Bad matches just happen. Sometimes, however rich the ingredients, the occasion simply falls flat. It is not pre-planned or pre-arranged that way.
Nevertheless this tedious, scoreless spectacle at Upton Park did offer a pertinent comment on the biggest issue now facing the game.
It was not the anticipated angst of David Beckham. Upton Park booed him ritualistically for a while but gave it up as universal boredom set in.
No, the underlying message of this match concerned the likely fate of the Premiership should Manchester United, along with Arsenal and Liverpool, decide to throw in their lot with a breakaway European League which would reduce the national competitions to regional sideshows.
The way United pottered through Saturday's game was an alarming portent for what may lie ahead once a European League has been set up in two years. Take away the prime incentive for winning a domestic league and this turgid stuff is what you could get.
Obviously, United set out to achieve more and might well have done so had a blatant handball by Neil Ruddock been spotted in the third minute.
Ruddock, beaten by Ryan Giggs's cross with Andy Cole coming in to meet it, palmed the ball behind for a corner when the situation demanded a penalty. But the referee Peter Jones could not give what he plainly had not seen.
Ruddock turned out to be one of the two best players, the other being one of United's centrebacks, Henning Berg, who replaced the injured Jaap Stam. In signing Ruddock, West Ham paid approximately one-tenth of the £10.75 million that Stam cost and Ruddock proceeded to query further the £12.6 million United have laid out for Dwight Yorke.
Not that Yorke was much to blame, since he began his new career in a largely unsuitable role. In nine years at Villa he was used primarily in a free, creative role. If he is to thrive he must surely remain a free spirit. At Upton Park he was played up alongside Cole and was plied with the sort of high balls which Ruddock could clear in his sleep.
It would be wrong to judge Yorke on one appearance, but the fact that Paul Scholes was left out to make way for him may have puzzled United supporters all the same. Ferguson has a strong enough squad to shuffle the team around and there is still Jesper Blomqvist to be considered once the Swedish winger is fit. Roy Keane and Nicky Butt were impeccable and Butt's marshalling of Eyal Berkovic was one of the few items of note in an unmemorable game but Ferguson's team seldom developed the momentum which might have brought them their first league victory.
WEST HAM: Hislop, Ruddock, Sinclair, Hartson, Lomas, Ferdinand, Lazaridis, Lampard, Pearce, Impey, Berkovic (Abou 71). Subs Not Used: Keller, Moncur, Forrest, Margas. Booked: Hartson, Berkovic, Lazaridis.
MAN UTD: Schmeichel, G. Neville (P. Neville 51), Irwin, Johnsen, Beckham, Butt, Cole (Sheringham 69), Giggs, Keane, Yorke, Berg. Subs Not Used: Culkin, May, Scholes. Booked: Johnsen. Att: 26,039.
Referee: P Jones (Loughborough).
