ROBIN VAN PERSIE missed a penalty on his return from injury as Manchester United lost their third successive Premier League game in a frustrating 1-0 defeat to West Brom.
A combination of Chris Brunt and Jonas Olsson struck the decisive blow shortly after the hour at Old Trafford on Saturday, with the Albion skipper’s 20-yard free-kick taking a wicked deflection off his team-mate to leave David de Gea helpless.
Van Persie had the chance to level in the 72nd minute when Saido Berahino was adjudged to have handled Antonio Valencia’s cross inside the box, but the Dutchman – making his first start since mid-February – saw his spot-kick saved by Boaz Myhill.
As was the case in their defeats at Chelsea and Everton over the last fortnight, Louis van Gaal’s team could not make their domination of the ball count.
United were camped in West Brom’s defensive third for much of the contest, but were simply unable to break Tony Pulis’ stubborn visitors down and Brunt’s fortunate effort condemned the hosts to a third loss in a row for the first time since 2001.
Van Gaal’s side remain in the box seat to secure fourth spot and a place in the UEFA Champions League, but their poor form has left the door ajar for Liverpool, who now sit four points behind United after beating QPR earlier in the day.
This is a great opportunity to try something different and not have the usual opposition of the old school diehards who dont want change.
The idea of an open knockout championship sounds great I think and would give teams a shot of a dream run. If I’m from Kildare or Fermanagh, I would be much more motivated for championship as you go from 7 games (minimum) to an All Ireland final to 4 games..
@Lad: until those old school diehards stop getting voted onto county/provincial boards, provincial championships are here to stay.
@Lad: Would that not bring us back to why the qualifier system was introduced. 16 teams would only get 1 game. I’d be in favour of a champions league style group format, ran for 2 years, and then split into 2 separate championships, retaining that format. Have a system for promotion and relegation. It’s a lot of games for players though, which may make it a hard sell.
Open draw, try it once. Can u imagine if Kerry got Dublin in killarney in football or tipp v kilkenny in thurles..in first round ties..the buzz would be unique.
@jay bernard: would they allow supporters at the match?
Look, it’s best to just forget about the league, and I’m not just saying that because we may be relegated (‘ ‘) ….
@Logan Shepherd: “May”
@Logan Shepherd: please god forget about the league
@my name: Ah .. if it was May, I’d say go ahead and finish it, but it’s nearly the end of June :-)
Always thought brollys idea of 8 groups of 4 teams with top two play knockout for A all Ireland bottom two play in b all Ireland. Everyone gets 4 games and everyone has chance for a all Ireland. Entails for far more excitement
Yeah, what most of us have wanted for years… provincial championship in football is a joke, Ulster aside. You can’t keep the current provincial set up based on one province alone