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Manchester United 0-2 West Ham: Three talking points as United go down again without a fight

Manchester United kept clean sheets to secure tight wins over Leicester and Astana in their last two games but their weakness got exposed again at an away tie, with West Ham comprehensively registering a big 2-0 win against Solskjaer's men.

rashford


Bengaluru, Sept. 22: Manchester United kept clean sheets to secure tight wins over Leicester and Astana in their last two games but their weakness got exposed again at an away tie, with West Ham comprehensively registering a big 2-0 win against Solskjaer's men.

United travelled to London with three first-team players out injured, Pogba, Martial and Shaw and that is all it took to expose how shallow United's squad really is.

Goals from Yarmolenko and Creswell put the game beyond United, who in all fairness never seemed like a threat at any stage of the game. Yarmolenko fired home at around half-time to open the scoring after he turned Maguire far too easily being given the space inside the box to direct the ball past David De Gea.

Later Cresswell's stunning free-kick doubled the scoring and the Hammers truly deserved it. There were a couple of moments where they could have equalised. However, in a manner very typical of United, they failed to take the chances presented and paid for it with a loss.

Here are the three major talking points from the game.

1) Rashford's big form and injury

Many questions were raised and many criticisms were thrown at former boss Jose Mourinho who often deployed the talented English youngster in the wing positions or inside forward role. It is understood that the Portuguese boss believed that the forward is not composed enough or decisive enough to lead the line.

Now with Romelu Lukaku sold and Anthony Martial injured, Rashford had the golden chance to prove why he should be United's main striker - but the 21-year-old so far has yet to take it and went blank again on a dreadful day against Hammers. In the midweek, against Astana, he was wasteful enough to be criticised and today's game again showed that he is still incapable of leading a big side like United.

Twenty minutes in at London Stadium, Rashford run on a brilliant ball from James to goal with only Fabianski to beat but got the ball stuck under his feet and the chance went begging. Since then, he did not look quite right and with more frustration, he then hit the turf after 58 minutes holding his thigh which now is rumoured to be a groin injury. Hence, with Anthony Martial already proving to be a big miss and with no guaranty over his return date, come next weekend against Arsenal, Greenwood might be the only option in the central forward role.

2) Midfield weakness came up again

Without Paul Pogba there is a serious lack of creativity in the middle of the park for United. His continued absence saw Nemanja Matic starting alongside Scott McTominay. But the heat is still on Matic as the 31-year-old exhibits signs of decline and was seen struggling with Solskjaer's new approach. His partner, Scott McTominay was decent but he was never that player who is going to play defence-splitting through balls. Andreas Pereira simply repeatedly looked way below United's standard while in the attacking midfield role, Mata's decline is obvious to see. With Pogba's absence in three matches, the Red Devils have produced some very boring and ineffective football.

3) West Ham could be a top-six challenger

Since their opening day defeat at the hands of defending champions Manchester City, the Hammers are yet to lose a game, winning four times drawing twice. Momentarily they are now at fifth place, at joint points with third-placed Leicester and Pellegrini's side now look to be a big challenger for Europa League qualification. The London based side have done some major transfers this summer and most of them so far have come good. Now with the squad having a good balance of experienced and young blood, they can seriously put up a big challenge to top-six sides.

Story first published: Monday, September 23, 2019, 21:43 [IST]
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