Roberto Mancini lamented the lack of an early goal at the Hawthorns whilst Vincent Kompany heaped praise on the home side’s defensive capabilities.
“Today was difficult,” admitted the boss. “If you do not score an early goal then the game does not open up and the opposition gains in confidence.
“Maybe we were too slow in the first half but I think if we had scored we would have gone on to win the game. West Brom had ten men behind the ball and played on the counter-attack and for once we did not find the solution.
It is impossible to score three or four goals every game or even to stay top of the league from start to finish but we will try
...Roberto Mancini
“We are still top of the table and this result doesn’t concern me. I know we will come back and start scoring again. Some days you can score six and win at Old Trafford and others you can draw 0-0 with West Brom. That is football.
“United are level with us and that makes the Premier League exciting but we are top and that is where we will try to stay.”
Kompany, who was untroubled most of the afternoon, was as sanguine as his manager.
“It wasn’t a bad performance,” reasoned the Belgian international.
We had chances but we didn’t have the killer instinct. We are not blaming anyone
...Vincent Kompany
“For us it would have been perfect to score early and that is what we set out to do but it didn’t happen and you have to give credit and say it was a solid defensive performance from them. Their defence at times was top class.
“We have now had three clean sheets in a row and that is a positive. We kept calm and we will continue to do so.”
