United wastefulness and late penalty combine to heap even more pressure on Ten Hag

Jarrod Bowen's injury-time spot-kick gives West Ham all three points but United's own failings prove as significant as official's calls 

RAGING REDS: Manchester United's Matthijs de Ligt (centre right) protests to referee David Coote (centre left) after he awards a penalty to West Ham United during the Premier League match at the London Stadium. Pic: John Walton/PA Wire.

West Ham United 2 Manchester United 1 

MANCHESTER United were defeated as much by their own wastefulness in front of goal as a hugely controversial injury-time West Ham penalty at the London Stadium.

Manager Erik ten Hag was blameless on both counts, yet this result will only serve to heap more pressure and scorn on the beleaguered United boss.

He will feel particularly aggrieved over the manner of the 92nd-minute penalty converted superbly by Jarrod Bowen.

With play down the other end of the pitch, referee David Coote suddenly blew for a VAR check on a coming together of Matthijs de Ligt and Danny Ings in the United penalty area 30 seconds earlier. De Ligt’s challenge barely warranted a check, never mind the reversal of Coote’s original decision.

Where United could be faulted was in their own ineptitude in front of goal. They have failed to score in the opening 35 minutes of a Premier League match so far this season. They could and should have had a hatful at the London Stadium.

That owed much to the fluidity and cohesion of Bruno Fernandes and Alejandro Garnacho, but arguably more to the tactical sterility employed by West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui.

The Spaniard’s predecessor David Moyes was accused of a defensive mindset by his detractors among West Ham supporters. If anything, Lopetegui is more cautious.

Edson Alvarez and Guido Rodriguez are such defensively minded midfielders that they create an enormous vacuum in front of them. Fernandes revelled in that space, creating one opportunity after another that his teammates contrived to squander.

Garnacho was the first culprit, whipping a shot against the bar when a gaping hole beneath it was beckoning in the second minute, then finding no curl in his attempt to beat West Ham keeper Lukasz Fabianski six minutes later.

West Ham’s passivity meant the chances kept coming for United.

Rasmus Hojlund stabbed a shot into the body of Fabianski from close range before Fernandes found himself with a free header from a Casemiro clipped cross, but sent it wastefully over.

West Ham, by contrast, were ponderously slow in their build-up. Indeed, their only moment of note in the opening half-hour came from a corner forced by the determined play of Jarrod Bowen, the home side’s only jewel in a side lacking lustre. Lucas Paqueta’s header lopped onto the roof of the United net.

The most extraordinary United miss arrived after 31 minutes. A superbly judged Fernandes floated pass fell perfectly into the path of Diogo Dalot, who clipped the ball over the advancing Fabianski and seemed certain to score.

That was until he panicked in front of an open goal when the ball simply would not drop quickly enough for him, and sent a wild hack high and wide.

Their hard luck story continued when Fabianski fluffed his attempted catch of a Garnacho corner and saw it bounce away to safety off his crossbar.

The West Ham keeper atoned superbly for his slackness as the clock ticked over to 45 minutes with an instinctive fingertip save to palm away Marcus Rashford’s goalbound header.

Lopetegui reacted to his side’s lethargy, or perhaps it was an admission of his own tactical folly, by making a triple substitution at half-time.

Tellingly, he left the twin axis of Alvarez and Rodriguez, which had hardly stemmed the flow of United chances, untouched.

There was, though, a noticeable shift in West Ham’s energy, particularly through the introduction of Crysencio Summerville. Within ten minutes of the restart, Bowen, Michail Antonio and Summerville all had efforts on the visitors’ goal.

At the other end, Hojlund pummelled a shot straight at Fabianski as a contest finally broke out.

Just after the hour, Antonio copied the pacy Summerville in driving to the by-line but Emerson could not convert the striker’s low cross.

West Ham’s greater second-half urgency and a more determined press brought its reward after 74 minutes.

The ball was won back in midfield and quickly shifted to Bowen whose low cross was sliced by substitute Danny Ings, but fell perfectly for Summerville to slide home at the far post.

Stung by the impact that West Ham’s substitutes had made, plus the necessity of rescuing at least a point, Erik ten Hag introduced Joshua Zirkzee with ten minutes remaining.

Within seconds following a United free-kick, Zirkzee had helped a Dalot header from the far post into the path of Casemiro who nodded home the equaliser.

Then came the VAR controversy which will overshadow West Ham’s own shortcomings and which leaves ten Hag’s position even more precarious.

West Ham United (4-2-3-1): Fabianski 6; Wan-Bissaka 6, Mavropanos 5 (Todibo 46, 6), Kilman 7, Emerson 6; Alvarez 5, Rodriguez 5 (Cresswell 90+4, 6); Bowen 7, Paqueta 4 (Soucek 46, 6), Soler 5 (Summerville 46, 8); Antonio 7 (Ings 71, 6)

Manchester United (4-2-3-1): Onana 6; Dalot 6, de Ligt 6, Martinez 6, Mazraoui 5 (Lindelof 84, 6); Eriksen 6 (Zirkzee 79, 6), Casemiro 7; Rashford 4 (Amad 59, 6), Fernandes 8, Garnacho 7; Hojlund 6 

Referee: David Coote