West Ham suffered their all too inevitable defeat to Manchester City but it was a chance wasted as the champions were there for the taking.
It sums up where West Ham are as a club under Julen Lopetegui that their Premier League season is all but over just one game into 2025.
This rather predictable 4-1 defeat to Man City leaves the Hammers 13th in the table.
Lopetegui’s boring side are never going to be relegated and are now over 10 points off the European spots.
A second half of the campaign battling for nothing more than midtable mediocrity now beckons in this most pointless and wasted of seasons.
If West Ham are going to Manchester City needing a win to keep their season alive then you know things aren’t going well.
Quite how or why Lopetegui is still in the job only David Sullivan and the Hammers board know.
West Ham actually played OK in patches against Man City. They did the same in the reverse fixture with the same end result, a comfortable defeat.
But to suggest there was any evidence of this team going places under the manager would be ridiculous.
Man City have been woeful for months and were there for the taking.
This was a huge opportunity wasted by the Irons.
Greed, cowardice and 3/10 quartet cost West Ham dear in loss
It’s all well and good saying ‘it is Man City’. But after just six Premier League wins so far this season, West Ham have put themselves in the position where they need to pick up some surprise wins to redress the balance.
Especially if Lopetegui wants to keep his job.
Man City allowed West Ham to attack them so they themselves could launch their own counter attacks.
It was clear the Hammers carry little to no threat up front without Jarrod Bowen.
Niclas Fullkrug is like a tree and anyone thinking he is the answer or what West Ham needed in the summer is either deluded or doesn’t watch much football.
There was an element of bad luck about Man City’s deflected opener.
But it was greed, cowardice and a 3/10 quartet that cost West Ham dear in the Man City loss.
After a decent start to life replacing Declan Rice at West Ham, Edson Alvarez was woeful throughout 2024.
His rotten performances as a faux hard man continued at the Etihad.
Summed up perfectly by one of the most cowardly withdrawals from a must-win header you will ever see from a West Ham player.
The Mexican arrived at West Ham with a tough-guy reputation he very much leans into.
Nicknamed ‘the machine’, the only similarity Alvarez bears to a machine is the fact he has about the same mobility as a robot.
As the ball lingered in the air on the edge of West Ham’s box, Alvarez went up to head it clear.
But believing he was about to be challenged by a Man City player he meekly pulled out, allowing the ball to find its way to Savinho.
The Brazilian winger roasted the aging Vladimir Coufal who then turned the resulting cross into his own net.
Alphonse Areola, for some inexplicable reason, had already dived on the floor.
Fake hard man Alvarez, wasteful Kudus and awful Areola
Only he knows what he was thinking but it left him unable to react to what would otherwise have been a simple save.
At the other end Mohammed Kudus looked better in his favoured right side role.
But his complete and utter greed and awful decision making saw at least four presentable chances passed up.
It was infuriating to watch.
West Ham are going to be reliant on selling Kudus to raise money for transfers in the summer.
Especially after borrowing £69m of transfer money owed to them by other clubs from Barclays Bank to get access to it early.
At this rate West Ham will be lucky if anyone stumps up the £85m to activate Kudus’ release clause, let alone pay the £100m plus apparently needed to sign him in January.
Coufal and Areola combined again to allow Man City an easy second.
The Czech right-back has been a great servant to the club.
But it sums West Ham up that the club finally went out and spent money to sign a decent right-back in Aaron Wan-Bissaka only to see him play more often at left-back because the Hammers neglected to address that position.
Coufal was taken to the cleaners by Savinho again and he sent over a cross into the six-yard box which most goalkeepers would read and then come and claim quite comfortably.
Especially one who is 6ft 5in tall.
But no, Areola stayed rooted to his line, West Ham’s defenders left Erling Haaland unchallenged and Areola had once again inexplicably dived onto the floor as the striking Viking nodded home.
The second half saw the usual pitiful, pathetic capitulation from Lopetegui’s side.
It is the ninth time this season West Ham have shipped more than three goals.
The ease at which Man City scored their second half goals was simply embarrassing.
If West Ham’s owners have truly given Lopetegui the Man City and Villa games to save his job then he is surely now on the brink.
This Hammers team is weak, spineless and a hodge podge of players who do not complement each other in any way.
Lopetegui needs to go and Tim Steidten should not be far behind.
West Ham player ratings vs Man City:
Alphonse Areola 3/10: Made one decent save but was nothing short of pathetic. Diving on the floor far too early – which he repeated for the third and fourth goals and failing to command his six-yard box. Going into the season nobody would have thought signing a new goalkeeper would become a top priority. It says everything about Areola that it is. As does the fact 40-year-old Lukasz Fabianski will come straight back into the side for the next game with no questions asked.
Vladimir Coufal 3/10: We all love Coufal but he showed his age big time here. Would struggle to get in any other Premier League back four. Terrorised by Savinho.
Jean-Clair Todibo 4/10 (Konstantinos Mavropanos 5/10): French defender Jean-Clair Todibo was supposed to be the jewel in the crown of West Ham’s summer recruitment. He rather aptly sums up the team quite nicely in terms of expectation vs reality this season. Ok on the ball but weak defensively and once again went off injured. Konstantinos Mavropanos did ok but the fact West Ham need a new centre-back after spending over £70m on two in the summer says it all.
Max Kilman 4/10: Not one of his best games and lost Haaland far too easily for his second goal. Needs a more dominant presence alongside him week in, week out or gets exposed.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka 7/10: West Ham’s most consistent performer all season. Played well at both ends and all of Man City’s threat came down West Ham’s right or through the middle.
Edson Alvarez 3/10 (Danny Ings N/A): Cowardly pulling out of a header on the edge of his box cost West Ham the first goal when the team was playing well. Unacceptable. Didn’t lay a glove on Man City’s midfielders either. Fake hard man. Danny Ings replaced him late on. Not on long enough for a rating.
Tomas Soucek 5/10: Set up the goal and always works hard for the team but did very little in the game after taking the captain’s armband in Bowen’s absence.
Lucas Paqueta 6.5/10: Looked good with some of his play much better in spells. Then comes the stupid, risky passes in his own half which allowed City to put the Hammers under pressure. Simply doesn’t effect the game enough or get enough goals and assists for his level of talent on the ball. He did work hard for the team and this was one of his better games. Although that’s not saying much given how bad he has been for so long. A player of his talent on £150k per week should be dictating and winning matches for West Ham. Simple as that.
Mohammed Kudus 3/10 (Luis Guilherme 5/10): Kudus was greedy and wasteful as West Ham made a decent start. Keeps making the wrong choices too often and playing for himself at times. Looked angry to be taken off but deserved it on this occasion. Brazilian teen Luis Guilherme barely touched the ball in his stead.
Crysencio Summerville 7/10: Lively, full of running and a real threat. How Crysencio Summerville is not starting most weeks only Lopetegui knows. Needs to convert chances better when they come to him. But that can be put down to rustiness having played a bit-part role. One of West Ham’s best players in this game.
Niclas Fullkrug 6/10: Would have been a 5/10 rating had he not scored West Ham’s consolation. He was about to be substituted by Lopetegui before his goal. Simply put, Fullkrug is not the answer for the Hammers. The team needed a young, powerful and dynamic striker in the summer. A forward who could do a bit of everything and offer a threat in behind to stretch defences and allow Bowen and Kudus more space to play. He is a good finisher, as he showed. But Fullkrug is slow, pretty immobile and an old fashioned target man who doesn’t suit the players around him. Kudus and Bowen would benefit from having a quicker forward who they can play explosive combinations with. That is a must in the January window.
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