27/09/2014
15:00
Old Trafford
Manchester United vs West Ham United
Goalscorers:
1-0 Wayne Rooney 5'
2-0 Robin van Persie 22'
2-1 Diafra Sakho 37'
Analysis
Apologies for the delay, some technical difficulties have stopped me getting this out as quickly as I usually would.
Saturday was one of those odd games, where you expect to lose when the fixture list comes out, start to feel optimistic in the build up, come away frustrated at the result, but deep down you know that we did well against a team that is better than us.
People did bang on about Manchester United's defensive injury crisis before the game, but after their summer transfer business, they were probably only missing one player out of their strongest XI, with youngster Paddy McNair the only player who wouldn't make their best XI.
But enough about them, more about West Ham.
Positives
Despite the result, their was plenty to be positive about on Saturday afternoon.
We went away to Old Trafford and continued to play in the expansive style we have seen in recent week. Young Diego Poyet didn't look out of his depth on his debut, and Aaron Cresswell put in, possibly, his best performance so far.
What really impressed me though, is how able West Ham were to get into the penalty area and cause problems at regular intervals.
Diafra Sakho was a menace all afternoon, and we clearly had a gameplan to isolate him against Luke Shaw in the air. As a result, nearly a quarter of Sakho's involvement through the game came in the opposition 18 yard box. Compare this to the 'world class' Rademel Falcao, and you'll notice that the Colombian striker didn't take a single touch in the West Ham box. Okay, so the other strikers had pretty important touches in the box, but between Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie and the aforementioned Falcao, they still managed just 8 touches in the box, compared to Sakho's 13.
The image below shows were Sakho was involved throughout.
The other thing that I found particularly impressive, was how we nullified British transfer record Angel Di Maria. In their last few games, Di Maria has ran the show for United, scoring, creating, and ghosting past players at will.
But on Saturday, the Argentine hardly had a kick. Well, he did, but he wasn't able to do any damage.
Di Maria actually ended the game as United lowest ranked player according to the Squawka performance rating. He attempted three take ons in the first half, each time being dispossessed (by Alex Song, Guy Demel and Diafra Sakho) and didn't try again after that. He put in 9 crosses that didn't find a team mate, and created just two chances (bearing in mind he had created 4 in each of his last two appearances).
Below is Di Maria's heat map. You can see that he couldn't get involved in the game in the danger areas, and that West Ham marshaled the £56m man very well.
Negatives
I guess the main negative was that we started so slowly.
Against a team that possesses such an array of attacking quality, you can't afford to to take 20 minutes or so to get going. The second half performance was marvelous, and we grew in confidence as the game went on, but it did take us a while to get going.
You can see in the chart below how we created more chances, put more balls into the box, and attempted more take ons in the second half. Yes, there were fewer shots on goal in the second, but it should be pointed out that 4 of those first half shots came between the 36th and 37th minute in the scramble that led to our goal.
Key Player
As he has been for most of the season so far, West Ham's key man was, for me at least, Stewart Downing. The former England international has been nothing short of sensational this campaign, and Saturday was no different.
Downing created another four goalscoring chances, taking his seasonal tally to 20 in six appearances. Just for a bit of context, that is equal to Cesc Fabregas, four more than David Silva, and 5 more than Eden Hazard.
The images below show (left) Downing's crosses from the game, and (right) his passes.
As you can see, Downing was all over the park once again, contributing in both the attacking and defensive thirds, on both flanks, and in the number ten position.
This was another top drawer performance from the man from Middlesbrough, and long may it continue.
Conclusion
Okay, so we lost. But this was a performance to be proud of.
The current perception that Manchester United are a weak side going into games like lambs to the slaughter is simply not true - how could it be with the players in their ranks? - and even if it did have an element of the truth to it it certainly wouldn't be accurate of how they are at Old Trafford.
If we keep playing in the positive manner that we have been, we could pull up trees this season.
