What I really liked was, that often when West Ham got a little too comfortable in possession we just pressed them a bit and won the ball back rather quickly. The team pressure is starting to look far more cohesive.
PL W FA Premier League
Manchester United 1:0 West Ham United
Post-match discussion
Sat, 22 January 2022
streamed at as if live when I woke up
felt the performance overall was much better, the team looked together and motivated
our chance creation/finishing was a bit off but West Ham didn't get much and they're a good side these days
I don't know what it felt like for everyone watching live but in the last 10 minutes I felt a little bit like the ending of a Fergie match - where you felt it was coming, so did the team and you could feel that in the crowd too
felt the performance overall was much better, the team looked together and motivated
our chance creation/finishing was a bit off but West Ham didn't get much and they're a good side these days
I don't know what it felt like for everyone watching live but in the last 10 minutes I felt a little bit like the ending of a Fergie match - where you felt it was coming, so did the team and you could feel that in the crowd too
Can we just knight him already? Arise Sir Marcus of Rashford! 
I think he's still got his arm in the air claiming offside as I write this 5 hours after the final whistle.
I think he's still got his arm in the air claiming offside as I write this 5 hours after the final whistle.
Does this vid include Richard Keys foaming at the mouth in anger at UTD's "offside" goal?
No, this has owen and wright.
Yes. We didn’t let them have any rhythm.
McTominay 
Game of two aspects - Defense and Attack.
Defensively we were the best Ive seen for ages. Control, physicality, positioning, De Gea had hardly anything to do. Everything was bang on. I dont think they would have scored for another 90 minutes. Miles better than Brentford where we won 3-1 but in truth they had a load of chances. Everyone saying Greenwood had a bad game but he was chasing down everything. It was his tackle and clearance that stopped Bowen charging through. They say Telles had a bad game but he kept Bowen quiet. Their best and one of the best attackers in the league this season. Same as McTominay. Never saw his forward runs like against Brentford but he was asked to sit and did his job. Same can be said for every player including Ronaldo who worked his socks off. Ronaldo was so deep and playing a false 9 half the time. All boring but we were in control for once.
Attacking - Now this was not so good. Elanga, Greenwood and Rashford are similar players. Pace, cut inside and shoot. Basically wide forwards AKA strikers. They play like strikers. Lots of hard work granted but no creativity. No threaded balls or crosses into the box. Its not their fault, the balance of the team is off. There was lots of pointless long range shots and spamming in bad crosses from Telles. But the game changed with Martial and Cavani. Technical players with brilliant movement. Rashford scored but he also did nothing apart from that. Against these sorts of teams we have no chance unless we start playing more creative players.
Defensively we were the best Ive seen for ages. Control, physicality, positioning, De Gea had hardly anything to do. Everything was bang on. I dont think they would have scored for another 90 minutes. Miles better than Brentford where we won 3-1 but in truth they had a load of chances. Everyone saying Greenwood had a bad game but he was chasing down everything. It was his tackle and clearance that stopped Bowen charging through. They say Telles had a bad game but he kept Bowen quiet. Their best and one of the best attackers in the league this season. Same as McTominay. Never saw his forward runs like against Brentford but he was asked to sit and did his job. Same can be said for every player including Ronaldo who worked his socks off. Ronaldo was so deep and playing a false 9 half the time. All boring but we were in control for once.
Attacking - Now this was not so good. Elanga, Greenwood and Rashford are similar players. Pace, cut inside and shoot. Basically wide forwards AKA strikers. They play like strikers. Lots of hard work granted but no creativity. No threaded balls or crosses into the box. Its not their fault, the balance of the team is off. There was lots of pointless long range shots and spamming in bad crosses from Telles. But the game changed with Martial and Cavani. Technical players with brilliant movement. Rashford scored but he also did nothing apart from that. Against these sorts of teams we have no chance unless we start playing more creative players.
I love that when we score, Bruno looks like he's incensed, like he will fecking cut you. Passion of the Bruno.
I completely agree. It's been such a chore watching United lately. But, this game I really enjoyed. Even at 0-0 and without many scoring chances it was fun to watch. Both teams were trying to score. They were playing fast and with lots of energy. I didn't have to curse at any of our players for lack of effort. I really enjoyed the whole game. And of course, the finish was the icing on the cake.
Vital win.
