Manchester United had to settle for a 1-1 draw at home to West Ham Unitad in the continued match of the English League on Thursday (7/22/2020). West Ham opened the scoring first with a Michail Antonio penalty. Meanwhile, Man United responded by Mason Greenwood’s goal.
Here are five interesting things from the match at Old Trafford Stadium, Manchester.
Highlight to David de Gea
Before the match, the announcer’s cameraman followed De Gea from the middle of the field until the goalkeeper jumped to touch the crossbar for good luck. Obviously, De Gea is one of the main highlights of this match given the goalkeeper’s horror show in the semi final FA Cup against Chelsea.
De Gea was not tested much in the first round. However, after Michail Antonio scored, De Gea then made a solid save from Jared Bowen’s shot in the second half. He then went through the rest of the match relatively without much challenges.
What is Paul Pogba doing?
The craziest moment of the match came when Paul Pogba became a defensive wall in the West Ham set piece situation at the end of the first half. The ball is rolled over to Declan Rice who releases a kick. The ball hit the living wall of the Red Devils with Pogba immediately falling as if his head was hit by a ball that was sliding hard.
However, rebroadcasting television and VAR cameras captured that Pogba used his two hands to drive the ball as if he were a goalkeeper. “You can’t do that. The ball is sliding fast but the ball can be seen from a distance. This is a natural reaction but it is not allowed,” said Michael Owen on MolaTV’s screen. “I think this is lacking concentration. It will definitely hurt, but you have to accept that or look down. He lacks of concentration,” continued the former West Ham player, Joe Cole.
David Moyes leaves Old Trafford with his head held high
This fight became one of the best performances of the former Red Devils coach’s team. The Hammers started the match well and took the lead through Michail Antonio’s penalty. Moyes’s team conceded at the start of the second half but after that they remained positive and became a better team in this match.
Mason Greenwood, Man United’s remarkable teenager
Again, Man United must give applaud to the appearance of young player Mason Greenwood. The striker returned to show his brilliant skills. He scored the equalizing goal after cooperating nicely with Anthony Martial.
The 18-year-old striker scored more than 10 goals in the Premier League this season, matching the nicks of two Liverpool players, Michael Owen (18 goals in 1997-1998) and Robbie Fowler (10 goals in 1993-1994).
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer doesn’t glance at the substitute bench
Manchester United’s game looked heavy and lacked of energy after a tough season. However, Coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer only made two changes out of five allowed during the 90 minute match. First, it was when he replaced young defender Timothy Fosu-Mensah in the middle of the round and included Aaron Wan-Bissaka. Second, he replaced Marcus Rashford to add Odion Ighalo five minutes before dispersing. The players who did not come down from the bench include Fred, Diogo Dalot, Juan Mata, and Dan James.
