MANCHESTER, England — The UEFA Champions League is there for Manchester United if they want it. However, apparently that is not the case.
The 1-1 draw against West Ham United at Old Trafford on Thursday was another example of a missed opportunity. At one point, leading 1-0 thanks to Diogo Dalot's goal in the second half, Rubén Amorim's team was fifth in the standings and tied on points with Chelsea. That was before West Ham midfielder Soungoutou Magassa leveled the score in the 83rd minute to send United down to eighth.
Amorim has been cautious this season when asked if qualifying for the Champions League is a realistic goal, and you can see why. There have been chances to climb positions in games against Nottingham Forest, Tottenham Hotspur and Everton in recent weeks, and each time United have failed in their lines. Against West Ham it happened again.
Amorim has had to face journalists after many poor results since arriving from Sporting CP a year ago. Rarely has he been so upset. “Frustrated,” he said bluntly when asked about his opinion on the game. “Angry. That's all.”
This is exactly the type of game United will have to learn to win if they want to finish in the top four. Unfortunately for Amorim, it's exactly the type of game they struggle with the most.
West Ham manager Nuno Espírito Santo had his team well organized and well trained. The visitors were happy to defend low and give the ball away and, for long periods, United didn't seem to know what to do with it. The passes went from side to side and back again. White crosses into the area were routinely rejected by the white shirts.
A short corner aimed at Bryan Mbeumo ended with a shot deflected by West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. Amad Diallo's cross bounced off Joshua Zirkzee's thigh and was cleared off the line by former United defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka (another player looking much better now that he is away from Old Trafford) and Bruno Fernandes grazed the post with a volley. However, in terms of possibilities, that was it.
Even when United finally scored, there was a sense of luck. Casemiro's deflected shot fell to Dalot, who took a superb touch and found the goal. It was one of four shots on goal for United despite having almost 65% possession. Still, leave West Ham out and it would have been enough.
It wasn't.
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“I always have the feeling that we need to score more goals,” Amorim said. “Even with Brighton when we were 3-0 up. We suffered with that. We need to improve.”
At times this season, United have lost points because they lost control. This didn't happen here; instead, West Ham were able to capitalize on 90 seconds of defensive lapses. There is a reason why United have only kept one clean sheet all season.
First, United's four defenders were unable to deal with a long ball that ended up bouncing over the head of central defender Leny Yoro. From there, West Ham's Jarrod Bowen, busy all night, was able to recover and win an improbable corner from Noussair Mazraoui. From the set-piece, the 5ft 9in Bowen won the header at the near post, and after Mazraoui cleared the line, Magassa scored his first goal for West Ham.
It was one mistake after another for United, and Amorim was left furious. “It happened with a long ball, they won the second ball against three guys, so we have to be better,” he said. “If you look at the goal, we have a long ball, we have everything under control, so we have to do better. We can't allow a team that is much taller than us to have a corner.” [like that]”.
Amorim had not looked this angry at a post-match press conference since the 3-1 defeat to Brighton in January, when he broke his golden rule of not entering the dressing room after the final whistle and ended up smashing a television and cutting his hand.
Here he avoided his players immediately afterwards and said he would address them at Carrington in the morning. Judging by his mood, there might be fireworks. “In that sense I am almost always consistent,” Amorim said.
Amid frustration over an avoidable goal conceded and two points lost, there will be irritation on Amorim's part that United seem unable to take a significant step forward when given the opportunity. Since a three-game winning streak earned the Portuguese manager the Premier League Coach of the Month award in October, his team has taken just six points from five games, and just one point from two winnable home games against Everton and West Ham. Only five teams have taken fewer points over the same period and three of them (Wolves, Burnley and Leeds United) are in the bottom four. This was supposed to be the series of games for United to get their footing. With games against Wolves and AFC Bournemouth next week, there is still a chance to take advantage of the crowded table and start moving towards the Champions League places. The question, however, is whether they can handle it. Given a golden opportunity against West Ham to show real progress, Amorim came away frustrated again. A Champions League place is up for grabs but United have yet to prove they want it.
