Sunday, November 13

Maddison men mug Irons as slump continues

West Ham 0 Leicester City 2

In the Best Cafe Matt is quizzing us on the nine current and past West Ham players likely to be going to the World Cup. He's particularly pleased that we stumble on Edmilson Fernandes with Switzerland and Javier Hernandez of Mexico, though we did get Cheikhou Kouyate with Senegal.

Inside the stadium the sun is in our eyes despite the promises of the reservation centre at Westfield six years ago. At first we think the Cockney Rejects have mellowed and got a brass section, though the band on the pitch prove to be here for Remembrance Sunday and do a version of Bubbles which brings back memories of the old 1970s band.

West Ham start with some attacks for a change but still go behind after eight minutes. Kehrer jockeys Barnes away from goal but Paqueta hasn't tracked Dewsbury-Hall who crosses for Daka. The Leicester striker miskicks but it falls to Maddison who is more alert than Cresswell and fires into the roof of the net.

Fabianski has to make a great save from a long-distance shot from Amartey, while Zouma, who pulled up in the warm-up, has to go off to be replaced by Aguerd. Faced with adversity the Irons do make a spirited response, helped by Maddison departing with an injury. Benrahma does really well to wriggle through and force a one-handed save from Ward. The Leicester keeper then makes another fine save after Paqueta's header is looping into the top corner and Soucek has a goal disallowed for offside. 

But the Hammers then crumble at the back again. Dawson tackles through Daka before getting the ball and though the ref rules play on VAR decides correctly that it's a penalty. Thankfully Fabianski makes a great save to keep out Tieleman's well-struck spot-kick.

Nigel's lucky banana and lucky banana case aren't working. The second half sees West Ham produce one of their better performances of the season only to lack any kind of clinical finish. Kehrer gets in a fine cross but Scamacca hasn't gambled to get on the end of it. Rice puts a free header over the bar and shoots wide. A series of corners come to nothing as Moyes replaces Soucek with Fornals. Rice is everywhere, but we miss the crossing ability of Coufal. Bowen, who looks tired and is often too deep, has one shot deflected over and is then foiled by a great block as Faes and the Leicester defence excel.

The game is sealed with 12 minutes to go as Perez plays in Barnes, who gets past Aguerd too easily and slips the ball past the onrushing Fabianski. Worryingly, West Ham heads go down even though the match is still redeemable. Leicester see the game out comfortably.

It's off to the Eagle for our last drink until after Christmas. Three home games and three defeats in six days — it doesn't get worse than this. Moyes has done a great job in the last two seasons but his project has stalled. He deserves time over the break to try to get Paqueta, Scamacca, Kehrer, Aguerd and the injured Cornet playing in a united team, but it's all looking disjointed and the side needs the elusive elixir of confidence. European progress has been excellent, but having spent big WHU have to be better than this, otherwise a relegation struggle beckons.

PLAYER RATINGS: Fabianski 7; Kehrer 5, Dawson 5, Zouma (n/a) (Aguerd 5), Cresswell 5; Rice 8, Soucek 6 (Fornals 5), Benrahma 7, Paqueta 6, Bowen 6; Scamacca 5. 

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