Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Jesse Lingard have combined to redeem themselves after they both played a part in the defeat to Young Boys.
While Mark Noble could have dramatically tied the score with just seconds to go, the West Ham skipper had his penalty saved by David De Gea to round off what was a dramatic match.
Solskjaer and Lingard will be delighted after the midweek drama they experienced themselves and after criticising Ole for his substitutions, he got it bang-on on Sunday.
I’ll gloss over the fact that Man Utd were overrun by West Ham in midfield as Paul Pogba, Bruno Fernandes, Scott McTominay and Fred failed to control the game.
This put the away side under a great deal of pressure and had it not been for Lingard’s fantastic goal and a huge slice of luck to see David De Gea deny Noble’s penalty, the Red Devils might have returned to Manchester with a solitary point.
But we cannot crucify Ole based on hypotheticals and after his poor substitutions midweek, I must now praise him for more effective use of Jesse Lingard.
My complaint was that he was brought on as United’s focal point in attack but as a player that likes to come short to receive the ball it left them bunched up in the middle of the park and allowed Young Boys to squeeze them high up the pitch and resulted in Lingard’s fateful pass to Theoson Siebathceu.
However, Lingard brightened the game against his former loan side and after assisting Young Boys for their winner, he played a much more positive role for Man Utd and his delightful curling effort was exactly what Ole would have been wanting.
What’s now blatantly clear – and hopefully Ole has taken notice – is that Lingard needs runners in front of him. Either to make space for him to shoot or to create chances for and while he is likely to remain a super-sub, there’s no better coach in the Premier League to learn about how to win games from the bench than Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Manchester United need to find balance in the middle of the park if they’re going to win games comfortably and without the dramatics of recent results otherwise we will need to strap in and prepare for rollercoaster games like Sunday’s win over West Ham to repeat themselves.
My major concern for Utd is that it’s not a sustainable way to challenge for the title and with Liverpool and Chelsea winning games with ease, they will be difficult to keep up with at the current pace.