West Ham United beat Crystal Palace 2-0 this afternoon, but the performances of two players in particular were utterly disgraceful.
The sad thing is that everyone predicted they would let us down before the game had kicked off, and Julen Lopetegui‘s utterly head-scratching team-sheet was released.
West Ham looked incredibly clunky during the first-half against the Eagles and we were very lucky indeed not to be 2-0 down at half-time.
An outstanding performance from Max Kilman kept us in the game, and then Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen did the rest up the other end of the pitch to secure all three points for the Hammers.
It will obviously take time and a lot of patience to see Lopetegui’s overall plan to come to fruition.
However, he will do himself a big favour if he makes sure he doesn’t start two players in particular anymore, certainly in games of real importance and consequence.
Two West Ham players were awful vs Crystal Palace
We got the three points in the end, so that’s all that matters really isn’t it.
That said, there were some concerning performances out there this afternoon, and the only positive I can draw is that Lopetegui will surely not start two of them ever again for the Hammers.
Vladimir Coufal and Michail Antonio were truly awful, and were replaced by Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Niclas Fullkrug with around half an hour to play.
It really was no surprise that we started paying much better after Coufal and Antonio exited the pitch and Wan-Bissaka and Fullkrug replaced them.
The Czech Republic and Jamaica internationals offered us absolutely nothing against Palace.
The 32-year-old right-back was found wanting defensively constantly, and his output in the final third was incredibly poor.
Meanwhile, the 34-year-old failed to hold the ball up, offered us absolutely nothing in behind, and his touch was absolutely dreadful.
Vladimir Coufal is being heavily linked with an exit from the London Stadium this summer, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see him leave.
Michail Antonio could leave the Hammers as well after being linked with Wolves, and his performance today will not do his chances of staying at the London Stadium any good.
West Ham beat Crystal Palace, and that’s the main thing. However, Coufal and Antonio certainly didn’t help our cause in South London today.
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