Bruno, The Catalyst

The general emotion among Manchester United fans was one of confusion at the end of the match this morning. West Ham United away at their new ground, London Stadium has been a bogey ground for us. We have only won once there, 2-0 in Jose Mourinho’s debut season, 2016-17. I have always preferred their old ground, Upton Park, not because it was luckier for us but because it had a lot of character and was a good old-fashioned stadium. It wasn’t easy playing there either.

West Ham On Top

This morning, United had lots of possession but a lot of it was sterile, passing it sideways, backwards and slow. We kept losing the ball and couldn’t get it to stick. West Ham was sharper to the ball, robust and with greater impetus to attack. They were catching us out on the counter-attack and had better chances. But not many attempts on goal though. They took a deserved lead and it is not an exaggeration that they could have led by more than one goal.

Surprisingly Early Substitutions

The change at half-time wasn’t in keeping with Solksjaer’s normal substitution policy. We were poor but he normally gives the players a chance to redeem themselves. Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford who were rested for this game were brought on. The surprise and disappointment would be in the identity of the players they replaced. We were so poor in the first half that it could have been anyone that would be roped off except Dean Henderson and Aaron Wan Bissaka. The two players that I felt were extremely poor and disappointing were Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial but neither was replaced.

Bruno, The Catalyst

We only found out after the game that Edinson Cavani was brought off due to an injury. The diagnosis of it is still unknown but let’s hope it’s nothing too serious, nothing to keep him out of the crucial Champions League decider against RB Leipzig. Martial didn’t last long either and he pulled out with an injury to compound a miserable outing for him. Fernandes’ introduction brought a spring in our step, we were playing better but not well enough to be threatening an equaliser. The equaliser we scored came out of the blue in controversial circumstances. Henderson’s long clearance was argued to have crossed the line on the way to Fernandes who cut inside with the ball and laid it off for Pogba to curl in a superb shot. It was Pogba’s best contribution to the game. That goal changed the game because Pogba was a different player after that goal and so was the rest of the team, sparked on by the catalyst, Fernandes.

Luck Of The Green

VAR ruled in our favour that the ball did not cross the line while West Ham argued that it did. We were lucky because, from the images I have seen today, it looked like the ball had indeed crossed the line. After the equaliser, it was PSG vs United all over again but the shoe was now on the other side. We produced some breath-taking football, shredding West Ham to pieces to seal another comeback away win. We ended the game with 3 goals to our name but we could have scored more.

Dr Jekyl & Mr Hyde Again

Fans are left confused about what to make of this performance because we were so poor and dour for so long. It looked hopeless like there was no way back in the game. The introduction of Fernandes and Rashford contributed a great deal to our comeback. When we clicked into gear, we were fantastic, unstoppable. What is for sure is that we cannot keep giving away leads and parts of a game to come from behind and win. One day, it will catch up with us. Coming from behind to win games are part of our history but it cannot be a justification for such performances. These wins show the character and quality in our present squad but there still needs to be greater consistency.