West Brom v Manchester United | Jacob Steinberg

• Hit F5 for all of the latest updates from the match • Stats centre: league tables, top scorers and much more • And you can email jacob.steinberg.casual@guardian.co.uk GOAL! West Brom 1-1 Manchester United (Long, 37 min): 35 min: De Gea makes a fantastic save to deny Paul Scharner. The Austrian managed to sneak away from Anderson and burst into the area. Ferdinand came across, but wasn’t quick enough, allowing Scharner to hit a shot which De Gea pushed past the left post with both hands. The corner comes to nothing. 34 min: Rooney tees up Young, who runs around the ball and whips a shot towards the far corner from 25 yards out. Tamas gets his knee in the way. Meanwhile Tom Cleverley is playing very well indeed. He’s neat and tidy in possession, and is showing a great deal of strength too. 33 min: To those of you asking for us to turn the auto-refresh tool on, we can’t. Sorry. F5. 31 min: West Brom need to get Shorey in the game. I’ve got money on this. Oh God. I’ve caught Ingle. 30 min: “Man U are looking very fluent and strong in attack, but on the other hand I think West Brom aren’t looking that bad either, think they could well grab an equalizer if Man U aren’t careful, though Man U certainly have more goals in them,” says Oliver Lewis. “Their defence needs fixing though.” 29 min: From a Young corner from the left, the grotesquely overrated Foster pats the ball straight down to Nani, who hooks his volley over the bar from 12 yards out. United could be 3-0 up but for Nani’s profligacy. 27 min: Shane Long, who’s barely had a touch, evades Anderson snatches a shot wide of the left post from 30 yards out. Meanwhile Phil Neville is in with the United fans. “So, with De Gea continuing his flapping, the question must be asked if Maarten Stekelenburg would have been a better option?” asks Rob Hisnay. “And in 5 years, Sir Alex will need to replace De Gea anyways, when he has to sell him to Real Madrid as Casillas’ replacement. 25 min: United deal with another Brunt corner. “Woah, yet another MBM officiated by Jacob Steinberg!” observes Ryan Dunne. “In addition to the Reader Competition , maybe there should be a league of MBM officiating guardian hacks, with a cup going to the winner? It might help develop empathetic relationships with Lord Ferg et al if you guys were all aspiring to silverware too.” 24 min: A Chris Brunt free-kick falls at the feet of Reid on the edge of the area and his shot is deflected wide by Fabio. Brunt’s corner is cleared however. 22 min: What a miss from Nani. United are so slick and are attacking at such pace. West Brom can’t live with one-touch football at the moment. With a first-time pass, Rooney turned the ball through for Welbeck, who just had to check back, meaning he couldn’t shoot. Although the chance was gone for him, he managed to touch it back to Rooney and with West Brom utterly exposed, he shuffled the ball to the left for Nani, who leant back and wafted the ball over with his right foot from 10 yards out. It should be game over. 21 min: Young is enjoying plenty of joy on the left flank and Reid is in for a long afternoon. He’s not getting close enough to stop the cross, which isn’t a good idea. 20 min: Vidic is struggling with a knock – I’m not sure what – but has given himself five more minutes to try to run it off. Jonny Evans is getting ready though. 19 min: United look very fluent in attack. 17 min: Morrison, who scored a sumptuous volley in this fixture last season after Rooney had put United ahead, tries to make history repeat itself, but his scuffed shot from 25 yards is well wide. 14 min: Rooney’s rampaging through again, and West Brom back off and back off and back off, until it would have been positively rude for the forward not to shoot. He does but this time with his right foot, his powerful drive flashes at least five yards wide of the left post. Foster is furious. At this rate, Rooney could rack up the golden boot this afternoon. GOAL! West Brom 0-1 Manchester United (Rooney, 13 min): This is a lovely goal. On the halfway line, Fabio drove a pass towards Rooney who had his back to goal. Instead of laying it off, he produced a glorious backheeled flick to the left for Young, who was away. He cut inside and passed it to Rooney, who’d made it up to the edge of the area. The pass was slightly behind him but with West Brom affording him too much time and space, he was able to turn, get it on to his left foot and slam a shot through Tamas’s legs, which left Foster unsighted as the ball fizzed into the bottom-right corner. That’s an excellent finish. 11 min: Much better already from West Brom after their nervy start. Now they’re on top and Ferdinand has to come across to halt Tchoyi’s run, but at the cost of a corner. Brunt takes it again but the whistle blows for a foul on Vidic. 10 min: Vidic holds his hands out in disbelief, claiming he was fouled as he tried to clear a West Brom free-kick. No dice. Corner to West Brom. Brunt sends it in and again De Gea is all over the place. He comes and gets nowhere near it as Olsson stands his ground. The ball falls to Tchoyi on the left, just outside the six-yard box but after feinting to shoot, his drive is blocked. 