Man United’s winning rhythm was clipped by West Ham as they exposed Michael Carrick’s tactical rigidity, leaving superfan Frank Ilett’s scissors on hold.
Viral Manchester United fan, Frank Ilett, will have to wait longer to cut his hair as Michael Carrick’s side fell agonisingly short of winning their fifth consecutive match. Man United were held to a 1-1 draw by the inspiring West Ham on Wednesday in the English Premier League as Benjamin Sesko secured a point for the Red Devils.
United had won the first four matches under former player and interim manager Carrick, but as per a
condition set by Ilett in 2024, a victory over West Ham would have seen him finally cut his hair after over 500 days. But United failed to win their fifth consecutive match and Ilett would now have wait longer.
West Ham show Carrick’s United still have layers to unlock
That, however, would not be Man United’s major concern. The biggest worry would be how West Ham and manager Nuno Espírito Santo diffused a team that was high on confidence. United came into the game after beating Man City, Arsenal, Fulham and Tottenham, but the Hammers produced a perfect performance at the London Stadium.
One area where Carrick erred was that his approach was very similar to that last four games. He didn’t change much despite West Ham sitting deep, and then got lucky on the counterattack as Tomas Soucek put them in front in the 50th minute.
It took till 69th minute for Carrick to bring on Benjamin Sesko in place of Matheus Cunha, finally changing tactics to play some long ball instead of trying to stitch passes and score a goal. The introduction of the 1.95 meters tall striker Sesko from Slovenia finally paid off in the dying minutes of the match as he scored an equaliser in the 96th minute.
Bryan 🤝 Benjamin
A sublime delivery and finish deep into injury time 🎯
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) February 11, 2026
A very Man United result, but they would have wanted a win.
“I think we were a little disappointed and we were definitely not at our best. I’m a little frustrated at that,” Carrick told TNT Sports. “It is a tough place to come and we didn’t have that sharpness to find the answers. Great spirit again and we will take the point and move on.”
“Credit to the boys for coming back again, it is a great trait to have in the team,” Carrick added. “There are positives to take from it, you can’t win every game, we certainly didn’t want to come away from here without a point.”
United next play against Everton on Monday night.
In other EPL matches, Chelsea blew away a 2-0 lead to play out a 2-2 draw against Leeds at home. Newcastle defeated Spurs 2-1, while Bournemouth won 2-1 against Everton.
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