Erik ten Hag dropped arguably his four best players, and for an hour Manchester United were in hot water against West Ham United in the FA Cup Fifth Round. twoht
When it gets to this point of the season, team selection can tell you a lot about a manager’s priorities as the season wears on. And with an EFL Cup win against Newcastle late on Sunday afternoon having coming on top of beating Barcelona in the Europa League it was small wonder that Erik ten Hag took the opportunity to rest some of his best-performing players of the season for an FA Cup Fifth Round match against West Ham United, their third game in six days.
This was, therefore, a Manchester United team with a spine of solid oak, but it was also missing core components of the unit that has powered its way to the quarter-finals of the Europa League, the Fifth Round of the FA Cup and third place in the Premier League this season, and it showed throughout a first half during which the best chance fell to their opponents.
Without the Bob the Builder-esque Casemiro, the pace, vision and finishing of 2023 Edition Marcus Rashford, the defensive marshalling of Raphael Varane and the ankle-biting tenacity of Lisandro Martinez, the first hour felt a little more like a 2022 Edition Manchester United than a 2023 one. West Ham’s defence contained them without breaking into too much of a sweat, and they were creating the better of the chances.
Ten Hag introduced Rashford and Martinez, another two steps back towards normalcy. And with just under twenty minutes to play, Casemiro flicked in Bruno Fernandes’ perfectly placed free-kick and Manchester United were level. Normal service resumed, at least until another interminable delay resulted in the goal being chalked off because Casemiro was caught at least a millimetre and a half offside.
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