8 min: West Brom are looking to see what De Gea is made of after his display against Manchester City last week. From 45 yards out, Scharner has a pop, the ball flying harmlessly wide. That’s a tad disrespectful really. 7 min: From the left, Morrison curls the free-kick into the area. De Gea looks uncertain but the ball passes all the way through the area and United survive. By the way, my colleague Simon Burnton informs me that Rafael is out for ten weeks with a shoulder injury. 6 min: At last West Brom mount an attack and Tchoyi bundles and tricks his way past Anderson on the left. He’s wrestled to the ground just outside the area. 5 min: Young seems to have settled very quickly at United. He’s a great winger and will not give his full-back any rest all afternoon. 3 min: What a start by United, who are all over West Brom like a wag wannabe and a Premier League footballer. Now Young isolates Reid on the left, and draws the foul. He dusts himself off and flashes the free-kick into the six-yard box. It’s a brilliant delivery and has Foster all at sea. Another corner to United, on the right. Anderson takes it and Foster punches clear. West Brom haven’t been out of their half. 2 min: United are on the front foot immediately. Anyone would think they’re the champions. On the left, Young and Fabio combine well, the young Brazilian getting round the back and firing a cross into the near post for Rooney. The ball gets stuck under his feet and is cleared, but only as far as Young, whose curler from 25 yards is deflected wide. The corner is whipped in from the right and under pressure in the six-yard box, Foster spills it, leading to an almighty scramble. Tchoyi desperately hacks it away. 1 min: Apologies if I get very excited whenever Nicky Shorey gets the ball. I’ve got him to score last in the office sweepstake. This will be openly biased towards him. Anyway, we’re off, United taking the kick-off and attacking from right to left. Their fans are in fine voice, but the West Brom fans are in a hugely positive mood. The teams are in the tunnel. And now they’re on the pitch, walking out to a nightclub beat. This is football in the 21st century. Consider this fair warning. I’ve done two minute-by-minutes already this weekend and both games have finished 0-0. Number 19 is in the bag. The quest for No 12 begins in earnest at The Hawthorns, one of five grounds where Manchester United won on their travels last season. Five wins away from home and they still won the league. Improve on that this time and the rest might as well forget about challenging them this time. Still, although West Brom lost, they did force Gary Neville into retirement and on to the Sky Sports sofa. United got the points, West Brom ended a man’s career. Neville’s been followed by Edwin van der Sar and Paul Scholes. Only Ryan Giggs remains. And Sir Alex Ferguson of course. He’s never leaving. In fact, it’s 10 years since he went what into was meant to be his final season at Old Trafford and look how that turned out. No, there’s a strong chance he’s going to be the first ever ghost manager. A younger look to United this season then. David de Gea, Phil Jones and Ashley Young have all come in, while there are high hopes for Tom Cleverley, Danny Welbeck and potentially Paul Pogba. But this isn’t a case of packing the team with kids. Indeed Alan Hansen wasn’t necessarily wrong after United’s 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa on the opening day of the 1995-96 season. Sure, there were youngsters in the team – if the Neville brothers can ever really be called young – but they were also surrounded by Peter Schmeichel, Steve Bruce, Gary Pallister, Dennis Irwin, Roy Keane and Eric Cantona. Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra, Giggs and Wayne Rooney provide the guidance now. United have a good record at West Brom, who were in danger of becoming the definitive yo-yo club until they stayed up last season. Aside from a mid-season slump under Roberto Di Matteo, which led to his sacking and Roy Hodgson’s appointment, they enjoyed a largely stress-free campaign and there’s no reason why they can’t finish in mid-table again. I’m not the biggest fan of Ben Foster, but he’s better than Scott Carson, and they’ve held on to their key players. That said, speculation still remains about Peter Odemwingie’s future. It’s just as well they’ve signed Shane Long. West Brom (4-4-1-1): Foster; Reid, Ollson, Tamas, Shorey; Morrison, Scharner, Mulumbu, Brunt; Tchoyi; Long Subs: Fulop, Cox, Jara Reyes, Fortune, Dawson, Dorrans, Thorne. Manchester United (4-4-2): De Gea; Smalling, Rio, Vidic, Fabio; Nani, Anderson, Cleverley, Young; Welbeck, Rooney. Subs: Lindegaard, Jones, Evans, Berbatov, Giggs, Park, Carrick. Premier League 2011-12 West Brom Manchester United Premier League Jacob Steinberg guardian.co.uk

Posted by on August 14, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.