Manchester United were eliminated from the League/EFL/Carabao Cup today at Old Trafford at the hands of West Ham United. An early goal from Hammers midfielder Manuel Lanzini was the difference between the sides. I would be more upset, but I honestly don’t care about this tournament all that much and it’s probably for the best that our fixture list isn’t so congested going forward. The fact that the tournament has changed names/sponsors so many times tends to suggest that many in England don’t really rate this tournament either. Sure it would be nice to win, but you don’t get super upset about going out.
What’s most annoying is that it’s hard to measure any kind of takeaway from a match like this, because both managers played mostly substitutes from the get-go. I was mostly pleased with the play of United midfielder Donny Van de Beek, who has been searching for playing time at the club ever since his arrival. He was good on the ball and made some incisive passes, and if he lost the ball he was keen to win it back. I do hope to see more of him this season.
I think Anthony Martial’s time at the club is just about up. He played alright in the opening 20 minutes or so but was completely anonymous after that. He has the skill and strength to be a Premier League forward, but his positional awareness and ability to read the game have diminished greatly in the past two seasons or so. The mark of a good center-forward is the ability to know where to be in a given situation; where to stand or run in order to collect a pass and shoot. Martial does not seem to know where he is supposed to be in attacking scenarios. I don’t know if that’s on him, United’s tactics, or some other factor – but it is clear that he cannot be relied on as a goal threat anymore. If you don’t play well against West Ham’s backups, how can he be relied upon to score in bigger matches against tougher opposition? I appreciate everything Martial has done for us, but I think he needs a change in scenery to re-discover his form.
One other player to consider from today’s match is Jadon Sancho. He looked bright at times today but other times looked off the pace. What I am seeing from him is a player with all the skill in the world, but he is lacking in confidence. He had several opportunities today to take on his defender 1-on-1 but far too often he elected to pass it backwards. He seems scared to take a risk with the ball for fear of losing possession, but that shouldn’t be his concern. Attacking players are going to lose the ball every so often. It’s guaranteed to happen. Even our best midfielder, Bruno Fernandes, loses the ball with a degree of regularity. You don’t mind that though because a guy like Bruno is going to find the right pass eventually, and it usually leads to a goal. That’s what I want to see from Sancho – more risk taking. Play the dangerous pass, mate! Take your defender on with some dribbling! He’s more naturally talented than roughly 85% of all other attackers in England, so he should start playing like it. He will improve the more he gets used to our tactics and with more game time, but he’s really got to get stuck in and play with confidence.
Other than those three things, not much new was learned today. Frustratingly, West Ham were only the better side in this match for the opening ten minutes, but that’s all they needed. This team has to respond better when going a goal down. We did well at that last season, and we need to find that form again. Ideally though, we would start these matches more positively and take the initiative to score first. Spotting the opposition a goal in the opening 20 minutes or so is not a reliable way to win matches, no matter the opponent. It was believed that United would learn that lesson after the Europa League final last season, but apparently not. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer needs to try something different to motivate these players to get them playing with aggression and pace from the opening whistle. While it is impossible to dominate every second of every match over the course of a season, one does feel that United could be doing more to get off on the front foot.
The ref was also poor today, as he completely missed a penalty after a foul on Jesse Lingard and then also screwed up stoppage time by taking too long to reset a dropped ball. He was not the biggest issue for United today, but he certainly did no favors to the argument that England has a high standard of refereeing. If we can all see it’s a penalty, why isn’t someone in the ref’s ear to let him know? Sigh. The amount of missed fouls in the box on United this season is starting to suggest something intentional is going on. I will not go as far as to suggest some kind of collusion, but the more penalties that are flagrantly missed the more one has to wonder just what is going on here.
The Red Devils take on Aston Villa at Old Trafford on Saturday in the Premier League, early morning America time.
4-4-2 