Man United kicked off their tour of the United States with a 2-1 victory over West Ham in New Jersey.
Samuel joined the Manchester Evening News in 2014 and is the Chief Manchester United writer. He has broken exclusives on Jose Mourinho’s appointment, the re-signing of Cristiano Ronaldo, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s sacking, the club’s interest in Ralf Rangnick and Erik ten Hag, as well as numerous other transfers and team news. He has represented the MEN on the BBC, Sky News, Sky Sports News, TalkSport, Radio 5 Live, CNN and various other media outlets worldwide.
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Cunha was excellent vs West Ham
A week on, another Portuguese-speaker played a pass for Rasmus Hojlund and the ball eluded him. This time the reaction was different.
Hojlund offered Matheus Cunha applause for his overhit forward pass moments before half-time. Cunha cursed his execution, particularly as he had engineered space with a deft turn that wowed the crowd in New Jersey.
In Stockholm a week earlier, Hojlund vented at Diogo Dalot for delaying a pass. Within a minute of kick-off in New Jersey, he was played through by Cunha and smacked the post.
With Cunha and Bruno Fernandes to support Hojlund, he was unlikely to be short of service. United were productive and the 1-0 half-time scoreline flattered West Ham. The issue was the goal was a fifth-minute penalty and United’s chance-conversion from open play was familiarly poor.
Hojlund had two shots, Leny Yoro nodded wide and Fernandes hit goalkeeper Alphonse Areola when he seemed certain to hit the back of the net. Fernandes rectified that quickly with a classy second in the 52nd minute.
This was hardly a case of Fernandes papering over the cracks again. United were so energetic their starting XI played for over an hour, unheard of for their first pre-season tour match.
After the rotational team that was fielded against Leeds United in Sweden, Ruben Amorim used his maiden tour match to set out his stall now the players have banked nearly three weeks of training. The starters played for 65 minutes, a striking shift from the opening tour games under Erik ten Hag when players were allocated 45 minutes.
Amorim’s first tour XI could feasibly line up against Arsenal in three weeks. Bryan Mbeumo, deemed not match-fit due to his arrival time from Brentford, will doubtless muscle his way in and Andre Onana is hopeful of recovering in time for the competitive schedule.
It was a travesty the scoreline was 2-1 when United’s first XI earned a breather midway through the second half. Amorim picked six players bought over the last year, supplemented by integral players for the long-term. United had a newish look even with only one new signing.
The glaring issue in the team remains the striker. Hojlund’s desperation for a goal was evident from his edgy body language and he headed off the pitch without a goal to his name for the second successive week.
After two early sighters, Hojlund was on the fringes and United fans were treated to the familiar sight of Fernandes placing the ball between the sticks. It is early days but United cannot get by another season with Fernandes topping the goalscoring charts.
Hojlund scored nine minutes into last season’s Stateside tour before he hit the deck with a hamstring injury against Arsenal. A sliding doors moment before the season began. This was another. He was almost on the scoresheet inside a minute.
Running onto Cunha’s through ball, Hojlund effortlessly outpaced Max Kilman and thudded the upright with a first-time shot. United only had to wait a few more minutes to change the scoreboard through Fernandes.
Fernandes and Cunha warmed up with each other. United lack quantity and quality in midfield, an area where Fernandes could paper over the cracks. Yet Amorim indicated at his pre-match press conference that he was loath to permanently relocate Fernandes to a deeper role, having admitted that the captain is developing a “connection” with Cunha.
Whether as a duo behind the striker or one in front of the other, there is a growing rapport between the two Latinos just two starts into Cunha’s career at United. But Mbeumo has to be accommodated somewhere.
Leny Yoro and Ayden Heaven, the two teenagers in the team, are developing into attacking assets from defence. Heaven won the penalty and Yoro found Fernandes with a pass from inside his own third. Heaven erred when he failed to close down Jarrod Bowen and the angle for West Ham’s goal.
Kobbie Mainoo was the talk of the town as a teenager at the MetLife two years ago when United beat Arsenal. He was starting again, this time to regain his place rather than gain it.
Having been trialled as a playmaker by Amorim and, fruitlessly, as a false nine, Mainoo was back in central midfield with Manuel Ugarte, a certain starter next month on the basis of United’s substantial investment in the Uruguayan. A day after Amorim admitted he is pushing Mainoo to increase his rhythm and pace, Mainoo assisted Fernandes by winning the ball deep inside West Ham territory.
Ugarte reserved his best United performance this calendar year for a friendly and the challenge will be for him to transmit this level to a meaningful match. Ugarte’s intensity would have befitted a Premier League match.
Diogo Dalot has had a squad number upgrade to ‘2’ yet Amad is poised to occupy the right wing in this United reboot. The 23-year-old had a goal chalked off after he strayed offside.
It was another Portuguese-speaker who got on the scoresheet.