We need to keep sustain this winning run. We have 4 winnable league fixtures coming up, then a ridiculous run of 5 games against City, Spurs, Liverpool, Leicester and away at Everton (who are shit but away derbies are tough).
I think we need a minimum of 10 points from the next 4 league games, and most likely 12, going in to that run of games starting with City. Firstly obviously the points themselves are needed to get top 4, but also we need to build some confidence, form and momentum going into the run in. I don't think we could beat City, Spurs or Liverpool if we played them next week, but a few more weeks of good performances, players getting used to how Rangnick wants us to play, we can get points from those games.
We need to keep sustain this winning run. We have 4 winnable league fixtures coming up, then a ridiculous run of 5 games against City, Spurs, Liverpool, Leicester and away at Everton (who are shit but away derbies are tough).
I think we need a minimum of 10 points from the next 4 league games, and most likely 12, going in to that run of games starting with City. Firstly obviously the points themselves are needed to get top 4, but also we need to build some confidence, form and momentum going into the run in. I don't think we could beat City, Spurs or Liverpool if we played them next week, but a few more weeks of good performances, players getting used to how Rangnick wants us to play, we can get points from those games.
Official image. He was onside, camera perspective just fecks with our judgement a lot.
That's the way I saw it as well. I wasn't sure why everyone insisted he was offside. Looked level to me.
That made me so happy. So happy for Rashford too.
Finally a game where we showed energy and toughness, winning the second ball, etc....that was the big difference for me today.
Enjoy it Reds!!!!
Finally a game where we showed energy and toughness, winning the second ball, etc....that was the big difference for me today.
Enjoy it Reds!!!!
I could watch this all day! Tell me now the players don't care....amazing reactions
McTominay
That is so good to see.
If only we could bottle a feeling and drink it for the next game.
That second photo that shows Cavani well onside shows him miles offside according to Alan Shearer
McTominay
And yet the media will tell you that half of the squad is rebelling against ralf...
A little suprised with all the good ratings and the overall feeling that we had a good match but probably my sights need new calibration. I thought, we did well in the first 30-40 minutes. We were quote controlled, didn't really create anything, but did deny the opposition very successfully. I liked the midfield setup, Bruno was quite involved, I think, that lesson has finally sunk in.
I thought we lost a little bit of control in the 2nd half, it was more long ball stuff, more blind alleys and the only goal came from a lucky break. Its 3 mighty important points but this match just resembled the Ole days way too much for my liking. Even though admittedly not the control aspect. But apart from it, it was more or less the same: little to no creativity, the longer the game went less patience with the ball, passes played in behind. Then we didn't really change the setup but just brought on more attackers (even if it turned out to be the lucky punch).
I find it worrisome, that Ralf is so reluctant to get rid of players who don't provide anything to our play. Ronaldo was tragic today and he played 90 minutes... Imagine we would had somebody like Antonio in the team, who would harass the opposition engine room, blocking players... I don't know, maybe I need a break from United, a reset of expectations. It is a bit discouraging looking at a Moyes team which seems so comfortable playing the ball on the ground in one touch moves. Undeniably, they had no punch at all today but still. I really hope, that Ralf is focussing on control first, so control can bring security and security then will provide confidence to then give us some more...
I thought we lost a little bit of control in the 2nd half, it was more long ball stuff, more blind alleys and the only goal came from a lucky break. Its 3 mighty important points but this match just resembled the Ole days way too much for my liking. Even though admittedly not the control aspect. But apart from it, it was more or less the same: little to no creativity, the longer the game went less patience with the ball, passes played in behind. Then we didn't really change the setup but just brought on more attackers (even if it turned out to be the lucky punch).
I find it worrisome, that Ralf is so reluctant to get rid of players who don't provide anything to our play. Ronaldo was tragic today and he played 90 minutes... Imagine we would had somebody like Antonio in the team, who would harass the opposition engine room, blocking players... I don't know, maybe I need a break from United, a reset of expectations. It is a bit discouraging looking at a Moyes team which seems so comfortable playing the ball on the ground in one touch moves. Undeniably, they had no punch at all today but still. I really hope, that Ralf is focussing on control first, so control can bring security and security then will provide confidence to then give us some more...
And it had little to no effect if it wasn't for a lucky break at the very end... I thought that move resembled Ole to a tee. If you have no other ideas, just add more attackers.
