On Wednesday 22nd September Manchester United went out of the Carabao Cup in a 1-0 loss to West Ham. Here are five things that we learnt in what was ultimately quite a disappointing night at Old Trafford.
Time’s Up for Martial
Frankly, in the best interest for both parties, I think Martial has to go as soon as possible. He can’t be getting game time after consistently poor performances. And if he ever wants to salvage his career he has to go and play football somewhere else. But based off that performance, I’m not sure many places would take him. Having him on the pitch honestly felt like a waste of a player.
At times, we created some decent chances. There were nice patterns of play with a good ball into the box from the likes of Donny van de Beek or Juan Mata. But there was never anyone in the box to capitalise on them. There was no one making those runs in behind, until Mason Greenwood came on the pitch. Martial was just all over the place. His hold-up play was terrible, he didn’t capitalise on chances, his movement was non-existent. I don’t like berating United players, but this was honestly one of the worst performances I think I’ve seen from him.
Over-rotation?
Everyone came into this match expecting to see a fairly rotated side, myself included. And even when seeing the side that Ole opted to field, with 11 changes, I think a lot of people were still quite confident that there was enough quality in that team. However, I think for some players there was a lack of sharpness of that match-readiness. And so we saw a few small individual errors that then build up to this slightly shaky iffy team performance. I don’t think Ole can take much of this blame. He set up a team that created 27 chances. If the team you select as manager creates 27 chances to score, but scores 0, that is not on you. That responsibility comes down to the individuals on the pitch.
Reliant on Greenwood
The best chances that Manchester United had came as soon as Mason Greenwood was on the pitch. His movement was electric within seconds of coming on. He had probably United’s best chance to score, that maybe you could argue he should have done slightly better with. He felt like a breath of fresh air. Everytime he was on the ball there was a buzz around the ground. The crowd got lifted with his movement, his pace, his runs off the ball. Something we hadn’t really seen all game. There is definitely an argument to be made for him starting that game in the first place. I don’t know if he needed a rest or there was some other concern, but I think if Mason was on the pitch for the 90 minutes we most likely would have been looking at a different scoreline.
Moments from Donny
I though Donny van de Beek did a lot of good things. At times he held the ball well, he made some nice incisive penetrative passes, he did a good job of transitioning the ball from the defence through the midfield. He showed that he definitely had a lot to offer. However, there are still question marks over his defensive capabilities. I think he has to take some amount of responsibility for their goal. He just didn’t seem to have that defensive awareness that we need from someone in his position.
One less Competition = One Less Trophy
There is a lot of talk around Solskjær and the pressure on him to win a trophy this season. Personally, I don’t agree with. We have seen that at Manchester United, winning the League Cup or the FA Cup won’t save you your job. And anyone thinking that Manchester United are nailed on favourites for either the Premier League or Champions League are deluding themselves. That’s not to say that we can’t possibly win either competition or get to a Champions League final, or push the title to the very end. But to suggest that the security of Ole’s job rests on these bits of luck, essentially, is ridiculous.
One slight positive to take away from this result, in a very practical sense is a decrease in fixture congestion. We have seen that later on in a season fixture schedules can become highly congested. This is when you have to heavily rotate in some games, constantly chopping and changing a team. Players can become fatigued, or pick up an injury. And this is how a season can fall apart and the next thing you know you’re fighting just to stay in the top four. Hopefully this is something that we have avoided, and with more rested players, United can focus on those “more important” competitions.