Hindsight is a wonderful thing in football. How Ollie Scarles, and his West Ham United manager Nuno Espirito Santo for that matter, will wish they could turn back the clock following Saturday’s devastating late defeat by Fulham?
In time, will we look back on December 27th as the date when the Hammers’ relegation was all-but confirmed?
If a 3-0 defeat at Manchester City was understandable, a home game against a Fulham side sitting in the bottom half felt like one of those games you circle on the calendar and label a ‘must win’. Or, at the very least, a ‘must not lose’.
Lose it they West Ham United did, though.
A DEVASTATING late defeat against Fulham! 💔
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If West Ham were teetering over the abyss before the game kicked off, Raul Jimenez’s 85th minute header and Ollie Scarles preceding blunder brought to mind that scene in 300 when Gerard Butler unceremoniously boots a Persian emissary down a well.
But as the Hammers ended matchday 18 five points adrift of safety, it was a mistake from their young left-back that left club legend Tony Gale holding his head in his hands, as well as some typically questionable Nuno Espirito Santo decisions.
Tony Gale questions Nuno Espirito Santo for benching Callum Wilson again at West Ham United
Scarles appeared to be a doubt for this Fulham clash having been forced off against Man City seven days before. Nuno will have been relieved to see him pass a fitness test, then. Especially with El Hadji Malick Diouf away on African Cup of Nations duty.
Callum Wilson started on the bench for a fourth straight Premier League match. It was no coincidence that, following his belated introduction early in the second half, West Ham produced their most threatening football of the entire match.
“[Wilson is helping to generate] chances that they were not getting in the first half,” Gale said during Peacock’s live coverage, his confusion mirroring that of countless fans on the London Stadium terraces.
“Why is he not on the pitch [from the start]?”
Wilson made an immediate impact purely through his sheer physical presence. The 33-year-old gives the Hammers an outlet no one else can replicate, even if he was wayward with two half-decent opportunities in transition.
Ollie Scarles error gifted Fulham a winner through Raul Jimenez
Namesake Harry Wilson and the aforementioned Raul Jimenez would not quite so wasteful, though.
After Scarles slashed at a simple clearance with five minutes of normal time remaining, the outstanding Welshman planted an inch-perfect cross onto the Mexican’s head.
“What is he doing there? Scarles, what is he doing?,” sighed Gale, the kind of dependable, defensive presence Nuno would give an arm for these days. “Just lashing at the ball?
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“Jimenez finds that yard of space off [Jean-Clair] Todibo and buries it, as he should. But Ollie Scarles, just lashing at the ball! A bit of composure needed, clear his lines, but he’s left it to the worst person you could possibly leave it to, Harry Wilson.
“He always finds that final ball and Jimenez buries it.”
Gale spoke out in support of Scarles on the other side of Christmas, when Nuno’s tactics left him exposed one-v-one against Man City wizard Rayan Cherki. There was no excusing this, though. The most schoolboy of errors at the worst possible moment, in the worst possible match.
“I feel sorry for young Ollie Scarles. He’s come back into the team after an injury [he suffered in October], and he looks off the pace at the moment,” Gale added. “Sad for Ollie Scarles, a good young player coming through the academy.
“He’s just got to big himself up now.”
If this was already a make-or-break period, West Ham now probably have to win all of their next three matches – against Brighton, Wolves and Nottingham Forest – if they are to keep any lingering hopes of a 2007-style Great Escape alive.
“They’ve got to win the next three,” Gale argues.
“They were looking good [when introducing] Wilson. They created a few chances but [Fulham were] more clinical in front of goal. One chance with Jimenez and a great pick out.
“I’ve got to say ,when you need someone to pick out a ball, it’s Harry Wilson.”
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