Manchester United 1 West Ham United 1
Man United: Ibrahimovic (21')
West Ham: Sakho (2')
Man of the Match: Darren Randolph (West Ham)
While Jose Mourinho loses his cool, Manchester United draw home league games. Hired as the winner supreme, the Portuguese experiences frustration all too often.
It is apparent in his antics and his absences from the touchline. Mourinho spent the second half in the stands against Burnley. He only spent 27 minutes on the touchline against West Ham United, enough time for the teams to trade goals. The score then stayed the same but United’s annoyance increased as a decisive goal eluded them.
Draws can be inconclusive results, but this may have consequences, and not just when the FA summon Mourinho to explain his actions. A weekend when the top four all won ended with United eight points off the Uefa Champions League places. It already feels a gulf.
United have dropped eight points in four consecutive draws, against Stoke City, Burnley, Arsenal and now West Ham, despite being the superior side in each. They are not clinical enough, a team in search of a winning formula and a manager still looking for his finest side.
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Mourinho had to adopt different vantage points in his quest after, once again, he made an early departure from the dugout. His capacity to overreact may be a sign the pressure is getting to him. He was dismissed against Burnley for disputing a debatable penalty decision. This time it was more straightforward: Paul Pogba dived. Referee Jonathan Moss cautioned the Frenchman. Mourinho responded furiously, kicking a water bottle in misdirected anger.
Moss and Mourinho have history, the referee sending him off when Chelsea lost to West Ham last year. That resulted in a stadium ban. Another Mourinho meltdown will surely bring further disciplinary action, although the sanction will probably be less severe. But a second dismissal in four league games, and a third in 20, represents a reprehensible record.
United’s sequence of draws provides another unwanted statistic. They trailed in the second minute. Dimitri Payet supplied the pinpoint free kick. Diafra Sakho escaped the attentions of Zlatan Ibrahimovic to head in his first goal of the season.
Then Ibrahimovic compensated for his earlier error. He headed in Pogba’s chipped pass, providing a suitable conclusion to a move of 22 passes. It was a moment when West Ham missed the suspended Winston Reid. His deputy, James Collins, let Ibrahimovic run away from him.
Thereafter, West Ham provided the sort of defiance that ought to extricate them from the relegation battle. Randolph was terrific. His finest save came when Marcus Rashford ought to have scored. He was agile and alert to deny both Pogba and Ibrahimovic. When the Swede touched the ball past him, Cheikhou Kouyate made a goal-saving challenge. When Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who was brought off the bench, hit the woodwork and Jesse Lingard converted the rebound, the Englishman was offside. Mourinho tried everything, whether it was bringing on Wayne Rooney or naming Bastian Schweinsteiger, recalled from exile, on the bench. Nothing yielded a winner. He had already voiced a belief United were the most unlucky team in the league. That sentiment may be crystallised now.
West Ham rode their luck. They also made it with their spirited resistance. They almost supplied a sucker punch. Ashley Fletcher, denied a first team game in his United career, darted through the penalty box and shot. David De Gea made a crucial block. A notable goal eluded him, but West Ham secured a significant result nonetheless. For the other United, it sealed their joint worst start to a league season since 1989-90. Mourinho is making history; just not the sort United imagined or the sort he used to create.
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