Match report
Full-time: West Ham United 0-2 Manchester United
Well, what an odd game. Mike Dean’s harsh sending off of Feghouli in the first half should have given Manchester United the impetus to race away with the game. But that didn’t happen. It took the introduction of Rashford and Mata to swing the game their way in the second half. West Ham can feel hard done by but it may be that Manchester United would have impressed 11 on 11 in the second half with Rashford up against Nordtveit. He absolutely took him to the cleaners. Oh, and one last thing having looked at the tackle from Feghouli on Jones again, you could argue both players could have been sent off. You could say it was a late tackle v excessive force. But anyway, Manchester United have the Champions League places in sight … and momentum. Look out!
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90+2 min: Man Utd will go within a point of fourth place in a minute. Six league wins on the bounce eh? That is momentum, all right.
90 min: Nordtveit, who has barely got close to Rashford this second half, dangles a leg out at the Man Utd winger and catches his heel. It’s a sore one and for that Nordtveit is given a deserved yellow card.
88 min: Lanzini is off and Ayew is on for West Ham. Lanzini was bright in spells. His shot in the first half was very close to giving his side a 1-0 lead.
87 min: “Is Antonio Valencia the longest serving stopgap in Premier League history?” asks Matthew Pearson. “It’s a pretty prominent position, the right back for Man Utd, and he’s been there for ages. Moses and Milner have been pretty glorious examples of players moving further back and still influencing business at both ends. Valencia could light up a right wing elsewhere in the league.” It’s an interesting one. I can’t think of anyone else that has been shifted out of position and lasted so long. But isn’t he now just being considered a right-back? And are you only ever a stopgap when you shift backwards rather than forwards ala Paul Warhurst back in the day for Sheffield Wednesday?
86 min: Cresswell is crowded out on the left wing. Manchester United regain possession and Carrick orchestrates another spell of lengthy possession that will help see the game out.
83 min: Rashford, again, shows great composure after a burst down the left to hook the ball to the far post where Herrera volleys straight at Randolph, who deflects the ball out for a corner. The corner comes to nothing. I know he only came on in the second half but I’d give Rashford the man of the match award.
81 min: Nicholas offers some Mike Dean balance. “I might be a rare specie but I think Dean can justify that red card. Reckless tackle, feet off the ground, made contact and all for what might have been a goal kick to Utd.” Meanwhile, Fernandes is on for West Ham. Kouyate is off.
79 min: That Zlatan goal was reminiscent of a killer forehand after a ball is called out in tennis. The kind that is hit with the wild abandon that comes with knowing what you are about to do won’t count. Only that one did.
Goal! West Ham 0-2 Man Utd (Ibrahimovic 78)
That’s game over but Ibrahimovic is offside. The ball lands at the Swede’s feet after Herrera nicked the ball through to him with a bit of high-pressing. Zlatan is standing almost a foot off but with his back to goal he turns and slams home from 12 yards and immediately looks sheepishly over at the linesman. Ah well. Some go for you some go against you. He won’t care. Eat your own balls. That’s 18 for the season.
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74 min: Rashford pulls the ball back to Pogba on the left. Pogba shapes to roll it into the corner. It looks to be heading there but somehow deviates from its line a few yards from goal and slides the wrong side of the far post.
72 min: Cresswell goes scuttling down the inside-left channel after a promising West Ham attack but, at the vital moment, he loses his footing in the area and the ball goes rolling away for a goal-kick. It’s the return of the London Stadium curse.
70 min: “Mike Dean is out of control and incompetent,” writes JR in Illinois. “That is a very bad combination, as the United States is about to discover. I wish somebody could do something about it but it doesn’t look like happening.” He’s not incompetent (Dean that is). But he does like the sound of his own whistle and the glare of the spotlight a little more than a referee should. As for Trump, I’m not going there.
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68 min: Carroll gallops on, all beard and hair, having replaced Payet, who must be goosed given that he is perhaps the best-placed West Ham player to find Carroll’s head with a set-piece delivery.
67 min: Herrera finds Pogba after cutting in from the right. Pogba strides away from his marker and tries to pass the ball into the bottom-left corner but his attempt misses by a couple of inches. He had Randolph worried there. He was at full stretch.
65 min: Mourinho makes an immediate change. Carrick moves back into midfield as Mkhitaryan is replaced by Smalling, who goes to centre-back.
64 min: It was a goal made by Mourinho really. Carrick, having been shifted to centre back, found one substitute, who found another. Do you remember when people were saying Mourinho had forgotten how to manage?
