By Hugh Southon
West Ham 3 Southampton 1
This was a very different West Ham United and the difference to a large extent was a certain Jarrod Bowen!
Manager David Moyes handed him his first start and was rewarded with a 15th minute goal plus an all action performance where we saw a Hammer chase every lost cause and show the determination and desire that’s been missing all season.
Bowen was superb on first start
It my well have rubbed off on the rest of the team in a big way as they created more chances and shots on goal than at any other time this season.
Bowen’s goal was equalised by Obafemi after half an hour but this newly invented Hammer outfit finished the Sainst off in style with goals from Haller and Antonio.
It was a performance in the real Hammers tradition and came after the superb effort of Monday night at Liverpool. If they carry on like this the team will have nothing to fear.
But make no mistake Bowen is holding the key and showing the way forward to a team that has needed a player like this for a very long time.
It was our first win since New Year’s Day, our first double and it lifted us out of the bottom three and into 16th place level on points with Bournemouth who drew with Chelsea and a point behind Brighton – beaten by Palace.
Defensively we were fine and honourable mentions go to most of them buy specifically Jeremy Ngakia, Pablo Fornals, Issa Diop and Amgelo Ogbonna.
It was an absolute must win match and the boys rose to the challenge in a big way. At last we have the chance to start looking upwards if we can keen this sort of momentum going.
Congratulations Hugh. You’ve been pressing Moyse to play him; he did: & you proved your point! Now tell him NEVER to play Masuaku.
Great wasn’t he. Love everything about him. Was telling everyone I know inside the club to buy him since last November LOL
Fantastic result ,gladly hold my hands up and say the liverpool performance was carried over to 5his game..lets hope we carry on like this..Bowen fantastic and there is still a player in ,haller, all he needed was a goal and with Bowen and Antonio with him I think there could be alot more to come from him ..at last something to unite the fans and make us all push in same direction…well done lads…coyi
I think it’s easy to get carried away with Bowen, as good as he was today. Shouldn’t overlook Fornals with two great assists and Haller was fantastic today. His touch and link up play was world class. Certainly goes to show how good a player he is because he had options to bring people into the game because the front four were always close to each other.
You get carried away with Fornals then …I’ll stick with Bowen
Hugh
Thank your pal at Hull for bringing Bowen to our attention. Pleasure today to watch him play. Did he tell you that he can defend as well. What a shift he put in today Deserved his ovation.
They all did well and they all turned up and that as a fan is all you want . Keep the faith C.O.Y.I
Well at last Mr Moyes gave us the team we have been shouting for and the team duly obliged with the result and performance ..long may it last and no wholesale changes for the Arsenal encounter next week. .if we play like we did today and how we did at Liverpool we should get something from.the game COYI
I think the thing about today was not that Bowen played well (which he clearly did), but that he was able to free Antonio to provide Haller with more support. We’ve all realised by now that Haller is not really the kind of player that can create his own chances, and he needs someone either next to or behind him to run off or wide, and Antonio in the last few weeks when he’s been playing hasn’t really been able to do that as he’s had to bomb backwards and forwards to not just attack, but also get back and defend. Having Bowen in there doing an awful lot of that allowed Antonio to remain further up the pitch in the positions where he can be dangerous – evidence the cross for Haller’s header that was saved, the cross that led to Haller’s goal, the run he was able to make for his own goal, and the run that he picked up from Haller that was saved. Haller looked more potent because he wasn’t so isolated, because Antonio was able to play much closer to him, and that was all down to Bowen’s presence.
In my humble opinion that is 😛