Here is a sobering fact for Manchester United. They have not won at home in the Premier League for two months.
During that time they have won some other games, victories in the League Cup and Europa League that you would have thought would lead to better things in the one competition that really matters to Jose Mourinho.
But so far it hasn’t happened. Games against Stoke, Burnley, Arsenal and now West Ham have all been drawn since they beat Leicester here in mid-September. This means that for the first time since 1990, United have played four league games at their fortress Old Trafford without winning.
They should have won today, but they didn’t. They should have won the others, too, but they didn’t.
So as Mourinho looks towards a game at Everton next week and then a fixture here against Tottenham, he does so with a gap opening between United and the top four. A tilt at the Premier League title would appear to be beyond this team already. They are 11 points behind leaders Chelsea.
More worrying is that United are eight points behind Arsenal in fourth and only two points ahead of Watford in eighth. This is not what Mourinho envisaged in the summer.
United are not playing badly but they are not winning and that frustration manifested itself in another show of Portuguese petulance midway through the first half.
With Zlatan Ibrahimovic having equalised Diafra Sakho’s second minute goal, there was no need at that point for the United manager to be fretful. But maybe he knew what was coming.
So when Paul Pogba was rightly booked for a dive, Mourinho lashed out at a water bottle. It was a true strike, sending the bottle spinning down the touchline. He then followed it up with some choice words and was sent to the stand.
So another touchline ban – his second of a season that is only 13 games old – looms. Mourinho can only hope that when he returns things have got a little bit better.
United began this game the same way they had ended the last one, namely by conceding a headed goal.
Last time at Old Trafford it had been Olivier Giroud of Arsenal right at the death. This time it was West Ham’s Diafra Sakho right at the start. For United, the deflating effect was exactly the same.
It was a super header from the West Ham forward, positive and brave as he dived to meet Dimitry Payet’s free-kick. Questions had to be asked of his marker Ibrahimovic, however, as the Swede could not match Sakho’s conviction, choosing only to dangle a leg aimlessly towards the ball as his opponent dived in front of him.
So, United were a goal down and some of the optimism that had arrived on the back of a good performance against Arsenal and a thumping of Feyenoord in the Europa League began to ebb away.
The response was decent, though. On the touchline, Mourinho was animated. It was no surprise when he was asked to vacate his seat midway through the half. His team were much calmer and played their way back into the game with some decent football.
United were not immediately effective. West Ham set out with five at the back and that tested their their opponents’ imagination and determination. By the time the quarter of an hour mark had passed, the home team had only really created one chance, Ibrahimovic setting up Juan Mata with a clever pass. West Ham goalkeeper Darren Randolph saved comfortably.
There was a little anxiety in the air. So far this season, you never quite know which United you are going to get. Certainly they needed a goal and that arrived in the 21st minute.
Pogba created the chance, receiving the ball and waiting patiently for the opening before lofting a lovely pass forwards towards the darting Ibrahimovic. There was danger but it seemed West Ham wouild perhaps deal with it until Randolph dashed from his line.
He was never going to beat Ibrahomovic to the ball and as such found himself marooned on his six-yard line. The United striker may well have scored anyway but certainly Randolph made it easier, nodding the all down to the keeper’s right and in to the corner.
United deserved to be level and proceeded to play with more confidence. As the result the quality improved and they carried a greater threat.
Still, Mourinho was agitated and when Pogba was booked for diving over Mark Noble’s leg the United manager reacted in such a way as to leave referee Moss with little choice.
Frankly, United’s players may have been relieved. Managers can become a distraction when they begin to lose their composure.
After this, United pushed and pushed but couldn’t score before half-time. Jesse Lingard should have done better than volley over when Ibrahimovic headed Mata’s deep cross back to him while Marcus Rashford was denied by Randolph’s right leg after running clear.
The West Ham goalkeeper’s best work was reserved until the last minute of the half, however, as he dived to his left to deny Lingard who had released a fine low shot after shaking off his marker.
At the other end Payet appealed for a penalty after the ball struck the arm of Marcos Rojo. It could have been given but would have been harsh. Rojo couldn’t really get out of the way.
It had been an interesting half, one that had slowly gone United’s way. For the first 20 minutes of the second period, however, they found themselves a little lost again.
Sakho headed a corner on to the roof of the net for West Ham almost immediately after the restart. Then Payet fizzed a free-kick towards goal, forcing David de Gea in to a safety first touch over. From that corner, meanwhile, the United keeper lost his bearings completely and was lucky to see his defenders clear after the ball was headed back across goal from the far post.
For some mysterious reason, United had lost their momentum at this point. The game had also grown niggly and scrappy and that was only ever going to suit West Ham.
It was doubtless this state of inertia that prompted a double substitution after the hour. Wayne Rooney and the Armenian Henrikh Mkhitaryan came on and Rashford and Mata came off.
Rooney, one short of Sir Bobby Charlton’s all time United goal record – was immediately played clear by Lingard but his shot was weak. With twenty minutes to go, United’s need was becoming great and slowly they did regain their ascendency.
We have been here many times over the years with United. Late pressure and a goal.
Here a stinging Lingard volley would have broken the bet had it been placed a yard either side of Randolph. But it didn’t because it wasn’t.
Then Lingard did have the ball in net with 14 minutes left but he was adjudged to have been offside when Mkhitaryan’s shot came back from the post.
Pogba was next to work the impressive Randolph. The French international’s low shot from 25 yards was well struck and Randolph shovelled it round the post for a corner.
The second half was now resembling the first. United were in charge once again and West Ham could only hang on.
Rooney was doing his bit for the cause, drifting across the front line with menace. His deep cross from the left allowed Ibrahimovic to volley but again Ranolph saved, this time with his legs. Then, with seven minutes left, Ibrahimovic ran clear to touch the ball past the goalkeeper only for Cheikhou Kouyate to sprint back and clear.
With West Ham now only a threat on the counter, United merely had to concentrate. But with three minutes they did get caught as Antonio broke down the right. The winger was direct and quick and outpaced substitute Marouane Fellaini to reach the area. When he played the pass to Ashley Fletcher on his right United were in deep trouble but as a shock beckoned, De Gea saved with his chest.
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