Premier LeagueTottenham Hotspur 4-1 West Ham United
Saturday, 19th October 2024
by Chris Wilkerson | Forum match thread
West Ham United were dismantled by Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham Hotspur this Saturday afternoon, a seven-minute implosion at 1-1 handing Postecoglou's Spurs a 4-1 victory over Lopetegui's spineless Hammers.
After Mo Kudus had given West Ham a lead, Kulusevski levelled and the two teams went in at the break at 1-1. Eight minutes into the second half, the home side had a lead. 15 minutes in, they'd scored a fourth - and the game was over.It was seven minutes that heaped all the pressure back on the West Ham manager's shoulders, showing the worst of his new side, and maybe at the worst place to do it. The performance was rounded out by a straight red card for the goalscorer Kudus, a shove to the face of Sarr eventually caught by VAR after a scuffle between the players.
The Hammers had come into the game off the back of a heartening first home win of the season against Ipswich, and the unchanged side had played well to lead and then contain Spurs in the first half.
There had been few chances before West Ham took the lead, but whilst Tottenham had come close through Son and the on-fire Brennan Johnson, it was Kudus himself who had come closest.
That came after great work by Bowen, who had taken it up on the right wing, driven at Van de Ven and smashed a low ball into the box. It flew past Antonio in the centre, but found Kudus coming in off the left wing. His right-footed effort flew back across goal, forcing a fantastic save from Vicario to push it wide.
Just before the 20th minute, a Bowen ball low from the right found Kudus once more coming into the box, and this time he took his chance. He'd started it, firing a ball into the box from the left wing that saw Wan-Bissaka shoot.
His shot was blocked, came back to Bowen, and he did what he does, hitting the byline and firing it in low. A bobble took it away from the Tottenham defenders, Kudus reacted first and hit hard into the ground, forcing it to spit into the back of the net.
To say it was a deserved lead wouldn't be right, Tottenham were controlling much of the game. But the away side had grown into things, taking the sting out of the Spurs attacks by recycling possession and using the ball safely in midfield. In fact, when West Ham played the safe, played smart and cut out much of the risk from their game, Tottenham struggled to find any space. On rare occasions they did, Guido Rodriguez had been fantastic in the opening half hour at snuffing out such moments.
But Spurs will keep going, keep on the attack, almost undeterred by the game state around them. Sometimes, that looks naive. Sometimes, however, it's the right way to test a team. 12 first half corners for the hosts painted a picture of the pressure they put West Ham under.
Chances came. Johnson should have scored from close range, thwarted by defensive pressure from Paqueta as he seemed set to head in from inside the six-yard box. Then Porro forced the best from Areola.
The Spanish right back hit hard and low from the edge of the box, and it flicked off the boot of a defender on the way. The French goalkeeper was going the other way, but managed to react and throw himself back down in the other direction.
Unfortunately for West Ham, where they are most under threat appears to be when they have possession in midfield. The equaliser came from loose play in the middle of the park, and a complete lack of structure to resolve it.
It should not be that a dummy from Paqueta that Soucek neither reads nor reacts to causes a parting like Moses. The pass into Paqueta was not a good one, hit too hard into his moving feet, and the decision to dummy actually wasn't a particularly poor one.
The problem came in what followed. Soucek was sluggish, slow of mind in the first instance and then slow with his feet as he lost out challenging for what was now a loose ball.
Tottenham flew forward and were instantly in against an exposed defence. With no challenge, they made it down the right wing, into the box. Kulusevski cut in, took it into the box and pinged it back the direction he came as he fired a reversed shot into the near post, which Areola managed to get a glove on, but not a strong enough one, only diverting against the post, where it rolled across the line, hit the far post and bounced in.
Conceding was deflating, but didn't really change the rhythm of the game. West Ham were comfortable defending Tottenham when they were set. And they managed it well, Wan-Bissaka in particular.
At 1-1 into the break, both sides will have been reasonably happy, but likely West Ham the more pleased. Postecoglou adjusted his side at half time, replacing Maddison with Sarr. For a team dominating the ball, this seemed an odd move, but it might actually be the starkest, most damning insult of the game.
This was a manager who was so sure his team would score against their opponents that they took off their creative and clever creative player to instead plug a gap that could help West Ham break. The Australian could basically see only one avenue for West Ham to prosper, and was so convinced his team would score, he could afford to take off their arch creator to block it.
That's how easy West Ham are to play against. It was compounded by how poorly the players and manager reacted. Those on the field were lost, but just before Spurs went 2-1 up, three substitutes were ready to come on. Yet they still had not made the field when the third was scored, nor the fourth. Seven minutes of complete inertia from the manager was coupled with complete disarray on the field. Damning, once more.
