West Ham United got the first taste of Premier League football this afternoon as they would take on Man City in China. We break it down half by half and discuss preseason match number 2 for the Hammers.
For starters, if the fireworks in the match weren’t enough, West Ham announced the signing Sebastien Haller right before the match was. The Frenchman signed from the German Bundesliga and is a sigh of relief for sure, but we breathe, digress, and move to the first half.
First Half
West Ham came out and lined up like this: Roberto in net, a backline of Fredericks, Diop, Ogbonna, and Johnson. The midfield was Rice, Noble, Wilshere, Lanzini, and Anderson. Followed up by Antonio upfront.
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The first thing that caught my attention, West Ham look good and fast which is a great piece of news for Hammers fans. The pace and attacking sense came from all over, but most notably from Fredericks, Anderson, Wilshere, and Lanzini. The early part of the half saw a slight miss from Anderson and Diop stepping up in the back.
Just around the 26’ minute West Ham got a run down the right and Man City was charged for a handball in the box setting up a penalty. Of course, Mark Noble put it away. Not long after that, Fredericks was tripped up in the box but to the surprise of many, no penalty or foul.
The next few minutes were a blur as Silva made an opening down the left side and punched it passed Roberto on a goal where nothing could’ve been done. That was almost immediately proceeded by, in my opinion, a badly called penalty against the Hammers and that was put in by Lukas Nmacha putting Man City up 2-1 at the break.
Second Half
As the teams made it back out for the rain-soaked second half West Ham made 4 changes. Chicharito for Antonio and Yarmolenko, Sanchez, and Snodgrass came in for Rice, Anderson, and Wilshere. Right out of the gate Yarmolenko was making an impact dominating the right side with Fredericks.
Just 14 minutes into the second half the midfield made a mistake and left Sterling all alone to make it 3-1 on a questionable no offside call. Pellegrini then made 4 more changes bringing on Zaba, Diangana, Obiang, and Cresswell.
At this point, it was a tale of two half’s as it seemed like West Ham couldn’t get anything going against the midseason formed looking Man City. The Gaffer brought on Reid in the 70’ minute and almost immediately after, City cut through the defense and Sterling got his second goal making it 4-1.
The Hammers never gave up their grit though as they kept on pressing when the opportunity was there but overall looked dominated by the league champions from last year. The most important thing to note, it’s the preseason and we have to standby the Gaffer and squad as they grow and get better.
West Ham looked like a solid team, just worlds apart from Manchester City. Up next, Newcastle in the 3rd place match for the Premier League Asia Trophy.