(Manchester United – West Ham 1-0) An extremely dull affair saved only by last minute goal by Marcus Rashford at Old Trafford. The Red Devils weren’t horrible by any means but lack of creativity led to very few chances created in front of the West Ham goal.

There is very little to say about the first half; very little of actual action took place from either side. United, however, did play possession football and controlled most of the first 45 minute; they just failed to do anything in the final third that is worth mentioning. Bruno had a long pass into the box and Ronaldo just missed it to head it towards goal. That’s it, non-threatening football to say the least.

The next 45 minutes gave us a little bit more entertainment, at least in the beginning where Fred, Varane and Elanga each had a chance at goal but failed to get into the back of the net. After that, there was very much a first half repeat with very little happening from both sides on the pitch. Rashford came on for Elanga after 61 minutes and another ridiculously late 81 minute substitutions where Cavani and Martial came on for Fred and Greenwood is what was needed to get that late goal. In the last extra minute, some quick passes involving Ronaldo, Martial and Cavani set up Rashford for an easy tap-in to score the only goal of the game.

The game was much closer attacking-wise than it should have been. United dominated possession for a lot of the time, but that lack of creativity from our midfielders and wingers stunted any chances of creating any real threat. You can easily tell Rashford and Greenwood aren’t wingers; they want to score goals and that leads to trying to take on several defenders at the same time and trying shots from outside the box that lead to nothing.

Martial making a rare appearance again on the Old Trafford pitch was what was missing from our wingers. Although he only played for 13 minutes, it was a breath of fresh air. He was aggressive, passed the ball and tried to create chances for our strikers. It is no wonder our strikers don’t get any service when our wingers want to keep the ball for themselves and refuse to put crosses into the box. This has been an ongoing problem for a while now at Manchester United. I, for one, would like to see more of Martial in the near future. He has been ridiculed by many United fans, but I have always been a fan of Martial and still believe he can offer something on the pitch. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be surprised if Martial moves on pretty soon, considering his lack of being picked for the first team in many months now.

United need proper wingers that can create chances. We bought Sancho in the summer, but we have barely seen any of him. I get that new players need time to adjust to the new surroundings and the Premier League, but how is he supposed to do that if he doesn’t get any game time? It’s been nice to see Elanga get some starts now, he seems to have potential to become a great winger for us in the future and hope we continue to see more of him the rest of the season.