Manchester United managed to get the three points they needed, but it was far from easy. Erik ten Hag’s side defeated West Ham 1-0 on Sunday afternoon, earning them another boost in the Premier League standings. With the fifth clean-sheet at Old Trafford in a row, Man United are now in fifth place, with Marcus Rashford scoring the only goal after 38 minutes. Here is what we learned from this match.
Important Clean Sheet For Maguire
This was an important match for United, as they had the chance to continue their streak of good results and a tough victory will do this team a lot of good. But it was also great to see that the win was secured despite not getting the best performance out of this team. The back four functioned well with the return of Harry Maguire in the starting eleven. The captain was back in his old role and while he did look a bit far from his best, this victory will only boost his morale. United kept another clean sheet, this time with Maguire in the team, and that should only help the England international, which is quite important now that Ten Hag cannot fall back on Raphael Varane due to injury.
Dalot Proves His Critics Wrong
When Man United splashed a lot of money on Aaron Wan-Bissaka three years ago, many were suspecting that is the end of Diogo Dalot at Man United. When he went on loan to AC Milan, it became even more obvious that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was not really counting on him. But how things have changed in these past 12 months. After a good spell at Milan, the Portuguese right-back fought his way into the starting lineup and the way he is playing now, no one will be able to move him from that spot any time soon. Dalot is now growing into a more and more complete full-back. Against West Ham, his defensive qualities were top notch, he manages to get forward and get solid crosses into the box, moving into the right positions. Hopefully he will only continue this way.
Sloppiness Luckily Goes Unpunished
These three points brought United to fifth place with 23 points from 12 matches. Considering the Devils have a game in hand on Newcastle, they could overtake them and get to the much wanted top four place. But the importance of this win is also obvious from how United did not get their best performance on Sunday. While West Ham’s poor positioning decisions left Man United plenty of space to play into, the hosts did not manage to get much out of it. Passing from the entire toom was poor, throughout the match there were too many balls given away and ultimately, West Ham were the team that had its chances to punish Ten Hag’s side on the counter-attack. In the end, Marcus Rashford’s only goal from a Christian Eriksen cross was enough, but against Real Sociedad and in the matches to follow, the Devils could do much better with the ball in their possession.
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