West Ham 2-2 Brentford AET
Areola:6 Surprised to see Areola start considering how often we passed back to him forcing him to kick but justified his inclusion with a brilliant stop from Kayode after 10 mins. Looked stranded as the visitors made it 1-1. Possibly could have been more commanding as Summerville conceded a penalty. Made a save from Thiago in extra time. Made a crucial save in the shootout.
Walker Peters:5 Stupidly indulgent dribble almost allowed Brentford to score after 5 mins. Recovered well and produced some decent defending but was targeted at the end of the game.
Nuno wouldn’t have been too impressed with extra time and struggled to watch the penalties
Mavropanos:8 Robust performance and always looking to make it a physical contest. Scored in the shootout
Disasi:8 Saw a lot of action in an intense first half. Almost scored just before half time but sliced the ball. Keeps getting better and has improved the team immeasurably.
Scarles:5 Really poor defending for Brentford’s equaliser. Made up for the error by heading off the line just before half time. Not his best game.
Fernandes:8 Floated a good cross in the build-up to West Ham’s opener. Heavily involved in everything as West Ham played some of the best football I’ve seen for some time.
Soucek:8 Nodded the ball down to set up Bowen after 18mins. Important defensive header on 45 mins. Moments later he was back down the other end of the pitch almost scoring. No idea where he gets his energy from. Scored in the shootout
Kante:7 Given more licence to roam than his midfield partners and made some very impressive touches early on. More than justified his starting spot and has given Nuno a nice midfield problem.
Bowen:9 His first touch in the game was a thing of beauty. Showed his poachers instincts to put his team 1-0 up from Soucek’s header. Scored the Irons second from the spot after Traore’s penalty was given following intervention from VAR. Not just because of the goals, but this was Bowen’s best performance in a while. Scored in the shootout
Traore:6 Had to demonstrate his pace to recover an error early in the game. A hindrance defensively but had one promising run which he shot well wide. Won an penalty for the Hammers in a crazy 5 mins of action. Nuno will be pleased.
Pablo:7 Won an tackle early in the game but poor return pass from Bowen. Still gets his legs tangled underneath him but really did contribute with some nice moments. The best I’ve seen him which is impressive given his recent injury.
West Ham 2-2 Brentford: Traore won a penalty
Substitutes
Mayers:5 Half time sub for Scarles and had his work cut out when Donovan came on.
Summerville:7 Part of a double swap at half time which saw the Dutchman replace Traore. This substitution showed how much Nuno wanted to progress considering West Ham were 2-1 up. Caused panic at times. Operating at such a high level now. Unfortunate to concede a penalty. Picked up an injury near the end but played on so we’ll all have our fingers crossed.
Castellanos:6 Replaced Pablo after an hour. Looked tired. Missed a fair chance to score on 110 mins then had another deflected effort minutes later. Scored in the shootout
Magassa:4 Replaced the impressive Kante after 76 mins and struggled.
Wan Bissaka:6 On for Walker Peters in extra time and to be honest, it could have happened much earlier.
Wilson:6 Replaced Fernandes for the last 15 mins of extra time and almost scored with his first touch. Scored in the shootout
Too harsh on walker peters🤣
Scarles got beat to easily for the first Brentford goal.Recovered well with some good tackles. Nuno said he had an injury at half time.
Kante’s best game.
KWP poor. Taty showed little effort surprisingly. Pablo some good intra play bit also looses the ball to easily.
Disasi and Mavro, especially, solid.
Bowen brilliant.
I had Kante as a 9 thought Scarles did well and would have given a 7, same as Adama, his best game for us and Pablo ran his socks off 8, also thought AWB was excellent and Wilson created good chances would have scored but for an excellent save from his deflected shot. Great team effort and fair play to Nuno trying to win right up until the last whistle.
Never expected to win with 7 changes , excellent 1st half. Impressed with kante should have stayed on all game. Axel top drawer again , good to see so many good performances. Bring on citeh same effort all round please.
Well said mate