Farewell Upton Park. West Ham United vs. Manchester United match summary and analysis (10/05/2016)
“We will rock you!”. London heard it for the first time in 1977 as sang by Freddie Mercury and they heard it again tonight blasting from Upton Park’s PA system. A normal pre-match occurrence usually, but some West Ham faithful decided to take the words to heart and smeared the memory of the last game in Upton Park by literally “rocking them”, throwing rocks at Manchester’s team bus. Maybe they only wanted 45 more minutes in Upton Park, seeing as that’s the only thing they achieved, a match delay that was initially credited to traffic. West Ham’s chairman David Sullivan certainly didn't want to believe that the east Londoners were to blame, instead going to Sky Sports saying that Manchester United were being disrespectful of their last game in Upton Park by arriving late. Beautiful stuff.
So, the stage was set for the much anticipated and advertised 384th and final Premier League game in Upton Park (yes, I’ll call it Upton Park as I've always done, although I do notice the sudden resurgence of Boleyn Ground references) and a win tonight would ensure 601 points earned in home soil in this competition throughout the years. It was far from being a ceremonial game tough, seeing as both teams needed the points to achieve their respective goals. A win for the Hammers would see them overtaking Southampton in the table and moving them closer to a possible 5th or 6th place finish (4th is still mathematically possible but would require Manchester City to lose by 15 goals give or take) and a win for Manchester would allow them to take their local rivals place in the top 4 and with it the champions league qualification. Last time these two met for the league it ended in a 0–0 draw.
Although Manchester United only count one loss in their last 7 Premier League games, the last match where they won at Norwich with a second half goal by Juan Mata didn't inspire a lot of confidence that tonight's game would result in a win for them. The Red Devils haven't lost a single game in the last 14 Premier League games against West Ham and captain Wayne Rooney has scored 11 goals in 13 appearances versus the Hammers and would like to take this last chance of increasing his goal tally in Upton Park.
West Ham have been having an excellent season to send off their home ground and Dimitri Payet would like nothing else than to continue it and his amazing form (involved in 9 goals in the last 11 games) tonight. That being said, their last game against Swansea ended with a strange defeat for the Hammers (1–4) that left Slaven Bilić furious, understandably so. On to tonight's match.
I have to say, I'm really enjoying watching Rooney in this deeper role as of late, I think he can influence a game to a great degree (as seen by his assist last game at Norwich) and tonight was no different, so I'm glad Van Gaal found space for him, Rashford and Martial in this United team although that means sacrificing both Lingard and Depay. Blind at central defender was a disappointment tonight but I’ll come back to that later. Looking at the West Ham lineup I was surprised with Tomkins being on the bench as I'm sure he would be very happy to start the last Upton Park match, him being a Hammer through and through, but I can see what Slaven was thinking by leaving Antonio as RB to use his speed to cover the Martial runs. He seemed to forget the 4 goals this back line suffered against Swansea or he thinks it was a fluke because the same four started tonight.
West Ham completely dominated the first half, utilizing the 4–4–2 to it’s full potential to widen out the game while maintaining the two forwards in and around the box. This destabilized the United defensive shape which allowed the West Ham fullbacks Antonio and Cresswell to create overlaps on the wings. That, in addition to their midfield helping in the offensive process, laid the foundation for a first half where West Ham created a lot of chances without giving United any counter attacking options (only one Manchester first half shot). United looked very shaky in this half and West Ham could've scored more goals and gone to half-time with a comfortable lead (example, at 31:00, Martial loses the ball and allows Payet to have a shot which he misses). The West Ham midfield players were at the heart of this offensive organization and Lanzini is a good example of this, as he provided a lot of support going forward, even assisting the first goal.
