Manchester United 1 - West Bromwich Albion 2

Summary:

Will David Moyes become the subject of Sacked in the Morning VIII (see the News section)? No, probably not - but a deserved home defeat by Albion must have a few people asking questions in the Old Trafford boardroom. Striker Saido Berahino, meanwhile, looks like becoming the Academy product that finally justifies the investment Albion have put into it after scoring four League Cup goals this season and one very crucial strike in the Premiership.

Steve Clarke reinstated all of the first team he could after Wednesday's disappointment, just Nicolas Anelka and James Morrison missing out through injury - but his plans were dealt a blow after 13 minutes when Scott Sinclair was forced off with a hamstring injury. Morgan Amalfitano opened the scoring in the second half when he chipped David De Gea, but Wayne Rooney squeezed a free kick inside the far post to level the scores three minutes later. Amalfitano then turned provider and crossed for Berahino to fire home from the edge of the area and give Albion their first victory at Old Trafford since the legendary 5-3 win in 1978.

The three points lift Albion into tenth place and push United down into thirteenth.

Malteser:

Watched the match at a bar in Gozo called Mr. Bojangles (of all names!), and was overwhelmed. We missed numerous chances but the team effort was massive.

Apart from the goalscorers who had an immense game, Anichebe, Mulumbu and the two central defenders were so effective. One has to consider that we lost Sinclair early on, and still have Brunt, Morrison, Vydra, Anelka, and Gera out. Once all these are back in, and eventually Ben Foster, we will have a very good team indeed.

I think SC got it spot on. He could have easily put Dorrans in for Sinclair but felt that the Mancunian defence was suspect. He put in Saido. Getting in Lugano to close the game was a good move too.

The Utd goal exposed the fact that we still need to work more on defensive set pieces.

On a personal note, I was over emotional. One has to understand that I spent the majority of the first 10 years following mediocrity at the Albion... on an island with the highest % of Man Utd fans in the general population worldwide.

This win means that we have beaten every team in the PL since we got promoted in 2002.

For list member, Brian Shepherd (who I should meet up sometime this week) it was a wonderful first day on his first ever trip to Malta :)

Upward and Onward!

Bobby Hope:

Well what a great performance by the lads. I totally agree with SC's comments - the critics should not talk about how bad MANU were but more about how good the Albion were. And for all the moaners about SC let's have some high praise for bringing Berahino on when most managers would have gone for Dorrans - a calculated risk that absolutely came off. That creativity that has been missing was there for all to see and mainly that came from Amalfitano and Sessegnon - my two joint MoM. Both players appear to have settled in to the team really well. How good were the goals? And there was a nice piece of inter play that lasted for 15 passes just after the goal that was out of the top drawer. I really hope that it gives them the confidence to continue in that mode. It struck me that the confidence in the team was under pinned by hard work by everyone - it's essential to maintain both.

On a less positive note the goal we conceded was very bad - what was Anichebe doing? And Ridgewell was exposed far too many times and at one point just physically get back from a forward soiree.

Great performance great result at the perfect time. Well done everyone - yes even Ridgy!

Paul Gainham:

Why oh why oh why can?t we approach every game like this??

I hope you are sitting comfortably because I am now going to say some positive things about Clarke....

Clarke got everything right, the team selection was spot on, the style of play was spot on and most importantly the strategy was spot on.

Let?s be clear ? we ran this game and thoroughly deserved our win, yes we had a couple of scares but we could have easily won 4-2. What was disappointing was that we did not sell all of our ticket allocation. I told my son to remember this day, they don?t come along too often.

Let's start with the strategy ? ManU are a POOR side yes they have a couple of flair players such as Rooney and Nani who started but other than that they are ordinary and today had little real tempo and at times looked deflated. As I said in the week, if we press at the right times with the pace we have and take the game to them, we have a chance and that?s exactly what we did. Apart from Ridgewell, we also defended really effectively as well. So his strategy of going at them was spot on.

Our style of play was all about tempo when we had the ball we moved it around really sharply, some of our interplay was great and we mixed it up well between sharp on the ground play and balls into Anichebe. Maybe, NOT having Anelka in the team was a big help here, when we had the ball we moved it on and did not delay. So he got the style of play spot on.

In terms of the team selection, 4-5-1 with Sessegnon as the forward midfield player and Sinclair / Amalfitano wide was spot on. Even when Sinclair went off after 15 mins, he did the right thing by bringing Berahino on as he had his strategy right he knew exactly what player we needed to replace him and he did not go with a ?safer? option of Dorrans or Rosenberg. He then kept that unit intact until late in the game which again was the right decision ? we were on top, Man U were floundering, don?t change a winning team. So he got his team selection spot on.

Don't need to say too much about the goals ? both were superb top draw efforts. If it was Messi scoring Amalfitano?s goal people would be idolising his status as the worlds best and yet our boys goal was every bit as good.

Just one comment on Sessegnon ? we was superb today ? the best player on the pich by a country mile and hats off to Danny Murphy for making that point on MOTD. The match commentator said it was Carrick which is absolute bollox. He was sharp, ran at them, was involved in some great interlink play with Anichebe, Berahino and Amalfitano (how hard is it to say those 3 names quickly?) and reminded me of all the games he played against us for Sunderland where he tore us apart. Today, he ripped ManU apart.

Player Marks

• Myhill 8 Maybe could have done better with their goal but did everythingh else really well
• Jones 8 Solid and supportive coming forwards
• Olsson 9 Back to his best on this display
• McCauley 9 Immense ? kept Rooney in check.
• Ridgewell 6 The weak link and ManU figured this out in the 2nd half ? all their dangerous attacks came down our left. Time for Popov.
• Mulumbu 9 Excellent workrate and linkage play
• Yacob 7 Did the simple things really well but still looked slow at times.
• Sinclair 6 Only on for 15 mins but did not make much of an impact in that time
• Sessegnon 10 The best attacking midfield display I have seen from a WBA player in years ? ripped Man U apart
• Amalfitano 10 This guy seemingly has the lot ? great ball control, he can tackle back and WHAT a goal ? Brilliant.
• Aniuchebe 8 Some great hold up play and he bullied the ManU defence all day but he spends too much time with his back to goal for my liking

Subs

• Berahino 10 This guy looks better and better. Maybe we have unearthed a gem. Brilliant goal, could have had a second and was a constant menace
• Lugano N/A Too late to judge
• Rosenberg N/A Too late to judge

Manager 10 He got everything right today ? question ? why cant he do this or even close to this every week?

oshawabaggie:

I woke up Sunday morning slightly hung over, so my wife wondered why I couldn't wipe the silly grin off my face. I explained to her that I had had this amazing dream. We were playing Manure at their place and, with the game tied and us playing the better football, Amalfitano had gathered the ball in his own half and ran full speed at four of their defenders. Whilst they seemed to be plodding through sand the wraith Amalfitano breezed past them, brushing off the flailing arms of Ferdinand, before making a clown out of De Gea with a deft feint and chip.

Even our nemesis Rooney, his horns shrouded by a black band, could only temporarily darken the dream. A crisp exchange of six or seven passes found that man Amalfitano again who magically set it up for Saido Berahino (or was it Laurie Cunningham?) to smash into the bottom corner. In the dream the Manure defenders were training cones with shirts draped over them.

"And I suppose the Baggies ended up winning?" she said. "Of course" I said. "OK sure. Come on, eat your breakfast before it gets cold".