It is not often a player on the wrong end of a 5-2 scoreline stands out so much for all the right reasons. Then again, as he demonstrated even during West Ham United’s heavy loss at Liverpool, Mateus Fernandes is no ordinary player.
This was, despite the scoreline, not a performance completely devoid of positives.
Yes, the set-piece issues which wreaked the first few months of the Nuno Espirito Santo reign reared their most ugly of mugs once again. Liverpool raced into a 3-0 lead at Anfield before half-time, even if Virgil van Dijk’s effort brought about a contentious offside decision.
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Axel Disasi’s impressive run of performances ended with a slapdash own goal. And, while the latter found the net, poor performances from Jarrod Bowen and Taty Castellanos meant Crysencio Summerville often carried the creative can alone.
But even on their most miserable of afternoons, Mateus Fernandes usually shines bright. A beaming beacon in dark days for West Ham United.
Mateus Fernandes produces ‘ludicrous’ pass in Tomas Soucek’s West Ham United consolation
Up against a Liverpool midfield of Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch, Fernandes certainly didn’t look like the inferior party. We at Hammers News have long since posited that Fernandes is one of the finest midfielders in the Premier League. This gave yet more proof to the theory.
Though he was outmuscled by Gravenberch in the lead up to Liverpool’s fifth minute opener, scored by Hugo Ekitike, Fernandes would produce a masterclass in long-range, line-breaking passing.
On the occasions the home side tried to press him, Fernandes used his low centre of gravity and prizefighter frame to hold off his marker, spin away, and set West Ham going again. One delightful trivela pass, just after the break, briefly had the Hammers threatening a comeback on an afternoon of thrilling Premier League turnarounds.
Fernandes’ audacious delivery, with the outside of his boot, saw the ball fall at the feet of El Hadji Malick Diouf. A fizzing cross, a trademark box-crashing finish from Tomas Soucek, and West Ham were very much back in the game. Until Cody Gakpo’s deflected effort killed off a plucky but error-strewn Hammers side with around half an hour remaining, that is.
“This ball from Fernandes is ludicrous,” former Everton midfielder Leon Osman said on the World Feed. “He made [Ibrahima] Konate defend it. He didn’t defend it well enough, and gave Diouf the chance to fire in a cross.
“You can’t allow [Diouf] to fire the ball across the six yard box like that. Soucek is on the move brilliantly. A brilliant response from West Ham [at the start of the second-half].”
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In truth, much of West Ham’s attacking play was occasionally ‘brilliant’. There were a few flowing moves, often with Fernandes or Summerville at the heart, which cut swathes through Liverpool’s midfield. The less said about their defending, though, the better.
According to XG Philosophy, West Ham recorded a higher ‘expected goals’ tally than Arne Slot’s side, despite scoring three fewer goals on the day.
If anything sums up their season, it’s this. Some fine play between the boxes, undercut defensive blunders, set-piece concessions, and missed chances. As cocktails go, that is a recipe for a serious headache.
“It is frustrating because we played really well in the first-half [despite being 3-0 down],” a sighing Fernandes told reporters after another fine individual display went to waste.
“We conceded two goals from set pieces and these are the details when you play against the big teams. You need to be ready for these differences.
“We go into the second-half believing because in football everything can change very quick. We tried to look for the good things. We scored two goals, created a lot of chances. Now, we need to be better on set-pieces.
“We are getting better every week, we know the quality of our squad, the manager. This is life, this is football, we need to be ready for the next game. We need to eat well, drink well, sleep well to win the next game.”
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