West Ham Open Carabao Cup With 3-1 Win over Wimbledon

West Ham concedes early but stays the course in Carabao Cup opener win over League 1 side AFC Wimbledon. It was an uphill battle from the start but an eighteen-minute red card opened the door for a dominant performance by West Ham.

It was not a pretty match but West Ham takes home the victory by a score of 3-1 over hosts AFC Wimbledon. West Ham was rescued by two unneeded yellow card fouls by Wimbledon centerback McDonld who reduced his side to ten men just eighteen minutes into the match.

West Ham began the match on their heels getting bullied into their own box by the two physical strikers Wimbledon fielded in Joe Pigott and James Hanson. The strikers forced an early corner off of some indecision from Adrian and Pigott scored just a minute and fifteen seconds into the match on the ensuing dead ball play.

Ogbonna looked out of his depth on the goal getting beat by his man on an aerial duel, much like he did against Bournemouth on Steve Cook’s winning goal. Ogbonna was an eye-sore this entire match and looked to not be mentally ready to play. If not for his match-winning goal from a Snodgrass corner that banged in off his shin it would be hard to defend the center back.

The red card from McDonald seemingly would seal the fate of a team poised to upset a Premier League side in this tournament, however, the game would not play out in such fashion. As it did for Arsenal, the scoreline in this match flattered West Ham who couldn’t break down the Wimbledon defensive core for 63 minutes. Hats off to the home side as they gave West Ham a real run for their money in this match.

The first goal scored by West Ham came from an absolute laser beam off the boot of center back Issa Diop. The goal was assisted by Felipe Anderson who came on for Obiang at halftime. The cracking shot was created by Anderson, Snodgrass, and Cresswell continuously overlapping and pulling defenders wide. This opened a lane for Diop who stepped up and smashed home the tying goal in the bottom corner of the net.

Snodgrass would find a well-placed shin from Ogbonna on the back post from a corner kick in the 83rd minutes to put the hammers up for good in the match. Chicharito would FINALLY convert in the 92nd minute from inside the box, slotting home a ball in the bottom left corner. Masuaku assisted the goal after getting subbed on in the 90th minute.

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In this match, a few players took a step back by their performances, most notably Pedro Obiang and Lucas Perez. Obiang was played in a defensive midfield pairing with Declan Rice and made his only impact in the game by taking a yellow card in the 11th minute for dissent after complaining about a free kick given to Wimbledon. He was rightfully taken off at halftime for Anderson who played in a more advanced role. Obiang was denied his request to leave the club this summer but has likely been surpassed by Carlos Sanchez and Rice on the defensive midfield depth chart already.

Lucas Perez just couldn’t get anything going up top as a striker. His best looks were when he came out wide left to get involved with Snodgrass, Rice, and Cresswell, providing another option for short passing. Other than a few fruitless crosses Perez was very quiet tonight and didn’t take his opportunity to stake a claim for the striker position behind Arnautovic.

Lets end on a positive note shall we? Rice, Snodgrass, Diop, Yarmolenko, and Anderson all had strong performances. Rice was in the defensive midfield position that both Ireland and Pellegrini see his future in and performed as well as possible. He jumped up in play but not at the expense of defensive coverage, was seemingly all over the field to provide another passing option, and he executed five tackles with one interception, as well.

Snodgrass put in a full shift tonight, running out of his boots effort wise. He assisted the Ogbonna goal, had three shots with one on target, had five crosses, and six key plays in the match. After asking to be left out of Scotland’s international friendly team earlier in the day in an effort to keep his focus on West Ham, Snodgrass showed why he had so many assists and accolades earned last season. He has arguably been West Ham’s best player this season and turned up in this match too.

Diop scored his first West Ham goal in this match and came within an inch of netting a brace with a header that nailed the crossbar. Diop has been under the microscope with his lofty price tag but has performed well. He’ll need more time to iron out some decision-making errors defensively, but he looked great going forward and showed good distribution of the ball.

Lastly, we’ll focus on Yarmolenko. The monstrous right winger was a threat all match and was integral to the majority of offensive play West Ham had in the first half. He put the Wimbledon left back on roller skates with a tricky set of stepovers and burned him with burst speed down the wing. It was a positive performance for the winger in his West Ham debut start and he should factor into more starting lineups.

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Overall West Ham was lucky to get a man advantage for 70+ minutes in this match as Wimbledon had the early momentum. They did, however, use the advantage well, holding 81% possession and directing 28 shots towards the Wimbledon goal with 11 on target. There was a feeling of belief that eventually they would break down this team and that is positive but West Ham will need to work on their finishing if they want to have any Premier League success follow this win.