Manchester United didn’t get the result they wanted at home tonight against West Ham, but they didn’t suffer a disaster either. The Red Devils and Hammers split the points at Old Trafford as they battled to a 1-1 draw. The tie, coupled with Chelsea currently in a deep hole at Liverpool, means United will almost certainly head into Championship Sunday third in the table.
Then it’s up to them to secure Champions League football for next season as a draw or win at Leicester City will get them in. Tonight was far from United’s best outing of the season, as several key players has subpar performances.
Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba were poor while Bruno Fernandes was substandard. However, left back Brandon Williams really stood out, in a bad way, for the second straight match. United REALLY need Luke Shaw to get fit for the season finale this weekend. As such the 19-year-old found himself trending on Twitter and not for the right reasons.
Here are some of the more memorable tweets that we saw about him. Please remember, he’s still young and there is potential for him yet.
No one:
Brandon Williams: pic.twitter.com/07jjZkIDMT
— … (@Thulani_Dlamini) July 22, 2020
Brandon Williams needs to be benched for the Leicester game. No chance he starts.
— The United Link ? (@TheUnitedLink) July 22, 2020
https://twitter.com/janp09/status/1285991062797004800
One guy who isn’t 19, for a couple months yet, but is realizing his potential right now is Mason Greenwood. In providing the equalizer/only goal for United tonight he scored his 17th of the season and 10th in the Premier League.
The 17 is the most for any teenager at the club in a single season. He’s also the first player since 1997/98 to score 10+ goals in the Premier League. Here are more statistics for United’s man of the match, who was making his 50th appearance on Wednesday.
10 – Mason Greenwood is the first player to score 10 @premierleague goals in a season as a teenager since Romelu Lukaku in 2012-13 (14), and the first English player to do so since Wayne Rooney in 2004-05 (11). Natural. pic.twitter.com/4rg8S7eiBu
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) July 22, 2020
As for Pogba, well he was responsible for the first goal of the game/West Ham’s only scoring strike when he committed a hand ball on a Declan Rice free kick.
VAR confirmed the ruling and Michail Antonio converted from the spot to put the Irons up 1-0 at halftime. He also had a good laugh about it.
Paul Pogba did not enjoy Michail Antonio laughing at his handball… ?pic.twitter.com/HMJkNW0CEi
— Sky Sports (@SkySports) July 22, 2020
We’ll be back tomorrow with United-Leicester preview material.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for Chicago Tribune.com, on Twitter and his cat on Instagram.