United throws away 2-0 lead to draw with West Brom
Posted Sunday, October 17, 2010 by YAHOO Sport
MANCHESTER, England (AP)—Manchester United threw away a two-goal lead against West Bromwich Albion to draw its third consecutive English Premier League match on Saturday after Wayne Rooney was dropped to the bench.
From the sidelines, Rooney saw his replacement, Javier Hernandez, score after just five minutes after goalkeeper Scott Carson failed to hold onto a free kick from Nani, who added a second midway through the half.
Patrice Evra gifted West Brom a route back into the game five minutes into the second half when Chris Brunt’s free kick struck Anderson and then the French defender before beating goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar.
Another calamity five minutes later put the visitors level. Van der Sar dropped Brunt’s cross and the ball fell behind him to Somen Tchoyi, who tapped into an empty net.
“It is an inexplicable result and obviously frustrating,” United manager Alex Ferguson said. “I suppose there are two ways of looking at it. If we were in the middle of the league we could say we were still undefeated. For us it is not good enough.”
Ferguson was stunned at the uncharacteristic mistakes.
“They got a real break for the first goal … it came off the inside of Evra’s leg and it was just a bad bit of luck,” Ferguson said. “The second goal — what can you say? Edwin has been playing for over 20 years as a top goalkeeper and he was probably in primary school the last time he made a mistake like that.
“You just have to wipe it off the slate. There’s nothing you can do about it, it was just one of these inexplicable errors.”
Rooney’s demotion to the bench fueled speculation of a feud with Ferguson, whom he directly contradicted by denying that he had missed games because he was struggling with an ankle injury.
Ferguson wasn’t asked about Rooney’s absence in broadcast interviews and the 68-year-old Scot is the only Premier League manager who always refuses to attend post-match media conferences.
It is the third time this season in the Premier League that United has thrown away a 2-0 lead to draw a match. The 18-time champions have won just three of their opening eight matches and drawn five.
While a point was enough to move United up to third, it can be overtaken by city rival Manchester City, which also has 14 points ahead of Sunday’s match at Blackpool.
“It’s not a defining result in terms of where the league’s going to end up, but we can’t keep doing that,” Ferguson said.
“We are very frustrated about it. Two-nil is never a great scoreline. If you lose a goal, it gives the other team a lifeline. I always think 1-0 is better. It keeps the concentration better, you push more for the second goal.”
United’s lax performance overshadowed another good result for Roberto Di Matteo’s West Brom, who have already won at Arsenal this season and will hope to avoid going straight back down to the League Championship.
“It was an afternoon of gifts,” Di Matteo said. “If Manchester United had got a third the game would probably have been over, but I thought it was a correct result.
“Every game has its own history, so I wasn’t thinking about their results, but I just felt if we got one back, it might make them nervous.”
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