OPINION
West Ham embarrassed Manchester United on Saturday not just because they defeated them but due to how easy it was to brush them aside.
The Hammers cruised to a 3-1 victory and there was no point during the game where it honestly looked like Man United were going to emerge from the London Stadium with all three points.
As soon as the whistle blew to start the game, the Hammers looked to have Man United’s number saved in their speed dial and it was only a matter of time before the flood gates opened.
While several of the Hammers’ star players had to be on tip-top form to get the result, which they were, one Jose Mourinho’s decision made it particularly easy for his side to be shown up and embarrassed.
For some strange reason the Portuguese manager opted to start 21-year-old midfielder Scott McTominay in his defence despite having centre-back Eric Bailly to call upon.
Bailly, may not have had the best career at Old Trafford so far, but he would have been a way better option to play in defence than McTominay who was clearly uncomfortable after being chosen to play as part of a three-man defence.
The 21-year-old was arguably at fault for two of the Hammers’ goals as he constantly put himself in the wrong position and just made life difficult for himself.
McTominay can’t exactly be blamed too harshly for his struggles as Mourinho effectively threw him under the bus by asking him to deal with the attacking threat of Felipe Anderson, Andryi Yarmolenko and Marko Arnautovic.
The Hammers’ attacking trio may still have had great success on Saturday even if Bailly had played, but they may not have been afforded so much space to cause damage like they were, meaning it would have been a less embarrassing performance for their opponents.
It’s actually no surprise or hard to believe that Man United’s players were left baffled, as reported by the Manchester Evening News, by Mourinho’s decision to play McTominay in defence and not use Bailly during the game.
As it was clearly a confusing decision that made their job harder and saw the Hammers steamroll their way to victory in spectacular fashion.
