Well, that was a terrible performance from Manchester United. There is no denying the fact that United simply did not deserve to draw that game. There are many things were wrong with that performance, things which have been symptomatic of our poor performances throughout the season.
1. Almost every one of our players seems to want an extra touch or an extra few seconds on the ball. I lost count of the number of times one of our players either lost the ball or let an advantage slip because of this. One-touch football seems non-existent at United. Shaw, Rojo, Januzaj, Valencia, Van Persie and Falcao were all regularly guilty of this versus West Ham.
2. Similar to point one, too many of our players not only favour but completely rely upon their stronger foot. Valencia is a known culprit for this but the same is also true of Di Maria and Falcao. Falcao's miss in the 76th minute was a perfect of example of this. That either of those two are so reluctant to use their other foot is criminal for £60m and £40m-odd players.
3. Has Falcao run out of chances to prove he's worth the money? While he's clearly a talented player, it's just not working for him at United; he reminds me very much of Diego Forlan. Annoyingly, both Danny Welbeck and Hernandez would have been more suited to the type of football Van Gaal wants us to play because both are far more willing runners off the ball and can stretch a defence for their strike partner.
4. The Rooney midfield experiment needs to end now - he has been nullified by his own manager and there doesn't seem to be a good reason for it, other than shoehorning him into the team. The continued omission of Ander Herrera is baffling to say the least. I would not be surprised if he was sold in the summer because he's good enough to be playing regularly.
5. There was one point late in the game where David de Gea had made yet another good save and the expression on his face said it all. It was one of being completely fed up with the lack of protection by his defence. I certainly wouldn't blame him if he did go to Real.
6. I could spend all day criticising our defence; there's just nothing good about it at all. Almost every aerial ball had a West Ham player on the end of it. Jones and Rojo are 5'10 and 6'1 respectively, so not exactly short; how is it that neither of them can win a contested header? It's not as if the backup options are any better either - Evans and Smalling both need to be moved on at the earliest possible opportunity and replaced with a quality defender or two.
7. A January loan deal for Januzaj would have been best for all concerned. He's clearly not ready to play a big part at United and a loan to a PL team would have been better for his development than staying at Old Trafford. Mata should have started because more often that not, even when he has a bad game, he makes a tangible contribution to the team.
8. David Moyes was heavily criticised for playing long balls and lumping cross after cross aimlessly into the box, yet Jamie Carragher was praising Van Gaal for this. Talk about hypocrisy.
9. Carragher also praised Van Gaal for "abandoning his philosophies" in favour of route one football, like this was a good thing and ultimately how we won the match. Surely that tells us more about Van Gaal's philosophies than his adaptability. If he changed it to a more direct way of playing to get a goal, why then weren't we doing that from the start? Also, West Ham are notoriously strong in the air, so why did Fellaini start on the bench?
10. I also loved the delicious irony of Sam Allardyce in his post-match interview, calling it "long ball United" and citing us "lumping it forward" for their conceding of the goal. Utterly hilarious, considering that is basically what he's built his entire managerial career on.
Plenty of things need to change for us to improve. We need to be more decisive in attack, more organised and disciplined in defence (as well as defensive reinforcements being a priority) and more sensible and appropriate formations need to be used (and with players in their natural position). It's not Van Gaal out; it's Van Gaal wake up and stop being so bloody stubborn.
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