The manager wasn’t too happy with the performance and goal scorer Jarrod Bowen has clearly been involved in much better wins.
It was good to see the League’s most subbed player remain on the pitch throughout and once again he ran himself into the ground along – of course – with Michail Antonio.
The performance certainly lacked intensity and it didn’t take the manager long to admit that.
But three points is three points and frankly that’s all that mattered from a game which, whilst it won’t live in the memory was of great importance as far as league position is concerned.
Bowen described it perfectly when declaring that we got three ugly points but despite that we can have few complaints.
Commenting at https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2021/january/20-january/bowen-it-was-ugly-three-points-are-all-matters he said: “It’s three points which is what we wanted. We knew it was going to be tough.
“We knew they were going to be organised and look to frustrate us when we had the ball. It probably wasn’t our best performance, and we gave the ball away a lot, but it was always going to be a grind and hard work.
“We dug right in until the last, and we got an ugly three points, but three points are all that matters.”
Bowen’s fifth goal of the season, and West Ham’s opener, was a creative finish from the forward.
The cross from Said Benrahma had been deep, but Vladimir Coufal met it fiercely, driving the ball back into the danger area. Bowen adjusted quickly, turning past Sam Johnstone.
Pic via www.whufc.com
Bowen smiled: “It just came off the chest! I want to score more than I have though. I’ve been a little frustrated that I haven’t scored more goals so, tonight, I was probably overdue one.
“I was delighted to get the goal and, to get the three points as well, I can’t complain.”
The victory was West Ham’s fourth consecutive win in all competitions and means the Irons have 32 points from 19 games, the Club’s best return at this stage in a Premier League season.
And that’s the way to score. Any way you can. Superb Jarrod. Superb Michail. Many experts will tell us that the delivery has to be perfect. Many quality players would just ignore the two chances we scored and complained that the delivery was rubbish. They would be crying that they needed better players with more assured passing ability to show them in their best light. Always someone else’s fault. But we had two fabulous balls played early into the danger area and our wonderful forwards turned the only ball available into two goals. Terrific stuff. Just need to get Benrahma to stop messing about with it and get it in there. Join in with the play rather than watching and waiting for the perfect moment.
COYI
Two games in 4 days with mostly the same players, against teams who defend strongly. The points are great and we can forgive a one-off low intensity. It has been noted that Said and Mano need to move the ball quicker, and that is important to performance. Happy days to be picky!