Goal! West Ham 0-1 Man Utd (Mata 62)
And West Ham pay the price. Carrick curls a ball out to Rashford on the left wing. The youngster speeds away to the touchline and shows great composure to cut inside instead of crossing (sitting two West Ham players down) before pulling the ball back to Mata, just outside the six-yard box, who sweeps home with his left foot.
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59 min: Mkhitaryan and Mata try and fail to combine in midfield and then Rojo plays an awful pass across the backline that allows West Ham to pick off possession. Payet slides in Antonio behind Carrick and Jones, who play a dreadful offside trap. Antonio is one on one with De Gea. He shapes to curl around the Spaniard but he’s too square and sidefoots his shot from 16 yards into the goalkeeper’s midriff. What a chance! Bilic leaps up in despair on the sidelines.
57 min: Rashford is on and Lingard is off. Will the precocity of youth give this game the jolt it needs?
55 min: Well, Mourinho hasn’t got the response he wanted at all. If anything West Ham are pressing higher up the field at the moment. A tactic that will be their undoing if they don’t rein it in.
54 min: “I’d like to see Mike Dean referee a battle between all the different houses in Game of Thrones,” writes Chris Gardiner. “Early red for Jamie Lassiter and John Snow. Show them who’s the real hero.” Readers? I’ve never really got into it. Westworld’s my box-set companion at the moment.
52 min: Antonio heads wide after a West Ham free-kick on the right that is curled, deliciously, into the back post by Payet. It’s the kind of chance he usually gobbles up. The look of disbelief on his face as he walks away tells you how disappointed he is that he didn’t connect with it properly.
49 min: Kouyate fells Mkhitaryan with a dire challenge. It was a clumsy tackle from the side in which his right leg went over the ball and brought the Man Utd player down. Mkhitaryan is lucky that the tackle is in front of him and the full force doesn’t impact on the side of his leg. It’s a clear yellow card, maybe even a red. Does Mike Dean book him? Of course he doesn’t.
47 min: Nordveit plays a short back pass that Ibrahimovic may have got to about 10 years ago. But, at 35 years of age and despite his healthy lifestyle and boundless self-belief, his legs don’t move quite the way they used to and Randolph shows great alertness to slide in to clear the danger.
46 min: Lingard fouls Cresswell after an opening minute of the second half in which it is clear that Mourinho has given his Man Utd players a verbal rocket. They’re scuttling around with much more urgency.
Peep!
45 min: It’s the second half! Darmian has been replaced by Mata. Carrick goes to centre back and Rojo goes to left back for Man Utd. Will Mata find a hole in the West Ham defensive ranks?
So, surely Martial will emerge for Manchester United at some stage in the second half. They need an injection of pace and Mourinho made a point of getting his subs warmed up before the first half had finished.
As for West Ham, Obiang has marshalled the backline quite superbly. It would be some feat if they can hold out for almost 80 minutes with 10 men.
And, I have MBMed almost 145 minutes of football today without seeing a single goal. I haven’t got much in the way of nice things to say about 2017 so far.
I would whole-heartedly lend my backing to this:
@GreggBakowski We need some sort of campaign to allow Mike Dean to ref Boca Juniors vs. River Plate. So much potential there.
— Bold Steve (@ParlourGamesN5) January 2, 2017
I would quite like to see Dean sniff the cordite in the air and give this atmosphere a dismissive look.
Half-time: West Ham United 0-0 Manchester United
A half in which Mike Dean is the chief protagonist is never a good thing. Manchester United have done nothing with their man advantage while West Ham have probably created more half-chances. That said, Man Utd should be 1-0 up. How Valencia and Lingard both failed to score from about three yards out will remain a mystery for years to come.
45+2 min: The ball is curled in with pace and West ham players call for a handball as the ball squirts out of a group of players. Mike Dean blows his whistle but it’s for half-time.
45 min: Mourinho has buggered off down the tunnel two minutes early. Maybe he’s hoping to locate Fergie’s hairdryer in the kit back and see if it still works. Jones has just shoved Antonio on the touchline and given Payet a great angle to whip a ball in.
44 min: Lanzini picks the ball up on the edge of the area. He throws his shoulder and cuts back on to his right foot and curls a wicked shot towards the top-right corner that De Gea does ever so well to claw away for a corner. The crowd roar and Bilic asks for more noise. Meanwhile, Mourinho has sent all his subs out to warm up. He’s not happy with this from Man Utd. They’ve looked half asleep.
42 min: Darmian’s hip sends Antonio flying into the air. Darmian is booked. It probably didn’t warrant a booking but … Mike Dean.
40 min: Nordveit has caught Mkhitaryan with a late tackle over by the touchline. Dean should book Nordveit but he doesn’t. Funny that.
