West Ham United 2-1 Manchester United: Wasteful finishing, poor adjustments and a shocking pin

Manchester United suffered another disappointing defeat in the capital on Sunday. The Reds lost 2-1 at the London Stadium and lost at West Ham for the third time in a row under Erik ten Hag thanks to terrible finishing.

United had four missed big chances in the first half, two for Alejandro Garnacho and one each for Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot. The latter failed because of the open goal. The struggles in front of goal were evident in this game and it was just the beginning of a terrible afternoon.

In the second half, West Ham took control of the game, with United struggling to possess the ball, let alone create more chances, for the first 20 minutes or so. It culminated in a seemingly inevitable goal with Crescencio Summerville denied at the back post and beaten by Andre Onana. United easily prevailed again, but it wasn't the decisive moment.

With some urgency, the Reds finally scored through Casemiro, who scored a header against Lukasz Fabianski after a pinball cross and even equalized until the final minutes. Instead of re-energizing the team, West Ham went back on the attack and the result was a shocking decision from the referee and VAR.

Matthijs De Ligt challenged Danny Ings with a loose ball and clumsily cleared it without anyone making the intended contact with the ball, but play was stopped by VAR to check the contact.

Even in slow motion, De Ligt's tackle didn't seem out of the ordinary, but as it came off the monitor the referee pointed to the spot. De Ligt and his team-mates were rightly furious and Jarrod Bowen's conversion was to be the difference in the game as West Ham won 2-1.

It was a ridiculous decision, but the truth was that United once again found themselves in a situation where all it took was one bad moment to lose to a team they had no business losing against. Erik ten Hag's team are in 14th place in the Premier League table and that's not the fault of a refereeing decision.