Freiburg 1 West Ham 0 (Europa League)
Sat this one out at home with TNT, Michael Owen and Steve Sidwell (where are the Cole brothers?). The Hammers looked to have the game under reasonable control in the first half. Freiburg sent a one-on-one chance straight at Fabianski and then Bowen mistimed his volley after a fine cross from Kudus.
West Ham showed more intensity in the second half with Kudus getting a shot off straight away. A series of chances follow. Bowen forces a fine fingertip save from Atubolu, Paqueta misses a great headed chance from an inviting Kudus cross and Mavropanos heads against the outside of the post from a corner.
But missed chances came back to haunt the Hammers with nine minutes left. Alvarez plays a loose ball and Freiburg break quickly. A miscued shot from Sallai comes across the box, Zouma has lost his man, and Gregoritsch taps home.
The Irons look to have salvaged something in the last minute of added time when Weisshaupt handles in the box under pressure from Soucek. After four minute of VAR deliberation the ref is sent to the monitor which always means he'll give a penalty. Except this ref doesn't, even though the defender's arm is up high in an unnatural position. And he doesn't give a free kick so can't think Soucek has fouled his man. Infamy, infamy...
It's been a half-decent performance apart from the missed chances at an intimidating venue and Freiburg don't show a lot to scare us. A one-goal defeat in the first leg isn't a disaster even though we should have at least drawn, though the Hammers' finishing will have to improve next week.
2 comments:
Yes that was a frustrating game, some of the players just weren't on form. we should still do it at home next week but we are the hammers!
Emerson is potentially a big loss hopefully it isn't as bad as thought and heals quickly.
Fingers crossed for more good fortune next game.
It looked like the Freiburg player pushed the ball out of the penalty box with his hand, which denied West Ham a potential chance.
Post a Comment