Three Lessons Man Utd Must Learn From West Ham Draw

The Red Devils were fortunate to escape the London Stadium with a point.

Man Utd were frustrated by West Ham in the capital. | Ash Donelon/Manchester United/Getty Images

While many projected Fulham’s visit to Old Trafford to be the acid test of Manchester United’s resurgence under Michael Carrick, their supposed improvement was instead threatened most by Nuno Espírito Santo’s West Ham United.

The Red Devils entered Tuesday night’s contest having won four-straight at the start of Carrick’s interim spell, but the London Stadium has proven to be a miserable hunting ground over the past few years.

And it looked like United would succumb again in the East End. Tomáš Souček’s finish at the start of the second half handed West Ham a lead that they seldom looked like relinquishing until Benjamin Šeško deftly equalised in the dying embers.

While Carrick’s side faced up against a dogged opponent with an emerging sense of belief, Tuesday’s 1–1 draw laid bare the issues that have compromised previous regimes. Here are three lessons Man Utd must learn from the London Stadium.

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Benjamin Sesko Deserves Increased Role

Šeško has scored two crucial stoppage time goals since Michael Carrick took charge. | Ian Kington/AFP/Getty Images

With fixture congestion far from an issue, Carrick has unsurprisingly declined to alter his attack since Patrick Dorgu succumbed to a hamstring injury at Arsenal. He’s used the same four-man combination.

The roles have been tweaked somewhat since Bryan Mbeumo and Bruno Fernandes worked in glorious tandem against Manchester City, with the former drifting out to the left in United’s most recent outings and the latter continuing to maraud wherever he pleases.

United have so far been able to overwhelm teams through the speed of their combination play in central areas, aided by Carrick’s shape, but West Ham had no intent of allowing the visitors to have such joy between the lines. Nuno’s narrow 4-5-1 out of possession stymied United’s central combinations, forcing Fernandes wider and deeper than he would’ve liked to ensure he had an influence.

The lack of runners in behind allowed West Ham to maintain a secure distance between their defence and midfield, while the absence of a focal point meant crossing was a futile option.

However, that changed when Šeško entered proceedings after the hour mark. For the most part, the Slovenian encountered similar issues to his teammates in and around the West Ham box, but he allowed United to change tack. With Mbeumo moving wide right, they had a clear angle of attack on what had proven to be a mightily frustrating night devoid of clear-cut openings.

With less than two minutes to go, Mbeumo cut inside off the right and delivered a hopeful ball into the box. Sensing an opportunity, Šeško beat Axel Disasi to the ball and finished superbly with one touch to rescue a point. The young striker has now rescued results at the death on two occasions since Carrick returned, and four of his six Premier League goals have come over the last five games.

Man Utd will encounter more defensive blocks of this ilk between now and the end of the season, and Šeško’s profile renders him a useful asset on such occasions.

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Luke Shaw No Longer Reliable Attacking Outlet

Shaw is not the force he once was. | Kevin Hodgson/MI News/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Carrick has emphasised progressing and combining centrally to an even greater degree since losing Dorgu to a significant hamstring injury. They’ve since functioned without a nominal left winger, with Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha sharing the role.

However, neither player is accustomed to holding the width. Instead, they want to operate inside. On Tuesday night, in particular, the onus was on left back Luke Shaw to advance from his position and function as a key attacking outlet down his flank.

However, the experienced left back isn’t the marauder he once was. Shaw’s been a model of consistency for Man Utd this season, but is prone to concentration lapses and was responsible for setting up the chance which led to Souček’s opener. He defended diligently otherwise, but his limitations upfield came to pass in east London.

While Shaw, in his pomp, was a dynamic left back who could surge up and down the touchline, he’s never been a regular final third contributor. The Englishman was used as a centre back rather than a wing back for Amorim, with the injuries sustained over the years seeing his athleticism dwindle.

And Carrick can’t rely on him now to re-emerge as an attacking force. Shaw hadn’t needed to be anything but unspectacular in possession under the new manager before Tuesday night, but game-state and United’s shape thrust him into a role of importance when the visitors were chasing the game in the second half.

However, Shaw ended the night completing just one of four crosses. He lacks the burst to bypass players one-on-one and no longer looks comfortable in his advances. Of course, there’s a role for the Englishman in this team, but United sorely lacked a reliable source of width down their left throughout against a compact defence.

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Intensity Paramount Out of Possession

Man Utd encountered a dogged West Ham team. | Kevin Hodgson/MI News/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Diligence out of possession has been the name of the game for Man Utd at the start of Carrick’s interim spell. There’s been nothing outlandish in their approach, with merely sound execution and an uptick in energy enough to stymie the likes of Man City and Arsenal.

However, issues arose in the last-gasp victory over Fulham, with a vertical Cottagers team having success at manipulating United’s press and bypassing their midfield. On Tuesday night, especially in the first half, there were more issues for the visitors without the ball.

A Nuno-led side doesn’t tend to build from the back, but they seemingly saw a chink in United’s armour and sought to exploit it. In truth, the away side often looked well placed to turn the ball over high up the pitch, but they were let down by a lack of intensity at key moments.

Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo were particularly poor out of possession, letting runners pass them by. Mainoo was caught out for West Ham’s opener, but both he and Fernandes were guilty of falling asleep when Man Utd pressed high in the first half, which allowed the hosts a foothold in proceedings.

According to Opta, the two teams each won 84 duels and 22 aerial duels, while United made two more ball recoveries. This wasn’t necessarily a case of West Ham “wanting it more” than their perhaps overconfident visitors, but Carrick will look back at the tape and know that, as well-structured as his pressing scheme is/was on Tuesday night, it was let down by far too many lapses from his players.

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