To think, until what became the latest in a worryingly long line of trademark West Ham United collapses, Tony Gale must have felt he would walk away from Molineux with a rare spring in his step.
If the Hammers legend was ‘very worried’ by the nature of Friday’s calamitous 5-1 defeat by Chelsea, then the manner in which Graham Potter’s largely full-strength side managed to turn a 2-1 lead into a 3-2 loss four days later in the Black Country will not have eased Gale’s concerns.
On an evening in which Alphonse Areola, Guido Rodriguez and Max Kilman struggled again – both of Jorgen Strand Larsen’s quickfire goals came within minutes of the latter’s second-half introduction – Gale found himself questioning Potter’s self-defeating gameplan.
Why, he wondered aloud in his Sky Sports punditry role, did West Ham United attempt to soak up pressure and allow crosses into their box once Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta had combined beautifully to put the visitors ahead?
If those lashing by Sunderland and Chelsea were anything to go by, this is not a team who should be relying on their feeble backline to hold off a physical attack. It was Eliezer Mayenda and Dan Ballard on Wearside, Strand Larsen at Molineux.
Bowen’s wonderful cross and Paqueta’s fizzing header counted for little in the end. For the second game in a row, an emphatic Paqueta finish was rendered meaningless.
Gale was also impressed by what he saw from Kyle Walker-Peters and Tomas Soucek, the new signing assisting the long-serving Czech moments before Bowen set up the Brazilian in similar circumstances.
West Ham United lose at Wolves but Tomas Soucek and Kyle Walker-Peters impress Tony Gale
Tony Gale was at the London Stadium as Chelsea ran riot. Soucek returned to Graham Potter’s XI in place of Guido Rodriguez that night but struggled as part of a midfield duo with less athleticism than an Xbox fanatic on a school sports day.
Pushed further forward at Wolves, however, Soucek jumped at the chance to do what he does best. And what probably only he can do in claret and blue. A towering back-post header to draw West Ham level out of nowhere.
“That’s what he should be doing, not [being] involved in the build-up play but getting on the end of things,” Gale argues. “He really finishes it well and that epitomises his game. Get in the box, arrive late, make up that extra man.”
As for the man who delivered the cross converted gleefully by the former Slavia Prague captain, Aaron Wan-Bissaka may be glancing nervously towards Walker-Peters on the back of this display.
“He’s a good signing, Kyle Walker-Peters,” adds Gale, who made over 300 appearances in claret and blue during the 1980s and 1990s. “He brings cover on the left or the right, brings invaluable experience in the Premier League, and he’s one of those players who doesn’t let you down.”
Gale lauds Lucas Paqueta and Jarrod Bowen brilliance
The same can certainly be said of Bowen, West Ham’s captain and their eternal Mr Consistent.
After the skipper spent much of the first half marked out of proceedings, he shifted back towards his favoured right-wing role in the second and in whizzed a sublime cross which Paqueta met with a devastating diving header.
“What a great cross from Jarrod Bowen. All you got to do is get your head on it,” Gale smiled shortly after West Ham took a lead they would soon throw away. “Great header from Paqueta but he’s only got to put it on target.
“It’s all about the quality of the cross. Out wide is maybe where [Bowen] should be.
“He makes this runs from out-to-in, rather than the other way around, and it’s easy to mark him when he’s stuck with his back to play. But when he can run either way and deliver crosses like that, it’s different class.
“[Paqueta] had a really good game today, dropped deep and played those effective passes. He could have scored in the first half but scored in the second [instead].”
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