BadboyMustyJulen Lopetegui kicked-off his tenure as West Ham United Head Coach with a home defeat against Aston Villa at a sun drenched London Stadium.
After just four minutes Soucek conceded a corner with a loose touch and it proved very costly indeed. Tielemans took the corner, Onana got away from a static Antonio and thumped a header past Areola for a 1-0 lead.
After another half an hour of huff and puff, a penalty was given to the Irons.
Paqueta’s ball into the box was controlled by Soucek on his chest. As he tried to get away to get his shot in, the previously booked Cash fouled him and was perhaps lucky to avoid a second yellow
Nevertheless, the previously anonymous Lucas Paqueta stared down Emi Martinez down and slowly passed the ball into the net. Lovely penalty; he didn’t even look at the ball !
Until the equaliser, it had to be said that Villa look a yard sharper than West Ham and were perhaps unlucky not to have been further ahead.
Into the break all square, I was surprised to see no changes by Lopetegui for the second half.
The Irons definitely started brighter and had a number of half chances , mainly involving Mo Kudus who was without doubt was West Ham’s biggest goal threat.
A mention for Guido Rodriguez, he is neat and tidy on the ball and tigerish when not on the ball. He’s won a fair few back with front-foot play.
On the hour mark one of our summer targets, Jhon Duran came on and then with almost his first touch nearly scored !
West Ham were losing their way a bit and Lopetegui responded by calling Niclas Fullkrug, Crysensio Summerville and James Ward-Prowse to replace Lucas Paqueta, Mikey Antonio and, Jarrod Bowen who had a quiet game by his high standards.
Then on the 79th minute Duran bit the hand that wanted to feed him. Torres lifted the ball left,, Ramsey crossed and Duran fired low through Areola’s legs with his left foot. 2-1 to Villa.
With five minutes to go Danny Ings and Jean-Clair Todibo replaced Vladimir Coufal and Guido Rodriguez. That meant a switch to three at the back and with five minutes to go, Ings’ first touch was a flicked header from Summerville’s cross that drew a decent save from Martinez.
With almost the last kick of the game Summerville crossed deep. Kudus collected and crossed to the far post for Soucek, who heads goalwards. Konsa blocks,
The ball bounced back towards Soucek, who sliced it over from three yards!
The Irons improved in the second half, with Mohammed Kudus a big threat on the left, but overall Villa probably deserved the win.
Drkeem
BadboyMusty
Thewolf
