Well, that was pretty poor all around from the West Ham United players during our clash with Crystal Palace today.
However, we ended up winning the match 2-0, so that’s all that matters right.
The West Ham fans were on a downer as soon as Julen Lopetegui‘s utterly bizarre team selection was announced at 1:45pm.
Lopetegui would have been desperate for his side to pick up a result against the Eagles in the Premier League today, and that made the starting lineup named by the Hammers head coach all the more baffling.
Unsurprisingly, the usual suspects let us down today.
Vladimir Coufal and Michail Antonio were both absolutely awful. Tomas Soucek was fairly poor as well, although he did score for us so I don’t want to be too harsh on him.
Lopetegui left himself wide open to criticism with his team selections, but we got away with it today.
The Spaniard was proven right with the side he selected in the end, although it’s worth noting it was the contribution one of the substitutes that played a key role in our victory – Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
Despite the win, the lack of any clear playing style or system was concerning to see. It was just very much like the poor performances we witnessed week in, week out last season.
However, it wasn’t all doom and gloom – we got the three points after all, and one player really turned up and showed his quality at Selhurst Park today.
West Ham star stands out during against Crystal Palace
It has been a difficult start to life at West Ham for Lopetegui, but today’s win will lift the mood massively.
The starting lineups against Aston Villa and Crystal Palace respectively may well have been questioned, but three points from the opening two games isn’t the worst of returns.
In spite of the win, there were still a whole host of poor performances at Selhurst Park today.
However, there is one man who will clearly play a pivotal role for us this season.
Max Kilman was truly exceptional for West Ham during our clash with Crystal Palace this afternoon.
It’s just such a shame that he’s surround by so many poor players along the backline – notably Vladimir Coufal and Konstantinos Mavropanos.
The physically imposing 6ft 4in centre-back has made a really strong start to his West Ham career.
Max Kilman put in a fine performance against Aston Villa last weekend and yet another one today away at Palace.
The former Wolves man was totally dominant at the back for West Ham against Crystal Palace, and he was by far and away our best player as far as I’m concerned.
The way that he strode out from central defence and drove up the pitch before finding Jarrod Bowen to put us 2-0 up was special to watch.
Max Kilman stats vs Crystal Palace
The English defender is a seriously good player, despite what some Wolves fans were telling us when we signed him!
Against Palace today, he racked up some seriously impressive numbers. The centre-back made one tackle, three interceptions, six clearances, won four aerial duels and provided an assist!
Kilman had 74 touches of the football, made 60 passes and recorded a completion rate of 90% (Who Scored).
When Lopetegui brought the 27-year-old to the London Stadium for £40 million earlier this summer, eyebrows were raised, mostly because of the supposed astronomical fee.
However, Max Kilman is quickly proving to be worth his weight in gold for West Ham, and he did that once again this afternoon against Crystal Palace.
Personally, I think he actually should have been made the West Ham club captain over Jarrod Bowen, but that’s a debate for another day.
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