West Ham 2-0 Manchester United: 3 reasons why the Red Devils lost the game | Premier League 2019/20
Manchester United’s inconsistent start to the Premier League season continued as they lost to West Ham United on Sunday afternoon. The Red Devils put up another dull performance, allowing West Ham to move ahead of them on the league table.
Having won against Leicester City last week, many expected Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men to build on that. However, it was the Hammers who started the game in the ascendency, with the London outfit scoring on either side of the first half to secure all three points.
First, Andriy Yarmolenko opened the scoring on the 44th minute after deftly controlling the ball with his right before firing a low left-footed shot past David de Gea. Despite being slightly dominant in possession, Man United managed very few chances in the first half.
The second half began just as the first, with the Red Devils controlling affairs but failing to test the West Ham goal. And despite all their efforts, Manuel Pellegrini’s men went 2-0 up with six minutes to go, thanks to a stupendous goal from Aaron Cresswell.
Below are three reasons why Man United lost the game:
#3 A toothless attacking performance
This was another lifeless performance from the Red Devils and Solskjaer must be frustrated by his lack of options in attack. With Romelu Lukaku sold and Antony Martial currently nursing an injury, Man United have been forced to rely solely on Marcus Rashford as their striker.
The young Englishman is known to be inconsistent and his performance during Thursday’s Europa League clash was a clear sign of what was to come. Despite winning against Astana, Rashford was responsible for missing a couple of gilt-edged chances.
Against West Ham, the 21-year-old was back to his old inconsistent self and was largely a passenger during his time on the pitch. It will, however, be unfair to blame just Rashford, as the supporting cast was also poor.
Daniel James couldn’t produce any magic this time, while Juan Mata and Andreas Pereira were equally shambolic. Overall, this was a toothless attacking performance from Man United and it rightly cost them the game.
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