United found an attack early, as Daniel James set it up for Andreas Pereira on a counterattack in the 3rd minute, but Pereira couldn’t get a clean touch on it. He had another decent look at goal a couple minutes later, but blasted it into the crowd. James was electric to start the match, creating 3 chances in the first 10 minutes of the match and having a decent look at goal himself from the edge of the area.
As has happened before, however, United couldn’t keep up their early dominance of the match. They began to have difficulty organizing counter attacks on a rainy day in Bournemouth. The Cherries looked more and more dangerous as the first half wore on, and former Manchester United youngster and academy graduate Josh King took advantage of a moment of confused defending by Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Victor Lindelof to smash in a brilliantly taken goal on the stroke of half-time.
The Bournemouth charge continued into the opening minutes of the second half, and Ryan Fraser sent a shot into the arms of David De Gea from a decent position. United had a couple of chances after settling in, but continued to be frustrated by a good Bournemouth defense. In fact, it was Bournemouth who continued to create the more meaningful chances, and King was denied a 2nd on a scrappy play in the area.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer brought on Jesse Lingard and Brandon Williams for the ineffective Andreas Pereira and Ashley Young respectively, but United still struggled to find the net. Greenwood hit the post unluckily, McTominay had a decent effort parried away, and Steve Cook just, and I mean just, got to the ball before Marcus Rashford on a great long ball chance.
Bournemouth held on to seal the win, giving United their 4th defeat of the season.
