An important victory in the race for Europe. This Saturday afternoon, West Ham won at the London Stadium against Manchester United (2-0) after a not very exciting match with (very) little rhythm and clear chances. In the first act, the two teams neutralized each other, failing – or too little – to bring danger to the opposing camp. The fault, undoubtedly, is a lack of intensity and too few vertical initiatives. Despite everything, the Red Devils could (should?) have opened the scoring, a few minutes before half-time, through Alejandro Garnacho. But the Argentinian, who somewhat lost his control, did not manage to win his duel against the vigilant Alphonse Aréola. It is therefore logical that the two teams returned to the locker room with a goalless score.
After the break, we found (a little) the same appearance: little rhythm, little verticality. And at a time when Erik ten Hag’s men seemed to be gaining the upper hand in the game, without however being transcendent, the Hammers managed to make the difference. On a brilliant inspiration from the outside of the left foot, Lucas Paqueta perfectly found Jarrod Bowen launched into the penalty area. The British striker tried twice in front of André Onana but was finally able to shake the net (72nd). Almost immediately, following a technical error from Kobbie Mainoo, Lucas Paqueta (him again) launched the hard-hitting Mohammed Kudus into space. The Ghanaian fixed the two remaining defenders, got on his right foot before crossing his shot to deceive the Mancunian goalkeeper (78th). At the end of the match, “MU” did not find the physical, technical and mental resources to come back. And West Ham thus logically won the victory. With this success, David Moyes and his players move up (provisionally?) to sixth place in the rankings. The Red Devils, for their part, go down to eighth place…And Erik ten Hag could well see his future darken a little more.