@GreggBakowski Mike Dean gets his revenge on the bubbles https://t.co/eqRzFxTlLc
— Crooked Jiffy (@jiffington) January 2, 2017
39 min: Ibrahimovic slams a shot way over the bar after beating West Ham’s offside trap.
35 min: Wow! Just wow! What a save! What a miss! After United switch the play left and right Mkhitaryan drills a ball across goal that Valencia somehow hits straight at Randolph when the goal was gaping. The ball spills out to Lingard, who only has to tap home, but instead he somehow finds the left-hand post before the ball rolls back to Randolph. Fantastic save from Randolph, mind, but bloody hell.
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32 min: West Ham have looked the most potent force on the rare occasions they have attacked. They’re not committing too many men forwards but with Antonio’s strength and energy they always have an outlet. Nordtveit stretches his legs up the right wing, but his cross is mishit and goes out for a goal-kick. The West Ham fans are revelling in this adversity and making a rare old din.
29 min: Mike Dean gives Payet one of those withering and over-the-top Mike Dean looks for something that the Frenchman said to him. Yellow card for Payet. “I noticed that when Mike Dean came out for the start of the match he looked to be somewhat fazed and perturbed by the bubbles from the West Ham bubble machine and has been unable to get it out of his system,” writes Mark Judd. “It might account for his performance.”
2016, year of Mike Dean. Like every year, then https://t.co/cP71nThRRH
— James Dart (@James_Dart) December 30, 2016
27 min: Pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass. Not many of those Man Utd passes have been forwards, though. It’s all very comfortable for West Ham.
25 min: West Ham’s response to going a man down has been pretty impressive so far. They have been incredibly compact and are pressing diligently whenever Man Utd advance into the final third.
24 min: Barney Ronay on another London Stadium spotlight-hogger.
Bolt, Farah, Ennis, Dean. A worthy stage this
— Barney Ronay (@barneyronay) January 2, 2017
21 min: Ibrahimovic plays a backheeled pass through to the onrushing Mkhitaryan in the penalty area but the Armenian can’t bring the ball under his spell and West Ham clear. Jones’s every touch is being booed by the way. If anything, he almost injured himself by being a little too committed in that challenge with Feghouli.
20 min: “Well predicted, Gregg,” writes Thabo Mokaleng. “You said Bilic wore the look of a man receiving grim news. Duly delivered?” Man Utd are hogging the ball but, so far, doing little with it. The pressure will only build now, mind.
18 min: Herrera plays a cross in towards the back post that Randolph does well to paw away. A moment later a similar cross comes in but this time the West Ham keeper holds on to the ball.
15 min: If anything, Feghouli was punished for a poor first touch there. He could have hurt Jones if he’d gone in with force but he didn’t. Jones’s tackle was much more forceful – and fair. Mind you, my first reaction was to wince as I saw the players collide. Perhaps that’s how Dean saw it.
Red card for Feghouli!
13 min: This looks to be a poor decision from Mike Dean. Antonio heads the ball down to Feghouli, whose first touch is poor. He stretches to win the ball and Jones gets there with a slide tackle before him. Feghouli isn’t going in with force but catches Jones late in the thigh. I think everyone is surprised by that.
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12 min: There he is. He plucks a ball from the air and connects play very nicely. I suppose I should eat my own balls now.
10 min: I haven’t seen Ibrahimovic yet. I think he’s on the pitch.
9 min: Lanzini forces a fingertip save from De Gea, down to his left, after a lovely bit of buildup play resulted in two Man Utd players racing towards Payet and leaving Lanzini free on the edge of the box. The West Ham midfielder’s shot is struck well but was always saveable. The resulting corner comes to nothing.
7 min: Payet has another shot at goal after dancing around Jones on the edge of the box but finding a collection of Man Utd players in his way. His effort is dragged once again, mind,and loses pace over to the left somewhere. West Ham have been bright so far.
6 min: Lanzini shows lovely feet in midfield to spin away from his marker and find Cresswell on the left wing but Valencia, who is an incredibly strong specimen, holds off the full-back with ease and lets the ball roll out for a goal-kick.
5 min: Payet has a pop at goal from 30 yards. It goes wide by about the same distance.
3 min: Bilic always holds the look of a man who has just been given some particularly grim news,.Already he has his hands in his pockets and a troubled look on his face. His team have finally got on the ball and are looking to advance down the left wing so there really is no need for him to look quite so perturbed.
2 min: Man Utd quickly take control of the game, with Carrick getting on the ball early to try to dictate the tempo with some short, sharp passes.
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Peep!
1 min: We’re off. West Ham, shooting from left to right on my screen and wearing their usual claret and blue, get the game under way. Man Utd, in white, are going the other way.
