West Ham winger Mohammed Kudus moment of madness in yesterdays 4-1 defeat against Tottenham, leading to a heated incident understandably too all the headlines from the former Ajax mans performance.
However, the Ghanaian winger had mentally checked out long before the Spurs vs. West Ham clash ended, with him receiving his official marching orders.
Following a goal blitz by Spurs, which culminated in Son’s 60th-minute fourth goal for the home side, Kudus’ demeanour drastically changed. He stopped chasing lost balls, failed to track back on multiple occasions, and appeared like a man who had given up.
Kudus, who had earlier netted the opening goal and left two Spurs players sprawled on the pitch, was arguably the Hammers’ best player for the first sixty minutes of this London derby. The contrast was stark when the drop-off occurred. Gone was the man contesting every ball and physically battling every dribble.
Whilst I won’t pretend that I could foresee his red card coming, it became abundantly clear that Kudus was a frustrated figure who had lost focus and concentration when staring down the barrel of a heavy defeat.
The altercation began when Kudus kicked Micky van de Ven in the back, escalating the situation by shoving the defender in the face. He then turned his attention to Pape Matar Sarr, pushing him in the head, while Richarlison also ended up on the ground after running into the Ghanaian and clashing heads.
The 24-year-old now has a lot of thinking to do as he faces at least three games on the side-lines, with the possibility of an extended suspension. He’s certainly let his teammates down, making the much-needed win against Manchester United much harder to come by without him.
Kudus’ actions were inexcusable and he deserves whatever punishment comes his way, but before Gonzo and Martin throw him under the bus again and blame him for all West Ham’s woes, consider the level of frustration he feels when week after week, calls for him to be played in his preferred position are ignored, week after week he is the hardest working player on the team while Paqueta and others don’t put in the same effort, and then he is criticized for not being successful in a team that is being run into the ground by a clueless coach. I feel for every West Ham player and fan, and if something is not done soon, it will only get worse.
I agree Ray, 100%. Furthermore, I believe Kudus will be happy to escape this complete shit show of an organization. Steidten as well will be looking for the exit as the dwarf and his minions are very happy to be in charge of this stinking pile of shite.
I agree that the light had gone out in the boy by the time of the red card but we all have to remember that he is just that, still a boy with an awful lot of pent up frustration caused by amongst other things, heavy criticism of his form as captain from both the Ghana press and his fellow compatriots which must hurt and, to a lesser but no more telling extent, of constantly being played out of his best and preferred position by his club manager therefore unable to rediscover any consistent form week in week out which we know he has in abundance. All I saw was total frustration bursting out of him for the red card incident.
Sadly, there’s a serious lack of leadership on the pitch when things aren’t going well with the starting eleven. Lopetegui’s almost preference of ‘ impact subs’ to change a game, instead of starting the likes of Soler and especially Summerville from the off is seriously worrying. Great if it works but it rarely does once you’re 2-0 down and chasing. I don’t buy into the ‘introducing slowly’ mantra.
Let’s hope they all put their heads down and stay late in training this week and discover how to play as a real team against these better teams not just against the so called lesser teams otherwise it’s going to be a long long season of listening to ‘ be careful what you wish for’……
I agree with everything that Richard has said but I think that as well as being frustrated, Kudus was also very tired by 60 mins and should have been subbed. The physical and emotional baggage that he’s carrying from international duty seems to weigh heavily on him. He didn’t even look his usual self after scoring. His lack of awareness of team-mates in good positions may not be down to selfishness – I think perhaps he’s trying too hard to help the team by trying to do it all by himself. And his relationship with J-Lo doesn’t look promising. Great player. Can’t say the same about the manager from what we’ve seen so far.
Quite right. Probably none of those just back from International duty should have started. He will request a transfer in the January window and come back to haunt us.