Champions League places? Man United still haven't shown they're worthy of one

MANCHESTER, England -- The UEFA Champions League is there for Manchester United if they want it. Apparently, though, they don't.

The 1-1 draw with West Ham United at Old Trafford on Thursday was another example of an opportunity missed. At one point, leading 1-0 thanks to Diogo Dalot's second-half goal, Ruben Amorim's team was fifth in the table and level on points with Chelsea. That was before West Ham midfielder Soungoutou Magassa's 83rd-minute equalizer sent United tumbling back down to eighth.

Amorim has been cautious when asked this season if qualifying for the Champions League is a realistic aim, and you can see why. There have been chances to climb the table in games against Nottingham Forest, Tottenham Hotspur and Everton in the last few weeks, and each time United have fluffed their lines. Against West Ham, it happened again.

Amorim has had to face reporters after plenty of poor results since arriving form Sporting CP a year ago. He has rarely appeared so annoyed. "Frustrated," he said bluntly when asked about his opinion of the game. "Angry. That's it."

This is exactly the type of game United will have to learn to win if they're going to finish in the top four. Unfortunately for Amorim, it's exactly the type of game they struggle in most.

West Ham manager Nuno Esprito Santo had his side well-organized and well-drilled. The visitors were happy to defend low and give up the ball and, for large spells, United didn't appear to know what to do with it. Passes went side to side and came back again. Crosses into the box were headed away routinely by white shirts.

A short corner worked to Bryan Mbeumo ended in his shot being tipped over by West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. Amad Diallo's cross flicked off Joshua Zirkzee's thigh and was cleared off the line by former United defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka -- another player who looks far better now he's well away from Old Trafford -- and Bruno Fernandes grazed the post with a volley. In terms of chances, though, that was about it.

Even when United finally scored, there was a fortunate feel to it. Casemiro's deflected shot fell to Dalot, who took a superb touch and found the net. It was one of only four shots on target for United despite having nearly 65% possession. Still, keep West Ham out and it would have been enough.

It wasn't.

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"I always have the feeling that we need to score more goals," said Amorim. "Even with Brighton when we were 3-0 up. We suffer with that. We need to improve."

Sometimes this season, United have dropped points because they've lost control. This didn't happen here; instead, West Ham were able to capitalize on 90 seconds of defensive failings. There's a reason United have only kept one clean sheet all season.

First, United's back four didn't deal with a long ball forward that ended up bouncing over center back Leny Yoro's head. From there, West Ham's Jarrod Bowen, busy all night, was able to pick it up and win an unlikely corner off Noussair Mazraoui. From the set piece, the 5-foot-9 Bowen won the header at the near post, and after Mazraoui had cleared off the line, Magassa scored his first goal for West Ham.

It was mistake after mistake for United, and Amorim was left fuming. "It happened from a long ball, they won the second ball against three guys so we need to be better," he said. "If you look at the goal, we have a long ball, we have everything under control, so we need to do better. We cannot let a team that is so much taller than us have a corner [like that]."

Amorim hasn't looked as angry in a postmatch news conference since the 3-1 defeat to Brighton in January, when he broke his golden rule of not going into the dressing room after the final whistle and ended up smashing a TV and cutting his hand.

Here, he avoided his players immediately afterward and said he would address them at Carrington in the morning. Judging by his mood, there could be fireworks. "In that regard, I am almost always consistent," said Amorim.