Nuno Espirito Santo’s heavily rotated West Ham side took the game to Brentford in the first half of the fifth round FACup encounter and looked more than a mach for their West London neighbours, twice taking the lead thanks to a Jarrod Bowen double. A home tie against Leeds United beckoned for the winners and the Hammers started as if they meant business.
Sadly the Irons conceded late – on in the game after looking in control for most of the second half – to take the game to extra time. Nuno’s substitutions – taking off the excellent Kanté in particular – looked to weaken the backbone of the side that had looked so composed.
In the second half of extra time Fernandes left as Callum Wilson entered -which looked like Nuno wanted to win it before penalties and Wilson immediately came close, forcing the best out of Kelleher.
And so the penalty shootout took its agonising, dramatic twists and turns: Amongst the celebrations there were clear standouts for Hammers fans:
Jarrod Bowen is back to his best: Any suggestion that Jarrod Bowen is below par at present or carrying an injury was laid to rest in that first forty five minutes in which West Ham’s captain was everywhere: Pressing, tracking back and on the spot to pounce from close range to put West Ham ahead early in the first half. The calm that descends upon the London Stadium these days when Bowen steps up to take a penalty is a sign of the confidence in his calm professionalism from 12 yards.
VAR is still pants: For once I agree with Glenn Hoddle – as the ex Spurs and England maestro said live on tv:”I hate the fact that we’re trying to computerise the game‘ . VAR’s decisions again played a part, intervening to overturn the referee’s error and awarding West Ham a penalty, but failing to overturn Fernandes’ pretty clear penalty box transgression that should have been punished. It’s confusing it’s not consistent and the spectacle would be better off without it.
West Ham’s bad habit of switching off returned tonight with the Irons seemingly cruising towards the quarter finals: Under eight minutes to go and then -for the first time all evening – the defence was out of position after a corner and Summerville -tracking back – gave away a penalty with the mildest of shoves. The Hammers lead disappeared along with the momentum which was suddenly heading Brentford’s way.
And it has to be said: West Ham’s Penalty taking was fabulous against one of the top Premier League spot kick stoppers: Bowen, Taty, Wilson, Soucek and hero Mavropanos put superb unstoppable spot kicks into the corners ! who’d have thought it.
Apart from the worry of a Summerville injury – a dramatic end as West Ham head into the quarter finals!
Enjoyed the first and we created several chances,we deserved the lead. 2nd half brentford were the better team,god I hate those long throws but we dealt withthem very well.
The half time subs were strange,Nuno did allude to injuries to Scarles and Traore who got better after a poor 15 minutes.
Meyers struggled to against the pace of Ouattara.
KWP and Scarles let both wingers cross for their goals.
Think Summerville just got a nast knock otherwise he wouldn’t be aable to continue.
A couple of ice bath’s and he’ll be fine
I don’t agree, the Ref left it up to VAR for our penalty and waited for them to say look at the monitor. A clear case of a Ref wanting VAR to confirm.
Fernandes got the ball, never never a penalty.
Yes Summerville pushed him for their penalty, but that goes on all over the pitch and not given, just look at corners, pushing, shirt pulling. The allowing more physical contact, has just put a whole lot more of people saying “in my opinion” into the game.
We may have been cruising until we conceded that penalty in the 81st minute but to have a headline that says we were cruising is rather misleading. Brentford took over the running and we were lucky to hang on at times. If it wasn’t for Quattara’s pathetic penaly kick in the shootout then it could have gone either way. But thank god we scored all 5 of our shots to see us through, with Mavrapanos putting away the winning kick after my doubts he could score with any attempt at a goal. Now I hope we really do go for it at the quarter-final against Leeds. Maybe we can ride our luck, along with our first half brilliance, all the way to the final! COYI !
Brilliant performance, and the penalties were incredible! And Summerville looked almost back to normal near the end of extra time, so hopefully it was just cramp.
Cruise???