Manchester United lost 0-2 to West Ham United in the 18th round of the 2023-24 English Premier League at London Olympic Stadium on the 23rd. Manchester United is not on pace these days. It has slowed down with two wins, one draw and two losses in its past five league games. In particular, it lost 0-3 to Bournemouth, and drew with Liverpool without a score on the previous day. As the unstable appearance throughout the season continued until the end of the year, it was necessary to end the slump as soon as possible.
A new name has appeared in the starting lineup. Manchester United reportedly suffered from illness in its squad in preparation for the match against West Ham. Perhaps that’s why its defense changed considerably as Raphael Varane was excluded from the roster. Coach Erik ten Hag, who had a hard time forming a center back, made a strong move to use Willy Kambwala, born in 2004, who plays for the academy. 슬롯머신
In addition, Rasmus Hoylun aimed for the West Ham net at the front line, while Alejandro Garnacho, Bruno Fernandes and Antony supported the firepower at the second line. Kobe Mainu and Scott McTominay collaborated for the third line, and the four-back consisted of Luke Shaw, Jonny Evans, Kambwala and Aaron Wan-Bissaka. The goal was kept by Andre Onana.
West Ham, the home team, also needed to change its course. West Ham, which was ranking ninth by one point behind Manchester United, was fine with two consecutive wins in the league, but lost 1-5 to Liverpool at the English Football League (EFL) Cup during weekdays, calming the mood.
West Ham, who have challenged for their third consecutive league win at the expense of Manchester United, have Lucas Paqueta, James Ward-Prawus and Mohammed Kudus in the second line with Jarod Bowen at the top. Thomas Soucek and Edson Alvarez have played defensive midfielders to protect the four-back, while Emerson, Kurt Zouma, Constantinos Mabrofanos and Vladimir Coufal have built their final defenders. The goal was down to Alfonso Areola.
In the beginning, West Ham led the attack. Four minutes after kickoff, Emerson penetrated into the right box and tried to shoot with his left foot, which cooled Manchester United’s blood. Thanks to the good defense of goalkeeper Onana, the team avoided losing points.
Manchester United, who took a breather, dug into the left and found a solution. Shaw came up aggressively and tried to cross, and Garnacho tried to change the flow by dribbling through. West Ham also did not back down and was aggressive, and Bowen tried to score with a powerful shot.
Gradually, as time went by, West Ham began to take the lead. Manchester United showed poor chemistry, with Antony making a pass miss and trying to break through with the defense in front of him.
Still, he did not huddle throughout the first half. West Ham was also distracted from the middle of the first half. In the 34th minute of the first half, Manchester United took advantage of West Ham’s rear pass mistake and had a golden opportunity. When Antony intercepted the ball from the opposition side, Garnacho quickly penetrated into the left box. Antony’s pass was exquisite. But Garnacho’s shot was inaccurate. Perhaps his feet were twisted, his shot with the heel of his right foot did not put much weight on him.
Four minutes later, Garnacho had another chance. Again, as Coupal failed to clear Antony’s pass properly, Garnacho, who gained speed, ran fast. This time, he made a good left-footed shooting angle, but failed to score as Paqueta interfered with a sliding tackle.
Manchester United also produced a shot on target in the ensuing corner kick situation. In a mixed situation, Mainu caught the ball that flowed in front of the arc and connected it to a mid-range shot. Goalkeeper Areola had to reach out and block it, so he had to swallow his regret. Manchester United brought possession more as the first half went on, but we had to expect the second half without scoring.
Manchester United missed the early pace again in the second half. In the 10th minute of the second half, they faced a dizzying situation in the corner kick defense. Bowen was in crisis by allowing a powerful header, but goalkeeper Onana showed an animal defense. Perhaps the flow was frustrating, Manchester United brought in Hoylun and put in Marcus Rashford in the 12th minute of the second half.
Manchester United rarely brought about an atmosphere in which it had fallen. It continued to hand over its offensive rights to West Ham due to unstable rear build-up. Intermittent opportunities did not bring luck either. In the 23rd minute of the second half, Rashford dug deep into the left side and failed to connect to the finish line as a low and fast cross to the gate was cut off before Garnacho was connected.
Manchester United eventually collapsed. Bowen and Paqueta’s 2-1 lobbing pass in the 27th minute of the second half gave way to their defense. Bowen’s pass opened the back of the defense, and Onana blocked the first shot, but it ultimately led to a loss.
Manchester United, which gave up the steam ahead, immediately removed Antony and added Facundo Pelestri. They tried to counterattack but failed to kill themselves. In the 33rd minute of the second half, Mainuga failed to catch the ball properly from the back, dedicating the crisis to the team. Cudus, who took over Paqueta’s pass, scored an additional point with a right footed shot for West Ham.
Manchester United tried to use Sergio Reguilon and Christian Eriksen as replacement cards at the end, but they failed to make much of an impact and lost 0-2. Manchester United could not leave their camp even when the 90 minutes of regular time in the first half and the 6 minutes of extra time were given.
Manchester United, which relied on an unstable rear build-up even when it had to step up further for the chase, had three consecutive league games without a win and four official games, leading to a poor result of no points.
The team failed to rebound. Although Manchester United failed to win in the away match against Liverpool, it was evaluated as a success in its own way by turning the expected defeat into a draw. It would be the same for Liverpool and Manchester United.
Liverpool has continued its smooth run as indicated by its single defeat in the league. On the contrary, Manchester United failed to maintain consistency as it repeatedly won and lost without a draw. Ahead of the away match in Liverpool, consecutive defeats by Bournemouth in the Premier League (0-3) and Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League (0-1) caused concern.
There were even views that the record score of 7-0 last season might be repeated again. Liverpool scored seven goals for Manchester United in the 26th round of the Premier League in the 2022-23 season at home in March. At that time, he scored six goals in the second half alone, showing a good gap with Manchester United.
Indeed, the team was one-sided. Against Liverpool, Manchester United was inferior to Liverpool in a number of indicators including 6-34 shooting numbers, 31% to 69%, and 0 to 12 corner kicks for 90 minutes. The gap in the record came from a clearly divided approach from the first half. Liverpool focused on offense, while Manchester United focused on defense.
Still, Manchester United withstood all 34 shower shots, resulting in a valuable draw. It was an away road that gained some confidence because it did not lead to consecutive losses, and I was able to play with confidence against West Ham.
However, Manchester United continued to lose ground to West Ham throughout the entire game, with no goal scored for the fourth consecutive game, and lost powerlessly. With the team’s new 19-year-old center back having to debut through defense holes, chances are high that the team’s sluggish performance will drag on for a while as its offense loses strength. The defeat is intensifying the agony of Ten Hag’s coach, who is increasingly questioning his leadership.
Manchester United’s strikers’ ratings were poor, as their scores disappeared. Football statistics magazine Huskored Dotcom gave low marks to its strikers, including Antony (6.7 points), Hoyloon (6.1 points), Rashford (5.9 points) and Garnacho (5.8 points) right after the match.
Another statistics firm, the Sofa Score, also harshly criticized the strikers for failing to stop Manchester United’s empty ball by six points. In the Sofa Score, Anthony (6.9), Hoylun (6.7), and Garnacho (6.2) all received below-expected evaluations.