United Comes Crashing Down To Earth

West Ham 4 - Manchester United 0
Scorers
West Ham: Spector (22, 37), Cole (56, 66)

Team: Kuszczak, Smalling, Evans (Brown 72), O'Shea, Fabio (Rafael 65), Fletcher, Anderson, Obertan, Bebe (Macheda 46), Giggs, Hernandez

Sobbering experience for the kids on show today. After the high achieved over the weekend by the senior side, Ferguson threw in 10 changes with a mixture of youth and experience against an injury plagued West Ham, and the result was a hammering...pardon the pun.

Jonathan Spector, formerly from United, opened the scoring after 22 minutes. He earlier had a goal disallowed for offside. He added a second as the half closed after some poor marking. Cole doubled the score in the second half with a brace to send United tumbling from the Mickey Mouse cup with our first defeat of the season.

We didn't really play badly, but we weren't any good either. I suppose the only thing that I can say about our overall performance today is probably 'meh'. However one thing's for sure, David May is absolutely right when he said that our youngster are falling short. Our squad is simply not good enough to compete.

Kus probably has seen his last game in a United shirt. Can't possibly see him in the starting lineup after letting in 4 today.With the signing of Anders Lindegaard, I'm pretty sure he's going to be our first casualty. It's sad in a way. There was precious little he could have done on all 4 goals. Our defense was miserable in the London snow.

Evans in particular was just woeful. There was a time I thought he would make it, but apparently we let the wrong one go. He's hardly progressed since Pique left for Barcelona. At least his current partner in crime today, Smalling, didn't do too badly. I'd be hardpressed to see Evans play any major part in the next few years. At best, he's going to be a bit part player like O'Shea or Brown.

I wonder what we're going to do with Obertan. I think I've come to the conclusion that Obertan is never going to get it....ever. He's got all the skills in the world, but something's just not doing it for me. Maybe it's his confidence or lack of it, or just his lack of killer instincts and desire to win. Whatever the case is, it's time to cut our losses and move on. He's ceiling is not at the Nani or Giggs level, and since we have so many holes to fill, we can ill afford to take on this deadweight. There are better prospects that deserve the time and experience.

And speaking of prospects, Bebe is still raw as hell. I have no idea what to make of him. He's done ok in the reserves and showed raw power when he gets to play. If we're patient with him, we may get to reap the rewards. Right now he has to ply his trade in the reserves for a long while more before he can make it. Still too early to make a judgement. At least he shows a hunger for the game.

As far as hunger goes, Macheda's hungry like a wolf. The problem here is that that's all he's showing. Sorry, but he's another one that's not doing it for me. As I've mentioned a few weeks back, he needs the games. Look at how much Welbeck has achieve in his short stint with Sunderland. I used to place Welbeck much lower on the packing order from Macheda, but right now I think he's become one the better players in the league. He's positioning and passing has improved leaps and bounds, and his predatory instincts seemed to have heightened playing alongside Bent. Macheda needs to play more competitive games to horn his skills. As of right now, he's just not good enough to make a team like ours.

Sadly we're out of the Mickey Mouse cup. What this means is that we're not going to see some of our young players much. In a way it's also a good defeat. At least now we won't get hung up over the 'undefeated' tag. With that silly monkey off our backs, maybe we can continue to build on the result over Blackburn. Hope springs eternal and our season starts right now.