United now paying price for a lack of recruitment
IT seemed glaringly obvious in the summer transfer window of the huge scale of the task that faced United.
Their worst defensive season in years was addressed with the investment of over £130m in talent, and while that has strengthened one area of the pitch, it has also opened a chasm of quality in other areas.
United failed to replace their best striker in the summer and they’ve paid the price. They also failed to replace two of their most reliable central midfielders and they are again paying the price.
At times this season they have ridden their luck, and not even the most optimistic fan would have been able to justify their fourth-placed position in the Premier League ahead of kick-off.
Even given West Ham’s rejuvenated form under the guidance of Manuel Pellegrini, there can be no excuse for the tepid and lacklustre display as United crumbled in the London Stadium, again, a week short of the oneyear anniversary of their last capitulation in East London.
The lessons of last season have not been learnt, and if Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s task was to emulate the same dire midfield performance of 51 weeks, then he achieved that at least.
The home side might not possess the same exciting flair which saw them challenge for Europe under previous managers, but even without a team which lacks the same attacking arrogance of someone like Dimitri Payet or Marko Arnautovic they are a force to be reckoned with.
In fact, heading into the match West Ham had won 48 points from their last 30 Premier League games, the best record of any ‘non-big six’ side over this period and just one point fewer than Tottenham.
Last season’s trip to face West Ham highlighted everything wrong towards the end of Mourinho’s reign – a dire defensive line-up further exposed by a lack of both steel and creativity in the centre of the park.
Solskjaer has moved quickly to reinforce the back line with class improvements in the summer window but again the lack of a midfield signing in the summer proved costly on what was a frustrating afternoon for both sides.
Much of the talk ahead of kick-off was about which players should be in United’s squad for the game, the concern is that it didn’t matter which set-up they went for, the quality simply wasn’t there in the absence of Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba. Andreas Pereira encouraged early on while playing on the right side with a rare attacking foray gaining valuable ground while also putting Angelo Ogbonna on a yellow card just 15 minutes into the match. United should have made the Italian pay the price for his rash approach so early on.
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8 3 often been their lack of a ball-playing midfielder and again it was apparent early on, Nemanja Matic resorting to a speculative effort from distance in order to give Lukasz Fabianski any sort of test.
The tepid attacking display continued throughout the first half with Juan Mata and Scott McTominay struggling to impose themselves in any attacking sense on the game, a theme all too common for fans this season. All of United’s summer signings have made a big impact since they arrived at the club but Solskjaer will be wishing his side weren’t so over-reliant on the capabilities of Aaron WanBissaka, another immaculate slide tackle from him crucial