David de Gea: Blocked everything that came his way, which wasn’t a great deal to be fair. 6/10
Rafael: On form today, got forward at every chance, almost scoring a first half header. Played in a superb ball for Rooney’s goal. Replaced by Vidic late on. Man of the match 8/10
Phil Jones: Back from injury, at the heart of the defence. Had a solid game and scored the opening goal from a set piece. 7/10
Chris Smalling: Solid at the back. 6/10
Patrice Evra: Decent game at the back, got forward too. 6/10
Michael Carrick: Efficent in midfield alongside Fellaini. 6/10
Marouanne Fellaini: Broke up play but also made some clumsy challenges. Was fairly busy and had a good game overall. 7/10
Juan Mata: Relatively quiet although did prevent a West Brom goal in the second half. 6/10
Wayne Rooney: Decent game, scored a header at the back post from Rafael’s cross. Laid on a well weighted ball for Welbeck to finish. 7/10
Adnan Januzaj: Booked early on for a handball and had a quiet game. Replaced by Kagawa. 5/10
Robin van Persie: Played in a fine ball from the free kick which resulted in the opening goal, however he was a red card waiting to happen. Flew into several challenges and didn’t test the keeper once. 4/10
Substitutes
Danny Welbeck: Came on for RVP and bagged himself a goal that was well taken. Kept hold of the ball well. 6/10
Shinji Kagawa: Decent cameo from the Japanese playmaker 6/10
Nemanja Vidic: Replaced Rafael late on, not a lot to do for the departing Serbian.
For more thoughts and opinions from Ben, follow him on twitter: @benguest7
i pose a genuine question to yourselves, is carrick really worthy of being on the subs bench???
too often people consider the utd midfield to have to support defense, but we dont have the players to do this, and it comes at the expense of our attack, the main reason for our history of success! carrick rarely shows a desire to attack the ball, play quick passing, move into space and have any influence on the game that has been positive (he has cost us a couple of goals since this new year)
our full backs are relied upon to support attack meaning midfield has to support defense, am i the only one that thinks this is backwards???
that is why my opinion on our strongest squad is this:
de gea
rafael smalling jones evra (all keeping back and concentrating on keeping a strong back 4)
fellaini (holding a being a strong influential presence)
mata kagawa janujaz (interchanging and passing around the opponents
rooney/RVP/welbeck/hernandez (strikers but doing what they ned to with the midfield to really create levelled and clever passing attacks)
let the back 4 be the back 4, yes they can support attack, but not as heavily as they currently do, let fellainin be the sole holding player (like yaya) and allow mata kagawa janujaz to bring our strikers into the game, they play the opponents back 4 whilst that trio pass around them.
this is the only team that plays to the strengths of EVERYONE, instead of pushing everyone to do everything. be the master our your own trade, and no mediocre at them all.
glad to hear kagawa will get more match time, but he needs to be central!! coming in off the wing is not to his strength! he is a 360 degree passer and mover!!!
basically our team vs west brom…. only change required was carrick for kagawa… and i promise you this will completely transform our team!!
Carrick is a good option and has been the clubs best midfielder for the past few years. That is more about the lack of options that we have though.