The Hammers were left bitterly disappointed as their opening game of 2017 ended in defeat against Manchester United at London Stadium.
Second-half goals from Jaun Mata and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were enough for the visitors on an evening where a number of key decisions appeared to go against the hosts.
Facing the tough test of an in-form Manchester United side anyway, West Ham's night was made even harder just 15 minutes in when Sofiane Feghouli was given a controversial straight red card following a tackle on Phil Jones.
The Hammers responded and regrouped commendably as they not only went about keeping out a star-studded Man United strike-force, but also created a number of chances for themselves. After just over an hour of resistance, though, eventually the visitors went in front.
At the heart of the Hammers’ creditable response was the extra yards that our nine outfield players were willing to run. Three of the West Ham players ran more than eleven kilometres over the course of the 90 minutes with Pedro Obiang topping the charts on 11.58km.
Up top, Manuel Lanzini and Michael Antonio ran 11.33km and 11.09km respectively, whilst Antonio’s 61 sprints were the most by a West Ham player on the night.
For the visitors, Ander Herrera ran furthest at 11.82km however none of his fellow teammates covered more ground than West Ham’s top four players.
Defensively, the Hammers showed their grit too. Winston Reid’s four blocks were the most by any player on the park and the hosts also made 24 clearances, which for the opening hour at least, kept Manchester United frustrated. Reid again making the most with five.
The extra-man gave Manchester United impetus to move forward more freely and the attacking statistics reflect it. Not only did the visitors have more ball possession (63%) but their 90% pass completion rate and 13 attempts were both significantly higher than West Ham United’s.
That’s not to say West Ham didn’t have their chances in more advanced areas of the field though. Michail Antonio went closest when his shot from 18 yards was saved by David de Gea as the hosts had a total of eight attempts during the 90 minutes. Pedro Obiang’s three successful dribbles were the most by any player; in fact, West Ham made almost twice as many runs with the ball as their opponents (eleven).
Had decisions gone a different way on the night, perhaps West Ham could have been a celebrating a positive result but there is no denying that the response after Feghouli’s red card was impressive. The extra work that many of the home players put in will be an encouraging sign for Slaven Bilic and something to build on as they look ahead to the challenge of Manchester City on Friday.
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