Manchester United were humbled away to Tottenham at the weekend. They were outclassed at White Hart Lane,but that wasn’t the worst part for United fans.
There have been rumours of dressing room unrest in the days following Sundays result. Louis Van Gaal apparently laid into Marcus Rashford at half time, before hooking the youngster off. The other players weren’t too happy with their managers treatment of Rashford, which did seem rather odd considering he is only 18 and didn’t do anything particularly wrong.
There are also rumours that Van Gaal also had a pop at Marcos Rojo at full time, after the three goals were conceded. The two have not been on the best of terms for some time, so it’s unsurprising.
Many believe that this dressing room unrest would help West Ham, as the players might not be too happy with their manager, but it could actually do the opposite.
Manchester United are like a wounded animal, vastly inferior to title chasing Spurs and almost out of the Champions League unless they win the majority of their remaining games.
This makes them dangerous opposition, they will want to bounce back. The FA Cup could be their last chance of success this season, while they still have some decent players who can cause problems to a shaky West Ham defence.
This is the other reason we need to be careful. The manner in which we shipped three goals to Arsenal at the weekend was unlike us. Adrian has been shaky recently, and the defence hasn’t looked the same without James Collins. The defence will feel the pressure late in the game, and Martial in particular has looked dangerous against us in the last couple of matches. A clean sheet would be fantastic, but at the moment it looks unlikely.
On the positive side, Andy Carroll looks up for the battle and will surely cause Chris Smalling and Daley Blind all kinds of problems at the back. If Bilic decides to drop the three at the back (which didn’t work) and we go back to a back four, we will definitely score and with the Upton Park crowd on form, there is no reason why we can’t win this one and meet Everton at Wembley.
United’s 3-0 loss at the weekend may have humiliated them, but this will only make them come out fighting against us. We need to be wary of a decent team, but we know that we have the quality to win a tie that we deserved to win last time out.
