Stop all the clippers, don’t cut off the barnet: United’s winning run is over. Frank Ilett, the man who pledged never to visit a barber again until Manchester United won five matches in a row, may have been denied a viral haircut, but United’s resilience came to the fore here to deny the Hammers what would have been a deserved victory deep into added time.
A studded finish from the fan favourite Tomas Soucek was cancelled out by an impressive, instinctive strike from Benjamin Sesko to leave this match honours even. United lacked energy and snap, West Ham saw two precious points fall away at the last; both sides will leave frustrated but not disconsolate. The Hammers remain in 18th place, United stay in fourth, their contrasting objectives remain in play.
“The fans, the players and ourselves are disappointed to take this blow in the final moments of the match,” Nuno Espírito Santo said. “But we’ve been able to contain a team in a good moment. The way we started the second half was very positive. In the final moments we had two or three occasions with space in behind where we should have scored the second. Overall it was a very positive performance.”
For Michael Carrick there was an admission that things could have gone better. “We were not quite at our best and you have to credit West Ham, but the boys are a bit frustrated in the dressing room and that’s a good sign,” he said. “We know how hard it is to build a run in this league, sometimes it comes naturally and there’s a spark, sometimes it’s maybe a little more stodgy. You’ve got to find the answers and find a way.”
Carrick mulled on the adjustments he had to make after Soucek turned home a low Jarrod Bowen cross to give West Ham the lead. If Sesko had come on earlier than the 69th minute might United have won the game? Carrick wasn’t sure, and certainly it was only after the clock passed 90 minutes – and Carrick had also replaced his full‑back Diogo Dalot with the forward Joshua Zirkzee – that United were able to finally put their hosts under pressure in their own box.
With five of seven added minutes passed, an uneven cross from Bryan Mbeumo finally found Sesko, and the emerging forward picked out a flicked finish that deviously switched the angle of the ball to send it inside Mads Hermansen’s far post.
For West Ham there were lots of positives to take, despite the ultimate result. Going up against the league’s form side, they showed no signs of self‑doubt and indeed relished the opportunitychance to put United to the test physically. Bowen was his usual self, a ball of energy who executed each moment to the best benefit of his team.
Aaron Wan‑Bissaka and Crysencio Summerville were equally blurred presences on the pitch, getting up and down and causing their opponents endless trouble. Summerville might have had his sixth goal in six games with a fine first‑half effort, Wan‑Bissaka somehow managed to clear a goalbound Luke Shaw shot off the line with a jutted leg 22 minutes in.
“We have been able to bounce back from disappointing moments before and the boys have always been able to react and compete,” Nuno said, looking forward. “There is no other way. Our standards are high.”
For United there will be no diminishment of the enthusiasm that Carrick’s tenure has brought to the club and the fanbase. What’s more the interim boss, by taking the risk to score late on, will have further endeared himself as someone in tune with United’s traditions.
There will be questions bubbling under, however, as to how sustainable their recent form will be. Matheus Cunha was ineffectual here and withdrawn for Sesko. Mbeumo was often to be found on the periphery of events too. Questions of quite how to knit up the team’s attacking talent at places where the battle off the ball is just as significant will have to be resolved over time.
“I think it’s going to shift a little bit with different games as well as the situation within games and how you want to attack,” Carrick said. “It’s where the spaces are, what the game looks like. We probably didn’t quite get a bunch of it right, if we’re honest, for the first part of the game. And that happens, especially against a team going all out to stop you scoring.
“So we’ve just got to find that way, but we kept going and mixed things up because we have got that flexibility, and I think it certainly helps to find different solutions …”
