Abject Irons Thumped by Palace 5-2

One of the worst first half performances of the season from the Irons saw them sink to a 5-2 defeat and it could have been more !

The Irons set the tone (or lack of it) by conceding a poor goal from the first attack of the game

On the sixth minute saw good interplay between Eze and Wharton from a corner, with West Ham‘s defenders far too slow to get near the ball.
Andersen then clipped the ball in from the left of the area and Olise – hardly the biggest player on the pitch – rose above everyone to nod the ball into the net.
Fabianski came racing from his line but was beaten to the ball. Really sloppy from West Ham, particularly Emerson – who was guilty of ball watching.

Then our afternoon got even worse after a misplaced pass from Zouma to Antonio saw Richards intercept, then Olise slipped Mateta in behind West Ham’s defence. His shot was initially saved by Fabianski, before Eze produced an acrobatic finish to bury the rebound.

Then in just 20 minutes, the Hammers, looking shell shocked, conceded a third.
This was embarrassing from West Ham. Palace had acres of space to run into yet again, with the ball clipped into the back post, with Fabianski and Emerson not communicating before the ball bounced in off the left-back.

Moyes then tweaked West Ham’s shape, matching Palace’s 3-4-3, with Alvarez in defence and Kudus and Paqueta behind Antonio.
Not that it made any difference as the humiliation continued, when Kudus lost possession to Hughes in midfield and Palace pounced with Olise slipped in on the left by Eze. His first-time cross found the unmarked Mateta who – despite West Ham deploying three centre-backs ! – had too much space and slotted a finish past the hapless Fabianski

Then five minutes before half time, Antonio got one back.Will Hughes was booked for a foul on Tomáš Souček, and West Ham made the most of the free-kick. After it’s initially played short, it’s whipped in, Souček headed the ball back across goal and Antonio was there to tap it past Dean Henderson.
It then went to a VAR check, but the Hammers No9 was onside and it was 4-1 five minutes before half-time.

The second half saw two changes with Ben Johnson and Aaron Cresswell replacing Angelo Ogbonna and Tomáš Souček. Understandably, the pace went out of the game a little in the second half. Palace were always looking comfortable though and inevitably the fifth goal arrived.

Eze embarrassed Zouma, twisting and turning before poking a pass to Mateta through the defender’s legs.Mateta controled the ball before blasting a finish inside the near post. Fabianski had no chance.

A final throw of the dice saw  a double change for West Ham United – Kalvin Phillips and Danny Ings came on to replace Edson Álvarez and Michail Antonio. Not that it changed anything.

Then the Palace goalkeeper obviously feeling sorry for us  – and also perhaps because he had so little to do – took his eye off a Mitchell back pass and allowed it trickle into his own net.

Okay, the Hammers may have been tired from their Europa League efforts but this performance was totally unacceptable.