The United defence was very poor tonight and ultimately let the whole team down. Blind didn't have a good game at all, with shady covering (see first goal, where he lets Sakho unmarked) and a poor stat for aerial duels (only 1 tried and lost, which is really bad for a defender on a team that had to deal with so many high balls to Carroll and in set-pieces. Smalling tried 10, for the sake of comparison). Rojo defended well but the man cannot cross to save his life and in today’s modern game of bombing fullbacks that’s a setback to any team. Smalling tried his best but was caught a lot in a bad positions thanks to the inability of Schneiderlin to cover the runs of West Ham’s tireless midfield players (example, at the 19:00 mark, Carroll has a good chance to score after beating Smalling and Schneiderlin and was played onside by a terribly positioned Blind). There didn't seem to be any organization and communication between the defensive players (and this at the end of a season!) and I’m left wondering if it’s Van Gaals’s or the player’s fault.
Payet, Kouyaté and Lanzini were my pick of West Ham players to analyse and all for different reasons. Kouyaté was everything Schneiderlin was not. He managed to protect his back-line with his amazing positioning and willingness to fight for the ball and, in that way, managed to force Manchester to play out wide where they are less effective. Carrick also had the similar effect on his team when he came on, but to a smaller degree. Payet had a strange game, I don’t know what to make of it honestly. He, like all the West Ham players, tried very hard and created some good chances (mostly from set-pieces) and had 2 assists but revealed himself to be very wasteful on the night. Uncharacteristically so. The next two graphs show those both sides of his game.
Remember when I praised Wayne Rooney in the play-maker role? Well tonight he played well again in that role, tying with Blind for the player with most passes in the game and in the graphic below you can see his influence all over the field. What you don’t see in the graphic is the changes of pace he brings to United’s attack. In the second half, Van Gaal changed Schneiderlin for Carrick which helped Rooney press higher up the field safe in the knowledge that his back line was protected, creating a better passing flow between the Manchester players. Him and Juan Mata both drived the United attack with their pace and power, allowing Martial and Rashford to get into good positions as seen by the two Martial goals, where Mata’s (for the first goal) and Rooney’s (for the second) change of pace and overlaps created the opportunities.
Unfortunately for Manchester those two attacks were too little too late on the night. A mere 3 shots (the two goals and a silly attempt gone high and wide in the first half) in the whole game wouldn't be enough to win a game where West Ham proved they deserve their league spot. All the players from the London club worked tirelessly the entire game and seemed to win every second ball. They didn't have the majority of ball possession but who needs that when you play this direct and positive football (Rojo passed to Blind as many times as Randolph, the goalkeeper, passed to Carroll, 12) which creates multiple scoring chances and 20 shots, plus the dangerous set-pieces Payet orchestrates.
Speaking of set-pieces, they defined the game today. United once again showed a lack of organization defending them and West Ham capitalized, having a handful of dangerous set-piece shots with two of them resulting in the last 2 goals (both coming from the same set-piece location and the cross landing in the same area. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…”). Two more West Ham goals could've come from set-pieces, one was (rightly so) disallowed for going out of bounds and the other should have been a goal, if only Sakho had faster decision making and reaction time.
Manchester United have only themselves to blame if they end up missing out on the Champions League spots, bland football with some rare flashes of brilliance would describe this game and their season. Some West Ham supporters threw bottles at Manchester’s team bus pre-match, but it was United who bottled it.
In the end the big winners of tonight’s result, Manchester City, will be thanking West Ham for allowing them to dictate their own top 4 finish instead of depending on United, although the Hammers would appreciate much more if City lost their last game by 15 goals to allow West Ham to clinch their 4th place on goal difference.
Joking aside, waving goodbye to Upton Park with a Europa League qualification in sight is already more than enough for the Hammers fans, keeping in mind the competition around those league places as well as the amazing season and cup run they had. The scenes after the game were beautiful to see and I would be surprised if Slaven Bilić was the only person crying in this farewell. A great game that almost made me forget the pre-match shenanigans, but I’m glad that at least football-wise Upton Park had a good send-off helped by the incredible atmosphere inside the ground. They’ll be blowing bubbles elsewhere next season.
Alexandre Kisker Ribeiro, 10/05/2016, all statistics provided by FourFourTwo’s and Opta’s “Stats Zone”
