There were some decent performances for Manchester United against West Brom on Monday.
Rafael is beginning to cement his place at right back after another dynamic and tireless performance on the flank. Daley Blind also looks to be settling well.
Again though, Manchester United didn’t perform for 90 minutes. And, crucially, they were chasing the game for long spells which is obviously tiring. At 1-0 West Brom could put men behind the ball and conserve energy while Manchester United struggled to get through them – with little space in behind.
And players like Juan Mata are poor when they don’t have the ball – chasing shadows and having no impact whatsoever.
But the worst performance on the night was surely given by Mata’s countryman Ander Herrera.
We can assume that he was hooked at half time because of his rib problem. But what came before that was painful to watch. Time and again Herrera gave the ball straight to the opposition. A couple of times he did it in dangerous areas. Once he committed the cardinal sin of playing the ball square across the defence. It gave West Brom possession in a dangerous area and Manchester United were lucky to escape.
We have spoken about our misgivings re: Herrera before.
READ ALSO: HERRERA – UP TO SCRATCH
The United fans who follow us seem to think that he’s world class but, in our view, he needs to improve vastly just to stay in the team right now. He too frequently follows a good pass with a bad one.
Manchester United fans: did Herrera’s performance on Monday concern you?
James Izatt
Oct 21, 2014 at 5:11 pm
I think there was definitely an issue with Herrera as with only a couple of minutes gone he pulled out of a fifty/fifty tackle (unlike him) and his performance went rapidly downhill after that. He should have been hooked earlier.
gaz7753
Oct 21, 2014 at 5:16 pm
At least Herrera had an excuse but what about Shaw, Jones, Mata & RVP ? All were shite !
Imran
Oct 21, 2014 at 6:11 pm
Give Herrera a break, it was visible from the word go that he was not fit. I respect his dedication and commitment to represent United not fully fit. However, the likes of Januzaj, Rojo, Jones and Mata all had poor games. RVP was also average, but could have lived up to his game changer reputation, had his fine volley gone in rather than hitting the post, with the WBA keeper well beaten!
Daveridan
Oct 21, 2014 at 6:17 pm
Rafael & Rojo were without doubt the worst on the night. Having said that there are too many players that don’t have a clue what it is to wear the shirt. Too many people think when they loose the ball ridiculously easy there is no need for them to win it back and thus allow the opposition to walk by them with the ball they lost to them. Painful and amateurish. Not enough backbone and honesty in the team. Mr. Van Gaal needs some real men who have some sort of pride in their jersey. Maybe a talk from Mr. Charlton , Mr. Keane , Mr. Scholes or Mr. G Neville might open their eyes a bit.
kikoblanco
Oct 22, 2014 at 5:38 am
@daveridan,do you watch football matches if i may ask,how could you have point out rafael and rojo as been poor,they were not,the fact remains that jones refuses to play his roles,he was a weakling between rafael and jones,did you watch macnair,the boy never overlaped his position,and if the team dont have the ball,he tries to cover those empty postions,jones was nowhere near those places,and after losing to a senseless tackle it resulted to the second goal,he didn’t even try to retreat back instead he walked as if he was a king among subjects..so brother,ralph was weak,he did had a nice game,as far as i can remember he he played a nice ball into the opponets bx,but there was no one to poach it,januzaj didn’t help,rvp was poor,shaw was off the pace,that didn’t help rojo,rojo is much better with people who watch his back,mc’nair is,not jones….among all the bunches of flop who killed this game,mata was the worst,not a single tackle,slowed the game down,no direct pass,always side ways,he was the more herera had a bad game cos he didn’t cover his positon up the field,always been looked for,herera had to go and make a tackle along sluggish rvp,so that opened up his mildfield role…..mata is the problem here,the moment rooney returns the better.lvg should have started falcao,could have scored a hattrick,trust me wrong selections
Sean
Oct 22, 2014 at 6:43 am
The biggest disappointment was hands down Van Persie. They played with one target player up top, and with him being the sole target, he needed to do something at all. In 90 mins, all he did was hit the post. No other shots, no other opportunities, no other touches period.