Baggies 1, Red Devils 2.
A debut goal for Shane Long against Premier League champions Manchester United. The former Tipperary minor hurler would also have been pleased with his county reaching the All Ireland Final. But no doubt he would have been hurting as much as 25000 other vocal Baggies that West Brom couldn’t get their season off to a good start with at least a point on the board.
It was a very rare opening days for the Baggies, especially in the Premier League as they started the season off with a game at the Shrine in what was effectively a return of the Baggies first ever Premier League match at Old Trafford. The sun shone down on the West Midlands, plenty of liquid refreshment was on board by the Irish contingent as they got their vocal chords wetted for the ensuing encounter.
News filtered through that a couple of key attacking players were out with Jerome Thomas and last season’s Irish Baggies Player of the year Peter Odemwingie unable to participate due to injury. This meant that Long was a certainty for the role up front. Somen Tchoyi, who finished last season with a hat-trick at Newcastle supported him and both players put in an excellent shift. Long chasing everything down, a bit of pace, strong, physical and no lack of skill while Tchoyi’s unorthodxy, while often not coming off often caused plenty of confusion for the opposing defence.
The team lined up as
Foster
Reid Tamas Olsson Shorey
Mulumbu Scharner
Brunt Tchoyi Morrisson
Long
It was a nervy start by the Baggies. United played at a high tempo and unfortunately, probably this writer’s most detested footballer; Ashley Young proved to be their key man, causing immense problems for Reid while on the other flank, one wouldn’t have realised that Nani was on the pitch at all with Shorey being very assured at left back.
While Mulumbu and Scharner improved as the game went on, the team as a whole probably stood off a bit in those early stages, culminating in Rooney getting a chance to get a ball from Young under control set himself up and place the ball through the legs of Tamas and past the despairing dive of Foster. Utd stayed on top for the opening half hour but as the game wore on the Baggies came more into the match. Long proving a strong target man while Tchoyi ‘s bag of tricks was creating openings.
Unfortunately, the two other attacking midfielders Morrison and Brunt struggled to get into the game with Mulumbu proving to be our next best attacking outlet. As the half wore on, the crowds voice grew louder and reached a crescendo when a speculative effort by Shane Long from the corner of the penalty box found it’s way past David de Gea and into the Smethwick End goal.
Half-time, 1-1.
In the second half, Man Utd’s central defensive pair of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic had to be called off with injuries. If the pace of Odemwingie and Thomas was there, one wonders if their fragile legs may have tested even further.
Up until the hour mark, United had the upper hand but the Baggies defence stood firm and once again they began to impose themselves. De Gea proved fallible under the high ball although Ferguson’s protestations of an incident where he believe De Gea should have got a free should have been a penalty if anything as Wayne Rooney pushed Long into the young Spanish goalkeeper. Indeed it was the Baggies fans who were getting incensed, particularly with the East Stand linesman who gave a series of bewildering decisions to the team from Salford.
And then, with the game finley poised, heartbreak struck as Ashley Young got space out left, raced towards the goal and his cross deflected off the outstretched leg of Stephen Reid and slipped into the far corner, though with a pack of bodies in the box, all that could be seen after Young’s cross was the settling of the ball in the net.
No point, a decent performance but next up a trip to Chelsea and our Super Bogey side in Stoke. Hodgson has defied the odds so far with the Baggies, lets hope that for the next two weeks he can do likewise.
Irish Baggies Man of the Match: Youssuf Mulumbu (Sorry Shane).
