West Ham 1-3 Manchester City
Areola:6 Excellent save from a venomous Kevin De Bruyne shot on 13 mins. His quick throw set the tempo for the Hammers equaliser. Could do nothing with the power of Haaland’s second.
Wan-Bissaka:8 Far too narrow with his starting position which allowed a lot of space on his flank and to Grealish in particular. However, managed to get a foothold in the game and got forward to support Bowen where possible. Moved to left back and continued to impress. Incredible footballer and a steal at £15m.
Mavropanos:5 Horror pass almost gave City their second on 12 mins. Rash charge up-field to win the ball allowed the space for Haalands hattrick. Very disappointing because at 2-1 down West Ham were still in the game.
Kilman:8 Great block at the start of the second half prompted a stunning counter attack. Blocks a lot of balls into the box.
Emerson:5 Horrendous pass put Paqueta in trouble and led to Haaland and City’s opener.
Rodriguez:8 Clever footballer, the more I see the more I like.
Alverez:7 Great block on 7 mins following an excellent start by West Ham. Gave away a needless freekick just before half time but made ammends with a quality cross-field pass.
Paqueta:6 Clearly flustered by his role in the first goal and gave the ball away immediately afterwards. Played his part as the Hammer made it 1-1 then played an incredible pass to Antonio as he regained his confidence. Became more influential in the second half.
Bowen:7 Created the equaliser with a driving run and cross which forced the own goal from Dias. Worked his socks off and grew into the game as the team improved in the second half.
Kudus:8 Once again deployed in his least effective position. Lopetegui must known it wasn’t working because he shuffled his front-line towards the end of the first half but reverted quickly back. The second half saw him hit the post following a counter attack and exchange of passes with Bowen which prompted a hugely improved period and he finished the game as West Ham’s best attacker.
West Ham 1-3 Manchester City: Kudus grew into the game in the 2nd half.
Antonio:4 Barely involved until he forced a corner in the 58th minute.
Substitutes:
Fabianski: Replaced Areola at half time.
Coufal: 70th min sub for Emerson
Fullkrug: On for Antonio
Soucek: 76th min sub for Alvarez. Clumsy attempt at goal following a set up from Fullkrug.
Summerville: 85th min swap for Bowen. Very unlucky not to score with an excellent curling shot.
Harsh on Antonio who worked his socks off, we missed him when he was replaced but the man was tiring by then
Agreed, was Gonzo actually watching the game !!?
Gonzo was probably, like the rest of us, covering his eyes as West Ham played the best team in the world.
Hard to argue with the ratings, although, I felt Antonio did OK against top defence with little support, as West Ham sat deep for long periods,
yes, agreed. ran his socks off 1st half
Harsh? I’d say Gonzo was being generous. You don’t carry past credits forward in football, you can see he has some skills, but time has caught up with him and he no longer has that turn of speed. Worse still, his positioning is poor and first touch is non existent. Time to go.
Well it’s not time for Antonio to go until at least January now!
Thanks for the WH player stats.
Of course it’s difficult to accurately assess and declare if there is no criteria.
Sadly, the team still sits with some of last season’s culprits who still perform very much in the same way.
When players like Mavro, Emerson + Paqueta make similar mistakes as last season which result in goals they find it difficult to come back strong.
Antonio is physically tired, and still lack ball control + playing skills. So how does that help.
“Players running their socks off” … who + when? Wow. The same players again showed today that they refuse to press, fall back or tackle. And when eventually the coach spotted that, and subbed them, they were disgusted.
Afterward, I watched Atletico Madrid vs At Bilbao. At 0-0 coach Simeone subbed his capt + Griezman near the end. And the sub who replaced Griezman scored the winning goal for a 1-0 win. And what did Guardiola do today?
The WH coach needs to be brave and make the right (maybe unpopular decisions) so this team can tell and achieve. Coyi – God bless West Ham 🙏⚒⚽️🔥🏆
nope and nope. and if you’ve been watching for the last half a century…god has no interest in West Ham
Not entirely sure if we were watching the same game!
Plenty of room for improvement for West Ham. But they had a mid-week game, whereas City did not and it showed. City displayed in part their one-touch game (that speeds up attacks significantly), it would be great to see West Ham at some point doing it too.
Paqueta a bit too slow to decide, Fullkrug again saw little of the ball, Wan Bissaka the best of the back four. Interesting to see what Soler will contribute, hopefully at least improved ball possession. But it is still early days.
Wan Bissaka and Kilman both displayed quality performances but I personally think Mavropanos should not be first choice over Todibo.
Mavropanos has on many occasions showed poor choices and performances and Jean-Clair Todibo really needs to be put in the starting lineup and this should have been even more so for this game
Totally agree, I asked the same question on another post. I wondered if Todibo was injured until I saw his name as a sub. With all the fanfare that came with his signature I thought for sure he would be first choice alongside Killman. There was also a strong suggestion that some of these new players were adaptable enough to play anywhere across the back but we still have Coufal and Cresswell (almost) being picked.
During transfer season there was multiple re Antonio_should he stay or go?
Feelings were mixed but generally if he stayed should be used as a bully boy sub last 20 minutes against tired legs.
Playing for first 70 minutes is not working.
Missing striker which was promised.
Paqueta seems to have lost.some of his flair and trickery which was abundant when he first arrived.
Still early days with more players on the way and to be fair it was Man City,
Doku, Grealish, Harland and de Bryne are going to be a handful for most teams.
Very harsh on on Mav and Antonio. Deserved a 6.
Much more enjoyable to watch this season than under Moyes.
Plenty of positives. We move on to the next game.
agreed. that display would have won us a few games if it wasn’t City. i can see where this is hopefully going. as long as we continue to progress this style, pick up points on the way, i think the second half of this season will bear fruit. patience, me lads ⚒
Wan Bissaka and Kilman both displayed quality performances but I personally think Mavropanos should not be first choice over Todibo.
Mavropanos has on many occasions showed poor choices and performances and Jean-Clair Todibo really needs to be put in the starting lineup and this should have been even more so for this game