Manchester United faced off against West Ham United at the London Stadium earlier today hoping to bounce back from their disappointing midweek defeat versus Derby County in the League Cup. The Red Devils began the match very slowly and got punished in the 5th minute when Felipe Anderson scored from close range. The Hammers doubled their lead just before half-time when Andriy Yarmolenko’s attempt was deflected in by Victor Lindelof.
The away side gained some momentum in the second half and got a goal back in the 71st minute though Marcus Rashford’s clever finish. However, West Ham restored their two-goal parity through Marko Arnautovic’s finish just three minutes later. The home team ran out 3-1 victors on the day with Jose Mourinho left to ponder on regarding what went wrong for United during the contest.
Let’s take a look at how each Manchester United player performed during the encounter against the Hammers.
GK: David De Gea – 5/10
The Spaniard couldn’t do much about any of West Ham’s goals during the contest. He made some routine saves, but it wasn’t enough to salvage anything from the game.
RB: Ashley Young – 6/10
He was United’s brightest spark in the opposition half. Young delivered some fantastic crosses from the right flank, but United lacked the productivity in the attacking third.
CB: Chris Smalling – 5/10
The English centre-back struggled to cope with the threat of Arnautovic and was at fault for making some defensive errors during the game.
CB: Victor Lindelöf – 4/10
He was often caught out of position and was unlucky to have scored an own goal during the encounter. The Swede needs to improve considerably or else risk being dropped in the coming weeks.
LB: Luke Shaw – 5.5/10
He was at fault in the lead up to the Hammers’ opening goal. However, the English fullback recovered and got an assist in the second half for Rashford’s consolation goal.
CM: Scott McTominay – 4/10
He was lost in midfield and failed to cope with the pace of the West Ham counter-attacks.
CM: Nemanja Matic – 5/10
The Serbian was unable to break down the Hammers attacks and was often caught ball-watching at the middle of the pitch.
CM: Marouane Fellaini – 5/10
The Belgian big man was a threat going forward, but he lacked the creativity or intelligence to play in midfield.
CAM: Paul Pogba – 3.5/10
The Frenchman was selfish throughout the contest, and the Hammers midfielders completely neutralised his threat.
ST: Romelu Lukaku – 5.5/10
The Belgian missed some excellent chances to score and needs to improve his finishing if he wants to continue leading the lines for the Red Devils.
ST: Anthony Martial – 6.5/10
The French dribbler was probably United’s best player going forward. He made some mazy runs down the left flank and was always ready to take on the West Ham defence. However, he lacked the cutting edge in the final third.
Substitutes:
ST: Marcus Rashford – 7/10
He came off the bench to score a poacher’s goal from Luke Shaw’s corner.
CAM: Juan Mata – 5/10
The Spaniard failed to make an impact going forward.
CM: Fred – 5/10
He was a passenger after coming on and didn’t do much on the pitch.
