Jacob Steinberg was at the London Stadium tonight, and here’s his match report.
United were loose in all departments. They almost saved themselves from a second consecutive away defeat at the start of added time, Anthony Martial twice going close to a dramatic equaliser, but they should not kid themselves.
United, whose lead over Liverpool is down to a point, were flat after falling behind to Saïd Benrahma’s goal. Moyes deserved this win over his old side. It took West Ham seven points above the bottom three and filled them with optimism before their Europa Conference League semi-final against AZ Alkmaar on Thursday.
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Thom Steele on that clash of heads. “You’re right in with the head injuries here in the States. I’m wondering about De Gea today in regards to that.”
Admir Pajic: “I think De Gea has always suffered from “you can’t teach size” problem. His inability to control the area cost United the title in his debut season (2011-12) when Blackburn, Wigan, Everton and Man City all took points thanks to his inability to command the area.
“As a shot-stopper, he has been magnificent and dragged United to 2nd place in 2017-18 on his own and sometimes it looked like he was a human octopus. Man Utd can find a replacement for him - there is a Spanish goalkeeper named David right in front of their eyes (in the league), gifted with almost playmaking distribution - but De Gea is hardly the only player they need to replace in order to compete with Man City. Wout Weghorst as No.9 at a big club, for instance, is like an Adam Sandler joke that is funny only to Adam Sandler.”
Tim Stappard: “No idea why you are hammering De Gea. He’s been the best player there for a decade “
