OPINION

West Ham stormed to an impressive 3-1 victory over Manchester United on Saturday and Manuel Pellegrini would have learnt several things about his side.

Felipe Anderson put the Hammers quickly ahead in the 5th minute of the match and they didn’t look back from there as Pellegrini’s side never looked like losing the game.

Marcus Rashford may have grabbed his side a consolation goal in the second-half but it was against the run of play and it won’t cause the Hammers boss to go back to the drawing board.

Forever West Ham have picked out three things we learned about West Ham v Manchester United below:

Noble was immense

Any doubts about whether Mark Noble was still of use to West Ham should be quickly thrown away as the veteran was sensational against Manchester United. The 31-year-old ran the midfield for his side and kept Paul Pogba in his back pocket like the French international was some kind of Premier League rookie. Noble aside from being a dominant presence for his side also wowed when it came to the attacking side of his game. Noble played defence splitting passes and even registered an assist in his Saturday’s outing as his passing bordered on flawless. Hopefully the midfielder is able to keep up his level of performance as he will be one of the first names on the team sheet if he does.

Signing Diop was genius

Issa Diop put in another solid display that saw him hardly break a sweat as Manchester United weren’t at the races. However the centre-back will continue to grow with each performance even if he is being tested to the best of his ability. Though it’s worth noting he can’t force an opponent’s attack to push him to limit, he can only handle what is put in front of him and that’s exactly what he did on Saturday. Given that the Hammers shipped goals like nobody’s business last season then signing the 6ft 3in tall defender (Source: Transfermarkt) has proven to be a genius move on their part as he looks the answer to their prayers. Not only does he looked unfazed at the back, he seems able to stride out from defence with the ball in order to set his side on the attack.

Yarmolenko’s work-rate underrated

Andriy Yarmolenko will be showered in praise for the attacking side of his game once again after his display against Man United but that isn’t his only strength. The Ukrainian winger was immense when it came to tracking back and helping his side. While Pablo Zabaleta submitted another performance that made his age irrelevant, he isn’t the fastest full-back. This means that the veteran defender had his flaws masked as if he wasn’t quick enough to close down Man United’s attack, Yarmolenko assured his teammate that he was there to cover him. If Yarmolenko is able to keep up being good for the Hammers at the back as well as upfront then he will soon establish himself as a fan favourite.