Manchester United suffered another defeat in the Premier League with a toothless performance at the London Stadium as West Ham comfortably won 2-0. The Reds have now not scored in over six hours of play. Erik Ten Hag had to make changes to his centre back pairing with Willy Kambwala making his debut alongside Jonny Evans after Raphael Varane was out due to illness and Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelöf through injury.
Early promise, but no end product
The start of the game saw Andre Onana making an early save with the Hammers taking possession off Garnacho and pinning our defence back. Lucas Paqueta and Jarrod Bowen looked threatening on the attack. It was the opposition who looked like the team in form despite both teams previous result away at Liverpool.
The Reds did settle into the game and finally had a shot on target on the half hour mark. Alejandro Garnacho had a few chances that could have put United ahead. A misplaced by West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus saw Antony pick up the loose ball before feeding into Garnacho whose effort was saved.
The calmness and composure shown by Kambwala in the defence and Mainoo in the midfield looks promising for their futures in this United side. It is upfront where there is more concern as lack of chances being created by the front foot having not scored in our last four competitive games.
United shoot themselves in the foot
Both teams headed into halftime with the scores level. The second half started and it was West Ham who were likely to change the course of the game. Jarrod Bowen had a good chance from a corner but his header was tipped over the bar by Onana.
The Reds gave their fans some brief respite as they looked to inject some pace with a flowing move that could have seen Garnacho give us the lead but was denied by the West Ham defence in the six yard box. Jarrod Bowen would make his second chance in front of goal count for the Hammers.
Paqueta had sent him and the ball down into the right hand space of our defence. Bowen’s initial shot was blocked by Onana but the ball deflected back onto his leg and subsequently into the back of the net. Just a few minutes later, West Ham doubled their lead when Mohammed Kudus picked up Kobbie Mainoo loose touch on the ball before firing a low shot past Onana into the corner of the goal to make it 2-0.
The Reds were unable to muster anything in response as we suffered our thirteenth defeat of the season across all competitions.
Player Ratings and MOTM
Andre Onana – 5. Did great to push Bowen’s header over the bar in the second half. Could have come out more aggressively and had a stronger hand for West Ham’s opening goal.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka – 6. Wasn’t tested much by the opposition attack. Did not offer anything going forward much like the rest of the team.
Willy Kambwala – 6. One of United’s better players and looked composed on his debut.
Jonny Evans – 6. The experience amongst the younger players. Got away with his risky pass back to Onana. Maybe could have done better to prevent the second goal.
Luke Shaw – 7 & MOTM. Offered plenty of width and comfortably played through the opposition press.
Scott McTominay – 5. Despite the team controlling the possession, he was quiet throughout.
Kobbie Mainoo – 6. Made an unfortunate mistake that led to West Ham’s second goal, but otherwise a good performance.
Antony – 4. Poor and gave the ball away cheaply at times though he set up Garnacho twice in the first half to score. Not justifying the price tag we paid for him.
Bruno Fernandes – 5. Could have done better when in the final third of the pitch. Moaned much like he has done in other games.
Alejandro Garnacho – 5. Had the best chances in the first half but just lacked the finishing touch to put it in the back of the net.
Rasmus Højlund – 4. Hardly got into the game and hasn’t scored in the Premier League yet.
Subs:
Marcus Rashford – 4. Offered little and will not be back in the starting eleven yet.
Facundo Pellistri, Sergio Reguilon, and Christian Eriksen – N/A
What next for United?
It is one step forward and two back with United at the moment. Any positive result that we do get, we seem unable to improve upon. United are being outdone by the opposing teams far too often. These defeats should feel like a shock but are becoming routine.
With 13 defeats already this season, questions will now be fired at Ten Hag as we have a couple of tough games to come with Aston Villa at Old Trafford on Boxing Day and then away to Nottingham Forest before we see the year out.
