He may have scored and been denied a brilliant brace in the 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa but Jarrod Bowen is becoming the elephant in the room at West Ham.
Hammers fans filing out of the London Stadium after yet another Premier League defeat were left conflicted by what they had just seen.
Aston Villa are the form team in the league bar none so it was always going to be a tough game for West Ham.
Overall Nuno Espirito Santo’s side played well, though – making the fact they twice surrendered a lead to lose 3-2 all the more galling.
In West Ham’s dire position, staring relegation in the face, they simply must be winning games like this when you have been leading not once, but twice, and scoring two goals at home.
Bowen is the elephant in the room at West Ham
The team’s inability to keep a clean sheet is sending the Hammers down to the Championship as things stand.
It’s why supporters trudged out so helplessly frustrated with the result and the way Morgan Rogers was allowed all the time and space in the world to fire a winner from outside the box.
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On the day West Ham honoured their greatest ever player Billy Bonds – a man who epitomised digging in and sweating blood for the club – the manner of the defending for Villa’s winner was nothing short of a disgrace to his name.
Hammers fans tried to console themselves with the fact it was Villa, who have now won 11 Premier League games in a row.
But at some stage Nuno’s side need to pull a rabbit or two out of the hat, just like Leeds are doing.
Especially as it now looks like a straight shootout between the Hammers and Elland Road outfit to avoid following Wolves and Burnley into the second tier.
There is a long list of huge and obvious negatives about West Ham potentially being relegated for the first time since 2011.
The club is braced to announce record losses surpassing £100m this month.
So the Hammers would be falling off the Premier League gravy train at the worst possible time.
The squad is nowhere near good enough to compete in the top flight and urgently needs improvement in January – if West Ham can persuade any quality players to sign up for a relegation dogfight.
The Hammers appear to be the only club in Europe who can’t identify or sign a decent young striker.
It all comes against the backdrop of fan protests against the board.
Bowen the most worrying thing about West Ham’s defeat to Villa
West Ham are bad enough as it is with their top players all available.
So they are an injury to Crysencio Summerville or Jarrod Bowen away from full-blown disaster.
But it is watching Bowen that was the most worrying thing about West Ham’s defeat to Aston Villa.
Bowen has become the elephant in the room at the London Stadium.
And it has nothing to do with his most difficult run of form since he joined West Ham nearly six years ago.
Bowen scored for the second game in a row against Villa and could have had another too if it were not for VAR offside call.
Forget his goals and assists, though, because Bowen looks increasingly fed up and exhausted at West Ham’s predicament.
The skipper has single-handedly carried West Ham on his back for the last two years.
And it is starting to show.
The West Ham board have failed Bowen.
Yes they handed him a bumper seven-year deal – with the option for an eighth – with the intention, as stated by Bowen himself, that he would retire at West Ham.
But that – and Bowen becoming West Ham’s all-time leading Premier League goalscorer – is now very much in jeopardy with relegation a very real threat.
It says everything about Bowen’s quality and desire that he is still getting goals when not playing particularly well and looking completely out on his feet.
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The board have failed to bring in quality players to complement and help Bowen.
And he is starting to look completely fed up.
Reports from some websites have claimed Bowen wants out of West Ham at the end of the season.
Newcastle and Liverpool have consistently been credited with interest in the Hammers ace.
It seems highly unlikely Bowen would ever push for a move away from West Ham if they are a Premier League side.
That is a big ‘if’ though with the way things are going.
Bowen could be seen looking disconsolate at times against Villa.
His lack of support up front, with nobody to play off in the forward role, visibly irritated the England winger.
Hammers board have failed captain fantastic Bowen
Bowen looks tired and agitated and could be seen muttering under his breath time and again as moves broke down.
The amount of running he has to do under Nuno is excessive and seems to be taking its toll on his explosiveness when he has a defender one-on-one.
West Ham supporters are often exasperated watching their team and Bowen is like a fan on the pitch as he gets the club.
The biggest travesty of the Hammers being relegated would be losing Bowen – a player who should be finishing his career with the Hammers, as he has stated he wants to.
But he needs and deserves help in January.
If West Ham’s board don’t come up with the goods could anyone really blame Bowen for moving on next summer?
The fact that is even a possibility is the single most damning indictment on the Hammers ownership.
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