No stand-in stand-outs as Moyes flops are caught cold
ALL roads lead to Alkmaar this week, so David Moyes need not be too concerned that West Ham were dreadful.
Nine changes spoke volumes for the Hammers’ energy conservation ahead of their tulip-picking Europa Conference League semi-final assignment in the Netherlands.
Brentford could not have won more comfortably if the Hammers had tucked them up in bed with a mug of something hot and malted.
But if Hammers boss Moyes was hoping for fringe candidates to force their way into his thinking for Thursday night’s mission in Europe, they made a right Horlicks of it. By half-time, he could strike a red line through the whole lot.
The EastEnders are all but safe in the muck and nettles of the Premier League, and with games against Leeds and Leicester to come, they hold all cards in the relegation scrap.
But as preparation for flying the flag on Thursday night they were desperately poor at the Gtech Community stadium.
Goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa mean the Bees will finish in the top 10 above Chelsea – and not many were predicting that last August.
Whoever invented second season syndrome, the spectre which allegedly haunts Premier League newcomers who prosper in their first season at the top table, reckoned without the Bees’ nectar.
Thomas Frank’s underdogs, direct and fearless, have been a revelation – again. We shall not forget their early-season humiliation of Manchester United, nor the brazen audacity of a stunning win at the Etihad.
And even without injured 21-goal talisman Ivan Toney, nursing a sore hamstring, this was a stroll along the towpath by Kew Bridge.
Mikkel Damsgaard had already sent a glancing header wide from four yards when Brentford eased in front after 21 minutes, Mbeumo sliding his seventh goal of the season past Lukasz Fabianski from Mathias Jensen’s pass.
Moyes was unhappy that Mbeumo was afforded the freedom of the Hammers’ 18-yard area to pick his spot, and his gripe was valid. It was touch-and-go whether his truant back four was even patrolling the same postcode as the Cameroon winger.
And if they hadn’t settled for damage limitation before kick-off, West Ham were battening down the hatches well before the break.
Much to Moyes’ dismay, they were undone by a routine set piece – long throw, flick-on, simple header – with Jensen, Ben Mee and goalscorer Wissa doing the damage.
West Ham have had a few chastening days this season, notably at Brighton and shipping a bunch of fives at home to Newcastle, but this could have been embarrassing.
And yet, as Brentford wasted a glut of chances – Damsgaard could have had a hat-trick – the Hammers should have been given a lifeline when Danny Ings headed home.
But VAR Robert Jones and referee Michael Oliver concluded Divin Mubama, 18, had handled the ball when former Bees winger Said Benrahma’s cross hit the post and it ricocheted off the Hammers sub’s arm on the rebound.
No Brentford players, nobody in the ground, thought it was handball. There was no clear and obvious error. The kid was trying to make sure he didn’t impale himself against the post.