Green Street Hammers
Fansided

Loss to Palace feels like a step backwards for West Ham

By Jay Korman

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 05: Declan Rice of West Ham United reacts after the Premier League match between West Ham United and Crystal Palace at London Stadium on October 05, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 05: Declan Rice of West Ham United reacts after the Premier League match between West Ham United and Crystal Palace at London Stadium on October 05, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

In an entertaining London Derby, West Ham came up short losing to rivals Crystal Palace 2-1 at the London Stadium. It was a performance that lacked effort and energy from West Ham, and it sure feels like a step backwards for the club.

On Saturday, the London Stadium was as loud as ever. The anticipation to see Manuel Pellegrini’s  West Ham show why they should be taken seriously this season in the Premier League. Although the Irons did not play awfully, they did not do enough to beat a motivated and energetic Crystal Palace team resulting in a huge blow to the squad’s confidence along with the fans.

Sebastien Haller opened the scoring for the Hammers by finishing a beautiful pass from Ryan Fredericks. However, Declan rice conceded a penalty, and Palace found a winner off of a loose scramble for the ball off a free kick to see West Ham lose the match 2-1, a bitter result. It was the Irons’ first loss since match-day 1 against Man City, and it feels like a wasted opportunity for the Hammers to pick up some vital points and keep pace at the top of the table.

Although I do think that this West Ham squad has enough talent to finish in a European position this year, this loss is one that can really damage the confidence of a team. Palace played a decent game, however, the Hammers missed an extraordinary amount of chances in this match, and many top players for the Irons seemed off the pace of the game, specifically Anderson and Lanzini.

New keeper Roberto was actually decent in this match, however, you would have loved to see the three points for him to get his confidence up. Conceding a pen and allowing a goal off of poor set-piece marking is not the end of the world for the Spaniard. Pellegrini needs his back-line to step up and help Roberto adapt to the league. The back-line did a decent job of defending Wilfred Zaha but will need to be more solid as a unit in the coming weeks.

Next. The ability to finish is what killed West Ham against Crystal Palace. dark

With the international break now upon us, the Hammers should use this time to relax and regroup for the upcoming set off fixtures. This squad is still very talented and can have a special season, but will need to eliminate the mistakes and will also need to be more clinical in front of goal. This is a small setback in what can be a great season, we just need to see the boys respond right away when the Hammers get back into Premier League action.