LONDON — It was the inevitability of this newest Manchester United defeat that’s so damning for supervisor Erik ten Hag. In spite of everything, did anybody anticipate anything from a staff that have not scored for 4 video games in a row throughout all competitions? (It is the primary time this has occurred since November 1992.)
For 72 minutes towards West Ham, United had virtually two-thirds of the possession and their greatest 5 attacking gamers had been on the sphere. However they created embarrassingly little.
United held on for a 0-0 draw at Liverpool final weekend, however couldn’t achieve this once more on the London Stadium. Jarrod Bowen transformed the opener from Lucas Paqueta’s beautifully floated go, earlier than Mohammed Kudus‘ low drive secured a 2-0 win that sends West Ham above United and, quickly at the very least, as much as sixth within the Premier League desk.
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In an additional blow to Erik ten Hag’s credibility, Kudus and his former Ajax teammate Edson Álvarez supplied extra high quality than anybody in a United shirt managed all afternoon. What did the previous Ajax boss see in Antony that he did not see in Kudus? The Brazilian winger, a €95 million signing in 2022, continues to be one of the crucial irritating footballers round. He may discover a cul-de-sac in a desert.
Alejandro Garnacho appeared essentially the most threatening outlet for the guests, however his finish product let him down, contributing to an absence of service that extends £72m summer season arrival Rasmus Hojlund’s Premier League document to fifteen video games, 0 targets, 0 assists. Hojlund managed 17 touches in his 57 minutes earlier than being changed by Marcus Rashford (who touched the ball 13 instances) for the ultimate 33 minutes, whereas captain Bruno Fernandes endured one other wasteful afternoon.
On a person stage, these gamers need to take a level of accountability for his or her droop in type. However the collective malaise displays badly on Ten Hag. United have scored 18 targets in 18 league video games this season — two greater than Burnley, who’re backside of the desk, and the identical quantity as Crystal Palace who sit fifteenth.
United’s objective distinction is now -4, a farcical tally at this level within the season for a staff with top-four ambitions and even final season, when Ten Hag seemed to be making ahead strides, United solely managed 58 targets of their 38 matches, the bottom quantity within the prime six.
United selected to deal with that by signing the 20-year-old Hojlund as an alternative of pursuing a confirmed objective scorer in Tottenham’s Harry Kane earlier than he moved to Bayern Munich. And the ahead line is struggling in consequence. Antony is inconsistent; Garnacho is undeniably proficient however wants teaching; Rashford has misplaced his manner and requires cautious administration. As a gaggle, they more and more look misplaced.
“They’re succesful,” stated Ten Hag. “I do know Rashford can rating a objective, Hojlund can rating a objective, Antony can rating objective, Garnacho can rating a objective, Bruno can rating a objective, Scott McTominay can rating a objective.
“We have now the scoring talents in our squad and in addition from set performs. On this second, we aren’t doing it. We have now to stay collectively, but in addition they need to consider in themselves that they will do it, that they will get the place they need to be, the place you need to rating and that’s within the field, particularly within the six-yard field. There you need to arrive as a striker. We assault with 11 so with one in all them.”
Requested particularly about Hojlund as he forged one other lengthy shadow on Saturday, Ten Hag stated: “I believe he’s a really robust character and he can take care of these stresses. I took him off, he was sick in the course of the week. Somewhat little bit of an absence of energy. So in that sense, I protected him [by bringing him off]. We have now to play two extra video games this week however we will not really feel sorry for ourselves. Nobody. We have now to take the accountability, in case you are a participant for Manchester United you need to do it collectively. Everybody needs to be accountable and take accountability.”
For a very long time, the sport towards West Ham was a desperately boring affair. The Saturday lunchtime kick-off time most likely did not assist, particularly within the midst of December’s busy schedule. The final eight video games to kick off at 12.30 p.m. within the Premier League have seen simply two first-half targets scored mixed. However as with most issues nowadays, United’s document is worse. They’ve now scored simply two targets of their previous 9 first halves of league soccer.
Garnacho had a superb probability after 35 minutes when Kudus gifted United possession in West Ham half and though there was a bit of extra urgency of their play after half-time, Ten Hag’s aspect ended with an anticipated targets (xG) determine of simply 0.88 — their highest of the previous 4 video games has been a lowly 1.16 vs. Bournemouth.
Willy Kambwala didn’t look misplaced on his debut — the 19-year-old French participant deputising at centre-back with Raphaël Varane becoming a member of United’s damage listing by sickness — whereas Kobbie Mainoo introduced some composure to United’s midfield earlier than permitting the ball to slide below his foot for Kudus to interrupt away and rating the second. However positives have been few and much between for United, who’ve now misplaced extra video games this season than within the entirety of their earlier marketing campaign and host in-form Aston Villa at Previous Trafford on Boxing Day.
“Soccer is about profitable video games and scoring targets,” stated Ten Hag afterwards.
United should not doing both at current. All of it feels so predictable, and the supervisor has to discover a approach to break the cycle quickly.