That second Tottenham goal was the only one that came from a build of pressure, rather than pouncing on transitions. With Son seemingly marshalled well by Bowen down their left wing, the South Korean rolled a ball with the outside of his boot in front of Udogie as he made it into the box. The left back cut it back into the middle of the box, where Bissouma was waiting to pass it into the back of the net.
Two minutes and 24 seconds later, it was 3-1. This one was enraging. Areola kicked into the middle of the park, and whilst Paqueta did well to initially get in front of his man and get his chest to the ball, the Brazilian then decided to fall down and hope the referee would give him a freekick for minimal pressure in the back.
Instead, unsurprisingly, Tottenham flew forward, and having lost possession just inside the Spurs half, West Ham had nobody there to mop up. The home side were immediately at the defence, into the box, and as the impressive Kulusevski played a cute pass to Son, his low shot was weak and right at Areola. What with West Ham's luck, his save rebounded off Todibo, back into Areola and then the back of the net.
You got about five minutes to rest this time between that and the next goal. Bowen, who worked hard and played well, even as others wilted, took it on himself and tried to drive through the middle. Dispossessed, he turned to see the ball passed quickly to Son, 20 yards inside the West Ham half and already one-vs-one with Todibo. He pushed the defender back, dribbling at goal, forcing the Frenchman back and back until he was in the box. Shifted quickly with some stepovers, Son made the space and hit low at goal from close range to make it four.
They could have had more. Son hit the inside of the post, Werner and Johnson both missed relatively easy chances. West Ham were flattered by a 4-1 defeat by 90 minutes. There was still the sending off for Kudus, an incident barely worth describing. He kicked at a ball under a floored player, they got face-to-face, the Ghanaian pushed at the faces of more than one man before VAR caught what the referee had missed and sent him off.
But this was no longer about this one game. As we near November, West Ham have beaten a woeful Ipswich and a Palace side who had not yet come to terms with the players they had lost. This is not a good team.
The remit in the summer was for change. I apologise for the inconvenience of having to compare new to old, but doing so starts at the business of the summer.
Not to rate it on cost or prowess, but the club's direction. Did it appear particularly different from what you would expect the club might do with good backing? Would you look at it and really say that David Moyes couldn't have had that exact window and you'd be that changed in your thoughts on it?
Two centre backs with physical structure but ability to handle the ball? Are they not basically ambitious updates on Aguerd and Zouma, all combined attributes considered? Chuck in a very defensively sound, tall, fast right back, coming off a good spell at a big club. Sure, Dave, that's you down to a tee.
An experienced defensive midfielder. An experienced and physical striker, introduced where the same unit is retained. The best winger in the Championship, is that fair? A young and exciting one, anyway. He was definitely on an old Moyes transfer wall, metaphorically at least.
Guilherme and Soler, with Ward-Prowse out, that's definitely a deviation. A choice, anyway, at least with the fates of the latter two. But the young Brazilian could be a gift from the a Sullivan era we talk about as past. His talent isn't questioned, so let's not pretend Moyes wouldn't have taken the suggestion, shown his willing on this luxury item.
Oh, Dave, they built your perfect squad as the final insult. So, do you want to talk about it? Is the last part the first move of the summer? Is Julen Lopetegui and any of this any real attempt at anything different from last year?
Whilst the end of the previous manager's reign may have seen some campaigning for change, others for more of the same, I guess we're left to wonder what we've ended up with. Jez is planning to sell the headline ?EUR~Julen Labourtegui' to a tabloid newspaper.
Assessments of the club's vision and ambition have to be highly critical. Change from David Moyes was wanted for footballing reasons. Call them misguided if you so insist, but aside from some lesser individuals, this wasn't about the individual character or personality of David Moyes.
Change was required, however that change was presented. A tactical idealist, someone on the rise, a coach of repute, even someone high profile. Ambition and a clear understanding of forward momentum.
West Ham instead risked the security and success they had with David Moyes for a sideways step. For a man who did a pretty decent, if short term job at Wolves before this. His work elsewhere should not be dismissed, but you can start to question whether Wolves fought that hard or cared little about losing him?
And that leads back to the game today, back to a team that looked like one David Moyes would pick, and one that looked best when playing like a David Moyes team. Of course, it would be wrong to pretend that we haven't seen that type of collapse in the team this year.
There are many ways to look at this, of course. It's unacceptable to be this bad at Tottenham, and not just because it's a derby. Big games of all kinds demand more of a team. Failure echoes.
Sure, they're capable of doing this to teams that just completely lose shape and focus. The speed of their play is not just in the pace of it, but so too its relentless nature. They want to just freely go, go, go. And we were all at sea. Why on earth the changes, ones we were badly due, were delayed? Inertia on the sidelines as disarray gripped his team.
