1. Manchester United’s galaticos need Marouane Fellaini to enjoy a successful season
Even the worst critic of Manchester United cannot deny the that they have been one of the best sides in the Premier League when they have the ball, with Angel Di Maria exploding from central midfield, and Wayne Rooney, Robin Van Persie and Radamel Falcao producing some promising signs of a deadly front-three combination.
Fellaini rarely featured in their entertaining campaign this season due to injury, but Louis Van Gaal promised his Belgian midfielder that he is part of his plans and that became clear in this game. United failed to impact the game with their usual approach in the first-halfl but the towering midfielder completely changed their offensive threat with his physical presence after the interval.
He gave United a real target to aim their crosses at, which no-one provided in the opening half. He will inevitably be involved in similar games as the season progresses.
2. West Brom should approach big home games the way they did in this one
Alan Irvine opted for a bolder, high tempo start to test Manchester United early on and it paid off with a good goal in the 8th minute from Stephane Sessegnon. The Baggies do not have very quick wingers to use as transitional players in breaks down the flanks, but most of the big teams have glaring defensive problems.
If West Brom can commit a lot of bodies forward early on in big games, the way they did in this one, then they can expose the weaknesses in bigger teams which will increase their chances of getting something early that they can hold on to.
3. Manchester United only get half of Angel Di Maria when he starts as a winger
Since his debut against Burnley, Di Maria has started as a central midfielder breaking wide left as opposed to a wide midfielder cutting inside the way he did against West Brom.
In this game, Di Maria was easier to contain as he was confined to the left flank.
When he starts as a central midfielder, he can take central midfielders out of the game with his dribbling skills and unsettle defences, or make diagonal runs out wide to provide crosses. Manchester United lacked that direct threat from central midfield as both Ander Herrera and Juan Mata predictably looked for passes each time they had the ball.
4. Stephane Sessegnon and Berahino deserve their classic goals for all their hard work
The strike partnership of Sessegnon and Berahino is undoubtedly the hardest working centre forward pair in the entire division. Sessegnon had not scored this season before this game but he covers a lot of ground, dropping into central midfield to help out defensively while running the channels to support Berahino.
Berahino stays focused in games where he is supposed to get frustrated from feeding off scraps. West Brom had less than 40 per cent possession but the top English goalscorer in the league patiently waited for his chance in a game in which most strikers would have drifted off in frustration.
When Manchester United’s defence finally opened up, he seized the opportunity. Both strikers scored goals that even the best players in the world would have been proud of – and they fully deserved them.
5. Manchester United will have to root out individual errors before they start getting away wins
For the first time in 18 years, United have gone for six Premier League games without winning on their travels. They last won at Newcastle back in April and part of the reason they struggle away this season is the amount of goals they are conceding from individual errors.
Two players switched off for their first goal: Di Maria was caught on the wrong side of Andre Wisdom and Luke Shaw got sucked into central midfield by pressing too tightly on Graham Dorrans. That left a huge chunk of space on the left flank that holding midfielder Daley Blind could not fill alone.
For the second goal, Phil Jones wandered unnecessarily into central midfield which left a hole at the heart of their defence that Berahino exploited. Rafael also played Berahino onside because of a lapse in concentration.
In away games even the so -called lesser teams are going to attack Manchester United at some point so if they keep making costly errors at this rate then they will keep on conceding two or more goals in a game, making it hard for them to get a result not to mention a win.
