Careless United fall to a Hammer blow

THE whisky will be drawn from the finest vintage, the tumbler made from the most elegant cut glass, but there will still be a bitter after-taste to Alex Ferguson’s new year’s dram this evening.

The Scot insisted he had no plans to tone down his celebrations — which also serve as a birthday party for the Manchester United manager, who turns 66 today — but nothing piques Glasgow’s grouchiest pensioner like the spectacle of points being tossed away. When Louis Saha, the United forward, sheepishly admitted that his manager “had a bit of a go at some of the players”, it is safe to assume he was understating the case.

United could hardly have asked for a more inviting opportunity to end 2007 in the imperious manner in which they started it. West Ham, desultory at home and down to their last 16 fit players, bore the look of sacrificial victims as they strode out against a team which had been at its swaggering best in recent weeks. As it transpired, the Hammers not only dodged the knife, but managed to inflict a painful blow of their own.

There is no suggestion — not now, at any rate — that it is a mortal wound. United responded to their last stumble, a 1-0 defeat at Bolton in November, by winning their next five league games and the visit of Birmingham City tomorrow looks the perfect balm for battered egos. This might yet prove a much-needed jolt for a side lulled into complacency by their barn-storming form.

But if the division’s lesser lights need a blueprint for bloodying the nose of the great and good, West Ham provided it here. The east Londoners — marshalled brilliantly by Matthew Upson — worked tirelessly to squeeze the space United’s cavaliers crave. Carlos Tevez — returning to the club he saved from relegation last season — Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo were largely nullified. The nature of West Ham’s two goals also suggested that United could be susceptible to that most prosaic of attacking arts: the humble set-piece.

Alan Curbishley simply smiled when asked whether he was anticipating a deluge of calls from fellow managers desperate for the secret to sabotaging United, but if anyone can claim to have the hex over Ferguson’s team, it is he. After 15 years of defeats at the hands of the Scot at Charlton, Curbishley has won all three of the encounters between the teams since his move to West Ham.

“There are no gimmes in this league,” he said. “That’s what makes it so tough: that just explains why the league is so popular around the world. Every game is contested.

“When you play the top four, you always raise your game.

“You have to give us some credit: their exceptional players didn’t cause us too much damage and that was because everyone was putting so much effort in. I would like to see the stats relating to the leg work. When you play the top teams, sides sometimes stand off and allow the game to become a passive game. If you do that, they will destroy you.”

That was never likely to happen here. United constructed just one move of quality in the entire match, in the 13th minute, although it was good enough to earn them the lead. Louis Saha set clear Giggs on the left and the Welshman’s cross was crashed into the net by the onrushing Ronaldo.

After that, they were barren and their composure was so flustered by West Ham’s high-octane approach that they spurned a gilt-edged chance to make the victory secure. In the 65th minute, Jonathan Spector’s idiotic hand-ball gifted United a penalty but, in keeping with his generally humdrum afternoon, Ronaldo dragged his shot wide.

That was the cue for Upton Park to come alive. West Ham’s famous old home is one of the few stadiums still capable of generating an atmosphere redolent of the good ol’ days, and nothing puts the east end in full cry more fervently than the humbling of one of England’s greatest bete noirs. “They lifted us,” said Curbishley.

Inspired, West Ham surged forward. Curbishley’s team had forged inviting chances in the first half with some slick football — Hayden Mullins striking the crossbar and Mark Noble blazing over on the rebound — but they opted for a more direct approach in breaking United’s spirit in the final 13 minutes.

First, Anton Ferdinand met Noble’s inswinging corner with a thumping header — a sweet moment for the centre-half, in his first game since being acquitted on a charge of occasioning actual bodily harm following a nightclub fracas — and then, with nine minutes left, the indomitable Upson propelled Noble’s flighted free-kick high into the top corner, just out of reach of the despairing Tomasz Kuszczak.

WEST HAM (4-4-2): Green 6, Neill 7, Spector 6, Upson 9, McCartney 6, Solano 7 (Pantsil 49, 7), Parker 7 (A Ferdinand 55, 7), Mullins 7, Noble 8, Ljungberg 6 (Ashton 69, 7), Cole 7.

Subs Not Used: Wright, Camara.

MANCHESTER UNITED (4-4-2): Kuszczak 6, Brown 6, Ferdinand 7, Vidic 7, Evra 5, Ronaldo 6, Hargreaves 6 (Nani 80, 5), Fletcher 6, Giggs 6, Tevez 5 (Anderson 64, 5), Saha 5.

Subs Not Used: Heaton, Pique, O’Shea.

REFEREE: Mike Dean (Wirral) 7: Very assured. Made no mistake with the penalty decision and kept control of a game where the spikiness was never allowed to develop into something more sinister.

MATCH RATING: **** Compelling stuff, and a welcome reminder that the Premier League still has the capacity to surprise. West Ham were worthy winners.