• ‘We must wait for 10-15 games to see our direction’
• Grant says West Ham are trying to sign new players

Avram Grant, the West Ham United manager, said there is no need for fans to panic about their start to the season unless they fail to improve after “10-15 games”. West Ham are bottom of the Premier League going into the international break following defeats in their opening three matches.

West Ham have never lost their first four league games but the leaders Chelsea, who have made a perfect start to the new campaign, are their next opponents in just under a fortnight. However, Grant said defeat to the champions would not spell disaster for his side.

“It’s only the beginning of the season so we cannot make any conclusions after three weeks,” he told the club’s official website. “We must wait for 10-15 games to see our direction. Chelsea is a tough fixture and I can’t ever remember a team at our level having such tough fixtures at the beginning of the season. But these are fixtures we have been given and, in football, anything can happen. We have two weeks to think about things. We can become stronger.”

Grant said it has been a real challenge to instil confidence in his side since taking charge this summer after they narrowly avoided relegation last term. But he said it is an easier job than the one he left at Portsmouth, who were mired in financial turmoil.

He said: “It’s not easy to keep the morale up – especially after last season – but I don’t like talking about last year because we do not need to be reminded about it. It’s not easy but I’ve told the players from the beginning that I want to see their character, both when they win and when they lose. It’s only the beginning of the season, and if we win two games, we will be as good as any other team.

“Last season, things were decided for me off the pitch but, this year, they will be decided on the pitch. It’s a big, big difference.”

Grant is still trying to sign players before tomorrow’s closure of the transfer window. But having already admitted he may need to sell before he can buy, speculation is rife over the Upton Park futures of Scott Parker, Carlton Cole and Valon Behrami. “We are trying to bring in new faces,” Grant said, adding: “we didn’t have players in the positions we needed them” following Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at Manchester United.

Avram GrantWest Ham Unitedguardian.co.uk

Only in the universe that surrounds Wayne Rooney could this summer be called a drought. Until he converted a first-half penalty here, the most naturally gifted footballer Old Trafford has seen since Bobby Charlton had not scored in more than 18 and a half hours of competitive football. The counting will cease and since Rooney’s goals have always come in waves, there should be a frisson of anxiety among the Bulgarian back-four when he appears in an England shirt on Friday night.

Statistics apart, Rooney was far from the central figure on what was not so much a comfortable victory as a cashmere-covered one over a West Ham side that have lost their first three League matches and struggled to overcome Oxford in the Carling Cup. Only Kieron Dyer, who struck the side‑netting in the first half and the post in the second, seemed to possess the ability or the desire to match Manchester United.

Nani was the most constantly threatening figure and the most exquisite goal was the falling volley from Dimitar Berbatov, who has eclipsed Rooney in the opening matches. Given United’s dominance and the number of thrashings this season, this is a scoreline West Ham might have settled for.

As it had for most of the summer, it was raining in Manchester, the same rain that had soaked the most famous encounter between Sir Alex Ferguson and Avram Grant, the 2008 European Cup final. Rain, United’s great helmsman had cackled afterwards, was his favourite playing conditions; he had won three European trophies when it had poured down and he would have expected to win this, more modest contest.

Whether he would have expected Rooney to score was another matter. He had not found the net since the first leg of United’s European Cup quarter-final with Bayern Munich five months ago. Since then there had been 13 games for club and country. When, early in the contest, he swung his boot and misconnected it seemed symptomatic of his malaise until Jonathan Spector, who was once briefly on United’s books, took Ryan Giggs’s legs from beneath him.

In similar circumstances at Fulham last Sunday, Nani had snatched the ball when Ferguson had expected the penalty to be taken by Giggs and had seen his shot saved. Rooney had been missing at Craven Cottage and there was no doubt who would be taking the spot kick in front of the Stretford End.

On Friday, Ferguson had pointed out that the problem with having a designated penalty-taker was that most goalkeepers would know how the kick would be taken. Since they would presumably have practised penalties intensively at England’s World Cup base at Rustenburg, Robert Green would have had more idea than most. He took a big leap to his right, the ball moved to his left and the clock marking up Rooney’s goalless minutes stopped.

Fabio Capello was in the Old Trafford’s directors’ box and, probably too late, Green gave him a full display of his abilities, especially against Nani who, perhaps because he was stung by his failure at Fulham, appeared determined to shoot on sight. A few minutes into the second half the boy from the Cape Verde Islands received his reward as he sprinted into the area, left Danny Gabbidon on his backside and drove his shot into the top corner of the net.

Green had thwarted him throughout a first half in which Manchester United should have ended the game as a contest. A brilliant curling shot, set up by a lovely, casual back-flick from Berbatov, was punched on to the crossbar and Green sprinted off his line quickly and decisively enough to ensure that a one-on-one finished in the Stretford End.

Nani had been set up by a superbly weighted chip from Giggs, one of those like Berbatov whose international days are done. Capello would have watched Paul Scholes with something of a sigh. Those like Sir Trevor Brooking who have been involved with the FA for far longer would have done the same watching Dyer, England’s great lost talent, who might have matched Scholes for caps had he steered clear of injury and the nightclubs of Tyneside.

Premier LeagueManchester UnitedWest Ham UnitedTim Richguardian.co.uk