RED AND BURIED!
Manager’s fury as his 10 men hit white wall
WEST HAM boss David Moyes was sent off in a bizarre meltdown last night as the club’s European dreams went up in smoke in Frankfurt. Trailing 2-1 from the first leg, the Hammers’ job was made even harder when Aaron Cresswell was sent off on 19 minutes, before Rafael Santos Borre extended Frankfurt’s lead. And late on, Moyes was was dismissed for kicking the ball at a ball boy. Frankfurt will face Rangers in the final.
SADLY for West Ham, they did not so much fade and die as die, then fade. Aaron Cresswell’s sending off after just 18 minutes killed them, and from there they simply slipped out of the Europa League having made barely an impression on the semi-final stage. Beaten at home, beaten away, the abiding image of West Ham’s departure from the tournament will be of manager David Moyes taking his frustration out on a ball boy, and getting a deserved red card.
It was not a good look, for the man, or the club. Two red cards, and no complaints about either.
Moyes let himself down, no doubt of that. There were 12 minutes remaining when the ball went out of play and a ball boy decided to take some time out of the game, returning it to West Ham’s manager, slowly. Moyes’ reaction was to kick it back at him hard. There were angry words, too. His team fighting for their lives we understand his irritation. But it’s a kid. He overreacted. If he wanted to sound off at anyone, try Cresswell.
Look, West Ham gave it their best but they have run out of steam under the weight of a European challenge. Injuries have mounted, players have turned out patched up, or exhausted.
And in Eintracht Frankfurt they met a team with many similar qualities: physical when necessary, quick on the counter-attack and hard-working. Once West Ham were reduced to 10 the game looked over, then Frankfurt scored, and it was.
We’ve seen some fine comebacks in Europe this week, but this was never going to be another. West Ham did not have the energy or ultimately the quality. The prospect of Champions League qualification promised so much for them, but now there will be uncertainty — not least around the future of Declan Rice.
As for Moyes, if West Ham make it to the Europa League or Conference League next season, he may not be accompanying them for a few matches. UEFA won’t like ball boy abuse no matter the mitigation. The Jose Mourinho memorial laundry skip awaits.
It is on nights like this that the full outrage of last year’s Super League plot is felt. How dare a cabal of elite clubs presume to bar one as passionate and magnificent as Eintracht Frankfurt from their tournament. How dare they deny the dream to West Ham.
It was a privilege to see a club’s support galvanised as Eintracht’s have been by this run. They were asked to wear white — even though the first-team shirt is black — because that is the colour they played in when they eliminated Barcelona, and to a man, woman and child they responded.
The area behind the goal that houses their most committed fans was a solid block of white from more than an hour before kick-off, occasionally bouncing in union.
When the teams emerged, though — that was something else. Giant, elaborate banners in support of their team were unfurled from the top and middle tiers, while below every fan furiously waved their black and white flags. Then the flares were lit, then the smoke cannisters, a torrential downpour of white streamers — and strobes.
It created an incredible effect — part firework display, part fiesta. The streamers were caught by the giant protective fence and blew in the wind. Stewards appeared with leaf blowers to clear the pitch as if this was a regular occurrence, and the housework factored in.
It wasn’t necessarily intimidating, but it was noisy and certainly impressive. Frankfurt sent a message to the rest of Europe. They may have been away quite a long time, but this is a big, big club.
West Ham’s corner could not compete, much like their team once Aaron Cresswell was sent off after 18 minutes. It was possible to be optimistic until that point. West Ham playing a steady five at the back were handling Frankfurt well, and the Germans had lost influential defender Martin Hinteregger after just six minutes. Four had gone when he tried to get physical with Michail Antonio and came off second best. The pair collided and Hinteregger signalled immediately that he was in distress. He has only recently returned from injury and the gamble hadn’t worked. He tried to continue but it was of no use. His game was over.
And then it was West Ham’s turn to suffer misfortune. Although, how much fortune comes into it when the same mistakes keep getting made is another matter.
Cresswell was sent off in the first leg against Lyon after losing his man, but many thought the decision harsh. So what of this? He lost Frankfurt forward Jens Petter Hauge and put his arms all over him. Hauge didn’t need much invitation to go down. He was looking for it but, equally, Cresswell gave it to him. When referee Jesus Gil Manzano gave a yellow card it looked as if he might have got away with it.
But that’s what VAR is for, to ensure justice done. Alejandro Hernandez asked his colleague to have another look, which he did. He marched back and upgraded to red. Funny, isn’t it? The yellow seemed lenient, but the red too harsh. Either way, Cresswell was gone. Really, he couldn’t complain. He lost his man and tried to impede him illegally. There is always a risk. It may look soft to English eyes, but the defending was soft, too. And Frankurt took almost immediate advantage. Filip Kostic hit the free-kick low and narrowly wide of the right post. David Moyes introduced Ben Johnson for Manuel Lanzini but the damage was done. From there, all of Frankfurt’s best work came down the side where Cresswell had been, including the 26th minute goal left West Ham looking up an extremely steep hill. Ansgar Knauff was now making hay on that flank and he dragged West Ham’s whole back line out of position before cutting back a cross sweetly for Rafael Borre in the middle. The Colombian had pulled away from
Craig Dawson and was in a huge amount of space. He finished first time, into the corner and out of reach.
Frankfurt were comfortable, and looked it. Two goals clear on aggregate and playing 10 men, Knauff continued to cause havoc on the flank and West Ham sat deep, unable to chase the game as they would have liked.
There were glimpses, of course. In the 44th minute, Jarrod Bowen centred, Antonio tried to bundle the ball in at the far post and Evan N’Dicka cleared off the line. But this was a disappointing way to slide out of the competition, with so much at stake. No bang, and not even much of a whimper.
EINTRACHT FRANKFURT (3-4-3): Trapp 6.5;
Tuta 6.5, Hinteregger 6 (Toure 8mins, 6.5), Ndicka 6.5; Knauff 6.5, Sow 6.5, Rode 6.5 (Jakic 76), Kostic 7; Hauge 6 (Hrustic 82), BORRE 7.5 (Paciencia 83), Kamada 6.5. Scorer: Borre 26. Booked: Ndicka, Trapp, Knauff, Chandler. Manager: Oliver Glasner 6.5. WEST HAM (3-4-2-1): Areola 6; Dawson 6.5, Zouma 6.5, Cresswell 2; Coufal 6, Soucek 6 (Yarmolenko 87), Rice 6.5, Fornals 7 (Benrahma 74, 6); Bowen 6, Lanzini 6 (Johnson 22, 6); Antonio 6. Booked: Rice, Benrahma, Antonio. Sent off: Cresswell, Moyes. Manager: David Moyes 6. Referee: Jesus Gil Manzano 6. Attendance: Not provided.