Manchester United fell to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of West Ham United yesterday afternoon, consequently leaving them 14th-placed in the Premier League table.
All three goals at the London Stadium came in the closing stages of the game, with Crysencio Summerville breaking the deadlock in the 74th minute.
Casemiro then thought he had rescued at least a point when drawing the tie level only seven minutes later before his equaliser was ultimately rendered vain when the Irons were awarded a stoppage-time spot-kick. Jarrod Bowen, unsurprisingly, swiftly converted the penalty.
Speculation would have you believing that Erik ten Hag was already on the brink of losing his job before the result. Now, you’d imagine it’s a question of when rather than if he will.
His in-game decisions often prompt more questions than they answer. Take, for example, the fact that Manuel Ugarte was an unused substitute for the entirety of the clash.
Ugarte overlooked despite Reds floundering vs Irons
United oversaw a summer-long pursuit of Ugarte, eventually forking out an initial £42.3 million to prise him from Paris Saint-Germain while also pledging a further £8m in add-ons. As such, he became one of five major signings granted to Ten Hag by INEOS chiefs, following Leny Yoro, Joshua Zirkzee, Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui through the doors at Old Trafford.
Barring Yoro, who is sidelined with a metatarsal injury, every other summer acquisition featured in some form. Meanwhile, Ugarte was made to watch on from the substitutes’ bench as his side sustained a fourth Premier League loss of the campaign, with Casemiro and Christian Eriksen instead deployed in front of the backline.
It led Mark Goldbridge to share his perplexed reaction to X/Twitter, as he penned: “Zero minutes for Ugarte again. Baffling signing. Bottom half of the table, 4 losses already, and we apparently have the luxury of not using our biggest summer signing. Weird.”
Nottingham Forest supporters had best keep their opinions to themselves. We’re quite able to be our own critics, thank you very much.
I agree with Goldbridge. Why spend all that money and not play him. ETH is clueless
& some delusional fans still believe ten Hag is on a ‘rebuilding project’ & should be accorded adequate time.Lol.How can u explain a scenario where a manager chases the signature of a player he seems to regard as vital yet virtually freezes him out when results aren’t going his way?What about Zirkzee whose exact position the manager stills to be unsure of? Who signed him & why?ten Hag is simply out of his depth & denying the obvious won’t take Man U anywhere save to the bottom.
Time we have an out and out striker we need to put the ball in the net and move up the table we spend money on up and coming strikers but we need a proven strike while Hoyland gets more practise and improves.