JOSE MOURINHO’S FEARS that a gruelling schedule could prove problematic for Manchester United were confirmed in a drab 0-0 draw against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.
The first of nine fixtures to come in April ended with United having to settle for a draw at Old Trafford for the eighth time in the Premier League this season.
Without six key players due to injury and suspension, it was a sign that United’s taxing campaign may finally be catching up with them as they attempt to secure a place in next season’s Champions League.
United remain fifth, four points behind fourth placed Manchester City, who face Arsenal on Sunday.
United’s first half domination was near total although, for all their possession, the home side failed to force goalkeeper Ben Foster into a noteworthy save.
Anthony Martial came closest to a breakthrough, just before the half hour, when he rose powerfully at the far post to meet a Jesse Lingard cross with a strong header that flew over the cross-bar.
But, with Albion often packing all 11 players well inside their own half, United lacked the inspiration to break down Tony Pulis’ disciplined side.
It might have been a different story had Lingard succeeded with a ninth minute shot that flew over after a committed run by Martial saw the ball deflected to him.
And Martial also came close on 19 minutes after Michael Carrick sparked another wave of attacks by squaring to Lingard who moved the ball to his French team mate for a shot which curled just wide.
Eric Bailly also almost capitalised after Hal Robson-Kanu stumbled as he attempted to clear a Henrikh Mkhitaryan corner and, as the club’s record goalscorer Wayne Rooney watched from the United bench, Mourinho’s side struggled to break the deadlock.
- Frustrations -
As the half-time whistle blew, Carrick and Martial protested loudly to referee Mike Dean, the latter pointing to a lump on his face that appeared to be the result of a challenge in the final minute from West Brom’s Craig Dawson.
Dean waved the players away and took no action, however, as United supporters echoed their players’ frustrations by booing the referee off the pitch.
There was a first moment of genuine concern for United on 51 minutes.
Dawson’s run to the right-hand by-line ended with the defender pulling the ball back for former United midfielder Darren Fletcher whose shot was charged down by Bailly.
United responded quickly, with Martial setting up Mkhitaryan who was crowded out only for the ball to break kindly to Marouane Fellaini who threaded a shot through a crowded area but wide of the goal.
The game was finally opening up and Fellaini’s pass set up Martial for a low 25-yard shot which missed the right-hand post by inches.
A rare Albion error, from a misplaced pass from Gareth McAuley, let in Mkhitaryan but his attempt to chip over Foster lacked power and the keeper was able to reach out and save.
And Foster was again called into action, this time from a ferocious 25-yard shot from Rashford which forced the Albion number one into an impressive and acrobatic flying save.
By now, United supporters had long been calling for the introduction of Rooney and received their wish on 74 minutes when he was brought on to replace Mkhitaryan.
But Rooney made little impact as, Rashford, again from long range, sent a low shot just wide and then the youngster forced Foster into a magnificent save from a 25-yard free-kick.
In between, there was one more moment of anxiety for United as Fletcher’s long-range shot was fumbled by De Gea who was relieved to see the ball strike the bar and rebound to safety.
Sounds worrying
@geraldo: he has a point about thr penalty count. When your winning handy enough there’s no excuse to give away penalties.
Hard to stay disciplined and motivated if you are winning by 50pts. The big problem is the overlap with international windows. It effectively means each club has to have two teams. If there were fewer games it would be more competitive. A pool or conference system is the only way to go without asking unions to reduce the number of teams they have.
@Rudiger McMonihan: few clubs lose a whole team to the international windows. Maybe one in each country would lose 15. I think a 2 division league might work but as soon as the SA teams come in it would be them and the 3 Irish sides. So maybe not.
@Chris Mc: I think this year you need to include all four provinces. If Connacht had played all their games they would be second in conference B.
@Chris Mc: no union will ever have relagation, would the FIR, WRU or IRFU risk one or more of their professional teams being 2nd division teams? Glasgow, Edinburgh, Zebre, Benetton lose as many players as Leinster to international call ups and have nowhere near the same resources. Its little surprise Leinster are walking it against those teams.
@Rudiger McMonihan: think we touched on this before, clubs need the 10/11 home games. The proposed new rugby calendar if it gets agreed will sort it out. With no overlap durning internationals. It has a 29/30 week club season, but I think it would be the end of the HCup. As the French Top 14 takes 29 weeks and if given the choice between changing their league system or leaving the HCup the French would leave the HCup. The Pro 16 and English Prem would have maybe 5 weeks that they could fit a new European rugby cup in (Current HCup, takes 9 weeks), but no way can the French fit in a 29 round league and 9 round HCup in 30 weeks, and if there are no French is it really worth it?
@Kingshu: yeah I said they need to reduce the number of club games. Pre-covid Super rugby teams played far fewer games (16 + 3 knock outs). The best players go on to play internationals after (14 in a normal year). Then the rest play in the mitre cup (10 + 2 KO’s). So everyone gets game time, the calendar is more coherent and the games are more competitive. The way our calendar is set up is ridiculous. There is so much overlap between pro14, Heineken cup and internationals. We bounce between the 3 all year too. Teams dont get enough time together to build momentum and their position on the table is often down to how well their 3rd or 4th choice player is.
@Rudiger McMonihan: The New global calendar proposal
Is
Autumn internationals: October-November
Club and European games: December-July with a 7 week break for
Six Nations: April-May and same time the Rugby Championship: April-May. Players get a break from end of July to start of Oct.
Thats a 30 week club season with 7 week break with no games played durning 6 nations/rugbt championship. I just can’t see the Top 14 fitting their league and Hcup into that window.
@Con Cussed: have they not lost 2 games so far. They are a bit off the top 3 to be fair.
@Kingshu: I am with you on this. The system that has been cobbled together over the years has suited the Irish set-up more than anyone else; its deficiencies are increasingly obvious but it is hard to see that there will be changes that will be beneficial in the round.
The underlying problem is that there are only 2 countries – England and France – with the resources to support a domestic professional ‘club’ set-up. The rest have to rely on subsidies from the mens’ senior international game and an artificial cobbled-together league combining the remaining countries.
For us the real focus of the ‘club’ game is the Heineken Cup, but this can only really exist if the English and French clubs want it to, and only a minority of them are really committed