Manchester United lost 1-0 to West Ham United on Sunday as the race for the Champions League qualification spots heats up once more.
Defeat at the London Stadium is the second successive league defeat for Erik Ten Hag and his men. Much like the display at the Amex Stadium last week, there was a lack of energy, desire and ideas.
What did Mark Goldbridge say about Wout Weghorst?
While United were collectively poor, Weghorst seemed lost and completely devoid of ideas. He did stich play together well on one occasion in the first half but overall, there was no fluidity or creativity from the big Dutchman.
Taking to Twitter to vent during the game, Mark Goldbridge said: "Can't believe he's kept Weghorst on…..We're playing with ten men."
Goldbridge added some extra flavour on TikTok, comparing Weghorst's role in the United side to musical chairs.
He said: "Watching Weghorst play for Man United is like watching somebody play musical chairs and no-one's put the chairs out. It doesn't make sense.
"Lots of effort, lots of running around but the game's never going to go anywhere, is it?"
While Goldbridge may have analysed the situation from a comical point of view, he's not wrong. The Dutchman essentially offered nothing to Manchester United on Sunday.
How bad was Wout Weghorst against West Ham?
It's not really a case of Weghorst playing poorly as much as it's a case of the former Burnley man just not being the right fit for the tactical system being employed by Ten Hag.
Since arriving at United, he has been most commonly deployed as a false nine, where he is asked to float between the lines, stitch play together and follow the ball into the box.
Against West Ham, he played for 57 minutes with no impact on the game. According to Sofascore, he took 28 touches, played 21 passes with an accuracy of 76% and lost the ball seven times – he even took less touches and completed less passes than match-decider David De Gea.
The frustration is that Marcel Sabitzer could deliver far more encouraging performances in the same rolem, so perhaps Ten Hag should consider giving the Austrian more game time in the final four games.
With Liverpool now chasing down United, the pressure is on to deliver. Jurgen Klopp's side appeared to be without a chance of reaching the top four at the start of April but now have a real chance to sneak in through the back door. United are on 63 points with a game in hand while Liverpool are on 62 points – it won't take a whole lot to lose top four from here.
Fortunately, United's next game is at Old Trafford against Wolves on Saturday. Perhaps the home crowd can lift the squad as the end of the season approaches.