Manchester United suffered yet another embarrassing loss in the Premier League, this time to Manuel Pellegrini’s West Ham United at the London Stadium. Jose Mourinho’s side were beaten 3-1 as Felipe Anderson, Marko Arnautovic, and an own goal by Victor Lindelof were enough for the Hammers.
Marcus Rashford pulled a goal before Arnautovic’s strike to give the away side some hope, back but there was nothing inspiring from the Reds Devils.
Manchester United Player Ratings
David de Gea: 6/10
De Gea was beaten twice from the close range and the own goal from Victor Lindelof took a wicked deflection that made it even more difficult for the Spaniard. Might have done better for the one v one, but you can’t blame him for the defeat.
Ashley Young: 4/10
Ashley Young’s attacking output was awry, as he delivered three key passes but many of his 13 attempted crosses failed to clear the first man. He was defensively unaware too.
Victor Lindelof: 3/10
Lindelof cleared the ball thrice but wasn’t any good with his tackling or intercepting the through passes. He should have dealt with Andriy Yarmolenko as the latter’s deflected shot looped over De Gea. Lindelof was hauled off for Marcus Rashford and the manager was visibly frustrated with him.
Chris Smalling: 4/10
Smalling was caught ball-watching as Marko Arnautovic ran past him to calmly slot the ball past De Gea for the third goal. He put in five tackles but the mere fact that the Hammers continuously tormented Man United’s backline indicates that there are some major issues to be dealt with.
Scott McTominay: 4/10
The midfielder deployed as the right centre-back. He lacked the defensive acumen of a traditional centre-half and could have covered Arnautovic when the Austrian scored the third goal but failed to do so.
Luke Shaw: 5/10
Shaw was guilty of allowing Pablo Zabaleta too much space, which the Argentine utilised to put in the perfect cross for the first goal. Shaw did put in a few good crosses himself, though, and assisted Rashford for the consolation goal in the end.
Nemanja Matic: 5/10
Matic cleared the ball thrice and was the most reliable midfielder for United from a defensive perspective. However, even he seemed to struggle whilst adjusting in the new system and failed to break down the opposition’s passing moves.
Marouane Fellaini: 4/10
Fellaini played on the right side of the midfield and struggled to find the right man whenever he had possession of the ball. He headed the ball quite well from Young’s cross in the second half, but it was saved equally well by Lukasz Fabianski. However, it was an otherwise listless performance from the Belgian.
Paul Pogba: 3/10
His presence hardly made any difference as Pogba failed to link the midfield to the forward line and was even dispossessed twice. He hardly showed the work ethic and was taken off in the second half.
Romelu Lukaku: 2/10
It was yet another poor performance as Lukaku was immobile to pounce on the loose balls. He took two shots but none of them were on target.
Anthony Martial: 3/10
Martial was given a free role through the centre and he regularly switched positions and dropped deeper to influence proceedings. However, despite having completed three dribbles, he failed to take a shot and hence his overall performance eventually summarised to nothing notable.
Substitutes
Marcus Rashford: 6/10
Rashford looked lively on the right wing and he the spark United were missing. His finish for the goal was exquisite.
Fred: 3/10
Fred tried to play some sharp passes ahead but the overall gameplay was so awry that no one was at the receiving end of his deliveries.
Juan Mata: N.A
There was a negligible impact from the Spaniard.