General Play
4-1-2-1-2 Formation 4-1-2-1-2
(2) David De Gea - Adrián (-29)
(84) Rafael - Guy Demel (4)
(16) Paddy McNair - James Tomkins (10)
(48) Marcos Rojo - Winston Reid (4)
(22) Luke Shaw - Aaron Cresswell (5)
(4) Daley Blind - Diego Poyet (15)
(18) Ander Herrera - Alex Song (-29)
(-10) Angel Di Maria - Morgan Amalfitano (-2)
(-3) Wayne Rooney - Stewart Downing (22)
(15) Robin van Persie - Diafra Sakho (30)
(24) Rademel Falcao - Enner Valencia (-10)
(7) Darren Fletcher - Carlton Cole (-3)
(3) Antonio Valencia - Carl Jenkinson (-10)
(0) Tom Thorpe - Kevin Nolan (8)
Best Performance
(84) Rafael - Diafra Sakho (30)
Worst Performance
(-10) Angel Di Maria - Alex Song (-29)
56% Possession 44%
475 Passes Attempted 333
Marcos Rojo 65 Most Attempted 49 Stewart Downing
86% Passing Accuracy 81%
69% In Opp. Half 64%
Wayne Rooney 92% Best Accuracy (min. 15 passes) 97% Winston Reid
55 Long Balls 42
12% % Long Balls 13%
Marcos Rojo 13 Most Long Balls (excl. GK) 12 Aaron Cresswell
Most Frequent Pass Combination
McNair to Rojo 20 - 16 Cresswell to Downing
11 Aerial Duels Won 21
34% Success 66%
Daley Blind 3 Most Won 7 Diafra Sakho
Rafael 92 Most Touches 82 Aaron Cresswell
Offensive Play
8 Attempts on Goal 13
3 On Target 4
3 Off Target 5
2 Blocked 4
38% From Outside the Box 8%
Wayne Rooney 3 Most Shots 5 Diafra Sakho
8 Chances Created 8
Rafael 2 Most Chances Created 4 Stewart Downing
19 Crosses 39
Angel Di Maria 9 Most Attempted 16 Stewart Downing
1 Successful Crosses 10
5% Success 26%
Rafael 1 Most Successful 7 Stewart Downing
12 Take Ons Attempted 15
8 Successful Take Ons 5
67% Success 33%
Rafael 5 Most Successful Take Ons 2 Enner Valencia
Defensive Play
33 Tackles Attempted 26
15 Successful Tackles 8
45% Success 31%
Daley Blind 4 Most Tackles 4 Aaron Cresswell
61 Clearances 26
Paddy McNair 12 Most Clearances 7 Winston Reid
12 Interceptions 12
Rafael 4 Most Interceptions 2 Guy Demel
4 Shot Blocks 2
Marcos Rojo 2 Most Shot Blocks 1 James Tomkins
Discipline
10 Fouls 12
Wayne Rooney 4 Most Fouls 3 Diafra Sakho
1 Yellow Cards 3
Manchester United: Ander Herrera
West Ham United: Alex Song, Diafra Sakho, Adrián
1 Red Cards 0
Manchester United: Wayne Rooney
West Ham United:
Head to Heads
David De Gea vs Adrián
2 Squawka Rating -29
1 Goals Conceded 2
3 Saves 1
1 Claims 2
1 Successful Claims 1
100% Success 50%
35 Total Distribution 25
21 Accurate 19
60% Success 76%
12 Goal Kicks 7
5 Accurate 5
42% Success 71%
4 Throw Outs 3
4 Accurate 2
100% Success 67%
1 Kick from Hand 0
0 Accurate 0
0% Success 0%
18 Other 15
12 Accurate 12
67% Success 80%
0 Errors Leading to Shot 0
0 Errors Leading to Goal 0
Paddy McNair 6 Most Passed To 3 Aaron Cresswell
Paddy McNair 5 Most Passes From 5 Diafra Sakho
Luke Shaw vs Aaron Cresswell
22 Squawka Rating 5
4 Aerial Duels 5
2 Duels Won 5
50% Success 100%
4 Tackles Attempted 5
3 Tackles Completed 2
75% Success 40%
5 Clearances 7
0 Interceptions 0
0 Blocks 3
0 6yrd Blocks 0
0 Errors Leading to Shot
0 Errors Leading to Goal
37 Passes Attempted 44
32 Successful 36
86% Success 82%
2 Crosses Attempted 8
0 Successful 1
0% Success 13%
1 Chances Created 2
0 Attempts on Goal 0
0 On Target 0
0 Goals 0
Marcos Rojo 13 Most Passed To 16 Stewart Downing
Angel Di Maria 9 Most Passes From 10 Stewart Downing
Angel Di Maria vs Stewart Downing
-10 Squawka Rating 22
50 Passes Attempted 49
42 Successful 38
84% Success 78%
2 Chances Created 4
0 Assists 0
2 Attempts on Goal 0
0 On Target 0
0 Goals 0
3 Take Ons Attempted 1
0 Take Ons Successful 0
0% Success 0%
9 Crosses Attempted 16
0 Successful 7
0% Success 44%
2 Tackles Attempted 0
0 Tackles Completed 0
0% Success 0%
2 Clearances 1
1 Interceptions 0
0 Blocks 0
0 6yrd Blocks
0 Errors Leading to Shot 0
0 Errors Leading to Goal 0
Luke Shaw 9 Most Passed To 10 Aaron Cresswell
Luke Shaw 12 Most Passes From 16 Aaron Cresswell
Radamel Falcao vs Diafra Sakho
24 Squawka Rating 30
2 Attempts on Goal 5
1 On Target 2
0 Goals 1
29 Involvement 54
0 in Penalty Area 13
0% % in Penalty Area 24%
1 Chances Created 0
1 Assists 0
18 Passes Attempted 17
14 Successful 9
78% Success 53%
1 Take Ons 3
1 Successful Take Ons 1
100% Success 33%
0 Aerial Duels 7
0 Duels Won 7
0% Success 100%
Angel Di Maria 4 Most Passed To 3 Alex Song
Luke Shaw 4 Most Passes From 5 Adrián
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