Ten Hag under pressure as Hammers dent Man Utd

There was a time when Manchester United came to West Ham, Wayne Rooney took aim from 57 yards and scored. Many a comparison with the past can damn this United side but, a decade on, Diogo Dalot came to West Ham, took aim at an unguarded goal from eight yards and missed. Whether it was excruciating or merely amusing depends on your perspective, but it was costly, summing up Manchester United’s selfdestructive streak.

- RICHARD JOLLY

They contrived to lose a game in which they had been absurdly, astonishingly dominant before the break. Dalot was the worst offender but not the only one. A team who should have led by at least three goals instead lost. Their best half of the season still led to a fourth defeat.

For Julen Lopetegui, it was a lifeline, much the best result of his inglorious reign. Shocking and shambolic for 45 minutes, West Ham nevertheless beat the other United. Reprieved by a host of first-half misses, they pilfered victory in the second. To compound Dalot’s difficulties, it was his immediate opponent, Crysencio Summerville, who scored one of the goals that may save the Hammers manager’s job. The other, Jarrod Bowen’s penalty, awarded via the intervention of VAR and against Matthijs de Ligt, leaves the other United 14th.

For the beleaguered Erik ten Hag, meanwhile, it was a reminder that it seems impossible to escape his version of purgatory, with a side that struggle to win, who can lose almost any game and miss almost any chance. A malaise extends beyond a right-back unaccustomed to finding himself the furthest man forward. Casemiro finally found the net for United, converting after first Dalot and then Joshua Zirkzee had headed the ball across the box, but only after a masterclass in how not to finish.