Ralf talks about controlling the games, and we did so very well today. It could have been better attacking wise, but Rome wasn't built in a day. This is the best moment so far this season. The joy and dedication after the goal is just wonderful to watch. A solid performance and result against a good West Ham team. Soooo glad to enter the international break on a high.
Would that be the same Antonio who played for that wonderful passing team West Ham.
The same Antonio who showed absolutely nothing and the same West Ham team who never had a sniff today?
I'd argue that they didn't have that much less sniff than we did but I guess you don't want to hear that "cause we won and that is the important thing". I'd also argue that Antonio did more for his team than Ronaldo did for us respectively. Of course Antonio isn't as "good" as Ronaldo - but currently, I think there definitely should be a debate about what good means and what the actual value of the Ronaldo package is...
Then why didn’t West Ham win comfortably? Antonio didn’t have any chances and as the poster suggested, If West Ham played beautiful passing football, why did they not show it today.
Antonio wasn’t anymore effective than Ronaldo. In fact Ronaldo played his part in the lead up to the goal.
We won the match and we’re in control for the majority of the game and there was nothing lucky about the winner.
I don’t think Ronaldo is a problem as has been suggested. However, we aren’t really good enough as a team to make the kind of chances he needs. Someone like Michail Antonio can be a kind of one man counter attack when he’s in the mood. I think Ronaldo would score bucket loads for City because of the sheet amount quality on penalty box crosses and passes they deliver.
Ultimately, this all results in Ronaldo dropping deeper to ‘get involved’ and he’s then not in the box or slightly behind play when we do get forward. We need to get better at making chances after sustained possession or we would be better off having a more mobile forward. Sancho, Greenwood and Rashford for example.
If you can't see the improvements to the team and celebrate this win, I worry for you man.
McTominay
Love Cavani’s enthusiasm. It was like he scored the winner instead.
Great win and after 3 years of championship small team attitude football, we are showing signs of a team that is actually being coached. Thanks to RR.
Because football is played with 11 players against 11 different players. One man will not win it alone. Again - seems like you don't get my point: I am not saying Antonio is better than Ronaldo. But I think, having him in the team we might be better off than with the current version of Ronaldo. At least in some games (maybe more than one would think).
Yeah thanks, don't really need that condenscending tone mate. I see improvements in the team compared to 4 month ago when we were leaking goals left right and center while not really creating much. I'll give you that improvement. But I think that is just us getting back to a normal level coming from underperforming.
Take todays match 12 month ago under Ole and you'd have the typical ambivalent mood afterwards - "yeah we were kind of fine because the opponent didn't really do much, but we created nothing too but because of the good result, the performance must have been good as well". If that is alright for you, good.
I noted it back then, I will note it again today. It worries me a bit to see so much resemblence in performances and decisions to the Ole days... be that waiting with subs, be that being shaky at set pieces, be that tending to resort to long balls when the pressure is rising.
Yes we did control Westham well today. At least for 1st half and most parts of the 2nd. But we payed for that control by having no chances. Understat has us with 1.76. 0.94 if that is the winning goal from the 92nd minute. 0.10 is the Martial chance from the 91st minute. And another 0.10 is a Ronaldo chance from the 89th minute. That is an xG of 0.62 during the first 88 minutes in a home game. Westham is a good team, but that ain't a great deal of chances.
There is nothing in what we have under Rangnick resembling Ole.
I struggle to think of a single game where we controlled the whole 90. Rangnicks approach and execution is nothing like Oles whatsoever.
Thought the first 20 mins was the best we've looked in years, pity we couldn't maintain it more and we got more scrappy and a bit clumsy. Thought west ham were kind of embarrassingly unambitious and deserved nothing from the game.
the improvement from a few matches ago is stark
Man, I hoped that too. And I am totally in Camp Ralf. But todays performance had all of the Ole ingredients - not creating much, being relatively solid defensively (not talking about the late days of Ole time), keeping non-performers on for 90 minutes only to throw the sink at them at some point. Granted - we were in control for most parts today. And we were for big parts in the last matches as well. I see that. But we are also as dull as it gets... It is exactly the same as under Ole. I am not slagging off Ralf for it, he is here only for a couple of weeks but I hoped to not see certain things again and today I did. Where is the difference in leaving Ronaldo and Bruno on when they don't give you anything for 90minutes compared to leaving Rashford on? How is it a better plan now to just increase the number of strikers to increase pressure. You think McTominay would have been able to defend one real counter more or less on his own had it happend after we took off Fred?
