Paul Pogba scorcher sparks Manchester United comeback at West Ham
/dnl.eurosport.com/sd/img/placeholder/eurosport_logo_1x1.png){kind=logo}
Updated 05/12/2020 at 20:01 GMT
Premier League, London Stadium – West Ham United 1 (Soucek 38’) Manchester United 3 (Pogba 65’ Greenwood 68’ Rashford 78’)
Paul Pogba celebrates v West Ham
Image credit: Getty Images
Manchester United again came from behind on the road to make it nine successive away league wins with a 3-1 victory at West Ham to climb into the top four.
With no Bruno Fernandes in the side – the first time the Portuguese had not started a league match since arriving in Manchester – United were woeful in the first half, and should have conceded more than Tomas Soucek’s opener in the 38th minute.
However, with Fernandes on at the break, United came out a totally different side in the second half, and blew West Ham away with Paul Pogba brilliantly levelling things up in the 65th minute, before another top-class finish from Mason Greenwood – his first league goal of the season – turned the match on its head less than three minutes later.
And to cap off a ruthless second-half showing, another half-time substitute, Marcus Rashford, lofted a lovely third into the net to complete a fifth successive away win this season for United – the first time they have won their first five away games in a single league campaign since 1985-86.
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2020/12/05/2949898-60553928-2560-1440.jpg)
Mason Greenwood celebrates his brilliant strike
Image credit: Getty Images
With fans back in London Stadium for the first time since February, there were plenty of surprises when the United team was announced with Fernandes and David de Gea not in the starting XI – the Spanish stopper out injured, with Rashford only fit enough for the bench.
With Pogba and Donny van de Beek in the middle, United gave the ball away time and again in the opening period, and could have fallen behind sooner, only for Pablo Fornals to head wide from a good position.
United continued to look lacklustre in the extreme and eventually conceded as an ummarked Declan Rice was left alone to flick a corner on for Soucek to steer the ball home, again without a defender in sight.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made a double change at the break, and all hell broke loose after Pogba had arrowed a strike into the net from 25 yards, on the end of a Fernandes pass, of course.
With the home side still stunned from that bolt out of the blue, Greenwood showed his prowess in the box as he span and fired into the bottom corner, before Rashford put the game to bed with a finish of a very different nature, to ensure United continue their madcap season to sit just two points off top, despite not hitting anything like top gear.
TALKING POINT - The ultimate tale of two halves
How? What? Where? Five wins on the bounce away from home having fallen behind in all of them? United's season is just becoming more and more unpredictable by the week.
To say United were poor in the first half is an understatement. They should have been two goals down, or more, but how they can be such a contrast in the second half is just unfathomable.
Credit to Solskjaer for making that double change at the break, and it made all the difference. A mad, mad game, in a mad, mad season.
MAN OF THE MATCH - Marcus Rashford (Manchester United)
It was a toss up between Rashford and Bruno Fernandes, which says it all about the rest of the players who played the full match. Rashford just gave United that jolt they needed.
PLAYER RATINGS
West Ham: Fabianski 6, Coufal 6, Balbuena 6, Ogbonna 5, Cresswell 6, Masuaku 5, Rice 6, Soucek 7, Bowen 8, Fornals 6, Haller 7. Subs: Johnson N/A, Lanzini 6, Benrahma 6.
Man Utd: Henderson 8, Wan-Bissaka 7, Lindelof 5, Maguire 6, McTominay 5, Pogba 7, Greenwood 7, Van de Beek 4, Martial 4, Cavani 4. Subs: Mata 7, Fernandes 8, Rashford 8.
KEY MOMENTS
2’ - SAVE! Great start from the home side. Bowen fires a cross into the middle, it is half blocked, Fornals latches on to the loose ball, but Henderson is out sharply to block.
32’- CHANCE! What an opportunity for Fornals, but his header, after superb work from Bowen to take on two before whipping a great cross in, is into the side netting. Should have gone across Henderson.
36’ - POST! Fornals again, as his toe poke, through the legs of Wan-Bissaka, rolls past Henderson, but agonisingly comes back off the post. Great work again from Bowen to create the chance.
38’ - GOAL! West Ham 1-0 Man Utd (Soucek). It had been coming, and it is Tomas Soucek with that first goal in front of fans again! Another goal conceded from a corner, as Rice flicks on, and Soucek taps home at the far post, unmarked.
41’ - MISS! What a moment to lose your footing! Terrible from United again, Haller races through, rounds Henderson, looks certain to score, but slips as he cuts back inside and United clear!
43’ - SAVE! Finally! A nice move from United, as Telles feeds Martial, who shoots for the top corner, but Fabianski makes a smart save.
52’ - BIG CHANCE! Good play from West Ham again, as Haller feeds Vladimir Coufal, who feeds the ball across for Bowen who, on the slide, cannot quite connect properly at the far post.
65’ - GOAL! West Ham 1-1 Man Utd (Pogba). He has done nothing all game, but Pogba fires a brilliant leveller into the net! A bolt out of the blue! VAR had a look at whether Henderson's long clearance for Fernandes had gone out of play, but they are happy that the ball stayed in, with Fernandes feeding Pogba, who placed a brilliant strike into the net from 25 yards. Super goal, but not deserved, at all!
68’ - GOAL! West Ham 1-2 Man Utd (Greenwood). My word! The brilliant Greenwood fires United in front! What on earth has happened here? Telles crossed for Greenwood, who took a brilliant first touch, span and hammered into the bottom corner. Madness!
73’ - POST! Brilliant from the United subs as Fernandes superbly threads it through for Rashford, who takes a touch, fires for the bottom corner, but sees his strike come out off the post.
78’ - GOAL! West Ham 1-3 Man Utd(Rashford). What pass from Mata! And what a finish from Rashford! 3-1! Just brilliant from United's substitutes. Mata slides a superb ball through for Rashford, who races through before lofting a cheeky finish over Fabianski. Game over?
85’ - SAVE! Brilliant effort from Cresswell as he wrong-foots Henderson, but the United stopper springs across to make a fine save.
KEY STATS
- This was the fourth time West Ham have faced Manchester United in a Premier League game while being above them in the table, however they’ve failed to win any of these meetings (D1 L3).
- Following their win tonight, Manchester United have now won more points from losing positions than any other team in Premier League history (385).
- In 2020, West Ham have dropped more points from winning positions than any other team in the Premier League (19), while Manchester United have won the most points from losing positions (22) in this period.
- Manchester United are only the second side in Premier League history to score 2+ goals in nine consecutive away games, after Leeds United back in April 2001.
- Since his debut in February, Bruno Fernandes has been directly involved in 36 goals in 38 games in all competitions for Manchester United (22 goals, 14 assists) – five more than any other Premier League player in this period.
- Manchester United’s Mason Greenwood has scored 20 goals in all competitions since the start of last season, twice as many as any other teenager playing for a Premier League side (Gabriel Martinelli, 10).
- All three of Manchester United’s substitutes were directly involved in a goal against West Ham (Rashford, Fernandes and Mata), which is just the second time this has happened for the Red Devils in a Premier League game – previously in August 2017 v Leicester (Rashford, Lingard and Fellaini).
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article