ERIK TEN HAG may as well pack his bags because he looks absolutely doomed.
The Manchester United manager, who should have witnessed one of the easiest wins of his Man Utd career, ended up getting shafted by VAR.
Jarrod Bowen’s late penalty won the game for West Ham against Man Utd
The 2-1 defeat piles the pressure on to Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag
Man Utd players were left furious with the decision as Michael Oliver on VAR overruled the ref’s on-field decision NOT to award a penalty
Ten Hag was left cursing when Michael Oliver, on VAR duties at Stockley Park, flagged up a loose leg from Matthijs De Ligt which caught Danny Ings although it looked like a coming together.
Referee David Coote spent two minutes to study the footage and to the disbelief of United’s players, awarded the penalty which Jarrod Bowen stuck away.
Although there were 12 minutes of injury-time played, United – who also claimed Ings handled the ball during the penalty incident- could not find the leveller on another day of disaster for Ten Hag.
United were in so much control in the first half, they should have led 5-0 at the break.
But West Ham’s Crysencio Summerville, who changed the game when coming on as a sub, scored his first Premier League goal before Casemiro equalised with a header.
But even so, no-one could have expected the drama at the end which did seem incredibly harsh on United.
Yet it should have been so different as United tore apart West Ham in the first half.
Alejandro Garnacho could have scored twice in the opening eight minutes.
He rammed his first shot against the woodwork after 100 seconds and then should have done better with a second chance but his shot drifted wide.
Bruno Fernandes, enjoying a remarkable amount of space, should have capitalised on some more shambolic home defending.
He ran his time perfectly to find himself completely unmarked to meet Christian Eriksen’s floated cross but he rushed a header and it sailed over.
Marcus Rashford, who has been completely frozen out of international football, is clearly struggling with his confidence.
When clean through, he inexplicably ran the ball straight into keeper Lukasz Fabianski, who had replaced Alphonse Areola from the 4-1 stuffing against Spurs.
Fabianski was handed a huge let-off when he raced out of his area like a headless chicken even though he was never going to reach a ball over the top from Fernandes.
Unfortunately for United, it was Dalot who had found himself in this terrific position and while he nudged the ball beyond the Polish keeper, the defender’s finish from inside the area, with a completely open goal, was just embarrassing. No wonder he put his hands on his head.
This also explains why he has only scored three times in over 100 Premier League appearances.
Although Fabianski was dodgy on that occasion, he delivered a decent reflex save to keep out a header from Casemiro just before half-time.
West Ham failed to create in the first half apart from Lucas Paqueta’s header which drifted over the bar
Lopetegui made his triple half-time sub although both Kostas Mavropanos and Paqueta were on bookings.
And although they could not have been any worse, the Hammers did show a bit more purpose in the second half.
While Fabianski still had to push away a drive from Rasmus Hojlund, he was under much less pressure.
A £25million summer arrival from Leeds, Summerville has yet to see his career take off in east London but he did give West Ham a spark when replacing Paqueta in the second half.
And he was in the right place when he bundled in the opening goal. Ings had only been on the pitch for three minutes after replacing Michail Antonio and while the former Liverpool forward made a complete mess of trying to tuck away a pass from Jarrod Bowen, the ball fell perfectly for Summerville.
United did have some character when they fell behind, but that was quite cruel. Following a long ball from substitute Amad Diallo, three headers were scored by Dalot, Joshua Zirkzee, and Casemiro.
Amazingly, though, West Ham was fortunate to receive the late penalty through VAR after Ings was taken down by De Ligt’s challenge.
It was announced that there would be 12 minutes of extra time as Bowen went up to take the penalty.
However, West Ham managed to win as the England international skillfully tucked the ball past Andre Onana.