West Ham United played host to Aston Villa at the London Stadium this evening, and Hammers News have compiled our player ratings from the game.
Hammers head coach Julen Lopetegui named somewhat of a surprise starting lineup, with only two summer signings getting the nod.
Guido Rodriguez and Max Kilman were the two West Ham new-boys who started the match, and perhaps Lopetegui should have thrown more summer signings in from the start.
The performance from West Ham was extremely clunky, and lacked any kind of cohesion, but that can be expected considering the fact that the new manager has only been in charge of the club for six weeks.
Lopetegui must be given plenty of patience and time before any judgement is made on him. It will take plenty of time for all the new players to gel together and to understand the way that everyone plays.
Today was always going to be a tough game against Villa, but which players impressed and what ones failed to catch the eye?
West Ham player ratings vs Aston Villa
It was a real mixed bunch from the boys today, but if I’m being honest, there were far more poor performances than there were good ones.
Lopetegui clearly wants his players to be in possession of the football more than they were with David Moyes at the helm.
I expect things to start improving after the first international break, as far as the fluidity of our play is concerned.
Here’s how Hammers News saw Lopetegui’s first competitive game in charge today, as many players flattered to deceive…
Alphonse Areola 5.5/10
The Frenchman looked shaky at times. Although Michail Antonio was to blame for losing his man inside the box for Villa’s opener, I would still like to see Areola be more commanding when crosses come into our box. He recklessly flew off his line midway through the first-half, only to be beaten easily by Leon Bailey, and he was lucky not to concede then. I expect much more from the 31-year-old this season – it was a very average performance from him today.
Vladimir Coufal 5/10
Another very poor performance from the 31-year-old Czech defender. New signing Aaron Wan-Bissaka should have started today, I don’t think that’s even a debate. Coufal just isn’t good enough to be playing at this level anymore, and his lack of pace is a huge concern. He was skinned on numerous occasions by Morgan Rogers today and he just looked like a player who’s ready to move back to the Czech league.
Max Kilman 6.5/10
A solid if not spectacular competitive debut for the former Wolves man this afternoon. He definitely has more of a physical presence than Nayef Aguerd, and he’s much quicker than Kurt Zouma, although that isn’t saying much! I love how he stepped out with the ball at times, and he made a sensational intervention late on in the game that kept the score at 1-2. However, I’d just like him to be more commanding aerially, given his size and stature.
Konstantinos Mavropanos 6/10
I’m still not convinced by the 26-year-old if I’m honest. He wasn’t bad today, but he wasn’t great either. I personally don’t think Mavropanos’s positional awareness is very good, and I say that because when he’s tracking back it always seems like he’s flying into last ditch tackles. You don’t need to make them if you’re in the correct position to begin with. Big improvements needed from the former Stuttgart centre-back.
Emerson Palmieri 6/10
A decent display from the Italian, although he didn’t look completely up to speed. He usually plays a vital role for us down the left wing, but seemed to be slightly withdrawn today. The 30-year-old has so much to offer going forward but he isn’t the greatest defender in the world, so his role today didn’t make much sense to me.
Guido Rodriguez 6.5/10
The Argentina international looks like the real deal, although he was fairly quiet today. His role in the team will clearly be to snuff out the opposition’s counter attacks, and generally break up play in the middle of the park. He looked decent in possession as well today, and was incredibly brave on a couple of occasions when he put his head into dangerous situations. I think he will form an exceptional double pivot with Edson Alvarez, when the Mexican returns from injury. The only problem I noticed with the South American was his lack of pace and explosiveness. Maybe he’s not fully fit yet, we shall have to wait and see.
Tomas Soucek 6/10
I’m sorry but I just cannot see any kind of future for Soucek in this team. He’s painfully slow and cumbersome in possession, and slows us down every single time in transition. That said, he did win us the penalty that got us back into the game late on inside the first-half. However, he missed an absolute sitter to level the match in the dying embers of the game. His all-round play is a big problem for West Ham as far as I’m concerned, and I don’t think he’ll be a regular starter this season.
Lucas Paqueta 8/10
Yes he lost the ball a few times, and yes his discipline needs to be worked on, but my word is he a game-changer or what! When West Ham started playing through the Brazilian after the first 30 minutes, he showed his real class. Paqueta started making us tick, and his penalty was exceptionally well taken. We need him at his very best this season, if we are to enjoy any kind of success under Lopetegui.
Jarrod Bowen 6/10
One of the quieter performances I have seen from Jarrod in quite some time, but he clearly isn’t 100 per cent fit just yet. He worked hard as usual down the right hand flank, and provided solid support for Coufal in defence. There are undoubtedly better things to come from Bowen this season, but he certainly wasn’t the worst player on the pitch today, far from it in fact.
Mohammed Kudus 8.5/10
The only player who really impressed me against the Villans today was Kudus. The 24-year-old is a sensational footballer with great strength, balance and stunning ability to carry the football. His running ability offers us such a great outlet when we’re under the cosh. Kudus had Matty Cash on toast today, and his cheeky Rabona cross really got the Hammers fans off their seats. He will be one of the standout players in the Premier League this season, I have no doubts about that. And keeping him at the London Stadium next term will be a real challenge. One thing I will say is that he isn’t at his best out on the left wing, and that’s a problem that Lopetegui will have to solve.
Michail Antonio 3/10
I actually think 3/10 was rather generous for the Jamaica international – he was absolutely atrocious against Villa. His sloppy defending allowed Amadou Onana to ghost inside our six-yard box to head home the opener. His first touch today was truly shocking and he was unable to hold up the ball and relieve pressure on our defenders. He improved slightly in the second-half but was still miles off the pace. The sooner he’s out the door the better as far as I’m concerned, and I think he’ll be on the bench next weekend.
Subs:
Crysencio Summerville (6), James Ward-Prowse (5) and Niclas Fullkrug (5) were all introduced to the game with around 17 minutes left to play.
The same can be said for Jean-Clair Todibo and Danny Ings who were thrown on with around six minutes of the match remaining.
None of them really got into the game, so it’s hard to pass judgement on any of them. That said, I do expect to see a lot more from Summerville and Fullkrug especially moving forward.
With every week that passes, we should see big improvements from our key players individually, and from the team as a whole.
These are exciting times for West Ham fans, but the below average performance and subsequent player ratings today were indicative of a typical first game of the season.
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