WEST HAM UNITED 3, MANCHESTER UNITED 1
A troubled week went from bad to worse for Jose Mourinho after his Manchester United side had their worst start to a season in 29 years after a poor defeat by West Ham at the London Stadium left the Reds in eighth.
Marcus Rashford’s goal wasn’t enough to overcome West Ham’s front line of Felipe Anderson, Andriy Yarmolenko, and Mark Arnautovic who all played their parts in the continuing downfall of Manchester United this season as Paul Pogba was hauled off after a poor performance.
The result increases the pressure on Reds manager Jose Mourinho whose apparent feud with Pogba has shown little sign of relenting and may now be affecting the rest of the United dressing room.
The Frenchman was named in the starting line-up at the London Stadium despite the emergence of training ground footage which appeared to point to a growing row between the midfielder and his exasperated boss.
Reports had suggested the row was due to an ill-timed social media post published by Pogba which came to light soon after United’s penalty shootout defeat at Old Trafford at the hands of Derby County.
Pogba had already reportedly been told he would never captain the Reds again in news that emerged before the Derby game kicked off.
Pogba’s apparent questioning of Mourinho’s tactics after the 1-1 draw against Wolves last weekend in which he stated that United should “Attack, attack, attack” was just the latest of quotes to be attributed to the Frenchman.
He had already claimed he would be fined for saying certain things after the Reds’ opening day win over Leicester City – and the collision course with his manager almost seemed inevitable.
United change formation but West Ham overpower them
United strangely went with an unfamiliar three man defence using wing backs against a West Ham side with plenty of power and drive on the flanks.
While Scott McTominay came into the side to make up the back three with the added protection of Nemanja Matic in midfield after serving a one match ban, Chilean forward Alexis Sanchez was left out of the travelling party along with Jesse Lingard.
While some of West Ham’s goals may have been contentious the poor performance by the Reds certainly could not be disputed as West Ham’s front three of Felipe Anderson, Marko Arnautovic, and Andriy Yarmolenko ran riot.
Felipe Anderson was found by ex-Manchester City full back Pablo Zabaleta who found the Brazilian forward who put the home side into the lead after just five minutes with a back heel.
It was bad luck for the Reds that both players were offside and the goal should not have stood though, but worse was to come after Romelu Lukaku’s directed header came off the post.
Yarmolenko’s shot took a massive deflection off the luckless Lindelof to double the lead after 43 minutes.
Lukas Fabianski made a one handed diving save to stop Marouane Fellaini’s header from creeping in as United got a foot hold in the second half.
Pogba had played poorly and it was no surprise that he was taken off during the game.
Marcus Rashford gave the Reds hope after 71 minutes with a back heeled goal of his own from Luke Shaw’s corner but the game was up for the Reds after Marko Arnautovic restored their two goal lead three minutes later after Mark Noble’s through ball took out every United defender who could only watch as the Austrian beat David De Gea from 12 yards out.
The Reds could have complained about a foul on Marcus Rashford by Zabaleta in the build-up to the Arnautovic goal but that would only have served as a distraction as West Ham fully deserved their win.