West Ham United 3-1 Manchester United: 3 Takeaways
Manchester United slumped to yet another defeat this season as they lost 3-1 to West Ham United at the London Stadium. Marko Arnautovic scored his customary goal against United while Felipe Anderson scored a back-heel while Lindelof scored an unfortunate own goal.
For United, Rashford scored after coming off the bench but that was to be their only high point of the day as star man, Paul Pogba, was hauled off 10 minutes before the close of play after the Frenchman looked mighty ineffective in the middle of the park.
The apparent rift between Mourinho and Pogba seems to be the least of their problems right now as unless they bring about a magical change in mentality and tactics, the Red Devils look every bit a defeated team as they find themselves in the eighth position after seven games this season.
Here, we take a look at some talking points from the game:
#3 Lukaku cannot be the focal point of attack
United were ridiculed when they signed the big Belgian last summer as he had a reputation of a poor first touch and tended to go missing in big games. He did shut his critics upto an extent as he scored 27 goals last season and ended his 'big team' hoodoo with an equalizer against Chelsea.
However, even the staunchest United fan will admit that his first touch is indeed poor, beyond terrible at times. Unfortunately, Mourinho operates on a system where he wants his striker to be receiving balls and waiting for his wingers to join in on the attack. Lukaku is just not the man for this task.
It may pay off sometimes but the returns have been far too inconsistent to be considered a credible attacking option. Neither is Lukaku as aware as Ibrahimovic nor does he have the kind of close control. Mourinho should try Alexis as the sole striker as the Chilean seems to be struggling on the wings since last season.