Mousset has last laughs
Hammers denied after Wilder magic
IT WILL take an awful lot to make up for a relegation and the 12 years they have spent in the wilderness outside the Premier League.
But Sheffield United at least had the last laugh in their first league meeting with West Ham since the Carlos Tevez affair. It was 2007 that Sheffield United were relegated at West Ham’s expense, with the Londoners breaking Premier League third-party ownership rules to sign striker Tevez — whose final-day winner at Old Trafford sent the Blades down.
Neither the £20million compensation settlement nor time have been healers for Sheffield United. So leaving West Ham with a fifth winless game in a row was a source of satisfaction for Chris Wilder, his players and the club’s fans.
The cheers from the travelling contingent and boos from the home end at full-time confirmed who this was a better point for.
Wilder again displayed his happy knack of getting his substitutions right to earn United their share of the spoils. For the fourth time this season one of his players came off the bench to score with Lys Mousset’s equaliser cancelling out Robert Snodgrass’s opener, six minutes after he entered the fray.
Mousset’s demotion to the bench after Monday’s winner against Arsenal was the major Blades talking point before the game but this was another occasion when one of the impressive Wilder’s decisions proved to be a masterstroke.
Wilder said: ‘He is still not up to speed and a lot was taken out of him on Monday, not just physically but psychologically too.
‘It can be the easy thing to keep the same team but it was the right thing to do. To come on and score is great for him. I’m delighted he finished that opportunity.’
And Wilder is keen to move on from the Tevez controversy, saying: ‘It’s a talking point but we want to make new memories for our supporters — whether that’s younger generation of supporters or supporters who have watched us through thin and thinner.’
West Ham’s promising start to the season is fast becoming a distant memory. Their five-game winless streak in all competitions would have ended had they taken at least one of the presentable second half chances they created.
Pellegrini said: ‘We are disappointed because we lost more points at home. It was similar to Crystal Palace. We created options but those options you must score.’ After back-to-back defeats against Palace and Everton Pellegrini wielded the axe, making five changes.
The reaction he was after, though, was not forthcoming and West Ham fans instead kept themselves entertained with Tevez taunts. Shirts bearing the Argentinian’s name and masks were waved in the direction of the away fans while ‘One Carlos Tevez’ was the chant of choice. Then they finally had something to get excited about in the 44th minute. The visitors had defended impressively up to that point but Chris Basham failed to properly deal with Roberto’s long punt, Andriy Yarmolenko collected the loose ball and slipped in Snodgrass to score his first goal since last December on his first league start since August.
West Ham should have extended their lead twice after the break but Yarmolenko and Felipe Anderson both failed to finish the home side’s counter attacks.
And they were punished when George Baldock’s cross was only headed up by Issa Diop and Enda Stevens nodded down to Mousset, who shinned the equaliser past Roberto on the volley.
The Frenchman, a £10m summer signing from Bournemouth, now has as many Premier League goals for Sheffield United in seven games as he managed in 58 for Bournemouth. Dean Henderson prevented Aaron Cresswell and Declan Rice restoring West Ham’s lead and Snodgrass hit the post, before the Scot’s late substitution summed up the frustration inside the London Stadium.
Pellegrini’s decision was loudly booed but he said: ‘We had three or four minutes of the game left.
‘We wanted to have more players in the box to score the goal to decide the game. We needed fresh legs inside the box to try to score the second goal.’