Well, well, well, where does one start with what was West Ham’s most turbulent match of the season so far? Now that the emotions have started to settle down, Saturday’s match, in retrospect, has many theories that one could follow.
Looking at the match as a whole, it was a shambles, and West Ham were tragic defensively, but that also doesn’t hide the fact that the Hammers conceded three and walked away with no points against an underwhelming Southampton side on Saturday, who ultimately were lucky to walk away with three points given their defensive ability too.
Discussing their goals is pointless. They all came through the capitalisation of a defensive mistake, no matter the quality of the end finish.
It was frustrating to see the Hammers only truly kickstart after being 2-0 down, but when it rains, it certainly does pour, and that doesn’t just go for yesterday’s conditions! The Hammers, whilst being two goals down, had a moment of SIX successive corners. Two ended up being cleared off the line, and the other four were emphatically saved… it just seemed to be ‘one of those days’.
This also doesn’t factor in Max Kilman’s thunderbolt of a strike, which painfully hit the underside of the crossbar AND the goalkeeper’s back yet still didn’t find the back of the net- when does that normally happen!
Ultimately, despite Soucek’s late goal from the bench, West Ham’s end product wasn’t good enough, but that should be taken into account that the woodwork was hit twice, and their Goalkeeper, Daniel Peretz, had a blinder of a performance, which solely secured Southampton all three points.
Nuno Espírito Santo’s tactics were not the issue against Southampton. A tactic was put into place and that should’ve certainly led to goals being scored, but when players are making defensive errors and forwards are unable to get the shot off, there’s only so much one can criticise the manager. On the other hand, a letter of complaint could certainly be handed in about the substitutes. Manor Solomon, who is becoming closer and closer to being a roundabout each week, should certainly be replaced by Edvin Austbo… someone tell him to take the third exit!
The striker situation regarding Taty Castellanos is also confusing as it seems the Argentine just cannot get stuck in in any shape or form. Pablo seems to be coming into his own but certainly not as a goalscorer, meaning when we need that big man in the box to convert these crosses and driven passes we don’t have an answer which is evidently costing us and something that should be addressed in January.
A lot of the discussions also need to be held regarding the referee, Michael Salisbury. However, it wasn’t a matter of fact that he had single-handedly cost us the game, but he certainly was a nuisance and had a tragic performance.
A disappointing day, but results elsewhere fortunately favoured the Hammers massively. In under a week, the club returns to the London Stadium to face West Brom, which is a pivotal match.
