Manchester United hit back in style to beat West Ham and go fourth
Jonathan Liew at the London Stadium
Date Published Sat 5 Dec 2020 19.36 GMT

On the day the Premier League opened its turnstiles again, Manchester United treated a fraction of a crowd to a fraction of a performance. Once again, they left it late: three fine individual goals courtesy of Paul Pogba, Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford in a riotous 13-minute spell in the second half. It was enough to put them fourth in the Premier League. None of which, impressive as it is, should be allowed to dilute a single insoluble fact: they were awful.

The fact that United won doesn’t make them any less awful: it just means that they were awful and won.

The 20 minutes in which they were good are no truer a reflection of this team than the first hour in which they simply trotted around like a United tribute act: weak, preoccupied, effortlessly permeable. And even in victory they did little to challenge the suspicion that they are a poorly organised side being slapped into competence by character, abundant individual talent and the stones of Bruno Fernandes.

Perhaps Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s men had one eye on the crucial Leipzig game on Tuesday. Certainly this would explain the benching of Fernandes, who was scrambled into action at half-time and created eight clear chances in those 45 minutes.

And yet for all his brilliance, no real answer to the core questions. What’s the plan here? What’s the process? And for how long will Solskjær be allowed to sell this elegant, turbulent stagnation as progress? “Very, very pleased with the performance,” he said afterwards. “Last week we were 2-0 down at Southampton and this was a step forward – only 1-0 down.” If it was a joke, it was a pretty good one.

For West Ham should probably have put this game out of sight long before Fernandes got his boots dirty. They deservedly went ahead through Tomas Soucek, and had the chances for plenty more: two golden opportunities for Pablo Fornals, a couple more for Jarrod Bowen, the usual fluffs and scuffs for Sébastien Haller. It was a harsh lesson in efficiency, a glorious missed opportunity to rechristen a stadium resounding to the familiar sound of actual human noise.

And so it was that shortly before 5.30pm, the 2,000 West Ham fans who had successfully negotiated the ticket ballot rose from their seats in the Billy Bonds Stand to herald their team once more. The strains of “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles” filled the air.

As ever, halfway through the music stopped and the crowd took over to sing the last few lines on their own, ending on a soaring coda of “United! United!” It felt cathartic, operatic, even poetic. Or at least, it did until the PA system drowned them out by playing the official Premier League jingle at full volume.

Did the crowd affect the game? Probably not. West Ham have played perfectly well without fans all season, and now played perfectly well with them. Saïd Benrahma looked spicy when he came on as a late substitute. Declan Rice had another fine game, stepping up from midfield to disrupt United’s build-up. Alongside him Soucek shuttled and shuffled to good effect, poaching a goal at the far post after Rice’s flick-on at the near. Another sign of the times: as Soucek bundled the ball in, the crowd paused, mindful of a possible flag or VAR check, before finally erupting.

West Ham continued to threaten in the second half, but by now Solskjær had made his move: Fernandes replacing the poor Donny van de Beek, Rashford replacing the injured Edinson Cavani.

United’s equaliser came in bizarre circumstances: a West Ham counter-attack breaking down, goalkeeper Dean Henderson smashing the ball up the right wing, Fernandes bringing it inside for Pogba, who curled in beautifully from 25 yards. On the touchline, David Moyes argued that Henderson’s kick had arced out of play.

And while West Ham seethed, United hit them again: Alex Telles with the cut-back from the left, Greenwood with a wonderful turn and an instinctive low finish.

With 13 minutes left, Rashford sprang the offside trap, ran clear onto Juan Mata’s through-ball and finished the game with a dainty chip. And so the Solskjær wagon clatters on for another week: two fingers to the critics, class is permanent and all that. And if all United aspire to is sugar-rush comebacks against teams like West Ham, then there’s nothing to be worried about here. If they actually want to win something: well, let’s see how that goes for them.