WBA 1 - 0 United

DDG

Darmian(Fosu-Mensah) Smalling Blind Rojo

Herrera(Schneiderlin) Carrick

Lingard Mata(s/o) Martial

Rashford(Memphis)

Mata won us the game last Wednesday but he fucked our chances of getting three points today. We were so close to breaking into the top four and we have thrown everything away. West Ham have also leapfrogged us now! Extremely disappointed.

What was Mata thinking?! Two stupid yellow cards that were perfectly avoidable. We looked like we were going to control the game as WBA barely had a sniff of the ball before Mata's sending off. Mata has bags of experience, he should know better. Yes, we have seen teams playing with 10 men and winning games but when you're a man down so early in the game, it is always a tall order to win the game. What we lost in the 25th minute was the player who connected our defence with our attack. The gap that Mata left after his dismissal was huge. 

Perhaps LVG could have done something about it. There was too much emptiness in our midfield. Rashford was anonymous. LVG should have gotten him off earlier and thrown in a midfield player. Yes, our bench was brimming with creative midfield players, but I would've put Schneiderling/Fellaini instead of Rashford and put Herrera further up the pitch. What LVG did was a bit baffling. He put on Schneiderlin instead of Herrera when we were chasing the game. What the hell was that?! A destructive, defensive minded, midfielder instead of a player who likes to attack. Crazy. 

Anyway, it's a disappointing day. I expected us to keep the pace with the teams in front of us but we seem to have bottled our chances of getting into the top four. So frustrating! 

Liverpool next. We need a good performance against a team that will be high on confidence after their recent two PL wins. Come on United!