BEST OF BRITISH
Lewis roars clear, Yates in cycling glory, tennis joy too
British competitors enjoyed a day of remarkable success in Formula One, cycling and tennis yesterday.
Lewis hamilton extended his F1 championship lead over nearest rival sebastian Vettel to 40 points with victory in the singapore Grand Prix at Marina Bay. And with only six races left in the season, the German seemed resigned afterwards to finishing the season behind the Mercedes.
Ferrari reacted with sour grapes to hamilton’s victory, tweeting: ‘ Boredom, the winner’.
Meanwhile, simon Yates completed a clean sweep of British winners in cycling’s Grand tours, taking overall victory in the Vuelta a Espana after the ceremonial ride into Madrid. his triumph follows Chris Froome’s Giro d’italia victory in May and Geraint thomas’s tour de France win.
Finally, Britain’s Davis Cup team defeated Uzbekistan 3-1 in Glasgow. Cameron Norrie won the clinching rubber with a straight- sets victory over sanjar Fayziev.
ONLY when the conversation turned to cakes did Manuel Pellegrini finally crack a smile. It had been a stressful afternoon but now the celebrations could begin. Had his players got him a present for his 65th birthday?
‘No… no cake,’ said West Ham’s manager. ‘The three goals were the cake!’
With that he was gone. For the first time this season, though, he was able to head for home content at a job well done. There are less stressful ways to spend a personal landmark but none would have brought this kind of rush.
Pellegrini had admitted that West Ham’s owners were unhappy with a sequence of four straight defeats to open the Premier League season but he masterminded a performance here to clear the fog and lift his team off the bottom of the table.
Though they were given more than a little help by Everton, whose defence was as effective as a chocolate fireguard, West Ham finally looked to be heeding Pellegrini’s message. The final score of 3-1, inspired by Andriy Yarmolenko, was not flattering.
‘I’m very happy with the performance,’ said Pellegrini. ‘ First, because this is a very difficult stadium (at which) to win.
‘Second, my players didn’t have any doubts. Everton felt we came here to win the three points and from the first minute to the last we were trying to score.’
It was a hugely satisfying afternoon for him but there was no indication it was going to pan out in such a way. If anything, his decision to make six changes to the team who had lost to Wolves two weeks ago smacked of someone who was throwing balls up in the air to see how they would land.
But, for the first time this season, the formula Pellegrini concocted reaped dividends. They were busy immediately, the midfield of Mark Noble, Declan Rice and Pedro Obiang scuttling and scurrying to stop Everton setting the tone.
The intensity was most noticeable in Felipe Anderson. His last visit to Merseyside on the opening weekend had ended in a 4-0 defeat. It seemed to be a culture shock for the Brazilian. Here, though, he had clearly toughened up.
Such industry ensured West Ham plundered the vital first goal. Conceding the opener would surely have shattered their brittle confidence but they got an 11thminute shot-in-the-arm, as Obiang and Marko Arnautovic exchanged
passes before the latter unselfishly squared to Yarmolenko to score from eight yards. Things would soon get better. When Noble pounced to win back Jordan Pickford’s weak clearance, he set Yarmolenko away and the result was spectacular. He cut in from West Ham’s right, jinking past Lucas Digne and Kurt Zouma, before bending in a drive from 20 yards. Here was the stardust that West Ham’s owners hoped their £17.5million investment would bring when they signed him from Borussia Dortmund. ‘He didn’t arrive in England ready to play,’ said Pellegrini. ‘But he has a lot of quality and he always demonstrated it but he needed more pace and to work. We preferred to work with him for a couple of weeks. We talked with him and he was patient. I’m so happy for him.’ While there was much to like about the way they attacked — not least through the indefatigable Arnautovic — West Ham needed spirit to weather a period of pressure from Everton. Marco Silva made the unusual call of making a tactical substitution in the 44th minute, withdrawing holding midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin in favour of Brazil winger Bernard and putting two men up front. It had an instant impact as Gylfi Sigurdsson planted a header past Lukasz Fabianski in first-half stoppage time. Everton had other chances. Cenk Tosun will have difficulty sleeping after seeing a glorious headed opening palmed away by Fabianski, while another shot from the Turkey forward forced West Ham’s keeper into sprawling action.
Everton came out for the second half with renewed enthusiasm that they could turn the situation around but, on the hour, West Ham landed the counterpunch to end the contest.
Once again, Everton had a role in their own downfall. Silva may be missing several defenders but his teams remain worryingly open and they will continue to be exposed if they keep playing in this manner.
‘It is a big lesson and we need to learn from our mistakes,’ was his solemn assessment. ‘We have to do something about our focus.’
They were stripped bare by a simple give and go, Arnautovic passing to Obiang, who returned the pass in a flash, and the Austrian did the rest, thumping a shot low past Pickford to leave those who had traipsed north jumping around in glee.
Everton kept going but there was no real conviction, not even when substitute Oumar Niasse rattled the bar from close range.
They left the field to muted boos, the realisation that they have much work to do.
West Ham, on the other hand, left the field to chants of, ‘We’re gonna win the league’.
Fanciful, of course. But when there has been such disappointment and frustration, the chance for escapism is gleefully received