Manchester United suffered a shocking defeat to West Ham United in the Carabao Cup to see them leave the competition. West Ham United gained revenge for Sunday’s Premier League home defeat against Manchester United by knocking them out right in front of their fans at Old Trafford.
Manuel Lanzini’s ninth-minute goal was enough to seal the victory for the visitors. The goal was his first goal in almost 12 months and only his second since May 2019. All United did to get back to the game proved abortive even the introduction of Bruno Fernandes and Mason Greenwood could not savage the trouble.
The visitors should have wrapped up the victory three times in the final five minutes, but Andriy Yarmolenko, Mark Noble and Jarrod Bowen all failed to hit the target. In the end, though, it didn’t matter. It was the first Old Trafford triumph for West Ham United since Carlos Tevez’s matchwinner in 2007.
For Manchester United and Solskjaer, it is an early end to their hopes of securing the first available silverware of the season and ending the wait for a trophy that stretches back to 2017. The defeat came after Solskjaer picked a completely different from the ones that won Sunday. Manchester United will now focus on the English Premier League and other competitions they are still participating in.
They will play Aston Villa at Old Trafford in the Premier League on Saturday, 25 September, while West Ham visits Leeds on the same day. Speaking about the game, United head coach Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer said every game is essential, but you can see by the team selection that we’ve always used this competition when they go there.
He also said: “I’ve never actually won this tournament. That hunt will keep going. It’s a trophy I’d like to have. But we’ve made decisions to get the squad up to speed.”