Manchester United player ratings from 2-0 loss to West Ham
After a hard fought point at Anfield, for what feels like the millionth time Manchester United failed to capitalise on a good result.
3 points were a must today at West Ham, instead Manchester United lost 2-0 conceding goals to Jarred Bowen and Mohammed Kudus.
Bowen found himself on the end on a beauty of a pass from Lucas Paqueta and slotted it home in the 72nd minute. Kudus would score six minutes later, pouncing on a mistake by Kobbie Mainoo and slotting the ball in the bottom left corner.
With this defeat Manchester United fall to eighth place and sit six points behind the top four, albeit City have a game in hand. Next up for United is a Boxing Day match up against Aston Villa, where a win is once again necessary.
Here are the player ratings from today's game:
André Onana: 6/10
Coming off his best performance of the season, Onana had an average performance today as there was not much he could do for the 2 goals. Had an incredible save from a Bowen header off a corner and kept it tidy in distribution.
Aaron Wan Bissaka: 6/10
Similar to his goalkeeper, the right back had an average game not really doing anything special but did not do anything bad as well. Was not involved as much in the final third considering the possession stats.
Willy Kambwala: 6/10
The debutant had a solid first ever start and looked quite comfortable out there on the pitch. He looks to be a promising player and showed some of his physical tools that will help him throughout his career.
Jonny Evans: 6/10
The veteran centre-back had a good game as well as he saw a lot of the ball as Utd struggled to find space to progress the ball. Not much he could do about the two goals.
Luke Shaw: 7/10
The Englishman was one of the better United players today as he was doing his best to progress the play and had some good bursting runs from the LB position.
Kobbie Mainoo: 7/10
The young midfielder was having a good performance up until the 78th minute where he made the mistake for the second goal. Before that however, he was United's best player on the pitch and did a good job in that isolated midfield role.
Scott McTominay: 3/10
The Scotsman had no influence of the game in his advanced role, especially in the first half. He got more involved in the second half but it had no impact. Questions have to be asked on the manager why he has McTominay playing in this role.
Bruno Fernandes: 3/10
The captain similarly to his midfield partner in McTominay, had limited influence on the game, as he made one good pass to Garnacho that should have been an assist. Played much deeper in the first half, which limited his more positive attributes in the final third. Also exposed him in transition as Kudus ran past him with ease.
Alejandro Garnacho: 1/10
The young winger had another underwhelming display in attack, as he got given two golden chances to put United ahead in the first half and failed to execute. Physically weak once again, and fatigue must be kicking in considering he has never started this many games in a row before.
Antony: 3/10
The Brazilian was the most creative player for United in the first half having a couple good crosses but still had very little impact. Execution in the final third was underwhelming and he had loose touches when he drifted into the midfield.
Rasmus Højlund: 3/10
It's been a season of graveyard shifts for the young striker as he heads into Christmas day with zero goal contributions in the Premier League. Had only 17 touches of the ball, and was late in the box on a few half decent crosses.
Marcus Rashford: 5/10
United's talisman from last year came on for Højlund in the 57th minute and suffered from the same issues that the striker had dealt with. Very few touches, only difference was Rashford was able to get a shot off which went flying over the goal.
Facundo Pellistri, Christian Eriksen, Sergio Reguilon: 5/10
The three other substitutes did not have enough min to truly influence anything on the game so they get the average score of 5.
Erik Ten Hag: 0/10
After getting it spot on against Liverpool, Ten Hag got it all wrong today. Once again had the imbalanced midfield of Mainoo, McTominay and Bruno. He played the latter two in the wrong areas and their games suffered from that.
Taking Hojlund off for Rashford instead of Garnacho was another questionable decision. And last but not least, the game plan today was very stale and there were no adjustments made at all.