To the neutral and to the visiting supporters, the game between West Ham and Brentford on Sunday afternoon was a beautiful and wondrous spectacle. End to end stuff and football of the highest order thrilled fans from West London in the first half as their team out 'West Hammed' West Ham with their slick inter play and blistering counter attacks.
For the first 20 odd minutes the visitors over loaded the midfield and over ran the flanks ultimately leading to their deserved first half goal. To be honest they could have been 3 or 4 up by half time! Such was their dominance. A different Hammers side emerged for the second half and gave it a real go, on another day Hammers could have easily scored a hat full but had to be content with an excellent half volley from the previously profligate Jarrod Bowen.
Roared on by the crowd the team showed questionable game management by pursuing the victory at the risk of getting hit on the break by Brentford in the closing stages, which is exactly what happened. A soft free kick was awarded against Angelo Ogbonna and the resulting free kick was driven in on the rebound to break a thousand hearts.
Gutting is an understatement, and the journey back across London was as miserable as sin. This is what happens when (a) your team comes up against an energetic team with no fear and (b) your team attempts playing open attractive football as well, unfortunately the Brentford players were just that little bit more rapid, their pace exposed and exploited players who have played far too many games in quick succession and are now paying the price.
Worryingly that is only one Barclays Premier League victory at home so far in the season, but more worryingly is the punishing schedule the International players are about to embark on, followed by the ridiculously punishing schedule waiting for them on their return.
No one said pursuing joy on four fronts would be easy, and no one said ANY Barclays Premier League games are easy or gimme's, unfortunately results like today's are sometimes the price you pay ...that's entertainment!- Ed
Comments
Back to the Future
Well what a jump in the Tardis that was the first time i ve seen us go 1-0 down and not really show any real enthusiasm to win since2020, Brentford seemed to want it more than us some of the players looked tired even though Souchek and Ogbona who were rested against Rapid. Like to have seen Moyes do a little more and hook Souchek off at halftime and put on Krall. Hoping we play better under the lights after the international break when we have Everton, Genk, and then Spuds all on top of one another we only need a couple of injuries and we will be in the brown stuff. Now tell me that we didn't a striker like to have seen us get Ivan Toney we just could not handle him.