In a tense match at the London Stadium, Manchester United faced a 2-1 defeat to West Ham on Sunday, with Diogo Dalot’s glaring miss in front of an open goal becoming a focal point of criticism.
Also Read: West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui defends Erik ten Hag from one criticism
Despite several clear opportunities in the first half, it was Dalot who squandered what could have been a pivotal moment for United, missing the target entirely.
The match saw Crysencio Summerville put West Ham ahead in the second half, followed by an equalizer from Casemiro. However, the game took a controversial turn in injury time when Matthijs de Ligt was penalized for a minor collision with Danny Ings. VAR intervened, prompting referee David Coote to review his decision, which ultimately resulted in a penalty awarded to West Ham. Jarrod Bowen converted the penalty, sealing the win for the Hammers.
In the post-match press conference, when questioned about Dalot’s miss, Erik ten Hag chose not to place blame solely on him. He stated, “Yeah, but I can also say Alejandro Garnacho twice, Rasmus Hojlund one time, Rashford, Bruno… it’s not fair to pick one of the players out who missed the chances when there were so many missing chances.” His response highlighted the collective failure to capitalize on scoring opportunities.
Football pundit Alan Shearer weighed in on Dalot’s miss, commenting, “We’ll be talking about this in 20 years’ time. The huge, embarrassing misses. Bloopers. Oh my word. He’ll not be wanting to see that again. Absolute sitter. It gets worse every time I see it.”
In a separate interview with MUTV, Ten Hag insisted that United had performed well enough to win the match, citing their dominance in creating chances. “In football it’s not always the best team winning; today is the perfect example,” he remarked. “Today there was only one team who deserved the win. We played very good football, in and out of possession, dominating the opponent, creating chances. The only thing… is that you have to score.”
He added, “We have to look in the mirror, keep calm, keep focused, and head in front of the goal. In the end, you lose the game, that’s very frustrating after we made one mistake. We showed again we are a resilient team, and the penalty situation had a big impact on the score.”
As Manchester United continues to grapple with their form, the focus will be on improving their finishing in upcoming matches.
