West Ham United resumed their season after the international break against Tottenham at home. Manuel Pellegrini desperately needed something positive from his players as they had lost four of their last five games. However, it was the same old West Ham of the previous month as Spurs earned a 3-2 win.
All the talk around the game was revolving around Jose Mourinho, and his men started brightly. The Hammers looked down on energy, and they were defensively far too static. Son Heung-Min opened the scoring after the half-hour mark as Roberto was once again suspect in goal. The North London side doubled their advantage soon as Son provided an assist to Moura after some brilliant work by Alli.
West Ham were slow off the block even in the second half as Kane scored through a header to make it three. The home team finally decided to turn up in the last half hour of the game and substitute Michail Antonio made a significant impact. He scored with a smart finish in the 73rd minute. Spurs looked ragged in the last 10 minutes, and Ogbonna scored through a corner to bring more respectability to the score. The scoreline might suggest it was a close encounter, but the Hammers were comfortably the second-best team in the first 60-65 minutes.
Here is how Pellegrini’s men fared on the day against Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspur.
Roberto Jiménez 2
Always looked like a disaster waiting to happen. Could have done better with the first goal. Decision making needs to improve. Not too comfortable with his feet either even when under no pressure.
Issa Diop 3
Was far too static defensively and made quite a few errors. Pellegrini chucked him off in the second half and played Rice in defence instead.
Angela Ogbonna 5
Scored through a header, in the end, to make it 3-2. Defensively he had a tough time, but he did much better than his centre back partner.
Ryan Fredericks 4
Struggled to cope up with Son and made a really rash challenge on him in the first half. Was given a hard time defensively.
Aaron Cresswell 4
Could have done better when Moura scored Spurs’ second as the Brazilian showed more desire to beat Cresswell to get to the ball. Had a patchy game overall and couldn’t influence much while going forward.
Declan Rice 6
Looked like the best player for the Hammers before Antonio came on the pitch. Played some decent passes and mopped up well defensively.
Mark Noble 4
Played out some neat passes in the first half. However, he failed to give his backline the protection that was needed as he was run over by the Spurs players.
Robert Snodgrass 3
His only moment worth mentioning on the pitch was his altercation with Harry Kane. Looked lost and hardly offered any attacking threat.
Andriy Yarmolenko 3
Was almost anonymous on the pitch as he hardly got involved in the game.
Felipe Anderson 2
Was substituted at half time and Antonio did far better than him in the second half. Had one great chance in the first half to pick out a pass to Haller but he played it behind the striker who could have fired it in on goal. Another listless performance from the Brazilian.
Sebastien Haller 4
Had one headed chance in the first half. Apart from that had to feed off scraps for most parts of the game.
Substitutes
Michail Antonio 7
Almost single-handedly changed the complexion of the game after coming on in the second half. Stretched play with his runs. Was physical in his duels and bullied the Spurs defenders throughout the second half. Scored a goal with a brilliant turn and finish.
Pablo Fornals 2
Replaced Yarmolenko and just like him, was anonymous on the pitch.
Carlos Sanchez 6
Brought some much-needed stability in the middle as the Hammers dominated the last quarter of the game.
