Its a Marathon Not a Sprint!

My seventh season at the London Stadium to watch West Ham United: Before the game I reminisced about times gone by, though long before I was born I hasten to add!

A fresh start, a new approach and a big squad to choose from yet Lopetegui started with just two of his eight new signings. His trusted centre half Max Kilman from Wolves and a player he knew well from La Liga, Guido Rodriguez.

A 62,463 crowd was the highest attendance of the day, closely followed by Arsenal who had 60,261 at the Emirates stadium.

This was never going to be an easy game versus opposition that are competing in the Champions League. Yet having been unbeaten in the last nine home games versus Aston Villa, expectations were high.

With slightly more possession than Villa at 52.1% and both clubs registering three shots on target it was an evenly fought game, albeit Villa looked the stronger side during the first half. Bailey hit the post, and McGinn fired inches wide.

There was a sense of irony that Amadou Onana and Jhon Duran, two players who historically have been linked to West Ham scored.

West Ham’s defensive frailties were exposed for the first goal when the Belgium player headed home unchallenged from a corner.

A classy penalty from Paqueta levelled things just before half time yet Duran wrapped up the three points for Aston Villa on 79 minutes latching onto Jacob Ramsey’s pass and slotting home past Areola having had a similar chance earlier when he hit the side netting.

It’s too early to draw any conclusions from one game, yet it was clear that Summerville has pace in abundance and Danny Ings acquitted himself well when he replaced Rodriguez . The player had a header saved late on.

Soucek missed an opportunity in the last minute of extra time.

Always disappointing to lose the first home game of the season, as our Spanish head coach said post match, “When you lose you have to be always sad, I feel it myself we had expectation to give our fans one happy day. It was not.”

However, there are many more games to play, it’s a marathon not a sprint. I expect Lopetegui will rotate the squad for the trip to Selhurst Park next Saturday, as the club look to register their first points of the season.