West Ham United 3-1 Manchester United: 4 Mistakes by Mourinho that cost the game

Manchester United travelled to the London Stadium to face West Ham United desperate to get back to winning ways, however, when the team list was announced, there were a few surprises. Mourinho started with De Gea in goal, and Young, McTominay, Smalling, Lindelof and Shaw in defence. He opted for Pogba, Fellaini, and Matic in the middle, with Lukaku and Martial up front.

However, before United could even start putting a few passes together, they were a goal down! Felipe Anderson gave McTominay the slip and scored in the 5th minute. United tried to get back into the game, however, West Ham were 2-0 up in the 43rd minute, after Yarmolenko’s shot found a huge deflection off Lindelof and De Gea could only gather the ball out of his net.

In the second half, Mourinho brought on Rashford in place of Lindelof, and the young Englishman scored in the 71st minute, only for Arnautovic to put West Ham 3-1 up 3 minutes later. The game ended 3-1 to West Ham and United were now on their worst start to the Premier League season.

Manchester United were outplayed by West Ham, but the blame has to be put on Mourinho, as the Portuguese continues to repeat similar mistakes. Ultimately, there were 4 mistakes from Mourinho that cost United against West Ham and we look at them here.

#4 Switching to a 5 man defense

West Ham United v Manchester United - Premier League — McTominay looked out of place in defence

Mourinho has done this before, against Tottenham and he was handed a brutal lesson, however, the Portuguese refuses to learn from his mistakes. Like the Tottenham game, Mourinho switched to a 5 man defence, with a midfielder as a centre-back. Against West Ham, Mourinho used McTominay and it was a disastrous decision.

First, United’s four-man defence had been doing decently in recent times, especially the combination of Smalling and Lindelof. Why Mourinho decided to change it can be explained by the Portuguese himself, but it caused little good.

With a third centre-back in the middle, Smalling and Lindelof’s positions were shifted and caused a lot of confusion, especially with the marking. However, had this been a defender like Bailly, maybe things would have been different. Having a midfielder in the mixed caused further trouble.

McTominay was directly responsible for the opening goal and the third goal when he allowed Anderson and Arnautovic to run free. The midfielder looked lost and rightly so because it is a position he is not used to playing in. When Mourinho decided to make a change, strangely, he took off Lindelof and put on Rashford, making McTominay play in a 4 man defence now! For a young midfielder, playing in two different defensive formations in the same game, was a bit too much and this was a big error from Mourinho.

#3 Lack of pressing and speed in the midfield

Mourinho started with Fellaini, Matic and Pogba in the midfield. None of those are known for their speed and this was a fact that would return to haunt Manchester United. West Ham easily found spaces in the midfield and there was no pressing at all in the entire game. Every time United went forward, they lacked a driving force from the midfield, someone to compliment Pogba. Because they were playing with a front two, the gap was widely exposed. United put together just 458 passes, with 85% accuracy, where as West Ham had 455 passes, with 82% accuracy.

Mourinho should have opted for a player like Fred or even Ander Herrera to bring some energy and pressing in the midfield. Both Fellaini and Matic dropped back and gave West Ham too much space and time to operate. Fellaini was typically poor, yet the Belgian continues to be selected ahead of the more talented players in the bunch. Ultimately, it was Mourinho’s mistake in the midfield selection that gave the opposition all the freedom in the middle and cost United the game.

#2 Not starting with Rashford

Marcus Rashford is perhaps one of the most talented youngsters in World football right now and it is sad that his development has slowed down under Mourinho. Against a team who are unpredictable and can press continuously, United needed the pace of Rashford. United needed Rashford to work in tandem with Martial and keep the fullbacks and midfield busy, unfortunately, Mourinho did not see the use of that.

Switching to a front two without a number 10 to thread the balls was another problem. Mourinho has continuously brushed aside the talents of Mata, but the Spaniard had a good run in the midweek defeat and deserved to be in the starting eleven. Even though Mata did not have too much of an effect when he came on later in the game, Rashford’s introduction put a bolt of electricity into the field and United looked like threatening for a moment, as the youngster scored brilliantly.

However, Rashford’s talent requires blossoming, which he misses under Mourinho continuously. The Portuguese’s lack of belief in Rashford and his decision not to start with the youngster was a mistake that impacted the game.

#1 Ultra defensive game play

Why does Mourinho continuously see the need to switch to an ultra-defensive mindset at every away game? It is understandable when he does that with the bigger teams, but Mourinho was guilty of giving West Ham too much respect and it cost United valuable 3 points.

For starters, 3 Centerbacks highlight his lack of belief in his own team and against West Ham, the extra man in defence was hardly required. But even that was not enough. When he already started with an extra defender or defensive midfielder, one can expect the Portuguese to be at least a little more adventurous in the midfield. He opted for two defensive minded players in the middle and Pogba was the only player there who would have contributed in the attack. For all his troubles, West Ham reaped the benefits.

First, the lack of attacking players in the wings meant that the West Ham full backs hardly had any pressure to defend, with Martial causing only occasional troubles, and as such, they attacked the wings continuously, pegging Young and Shaw back for almost the entire 90 minutes. In the midfield, West Ham hardly had to press, because United could not thread too many passes together. In the attack, United hardly had the personnel to give the West Ham defence any trouble.

This is a mistake that Mourinho repeats the most, so much so that it can be considered a habit of the Portuguese and this is what has cost United not just in this game, but in the past few games recently.

Edited by Sripad