After a couple of improved results in recent weeks, West Ham lost their 13th game of the season on Sunday and dropped back into the relegation zone with 15 games left to play. It was a particularly tough weekend for Hammers fans with fellow stragglers Bournemouth, Everton, and Southampton all winning while David Moyes’ side slumped to an uninspired defeat away at Spurs.
Łukasz Fabiański – 4
West Ham’s first choice goalkeeper made a couple of handy saves and punches from corners in this match but it was his distribution and ability to deal with balls in behind the defence that caused problems on Sunday. In the first half, Fabiański generally refused to step off his line and sweep up these balls over the top. This improved in the second 45 but the keeper had such little confidence in these moments that when he came out to meet an aimless punt forward from Clement Lenglet, he launched his clearance straight up rather than away and was fortunate that Cristian Romero failed to control the loose ball.
Vladimír Coufal – 7
Playing a more defensive role where he was more often operating as part of a back five, rather than pressing out of a midfield four as he had done against Chelsea, Coufal wasn’t quite as good as he has been in recent weeks but was still a source of several positive moments in possession. He played six passes to the final third – triple that of anyone else other than Declan Rice (11) – and eight progressive passes (joint-top for West Ham alongside Rice). The Czech defender panicked a little after Spurs got their first and his lack of composure made the task of resettling much harder than it might have otherwise been – Coufal gave the ball away needlessly five times in the ten minutes that followed Emerson Royal’s opening goal – but this was still one of the few more positive performances on the day.
Thilo Kehrer – 6
Since slotting into a right-sided centre-back role as part of a back three/five, Kehrer has shown some of his impressive capability to step out of the backline and press opposition attackers aggressively to win the ball back. Against Chelsea, he did this effectively against both Kai Havertz and Mykhailo Mudryk and, on a couple of occasions on Sunday, he replicated some of this positive work against Richarlison. The German also made one important tackle on Oliver Skipp in the second half but was probably fortunate to not concede a penalty when he blocked a Richarlison pass with his hand in the penalty area.
Angelo Ogbonna – 4
Despite displaying some of the crucial attributes required to play as the central-centre-back in a David Moyes team, Ogbonna’s mistakes have begun to stack up and he has been at fault for opposition chances and goals too often recently. The Italian was a big part of the faux-pas at Newcastle that left a gaping hole in the backline for Sean Longstaff to play Callum Wilson through for the opener in that game and the same happened on Sunday with Ben Davies scything in from the left flank and being found by a straight pass in behind from Pierre-Emile Højbjerg. Ogbonna was then outmuscled by Harry Kane to give up an easy second goal that put the game beyond West Ham.
Nayef Aguerd – 5
There was little to say about Aguerd’s performance on Sunday aside from a couple of mistakes that he made at the start of the second half. The most significant of these came when he was far too casual under pressure from Dejan Kulusevski and gave the ball away before racing back to stop the Swede from scoring – he was hugely fortunate that Richarlison didn’t punish the mistake from the cut-back that followed.
Emerson – 5
Emerson continued his form from last weekend in the first half at Spurs with a couple of strong interventions defensively and one good ball forward to find Jarrod Bowen in space but his second half showing underwhelmed and it was unsurprising to see him withdrawn late on to be replaced by Ben Johnson as Moyes desperately chased the game. The wing-back had a small part to play in the concession of the first goal too as his indecision when Spurs’ Emerson charged past him – he was unsure whether to hold with Kulusevski or match the run – allowed the Brazilian to run through unchallenged and slot home the opening goal.
Flynn Downes – 5
Whilst Downes did a stand-up job of executing his off-ball role where he was able to join the frontline and exert pressure on Lenglet to stop the Frenchman from being comfortable in stepping out and finding positive passes, his job when West Ham were in possession was mystifying. Clearly a much safer and more defensive player than Saïd Benrahma, Pablo Fornals or Manuel Lanzini – some of the more attacking options that could have played this role – it was borderline impossible to see what Downes was expected to add on the ball. Nearly every time he got it, he opted for a simple pass sideways or back.
Tomáš Souček – 7
Outstanding in the first half, Souček did an excellent job of aggressively stepping out of midfield to win the ball back and link with the forwards. His run into the channel and cut-back for Bowen in the first minute was fantastic. Unfortunately, as the game went on he became more passive like everyone else and, as the midfield dropped deeper, his impact weakened.
Declan Rice – 7
West Ham’s most progressive player by a mile, Rice was still slow by his own standards on Sunday. His eleven passes to the final third and eight progressive passes may have dwarfed the numbers put up by his teammates but he still struggled to transform a misfiring attack – even it feels ridiculous to be asking this of a player that should be more focused on anchoring the midfield. West Ham were largely ponderous in possession, pushing side to side without any real answer as to how to unlock Spurs’ defence and it left Rice with little option but to try crosses from silly angles or crossfield switches to open up some space. I’m not sure why he’s on corners…
Jarrod Bowen – 7
Bowen battled away gamely in this match, often the only source of inspiration in possession, but he was unable to individually transform the team’s fortunes. Watching him get nailed by Ivan Perišić after a couple of really impressive dribbles down the right flank without a single teammate backing him up summed up the lack of spirit and togetherness we all saw on Sunday.
Michail Antonio – 6
Utterly isolated for long periods, Antonio could do nothing to relieve the pressure and get West Ham moving forward. He was ineffective in his aerial duels, losing five of the six contests he had, but it was difficult to see how the striker was meant to function when left totally disconnected from the rest of the team for such long periods. Despite this, he did manage to hold the ball up well at times and win free-kicks or find a pass to a late-arriving runner for which he deserves credit given the hugely challenging circumstances.
Danny Ings, Saïd Benrahma, Ben Johnson, Pablo Fornals – N/A
Too little too late.
