With a contentious 2-1 loss to struggling West Ham United on the road on Sunday afternoon, Manchester United’s dismal run of play continued.

Thank you, but continue reading.

Erik ten Hag’s team may consider themselves unfortunate not to have won, but with only 11 points, they currently sit in 14th place in the Premier League.

Despite dominating the first forty-five minutes, United was unable to score. Diogo Dalot missed one of the simplest opportunities possible, shooting over the bar when he had an open net to aim for, but they came close on other occasions.

Man-Utd Casemiro
The momentum totally changed in the second half. The Red Devils had a strong first period, but Julen Lopetegui’s Hammers prevailed.

In the 74th minute, Crysencio Summerville gave them the lead as their pressure payed in. After United retaliated, Casemiro equalized seven minutes later.

But with seconds remaining, Matthijs de Ligt was judged to have kicked Danny Ings over, and the home team was given a penalty. Jarrod Bowen scored the game-winning penalty kick to give West Ham all three points, despite the call being questionable.

Alejandro Garnacho was among the players who struggled the most on a dismal day for United in East London.

Garnacho’s numbers vs West Ham

Garnacho had a memorable day at the London Stadium, when he made his 100th senior appearance for the renowned team. Despite playing the entire game, he lost the ball for the Hammers’ opening goal and missed other important opportunities.

Just a few minutes into the game, the first of those misses occurred. In the penalty area, Bruno Fernandes of United won the ball and squared it to his Argentine teammate, who then rattled the crossbar. Moments later, he attempted to bend a shot from the left side of the box into the far right corner, but it was unsuccessful.

In fact, the 20-year-old’s performance at the London Stadium earned him a mere 5/10 grade. ‘Lively but really wasteful’ is how goal journalist Richard Martin characterized the child’s performance.

Garnacho-Alejandro-2
His post-match statistics demonstrated just how miserable the afternoon was for United’s number 17. Despite having 60 ball touches, Garnacho missed one significant opportunity and lost possession 16 times. He tried three ground duels off the ball and only won one.

The teenage winger’s day was undoubtedly frustrating, and he wasn’t the only attacker who had trouble. Rasmus Hojlund had a difficult day at work as well.

Hojlund’s numbers vs West Ham

Hojlund scored goals against Brentford and Porto after United manager Ten Hag gradually brought him back into play after his injury. That was not the case at the London Stadium, though.

Man-Utd-West-Ham-Hojlund
Against West Ham, the youthful Danish attacker hardly received a kick. Even though United was able to create a lot of chances, he was rarely involved, and Lukasz Fabianski made a great save on the one huge chance he did get—one that he did well to create in the first place.

As his post-match statistics indicate, United’s number nine did not have an easy afternoon. Compared to Red Devils goalie Andre Onana, who had 40 touches, Hojlund had only 26. Hojlund only won three of his five duels and lost the ball six times.

Stats for Hojlund against West Ham

Stat

The number

Feelings

26

Accuracy pass

88%

Completed passes

15/17

Duels prevailed.

3 out of 5.

The frequency of possession loss

Six

Targeted shots

2.

Sofascore statistics

Martin gave the striker a mere 4 out of 10 rating after the game. He clarified that the young player “barely got a sniff” against a West Ham defense that has, to put it mildly, had its weaknesses this season.

With the team in dire need of goals and victories as they try to gain momentum after a dismal start to the season, United will be hoping to feature Hojlund more in his next game.