martial being injured. In fact I've never heard anyone except you mention Martial being injured.

    And recently we've seen Blind, Rojo, Darmian and Young all start ahead of a fully fit Shaw.
     
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Post-match discussion

Man of the Match

Marouane Fellaini image Marouane Fellaini 23% of 458 votes

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5.4 Total Average Rating

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Score Predictions

514,18,77
  • Man Utd win
  • West Brom win
  • Draw

Detailed Results

  • 31% Man Utd 2:0 West Brom
  • 18% Man Utd 2:1 West Brom
  • 13% Man Utd 1:0 West Brom
  • 11% Man Utd 3:0 West Brom
  • 7% Man Utd 1:1 West Brom
  • 5% Man Utd 3:1 West Brom
  • 3% Man Utd 0:0 West Brom
  • 2% Man Utd 5:0 West Brom
  • 2% Man Utd 4:0 West Brom
  • 2% Man Utd 2:2 West Brom
  • 1% Man Utd 1:2 West Brom
  • 1% Man Utd 0:5 West Brom
  • 1% Man Utd 0:2 West Brom
  • 0% Man Utd 3:2 West Brom
  • 0% Man Utd 4:1 West Brom
  • 0% Man Utd 4:2 West Brom
  • 0% Man Utd 5:1 West Brom
  • 0% Man Utd 1:3 West Brom
Compiled from 609 predictions.
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Match Stats

  1. Man Utd
  2. West Brom
Possession
75% 25%
Shots
18 3
Shots on Target
3 1
Corners
6 1
Fouls
15 13

Referee

Mike Dean

Man Utd Lineup

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