#WHUMUN: See How The Hammers Hammared The Red Devils
Another
demoralising defeat for Manchester United has left Jose Mourinho facing up to
the club’s worst start since Sir Alex Ferguson faced the threat of the sack
back in 1989-90.
The Red
Devils have offered glimpses of what they are capable of in the current
campaign, but have struggled for consistency on the field against a backdrop of
uncertainty off it.
A 3-1
reversal away at West Ham on Saturday has seen them hit a new low, with
Mourinho’s men offering limp resistance against the Hammers.
More
questions were asked of their team selection ahead of that contest, with Alexis
Sanchez among those to have been left out of the matchday squad .
Paul Pogba
was included from the off, after another week in which his working relationship
with Mourinho dominated the headlines , but he was well off the pace and was
substituted with 20 minutes remaining.
He was by no
means the only one to struggle at the London Stadium, with United seeing a
Felipe Anderson opener and an own goal from Victor Lindelof leaving them with a
mountain to climb by the interval.
Marcus
Rashford pulled a goal back immediately after Pogba had been replaced, but West
Ham scored their third goal just three minutes later through Marko Arnautovic
to condemn United to a third Premier League defeat this season.
Just 10
points have been taken from a possible 21 across seven outings, with that
return leaving them well short of the early pacesetters.
It is the
same points return which David Moyes accumulated during his opening seven
Premier League games as United manager in the 2013-14 season, but his team at
least had a better goal difference than Mourinho's current side.
So, not
since Ferguson was fighting to save his job in the late 80s have the Red Devils
stumbled so badly out of the blocks.
Back then
they opened the season with a crushing 4-1 win over Arsenal, but things went
downhill quickly.
Their
opening seven games delivered four defeats, with only seven points collected.
Ferguson was
able to save himself with an FA Cup run which delivered a first piece of major
silverware and the rest, as they say, is history – with 13 Premier League
titles collected from there.
Mourinho may
not be given the opportunity to oversee a similar rescue mission, with pressure
mounting on the beleaguered Portuguese as his ongoing presence is called into
question and talk of a possible move for Zinedine Zidane begins to build.
Comments