Aston Villa 4 West Ham 1
By Hughie Southon
Listless, lazy and lacklustre…it really was one L of a poor West Ham performance on a day when we needed to be at our very best.
And the worst bit is that’s the third time we have had three or more goals put by us in four Premier League games as Villa cruised to their 11th straight home win of the season.
Bowen scored the sole Hammers goal
Beyond a few minutes in the second half when Jarrod Bowen pulled the game back to 2-1 after goals from Douglas Luiz – one from the spot – before Olly Watkins and Leon Bailey add two more we were desperately poor.
It was the first time in 16 games that David Moyes had been beaten by Villa and it now sees the Hammers stuck in ninth place after what was frankly an awful performance.
Irons show nothing
Beyond Jarrod Bowen and to a lesser extent Lucas Paqueta there was nothing to impress and we can only pray that we aren’t finding the level we are really at.
The first two goals from Luiz were soft with Areola surely having to do better from his long range shot which was very close to him before entering the net.
And the spot kick came about when Alvarez produced a poor challenge which now gives the Mexican a one match suspension.
There was no arguing about the quality of the final two goals by which time the Hammers looked like – indeed were – a team without much of a clue.
So it’s four points from the last 12 and Everton at home next weekend. The Hammers will need to be much much better!
Embarrassing. I think we’re seeing the real West Ham under Moyes here, the West Ham of last season, the West Ham that can’t keep the ball, and when they do, they move it at glacial speed. This is the West Ham, where Moyes’s main concern was that we’ve lost our ability to be tough to beat – not the positivity of going and thinking we can win. This is the biggest problem. He sends them out with the mentality of avoiding defeat, not of winning. For Moyes winning is a bonus! That’s not how West Ham progresses as a team and and as a club.