While West Ham United can usually rely on talismanic captain Jarrod Bowen to turn the tide in their favour, a former London Stadium defender was brought on midway through a Champions League opener hoping to make a transformative impact of his own.
In a week of thrilling European action – the first matchday saw an average of 3.73 goals per game – Emerson Palmieri was Marseille’s standout performer in a valiant 2-1 defeat by Real Madrid.
Over in Lisbon, as Bruno Lage made way for Jose Mourinho, former West Ham United target Georgiy Sudakov showed his suitors what they’re missing with two assists in the space of 15 minutes before Benfica found themselves on the wrong end of a remarkable Qarabag comeback.
As for Thilo Kehrer, well, it’s fair to say the damage was already done before a desperate Adi Hutter threw his captain in at the interval with Monaco already 3-0 down at Club Brugge.
Monaco’s Thilo Kehrer blunder as former West Ham United defender suffers Champions League nightmare
Weirdly enough, the last time Monaco found themselves 3-0 behind at half-time in a Champions League match, they were also going up against Club Brugge, back in 2018.
Hans Vanaken scored twice in that eventual four-goal victory in the Principality.
Six years on, Club Brugge’s evergreen midfielder clearly still has an eye for the spectacular. West Ham tried and failed to sign Vanaken a couple of summers’ ago, and his stunning volley on Thursday night – his 144th for the Belgian giants – capped a dominant display of longevity from the still-talismanic 33-year-old.
Raphael Onyedika also found the net at the Jan Breydel Stadium.
Hammers News reported at the beginning of the window that head of recruitment Kyle Macaulay had lined up Onyedika to potentially replace Tomas Soucek at West Ham. He stays in Belgium for now, and Brugge will be delighted with that.
From a Monaco perspective, meanwhile, one suspects that Adi Hutter would have played Thilo Kehrer from the start if he was aware of the blitz to come.
Former West Ham defender Kehrer has become a Champions League captain post-Hammers, though Eric Dier started with the armband instead in Brugge. By the time Kehrer joined the one-time England international on the field, brought on by Hutter with the game already all-but over, his belated introduction felt like more of a desparate attempt to plug the gaps.
Adi Hutter apologises to the Monaco fans as Club Brugge run riot
While Graham Potter has tended to pick out the positives on the back of heavy defeats this season, a fizzing consolation off the bench from former Barcelona wonderkid Ansu Fati was the only silver lining Adi Hutter could muster on a humiliating night.
“We were not up to the task and I apologise to the Monaco fans,” the head coach said at full-time. “Above all, [I am] angry. Bruges outclassed us.
We have to admit that Bruges were superior to us. I’m really sorry for our fans.”
No one can say for sure if Club Brugge would have found goals so easy to come by with Thilo Kehrer starting at the Jan Breydal Stadium.
Back at his old East London stomping ground, meanwhile, Potter faces a defensive dilemma of his own as Crystal Palace travel across the capital.
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