No goals, no points for horrific Hammers
New boy Kehrer has a nightmare as side slip to last place
David Moyes kidded at his pre- match press conference that he kept forgetting new signing Thilo Kehrer’s name. This was not the way to go about being remembered.
The 25-year- old German’s full debut can only be filed under the ‘nightmare’ category. The way he recklessly slid in on danny Welbeck to concede a penalty to Brighton, scored by alexis Mac allister, was not what West Ham thought they were getting when they went shopping in Paris.
The £10.1million signing from PSG will not look back on this day proudly. Neither will Kurt Zouma — his defensive partner who did not cover himself in glory for Brighton’s second by Leandro Trossard — nor any of his new team-mates after this awful showing at the London Stadium.
Three games, three defeats, zero goals. it is West Ham’s worst start to a league season for 51 years and they’re now the only team in the top four divisions yet to have scored this term. as a result, they’re bottom of the Premier League table and aston villa, Tottenham and Chelsea are next. Tough fixtures when you’re looking lost on the football field.
Brighton, by contrast, are full of confidence. ‘it’s happened again,’ sang the away supporters on repeat, referring to the fact they are West Ham’s bogey team. Eleven times these two have faced each other in the Premier League and the Hammers are yet to win.
Brighton were the better team from the get-go. They had the lead before the 22-minute mark and oh what a defensive calamity it was from a West Ham point of view. Zouma tried to play a pass forward but didn’t disguise it well enough. Mac allister intercepted on the halfway line and Leandro Trossard counter- attacked, breaking forward at speed.
Trossard fed Welbeck, whose diagnonal run into the box was smart. Kehrer followed him and foolishly slid in. He got none of the ball but all of Welbeck. a clear foul and referee anthony Taylor pointed to the penalty spot. vaR Lee Mason studied the footage to make sure it was inside of the box. it was on the line and therefore a spot-kick.
after all the controversy surrounding Taylor in last week’s feisty 2-2 draw between Chelsea and Tottenham, there was no disputing this decision. Mac allister stepped up, sent Lukasz Fabianski the wrong way, and made it 1-0 by finding the bottom right corner. Not the way Zouma and Kehrer wanted their first duet in defence to go.
West Ham’s supporters were groaning whenever an attack died a death and were stupefied when some non- existent communication between Fabianski and Kehrer saw the two collide.
Moyes’s backroom assistants Billy McKinlay and Mark Warburton like to sit near the press box at the London Stadium as it affords them more of a bird’s-eye view of the match. They departed for the dressing room at the end of the first half, their faces showing they clearly weren’t happy. Neither were the supporters, who booed at the half-time whistle.
Only once in West Ham’s history had they lost each of their first three league games in a season without scoring, doing so in the First division in 1971. They needed a goal in the second half to avoid repeating that unwanted record.
To their credit, West Ham came out fighting, most likely after a rollicking from Moyes. Brighton were being forced back into their own half and the home support found their voice.
Pablo Fornals stinging the palms of Robert Sanchez from 18 yards was as close as West Ham got to equalising, however, and so on came Gianluca Scamacca for the final half hour. Here was an opportunity for the club’s new £35.5m striker to save the day.
it wasn’t to be. instead West Ham’s day only got worse. Mac allister played a pass forward, Pascal Gross flicked it behind and Trossard sprinted into a big empty space left by Zouma. He slotted the ball
beneath Fabianski for 2-0 and the three points was Brighton’s. deservedly so. Moyes’s men may have been the domestic disruptors over the last two seasons as they made an unlikely push to upset the Premier League’s top four, eventually finishing sixth and seventh.
But they’re now struggling. This could be a long old campaign based on what we’ve seen thus far. The boos at full time tell you the fans are fearful of that, too.