West Ham 0-2 Manchester United - e-West Ham review

Article by e-West Ham Correspondent Brandon Freeman

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Fruitless, failed and futile are the words which spring to mind following a third successive defeat, this time at the hands of a Manchester United team I thought we could take points from. They say a week is a long time in football, for West Ham, a month is even longer. Unbeaten in February, Big Sam winning manager of the month and West Ham pulling away from the teams scraping for survival, but now, three straight defeats in March and we are right back in the think of the survival battle.

Going into the game against Manchester United I was feeling cautiously optimistic about our chances given that this was the weakest Man U team to travel to Upton Park in recent times, mainly due to their lack of consistency and poor form in the Premier League. However, the optimism was soon obliterated when Rooney provided a goal the like of which has not been seen since David Beckham’s strike in 1996. Although it may be hard to pin the blame on any specific player, I feel that James Tomkins should have done slightly better, however the sheer quality of the goal really does mean that neither Tomkins nor Adrian can be blamed for what was an outstanding goal, and which will, unfortunately for West Ham fans, be played over and over again for some time. Although, it may have taken a stroke of genius to score the first goal, the second required no such quality and really was soft defending from West Ham, and in particular, a poor clearance by Mark Noble who has been one of our most consistent player this season. However, it wasn’t conceding two goals which disappointed me; it was the poor response from the players which really has me concerned about what the rest of the season may hold.

The second half brought something of a response from the players however, as has been the case for most of this season the players did not seem to have a plan B and simply resorted to launching the ball forward into Carroll, however most of the time the long balls were of such poor quality they simply went over the entire back four of Manchester United and out for a goal kick. There just did not seem to be any variety in the way we went about trying to get a goal, which coupled with some soft defending recently is worrying, particularly given the magnitude of Wednesdays game against Hull. Speaking to Sky Sports following the match Big Sam also emphasised the importance of a good performance against Steve Bruce’s side: “It is a massive game against Hull. We’ve played 30 games and got only 31 points now and I’ve always said that is what counts. We have got to try to maintain our points total above our games total”.

Despite the disappointment of defeat one positive that Hammers fans can take is the performance of Stewart Downing, the winger look lively every time he was on the ball and provided some quality deliveries into the box, however none of which resulted in a goal. But his performance and that of Jarvis, if he is selected, will be pivotal; firstly in providing the service for Carroll and secondly if we are to secure our Premier League status in the next two games.

The Manchester United game may have been flat, but I have every confidence that Big Sam will get the lads fired up and playing at a standard which should get us back to winning ways and, most importantly, get us the all important points against both Hull and Sunderland.

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