Antonio is playing as a lone striker today. If the ball touches his head he invariably scores a goal. So Man Utd need to watch him.
There are bubbles everywhere at the London Stadium so that can only mean one thing: the players are on the pitch.
Here’s Payet showing in the warmup why my theory about taking the wall away might not actually be the best way to combat his free-kicks.
It doesn't happen by chance...
— West Ham United (@WestHamUtd) January 2, 2017
🙌 #COYI #WHUMUN pic.twitter.com/jJaNIKACJ4
An email! “I am in full agreement with the idea of resting Martial,” writes Samyobrata Mukherjee. “Though I would have liked to see Mata and Rashford start this game in place of Lingard and Carrick. Herrera did a decent enough job as the screening midfielder last time out and giving Carrick a little more rest before the cup games and Liverpool at home wouldn’t be a terrible idea. On a completely different note, I’d be much obliged if you tried enquiring whether anyone has an inkling as to why United want to keep Fellaini and sell Schneiderlin when playing a settled 4-1-4-1?”
Some words from the managers …
Slaven Bilic: “[I chose my team] based on the feeling. And we got three new players in because of the really tight schedule. So we have a good team. [Mark Noble] is our skipper and he’ll be missed. He had a hard knock but he is on the bench.”
José Mourinho on whether he chose his teams for the festive fixtures well in advance or just did it from game to game: “A bit of both. But I thought against Boro it was important to have Smalling fresh for this game. Some players react better than others with the accumulation of matches. But, we have no excuses – we have the same problem as West Ham. We are the privileged ones with more time to rest so may the best team win.”
Oh, and Manchester United can go to within a point of the top four if they win this evening.
Oh, and here are the full-time results from the 3pm kick-offs in the Premier League today: Sunderland 2-2 Liverpool, Man City 2-1 Burnley, Everton 3-0 Southampton, West Brom 3-1 Hull City.
Mourinho seems to be taking a lot of heat for putting Martial back on the bench after his impressive display against Middlesbrough. Is that fair? Isn’t that exactly what Ferguson used to do to keep young players champing at the bit or is Martial too important to mess around with his ego?
Some classic West Ham United v Manchester United games from days gone by:
Burnley have pulled one back at Manchester City. It’s 2-1 now. Both of these teams wouldn’t mind a draw at the Etihad. Burnley are one place above West Ham, City were a place above Manchester United before the Burnley game.
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Team news
West Ham: Randolph, Obiang, Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Kouyate, Nordtveit, Antonio, Feghouli, Payet, Lanzini. Subs: Carroll, Adrian, Noble, Ayew, Fletcher, Fernandes, Quina.
Man Utd: De Gea, Valencia, Jones, Rojo, Darmian, Ander Herrera, Carrick, Pogba, Mkhitaryan, Ibrahimovic, Lingard. Subs: Mata, Martial, Smalling, Young, Rashford, Romero, Fellaini.
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral)
So Mourinho is the manager more inclined to rotate. Manchester United make five changes with Jones, Rojo, Darmian, Carrick and Lingard coming in for Smalling, Fellaini, Martial, Bailly and Blind.
As for West Ham, Bilic brings in Obiang, Lanzini and Feghouli for Noble, Ayew and Carroll.
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Afternoon/Evening. Manchester United have found their groove again haven’t they? Zlatan Ibrahimovic is hungrier than his critics and banging them in for fun, Paul Pogba has located some of his missing mojo and the defence has become a tidy functioning unit that no longer plays a thousand sideways passes before trying to go forwards. José Mourinho’s side have five league wins on the spin coming into this game. The upturn in form can’t be traced to one thing alone but the influence of the Scorpion-kick trendsetter Henrikh Mkhitaryan hasn’t half helped. His creative energy has taken some of the workload off Juan Mata. No one talks about Wayne Rooney any more either. For that we (and he) should be grateful.
How West Ham would have liked to carry some momentum into this match with them. They had three consecutive wins to their name before they were beaten 1-0 at Leicester. The rapid collection of those nine points has helped them to pull away into mid-table safety and, with games against Crystal Palace and Middlesbrough to follow this one in the league, they would be very happy to take a point here. That’s what they got at Old Trafford just over a month ago. Given that the two sides met a few days later (a 4-1 League Cup win for Man Utd) it’s fair to say they are well acquainted enough to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. They both had energy-sapping games 48 hours ago so I don’t expect a helter-skelter match anything like the one which gave the Boleyn Ground a boisterous farewell at the end of last season. Still, I think Man Utd will nick this one and keep Manchester City firmly in sight.
My prediction: West Ham United 0-1 Manchester United
Here’s some pre-match reading for you …
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