Manchester United headed to The Hawthorns tonight to play West Bromwich Albion. Louis van Gaal tinkered with the starting line-up, playing van Persie as a lone striker and reintroducing Phil Jones to the squad. Adnan Januzaj also started, but struggled on the night. Radamel Falcao started on the bench, before coming on later in the second half, and Michael Carrick was openly welcomed back into the United squad.
The boss spoke openly about his squad selection and made it clear why Falcao had been benched tonight: “RvP came back [from internationals] two days before Falcao, who was in South America. He had jetlag.” Van Persie captained the side tonight due to the absence of the Colombian front-man, but performed poorly as United were held to a 2-2 draw.
David de Gea started in goal for United too, and wanted so desperately to replicate his man-of-the-match performance against Everton last week: “I was pleased with my performance [against Everton] but I’ve got to maintain that level each week.” Unfortunately he could not, but was hardly at fault for either of the two West Brom goals - both of which were superb finishes.
The Reds were expected to return to Manchester with a win tonight, but the team struggled against a high-flying West Brom side. British record signing Angel di Maria again did his best with a bright performance, but eventually was removed as a precautionary measure after picking up a knock.