Old defensive woes resurface
Many Hammers’ fans would have almost forgot the feeling of walking out of a Football ground complaining about a dreadful defensive display after our five clean sheets in six games, but that feeling was very much restored as a lazy Hammers defence was breached four times by a rampant Reds attack. It became clear quite early in the game that our defence was on the beach a little bit, as Dejan Lovren was able to head against the bar unchallenged from a corner. We were caught sleeping at the back again several minutes later as Daniel Sturridge was left clean through after a Philippe Coutinho ball found him in space, The Englishman was able to round Adrian and poach into an empty net. Things could have a lot worse quicker, but Adrian was able to make a string of superb saves early in the second half. Despite Adrian’s brilliant, it wasn’t long before The Reds doubled their lead as Coutinho was allowed plenty of space on the edge of the box to fire a low shot into the left-hand corner of our net. We were caught on the break moments later as we went in search of a way back into the game, James Collins and Havard Nordtveit seemingly gave up allowing Coutinho to stroll through the box and finish emphatically. Liverpool’s fourth was a comedy of defensive errors much like the three before it, as neither Arian nor Reid could clear properly allowing the ball to fall to Divock Origi to make it four with an easy tap in. There is no doubting that our recent defensive hard work was completely undone in 90 minutes yesterday and a summer back four clear u is surely on the cards.
Ayew left to rue missed sitter
It is no lie that we lacked a real spark in the final third when we did go forward yesterday, but we did manage to create perhaps the easiest chance of the game, as club record signing Andre Ayew fluffed his lines when it looked harder to miss than score. The chance came at a key point in the game just before the break, Liverpool had just taken the lead and we were set to level the scores as a corner somehow found Andre Ayew at the back post with a half open goal beckoning. The Ghanaian international could only stab his first effort against the post and when the rebound fell back to him, Ayew found the woodwork again and Calleri could not reach the third ball before Liverpool keeper Simon Mignolet. Many a West Ham fan was only left wondering what could have been if Ayew would have converted the chance that many of them would have boasted they could have scored themselves. The game was also not without its fair share of controversy as Winston Reid was seemingly fouled in the box from one of our corners, from the corner Liverpool were able to hit us on the break and score themselves. The supposed foul on Reid by Georginio Wijnaldum also saw The Frenchman handle the ball, we also had a case for the game needing to be stopped as The Kiwi also appeared to receive a head injury from the incident which saw him laying on the floor at the other end of the pitch when Coutinho put The Reds three ahead. One thing was certain; there were many different reasons for Hammers’ fans to be angry as the full-time whistle brought the curtain down on our disappointing first season at The London Stadium in our final home game of the season.
Reaction
Reid: “We will learn from this season”
Our Kiwi centre-back Winston Reid is offering a positive outlook on our poor season by reassuring fans that our first season at The London Stadium was very much a learning curve. Yesterday’s 0-4 defeat ended a run of five League games unbeaten and brought to an end our positive finish to what has been a poor season and Reid was willing to admit that in a post-match interview with WHUFC.com saying: “The last few weeks we’ve been doing well. But we will move on to next season and learn from this season, especially at home “. The New Zealand captain was himself involved in one of the most controversial moments of the game a Georginio Wijnaldum handled the ball whilst fouling Reid inside the box. The referee waved play on and just moment’s later Liverpool was able to score their third of the game and Reid had this to say about the matter adding: “I didn’t see a handball, but I knew he fouled me”. Reid has been a contender for Hammer of the Year in what has been a poor season for the back four and The Kiwi will certainly be hoping that we can keep it tighter at the back next season.
Player ratings
Here is how each featuring player rated out of ten in our 0-4 thrashing at the hands of Liverpool yesterday:
Adrian:8, Byram:7, Reid:6, Collins:5, Fonte:5, Cresswell:6, Fernandes:6, Nordtveit:6, Lanzini:7, Ayew:6, Feghouli:8, Fletcher:7, Calleri:5, Snodgrass:6