Manchester United 4-0 West Ham: Brilliant Blind

Man Utd 4-0 West Ham – bbc.co.uk

A Romelu Lukaku brace in his first Premier League game for Manchester United helped his side to a 4-0 win over West Ham after a dominant second half display. How did players on both teams fare? Here’s our ratings.

Manchester United

David De Gea – late in the first half he saved Fernandes’ shot, which was straight at him. He had to stretch more though to tip Arnautovic’s header over the bar early in the second half. 6

Antonio Valencia – Much of United’s best play came either down the left or through the middle. He had a good game but was not a major influence. 7
Eric Bailly – strong without the ball and confident with it. At times he had the guts to dribble well into the opposing half. 8
Phil Jones – perhaps took too long to release the ball in the first half, but made one or two thunderous challenges and marked Hernandez out of the game. 7
Daley Blind – showed remarkable reading of the game. This helped him make key defensive headers and interceptions as well as clever attacking runs. It says something that Mourinho likes him despite his usual preference for athleticism. 9

Paul Pogba – his invention was central to United development of attacks in the middle third. Thoroughly deserved his goal. 8
Nemanja Matic – provided a commanding aerial and physical presence, which he often used to intercept Hart’s long goal kicks. A little slow to release the ball at times in the first half but broke up play superbly, as seen for two of the goals. 8

Juan Mata – good movement in the first half. Did not waste many passes, yet a lot of them were penetrative and helped create goalscoring opportunity. 8
Henrikh Mkhitaryan – perhaps didn’t offer enough in the first half but delivered the free-kick for Lukaku’s second and passed a wonderful through ball for Martial to add a third. 8
Marcus Rashford – ran into traffic initially due to his reluctance to attack on the outside, where the space was. Took confidence from his assist for Lukaku though and had more space to run inside after the break, when we saw more of what he can do. 6

Romelu Lukaku – his predatory instincts came to the fore when Rashford slid him through for a simple finish. He then headed home early in the second half and was denied a hat-trick by two last-ditch blocks from Zabaleta. 9

Marouane Fellaini (on 76) – doesn’t get the credit his hold-up play deserves. 7
Anthony Martial (on 80) – took his goal with some confidence. 8
Jesse Lingard (on 88)

West Ham United

Joe Hart – beaten by two clinical finishes from Lukaku, but might be questioned for his goalkeeping for the third and fourth goals. 4

Pablo Zabaleta – some good touches early on. Doesn’t have the pace of old but produced two firm blocks on Lukaku late on. 5
Winston Reid – at times guilty of shirking his marking responsibilities. Couldn’t handle the sharpness of Lukaku. 2
Angelo Ogbonna – showed he has the odd crossfield pass in his locker and was solid in the first half hour, but struggled thereafter. 4
Artur Masuaku – did well in the first half and arguably merited the freedom to push further forward. Could be used as a wing-back in future. 6

Pedro Obiang – did some important covering work early on. Gave the ball away unnecessarily for the opener and lost confidence from then on. 4
Mark Noble – struggled to impose himself. One wonders whether he gets an easy ride due to his connection to the club. 3
Edmlson Fernandes – one shot straight at De Gea and otherwise not at the races. Like Noble, he was taken off early in the second half. 3

Andre Ayew – offered next to nothing when he should have been one of the main players providing a counter-attacking outlet. 2
Marko Arnautovic – did a lot of defensive work in the first half to negate the threat of Valencia. Saw his looping second half header tipped over by De Gea. 5

Javier Hernandez – barely touched the ball and when he did, he was unable to escape the clutches of Jones. 3

Declan Rice (on 60) – did well after coming on. Perhaps a better fit than Noble on this evidence. 7
Diafra Sakho (on 60) – unable to make a decisive impact but the circumstances didn’t help him. 5
Aaron Cresswell (on 81) – saw his shot blocked late on. 5