It seems like the success in the Champions League has carried over to the Premier League as well for Manchester United, or maybe it’s simply not playing at the Old Trafford, coming away with a 2-0 win over West Ham, getting two goals from Wayne Rooney, including one from the halfway line.
With the news and jokes about Manchester United drawn with Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarterfinals, some thought that it’s going to be another rough landing in a league where they’ve failed to create any consecutive success of late, especially with the 3-0 loss to Liverpool still in their minds.
But the energy and effort from midweek resonated with the players, and finally using a very packed and tight midfield, something Moyes hasn’t been doing enough, was good enough to give Manchester United dominance in the middle of the pitch, even though it didn’t produce great football.
West Ham are never a team with initiative. Reactive, defensive and playing for long balls. It didn’t give them any real meaningful chances, with Andy Carroll being especially wasteful around the goalkeeper’s box.
Rooney without Van Persie plays as a striker, which might not be his best position, but it did get the best out of him in this win. A goal from the halfway line, a Beckham moment if you like, although Adrian, caught way out of position, should be the one blamed for the goal, as elegant as Rooney’s touch was.
The job was done later in the first half, as Rooney converted an excellent counter attack, something that we’ve rarely seen from Manchester United this season, and West Ham are a team that can’t comeback from these kind of deficits.
Manchester United might still end up in Europe next season, even though the Europa League is something many in the club feel is beneath them. They just need Spurs and Everton to drop some points.