That there were a fair amount of West Ham United Man of the Match candidates following Tuesday’s 2-1 loss to Nottingham Forest speaks volumes.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side produced their best performance in a while. Perhaps, since the valiant 3-2 defeat by Aston Villa the other side of Christmas.
When Crysencio Summerville slammed in a fizzing volley just after half time, putting West Ham United 2-0 up against the side one place above them in the Premier League table, it felt like a turning point-moment in a season so nightmarish even Freddie Kruger would feel guilty subjecting his victims to.
Who was your MAN OF THE MATCH during West Ham v Forest?
Some good performances on a bad night…
Konstantinos Mavropanos and Ollie Scarles were excellent at the back, completing eight tackles and 13 clearances between them. Scarles was so effective defensively, in fact, that visiting boss Sean Dyche opted to hook the fleet-footed Omari Hutchinson at half-time.
Nuno was impressed by Taty Castellanos’ lively debut, meanwhile, not to mention Pablo Felipe’s late cameo.
Tomas Soucek justified his inclusion, Kyle Walker-Peters was a constant menace on the right, and Mateus Fernandes arguably outshone Forest’s £80 million-plus-rated Elliot Anderson.
That West Ham still found a way to lose – even a Millwall icon stood up for Alphonse Areola following the collision which gifted Forest an 89th minute winner from the penalty spot – was typical of a team who could jump off a diving board and find a way to hit the roof.
Ollie Scarles named West Ham United fans’ Man of the Match after Nottingham Forest
We asked Hammers News readers to name their Man of the Match at full-time.
Young Player of the Year Ollie Scarles dominated 50 per cent of the voting after that 2-2 draw against Brighton and Hove Albion seven days earlier. This time, he would pick up a further 37 per cent. Not quite a landslide, but still enough to earn the left-back Man of the Match billing.
Suddenly, with El Hadji Malick Diouf on his way back from the Africa Cup of Nations soon and as FC Utrecht ‘Assist King’ Souffian El Karouani talks up a transfer to the London Stadium, Scarles is proving that his time in the starting XI does not have to be brief.
Coming in second, with nearly 15 per cent of the vote, was Tomas Soucek.
The long-serving midfielder made his first start since the 1-1 draw at Manchester United in early-December, and justified his inclusion over Freddie Potts. Soucek was typically industrious, physical, and forced an early own goal from Murillo with a trademark front-post header from a Summerville corner.
Mateus Fernandes speaks out after going head-to-head with Elliot Anderson
At the time of writing, debutant Castellanos picked up one more vote than the aforementioned Fernandes, meaning the former beats the latter to third place.
And an honourable mention must go to Mavropanos and Walker-Peters, who picked up eight and seven per cent of the vote themselves. Surely, even as West Ham look to replace Max Kilman with Toulouse giant Charlie Cresswell, Mavropanos has proven himself the more reliable of those Jean-Clair Todibo partners.
Though the bar, it must be said, is so low it is barely even off the ground.
What would YOU say are the benefits of starting Scarles over Diouf?
A difficult decision looms for Nuno 🏴 v 🇸🇳
“It’s difficult tonight,” a dejected Fernandes told the club’s official website. “We spoke this week about this game. We knew it was important, but it is not finished, and we’re still fighting until the end.
“We already know the quality of our squad, and we believe in ourselves. I think we did a good first half, and in the second half, I think we scored the second goal, which was offside, but we showed a lot of quality.
“After that, they scored from a set-piece and a penalty. This is football. But we fight until the end, and we believe until the end, of course.
“We spoke about the first ten minutes of the second half, and we knew it was important for us to try to score the second goal. We tried, we scored, it was offside, and we tried again. We need to manage the games better, but it’s difficult.”
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