Manchester United hosted London-based West Ham United earlier today at Old Trafford in the Premier League. With a dwindling amount of matches left before the winter break for the World Cup, it was vital for both clubs to accumulate as many points as possible. United manager Erik ten Hag named a largely unchanged side from the midweek victory over Sheriff Tiraspol. He was hoping his team would cement their grip on 5th place after Chelsea dropped points yesterday. West Ham are managed by former United manager David Moyes, who’s ten months in charge of the club directly after the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson are ones to forget for many supporters. Still though, Moyes has subsequently re-proven his ability as an effective manager for mid-table clubs. He was guaranteed to have a solid plan for frustrating United as much as possible.
United were on the front foot for most of the opening portion of the half, which has been the general trend in recent matches. It’s a testament to the structure of our midfield. ETH likes to deploy Casemiro as the defensive midfielder, which allows Christian Eriksen and Bruno Fernandes to press the opposition high up the pitch in their own area. Casemiro is so good defensively that Bruno and Eriksen don’t really have to worry about getting beaten over the top, which enables them to run straight at the opposition to recover the ball in strategically advantageous areas. The press is vital to ETH’s style of play, and it worked very well for the opening half today. The only issue, once again, was United’s finishing. Strikers Cristiano Ronaldo, Marcus Rashford, and Bruno were all either denied by Hammers keeper Łukasz Fabiański or off the mark. West Ham, for their part, were keen to sit back and defend and then use players like Saïd Benrahma, Jarrod Bowen, and Michail Antonio on the counter-attack. They also looked a threat from set pieces.
United capitalized on their dominance however on 38 minutes via a thunderous header from Rashford. Right back Diogo Dalot won a throw in from the right hand side in the attacking third, and he called Eriksen over before taking the throw and tossing it to him. Eriksen played a nifty 1-2 with Bruno before crossing the ball in the air from just inside the right side of the penalty area. Eriksen had looked up before crossing it to see Rashford running towards the back post, and Rashford leapt in the air to power home the ball back across Fabianksi for 1-0. It was an absolutely brilliant build-up and finish. Old Trafford was rocking as the halftime whistle went.
The second half got underway and almost right away there was an urgency from West Ham that was not present in the first half. It made sense to a degree, as they were now behind and had to score if they wanted to take something away from the match. They were suddenly winning thhe 50/50 balls more consistently, and admittedly United were helping them by giving the ball away at inopportune moments. But try as West Ham might, they kept running into a red wall composed of Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire. Lisandro Martinez, and Dalot. I’d like to highlight Dalot and Martinez in particular, as both were massive today. West Ham have some very large players, but it seemed like every time a defensive header or a last-ditch tackle was needed, one of those two was on-hand to deliver it. West Ham bossed the second half for the most part, but they simply could not find a way through.
The final 10 minutes and stoppage time however belonged to one man: United keeper David De Gea. West Ham realized they couldn’t work the ball into the box, so they began shooting from distance. De Gea made no fewer than three world-class saves from Antonio, Declan Rice, and Kurt Zouma late on. All three saves were as vital as Rashford’s goal. It was a very nervy finish for United, but through the collective efforts of De Gea and the back-4 they were able to grind out the result and win 1-0.
So not a flashy result or one that will be remembered for ages, but a vital result nonetheless. Three points the old-fashioned way, as it were. United now sit 5th in the Premier League table, just one point behind Newcastle in 4th but with a game in hand. If United can go into the winter break in the top-4, that would be more than satisfactory given the horrific start to the season. All credit to ETH for instilling a set of tactics that work with the players that we have. The defense has been fantastic in recent matches as well. United have not conceded a goal at Old Trafford since September 8th!
Martinez, Raphael Varane, Tyrell Malacia, and even Maguire have been a big part of that clean sheet run, but Dalot needs to be highlighted in particular today. The Portuguese right back was my Man of the Match, and his transformation under ETH has been remarkable. He came to the club with plenty of skill in the attacking phase of the game, but was extremely suspect defensively. His positioning was usually poor and he lacked a little bit of physicality in his game. All of that has changed this season and today was a fantastic example of it. His positional awareness has improved drastically, and it was his idea to call over Eriksen which eventually led to United’s goal. He was right to wave off Casemiro and take the more risky option in Eriksen. Well done today and the past few weeks, Diogo Dalot!
Rashford now has 100 goals for the club, and the United youth academy graduate is still just 25 (happy birthday Marcus!) years old. Interestingly he has never really been known as a good header of the ball, as he usually scores with his feet. But his last two goals were fantastic headers, and it’s good he’s added that skill to his resume. England manager Gareth Southgate, in attendance today, will surely have plane ticket to Qatar for Rashford at the end off November.
Up next is the biggest match of the season so far, the final Europa League group stage game against Real Sociedad in San Sebastien, Spain on Thursday. United need to win by a minimum of two goals in order to win the group, while any other result will see the Spanish side win the group and avoid the tricky play-off fixture. Only four matches left until the winter break!
Glory Glory Man United!
4-4-2 