Decisions that got what they deserved
United were relying on two midfielders to score against West Ham. And then they took them both off
FIVE ASIDES Carabao Cup: United 0, West Ham 1
The Carabao Cup is a competition that doesn’t matter unless you win it – or crash out at the first opportunity. United showed they didn’t care with their selection, making 11 changes, wrapping their superstars in cotton wool for the massive game at the weekend against … Villa. Then they showed they did care, up to a point, by bringing on Mason Greenwood and Bruno Fernandes. It almost worked, but West Ham’s reserves held firm and could have added two more goals from late breakaways. United hadn’t been this toothless in a domestic cup match since the meltdown in Milton Keynes seven years ago. This wasn’t nearly as bad as that, but it was frustratingly avoidable.
The decisions United made got what they deserved. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer picked the team you’d he happy to see against, say, Luton. In fact, facing Luton in the Carabao this time last year, Solskjaer went for a wily mixture of first-teamers (Wan-Bissaka, Maguire, Fred) and reserves (Bailly, Mata, Lingard, van de Beek, Dean Henderson making his full debut). Last night’s XI was similar, but not similar enough. It had no Maguire, which partly explained the early shemozzle at the back – there’s a reason why he goes in for all that shouting. It had those same reserves, and they all played well, but van de Beek, playing in the pivot, was a fish half-out of water and showed it as he left Manuel Lanzini in just the sort of space he finds himself when he’s further forward.
Solskjaer didn’t seem to have asked himself one simple question: where are our goals going to come from? Not from Anthony Martial, who is way out of form and made things worse by coming short all the time rather than leading the line and making use of his pace. Nor from Jadon Sancho, who, as Dortmund fans will tell you, doesn’t get going till Christmas. In the front four, that left Mata and Lingard. Both showed that they had a goal in them: Mata tested Alphonse Areola with a typically classy half-volley from a tight angle, and Lingard, while officially playing on the right, kept finding space in the inside-left channel that had brought him the winner on Sunday. He also earned what looked like a blatant penalty when his shirt – and, impressively, his shorts – were pulled by Mark Noble, a footballer as dishonest as the day is long. Mata and Lingard were easily United’s most potent attackers, yet Solskjaer took them both off, while Martial and Sancho stayed on. Where’s Odion Ighalo when you need him?
There were some redeeming features. United dominated the middle 70 minutes of the match. Mata was cool, calm and creative as ever (he may need to be a little less calm about all the time he spends on the bench). van de Beek played 90 minutes, put his one lapse out of his mind, and sent a through ball to Greenwood that was Pogba-esque. Sancho scraped some of the rust off his dribbling, although he will need to offer more end-product to be more than a sub when Marcus Rashford returns. And of these two thorny encounters with West Ham, United won the one that mattered more. David Moyes may have beaten them at last, but his dubious reward is to face Man City in a competition they pretty much own.
A lot went right at the back. Eric Bailly was quick, fluent and free from brainstorms. Diogo Dalot was excellent, firing in crosses that would have given him a hatful of assists if Edinson Cavani or Cristiano Ronaldo had been there for the tap-ins. And Henderson was superb, both as a stopper and a starter of moves: with David de Gea back to his best, United have an embarrassment of goalies. Somehow, though, they have managed to begin the season badly in two competitions out of three. When Villareal come to Old Trafford next Wednesday, looking for their usual 0-0, United will be desperate for a win.