West Ham United 2-0 Manchester United: 3 takeaways after worse start since 1930
By Alec Hughes
Manchester United fell to 8th place in the Premier League table following a 2-0 loss to West Ham at the London Stadium.
Erik ten Hag’s side bossed possession and looked encouraging in the first half, but left empty handed thanks to goals from Jared Bowen and Mohammed Kudus. The manager’s post match reaction pointed towards a lack of taking chances.
It was a disappointing result for the Red Devils who had controlled much of the game but were ultimately undone by a West Ham United team that showed more cutting edge and quality.
Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s loss to West Ham:
Red Devils could learn from West Ham’s scouting process
West Ham United in recent seasons have shown a fair bit of nous in the transfer market. They are a big club with a modern stadium that they fill every week. It’s an attractive place for a professional footballer to ply his trade but, even so, they still can’t shop for the world’s biggest stars.
They can however, spend well but must be astute with their signings. In the summer transfer window, they lost their captain , hero and icon Declan Rice to Arsenal for an astronomical figure.
Resigned to losing him, they planned and then set about reinforcing their midfield with three new signings… all of whom started on Saturday. Goalscorer Mohammed Kudus, Mexico captain Edson Álvarez and England International James Ward-Prowse were signed for €800,000 less than the €116.6 million that they recouped for Declan Rice.
Former United boss David Moyes strengthened his squad and made a profit. West Ham executed their plan well and have now jumped ahead of United in the table despite the public outlook of having an ‘average’ and inconsistent season thus far.
West Ham’s summer business shows a marked contrast to the scattergun approach of Manchester United’s recruitment. West Ham had known for a long time that Rice would leave and put a plan in place for that eventuality. United knew they needed reinforcements in central midfield and centre forward. Somehow these signings were left until too late in the window and because of the inflated cost of signing Mason Mount, these signings were second rate. United need to rectify their transfer policy and start signing more hits than misses.