Up against a team that we haven't beaten in ten PL games, what could possibly go wrong? At least Hackney Wick is open as I head to a sunny London Stadium. Inside Matt and Lisa have been to the RA summer show in search of great art (not often seen at the LS), Michael has returned to the fold, Nigel is carrying his 'lucky' Wimbledon AFC bag and Fraser's season ticket didn't work at the turnstile (sadly for him a steward then let him in).
West Ham play reasonably well for ten minutes with Benrahma cutting inside and sending a drive just wide. Fornals finds Bowen on the wing with a fine ball but his cross is just behind Antonio. Then Brighton start to keep the ball and exert a familiar hoodoo over the Hammers. It all goes wrong after 22 minutes as Zouma steps out of defence, runs upfield, takes a heavy touch and loses possession. Trossard sends Welbeck away and caught out by the speed of the break, debutant Kehrer brings down the former Man United man. Mac Allister dispatches the penalty.
West Ham are playing with a curious lack of energy, with Rice and Soucek unable to impose themselves in midfield, Antonio toiling and Bowen not able to get on the ball. Brighton let Fabianski give the ball to Zouma every time, as Kurt is our least comfortable player on the ball. Brighton look a very well-coached team, despite the loss of Bissouma and Cucurella.
"This is the difference between a season when Bowen is on fire and a season when he isn't," says a sage Nigel. Matt remarks that Brighton are a pound shop Man City in the way they keep possession. We decide that if City are the equivalent of Waitrose then Brighton are Tesco (hence the Tesco bag kit) and West Ham are probably Aldi.
CAN THEY PLAY US EVERY WEEK?
The Irons start the second half with more intensity, as Cresswell has a goalbound shot blocked and Fornals tests Sanchez after a good move. But again West Ham concede at just the wrong time. Gross flicks the ball round a bamboozled Zouma and Trossard hasn't been tracked. The Brighton man finishes calmly to seal the result.
Scamacca and Cornet come on but the pattern of the game remains the same, as fellow sub Lanzini seems to misplace all his passes and Brighton send a free header over the bar. For six minutes Scamacca and Antonio are up front as a pairing, though Moyes soon takes Michail off. The out-of-form Soucek at least sticks at it, forcing a tip-over from Sanchez with a late header. From the resulting corner the Brighton keeper then makes another excellent save from Tomas's header. If Brighton played us every week they'd be top of the league.
We reflect that we are really missing Craig Dawson as we drift disconsolately to the Eagle at Leyton, where at least my bar enquiries find they have a bottle of Abbot in the fridge. Rather than discuss the game we mention the possible signing of Emerson and list prog rockers who have played for West Ham including (Jon) Anderson and (Phil) Collins. Nigel is on fine form revealing that Millwall are the only club to have four of the same letters in their name and that Phil Babb is the former Premier League star who has a surname with three out of four letters the same. Perhaps he has too much time on his hands.
We've missed relegation struggles. Is it time to panic? Looking at the game, Brighton had only two shots on target and scored both, while both goals were defensive errors which can be eliminated. A number of the new signings have not had a proper pre-season and Scamacca, Cornet, Kehrer and Downes are bedding in, while Aguerd will be back after the December break.
But even so it's a long time since we've played consistently well and we've lost the first three games without scoring for only the second time in WHU's history. The side is looking jaded after the efforts of the last two seasons. We still have good players but Moyes needs to shake the team up and get something from the now vital game at Aston Villa.
PLAYER RATINGS: Fabianski 6; Coufal 5 (Johnson 6), Zouma 4, Kehrer 5; Cresswell 5; Rice 5, Soucek 5, Benrahma 5 (Lanzini 4), Fornals 5 (Scamacca 5), Bowen 5; Antonio 5 (Cornet 5).
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