WEST HAM’S WOEFUL DEFENDING COULD COST THEM DEAR BUT BRIGHTON SHOW REAL FIGHT
TOWARDS one end of the pitch, everything was looking encouraging for Wes t Ham and David Moyes.
For just the second time this season, they scored three times at the London Stadium. After Issa Diop’s opener, Robert Snodgrass had claimed two of the goals from his starting position on the right flank. Michail Antonio, on the opposite side, was fit again and proving an infectious force, digging into his reserves to produce moments to spark West Ham and the crowd back into life when they were low on inspiration and energy. New loan signing Tomas Soucek provided glimpses of the goal threat he will bring from midfield by bombing forward at every opportunity. Though he barely threatened Mat Ryan’s net, club record signing Sebastien Haller was contributing too, at one stage tracking back and helping out as a makeshift left back.
All this with West Ham’s marquee signing of the month, talented £ 22million centre forward Jarrod Bowen, still to be added to the mix. He had a watching brief on Saturday having arrived only hours earlier on transfer deadline day from Hull and was introduced to the crowd before kick-off.
It was what happened at the other end of the pitch against Brighton that would have left all connected with West Ham fearing that, in their scrap to stay up, their defence will be more than capable of undoing all the good work further forward. It was not just that West Ham conceded three times but the nature of the goals Brighton scored to claim what was, for them, a deserved and hard-earned point.
Two of them featured some real slapstick defending. The last one was so bad that Moyes was more annoyed with his backline than the lengthy VAR review. For the first, Lukasz Fabianski punched the ball against Angelo Ogbonna for an own goal. The second was a real horror show. Arthur Masuaku’s clearance was poor, Ogbonna and Diop initially left the clearing up to each other before the latter’s desperate back header was weak and Pascal Gross nipped in to score.
For Brighton’s third, Masuaku and Aaron Cresswell let Davy Propper cross, Ogbonna, Diop and Ryan Fredericks all failed to cut it out and the ball travelled all the way to the back post where Glenn Murray was waiting to pounce.
The end of a transfer window is a time for reflection as well as looking forward. West Ham’s focus in January was on adding quality in midfield and support for Haller up front. They hoped they had enough in central defence, so right back was the only defensive position they attempted to improve.
With this horror show coming just hours after the final chance to bring in new players came and went, it was impossible not to wonder if that will prove to be something they regret.
Of course, it is impossible to solve all problem areas in one month but now all Moyes can do is work with what he has. The problem is it is not much that is convincing. Beyond Ogbonna and Diop,
of Moyes’ senior options, Fabian Balbuena has failed to maintain his promising early West Ham form and Winston Reid has not played for them for almost two years due to injury.
Moyes, whose side dropped into the bottom three for the first time since the season’s opening weekend, said: ‘ We’ve got what we have and have to become better. I am going to work with them and try to improve it.’
Though, in a hint at what may be West Ham’s best hope of survival, Moyes added: ‘ We scored three goals today and we are going to have to score three goals (in a game again) between now and the end of the season.’
Brighton are only two points above the bottom three themselves but, in recovering from being 2-0 and then 3-1 down, at least showed they possess the qualities they will require to haul themselves clear of danger.
Manager Graham Potter said: ‘You need to do that. You have moments in the season when you can talk about playing well but sometimes you need to fight, have character and we showed that in abundance.’
WEST HAM (4-1-4-1): Fabianski 6; Fredericks 6, Diop 5.5, Ogbonna 5.5, Cresswell 6; Rice 6.5; Snodgrass 7.5 (Lanzini 85min), Noble 7, Soucek 7.5 (Fornals 85), ANTONIO 8 (Masuaku 75, 4); Haller 5.5. Subs not used: Randolph, Zabaleta, Balbuena, Ajeti. Scorers: Diop 30, Snodgrass 45, 57. Booked: Ogbonna. Manager:
David Moyes 5.5. BRIGHTON (4-2-3-1): Ryan 6; Montoya 6.5 (Schelotto 72, 5), Dunk 7, Webster 7, Bernardo 6; Propper 6.5, Stephens 7; Gross 7.5, Mooy 6.5 (March 72, 5), Trossard 6.5; Murray 7. Subs not used: Button, Alzate, Jahanbakhsh, Maupay, Connolly. Scorers: Ogbonna 47 (og), Gross 75, Murray 79. Booked: Stephens. Manager:
Graham Potter 8. Referee: Michael
Oliver 7. Attendance: 59,952.