They're just also not that special. A relatively simple first half plan had restricted genuine chances. Tottenham's change can cause a weakness, yet should one be so easy to expose and punish?
The team has to take responsibility, but a team is their manager's. What they do on the pitch, even if that is entirely ignoring instructions, is a reflection on their manager. All that is to say that whilst the football might be miserable, everything bad at West Ham is always emanating from a simple source. Bad decisions are being made by the leading figures of the club's key hierarchy.
And there we are, back at the crux. Has David Sullivan ever hired well for West Ham? So, whilst this reporter looks at the target on Lopetegui's back and concedes that this may be the case of mercy in the shooting, ask yourself that question and see how you feel.
Manager's Rating
Julen Lopetegui: 2/10 One good plan, defend deep, was exposed by one simple change. He had nothing else. He deserves to be sacked for standing and watching that team conceded from 1-1 to 4-1, let alone for how badly he has managed and coached them.
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Click to view all West Ham United vs Tottenham Hotspur match reports Click to view all match reports by Chris Wilkerson Like to share your thoughts on this article? Please visit the KUMB Forum to leave a comment.Player Ratings
Click on any player's name to view their full KUMB bio, including all historical match notes and ratings/10.Alphonse Areola
Whilst he made two good saves, he was easily beaten on other occasions. Most importantly, in this instance, his kicking is atrocious. Does Lopetegui want to be a passing team? Areola is not the goalkeeper for it.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka
The right back defended well, and then when Kudus decided he was bored of playing - note, this is before he was even carded - Wan-Bissaka gamely tried to play the whole of the right side himself.
Emerson Palmieri
The odd moment where he moved forward, but again lost in a poor team.
Jean Clair Todibo
A good first half, a poor second half, but it is hard to blame the individuals in defence. It isn't even the individuals in midfield to blame, but the defence was exposed by how bad the midfield was. Should the defence have been higher to fill the gaps? How exposed the defence was, which makes defending exceptionally hard, was down to the manager.
Max Kilman
As above. He had his moments, strong in the air, but let down by a team that had no shape.
Guido Rodriguez
Because he started so well, the second half and the huge gaps are harder to judge. Is he too slow for a stretched Premier League game? He didn't look it when covering the right gaps in the first half.
Tomas Soucek
His position is a loose idea and contributes to a midfield amateur midfields would like to play against.
Lucas Paqueta
Lackadaisical, foolish, weak. Whilst criticism towards him has been somewhat harsh, this game was the worst of him.
Jarrod Bowen
This was a leader trying to lead by example, and being let down by a team who, individually, seem to lack the standards that Bowen has.
Mohammed Kudus
A good performance until it went bad, and it went as bad as it can. Selfish, lazy, arrogant, childish.
Michail Antonio
Some good turns, but he's lost a step of pace, so now when he makes space with his physicality, he hasn't the pace to do anything with it, and he's never had the skill to create. He looks out of his depth now.
Substitutes
Crycensio Summerville(Replaced Antonio, 61) Anonymous, but the game was all but dead when he came on. Needs game time, hopefully now Kudus's suspension will give it.
Edson Alvarez
(Replaced Soucek, 61) Busy and loves to get involved, but the game was flat as he came on and never recovered.
Carlos Soler
(Replaced Paqueta, 61) What does he offer? Truly, he is looking like a 2024 Nocerino, in that he certainly looks pretty, but what does he do?
Konstantinos Mavropanos
(Replaced Rodriguez, 71) A shift to three at the back was just sad, by this point.
Lukasz Fabianski
Did not play.
Aaron Cresswell
Did not play.
Vladimir Coufal
Did not play.
Luis Guilherme
Did not play.
Danny Ings
Did not play.
Match Facts
West Ham United: Alphonse Areola, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Emerson Palmieri, Jean Clair Todibo, Max Kilman, Guido Rodriguez, Tomas Soucek, Lucas Paqueta, Jarrod Bowen, Mohammed Kudus, Michail Antonio.Goals: Mohammed Kudus 18 .
Booked: Lucas Paqueta 0 Tomas Soucek 0 Carlos Soler 0 .
Sent Off: Mohammed Kudus 86 .
Tottenham Hotspur: Vicario, Porro, Romero, van de Ven, Udogie (Gray 88), Bissouma (Bentancur 81), Maddison (Sarr 46), Johnson, Son (Werner 70), Kulusevski, Solanke (Richarlison 81).
Subs not used: Forster, Spence, Dragusin, Moore.
Goals: Kulusevski (36), Bissouma (52), Areola (og 55), Son (60).
Booked: Van de Ven.
Sent off: None.
Referee: Andy Madley.
Attendance: 61,381.
Man of the Match: .