Back in top 4, although probably briefly. I'll take that.
The improvements in defence are visible. There is still a lot of work to be done in our build up and organizing our attacks and controlling the game, but it won't be an easy process after 3 years of hiatus.
The improvements in defence are visible. There is still a lot of work to be done in our build up and organizing our attacks and controlling the game, but it won't be an easy process after 3 years of hiatus.
Again in my opinion this nothing like anything from Ole. We never had a proper system or control. Even in the early days it was all chaos and relying on big players to do big things. Which they did for a period.
There was never any element of a familiar pattern of play, familiar press triggers in different parts of the pitch, nor familiar transitional play. But wjth Rangnick I can identify with what hes doing game after game and its consistent with his own interviews. Ole was just vague talking about wanting to work hard and press and never ever did it, even in his pomp.
What was the system then today? Where were the differences? It was a 4-2-3-1 (even if Bruno certainly made more effort to participate in midfield) it was still McFred doing what they are known for, at some point we had 3 Strikers plus Rashford on and Bruno theoretically next to McTom in midfield. That is exactly what Ole did on a few occasions. We had these controlled performances under Ole as well (think of last years match against Milan for example), granted they weren't the norm but they were there.
I can't stress it enough - what kind of control is it, when you end up with with 3 shots on target and an xG of 0.62 after 88 minutes? Ask yourself, is there a chance, that we were not really more in control than back under Ole when teams knew they could give us the ball and defend deep because we aren't particularly creative?
I know, fans want to see more structure and the beginning of something new and better. And I am with you, I hope we will see it. But until now, the difference are marginal (based on the "normal" Ole performances, not the bad ones at the end). And I personally get a little worried about it.
That seems pretty hollow to be honest. I'd like to know which kind of patterns of play you recognized. Because it is just a few games into Ralfs reign, if there are patterns, I'd think, it would be a bit difficult for fans to actually recognize them. And our transitional play didn't really change, we stopped giving it to Bruno so he can try a hollywood pass all the time. But apart from that, it didn't really change.
And what is being talked doesn't really mean much. Ole talked the talk really well for many on here. Didn't help him or us. Will be the same with Ralf.
Man of the Match
Runners-up
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18%
Marcus Rashford
-
17%
Harry Maguire
-
9%
Bruno Fernandes
-
9%
Raphael Varane
-
7%
Scott McTominay
-
5%
Fred
-
3%
Anthony Martial
-
2%
Cristiano Ronaldo
-
2%
David de Gea
-
2%
Edinson Cavani
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1%
Anthony Elanga
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1%
Alex Telles
Player Ratings
Total Average Rating
Highest Rated Player
Lowest Rated Player
Compiled from 265 ratings.
Score Predictions
118,25,29
- Man Utd win
- West Ham win
- Draw
Detailed Results
- 28% Man Utd 2:1 West Ham
- 16% Man Utd 2:0 West Ham
- 10% Man Utd 1:1 West Ham
- 9% Man Utd 1:2 West Ham
- 6% Man Utd 3:1 West Ham
- 5% Man Utd 3:2 West Ham
- 5% Man Utd 2:2 West Ham
- 5% Man Utd 1:0 West Ham
- 5% Man Utd 3:0 West Ham
- 2% Man Utd 0:0 West Ham
- 2% Man Utd 1:3 West Ham
- 2% Man Utd 0:2 West Ham
- 2% Man Utd 4:0 West Ham
- 1% Man Utd 5:0 West Ham
- 1% Man Utd 5:2 West Ham
- 1% Man Utd 0:1 West Ham
- 1% Man Utd 0:5 West Ham
- 1% Man Utd 4:1 West Ham
- 1% Man Utd 4:2 West Ham
- 1% Man Utd 2:3 West Ham
Match Stats
- Man Utd
- West Ham
- Possession
- 57% 43%
- Shots
- 18 6
- Shots on Target
- 3 1
- Corners
- 3 3
- Fouls
- 9 8
Referee
Jonathan Moss
Man Utd Lineup
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-
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replaced by Edinson Cavani
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-
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replaced by Anthony Martial
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replaced by Marcus Rashford
