A shaky start, uninspired team sheet, and eventually dreadful performance saw West Ham lose from a winning position and give away desperately needed points to a cross-town rival. Same old, same old.
Anxiety mounted and eventually took over as the teamsheet revealed West Ham supporters’ worst nightmare, Roberto starting in goal and Pablo Zabaleta starting at right-back against Wilfred Zaha. The joy of Manuel Pellegrini sticking to a 4-4-2 was completely overlooked for the existential dread this team sheet incited.
Crystal Palace looked the better side in a rather eventless and boring first half of football. Possession was barely kept by either team as a few corner kicks were exchanged without any goals or notable plays taking place. Roberto shakily punched away three corners but both he and Zabaleta did well in tough positions.
Robert Snodgrass did not look up to this match whatsoever and needed to be replaced at halftime by either Manuel Lanzini, who was back from injury, or Felipe Anderson. Instead, the team was unchanged in the second half and Snodgrass scored a wonderful goal set up by Michail Antonio. A sneaky run inside by Snodgrass was picked up by Antonio, who gave him the ball which he curled into the goal in the 57th minute.
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It was a pretty unjust goal judging by the game script as Palace were the better team, however, justice would come in the way of a Cheikou Kouyate goal in the 68th minute. A looping ball across the box would find Jordan Ayew who drew both Aaron Cresswell and Angelo Ogbonna in coverage, freeing up the former Hammer so slot home from ten yards out, completely free from coverage.
In what is becoming increasingly frustrating and laughable, Pellegrini took Sebastien Haller out of the game in the 75th minute for Anderson, switching to a 4-5-1 formation seemingly to protect the draw(?). Pellegrini would see this fail, though, as Ayew broke in through Ogbonna, Rice, Balbuena and eventually Roberto to score the 90th minute chipped winner.
To further along the narrative that the Chilean manager is out of touch and guessing on the sideline, he subbed Snodgrass, who had a terrific chance to net his second goal prior to Ayew’s winner, in the 88th minute for Albian Ajeti. Ajeti would get a few more meaningless minutes and the formation would, I guess, switch back to a 4-4-2.
From hopeful to predictably deflated, the Hammers have no confidence, no structure, play with no emotion, and now are back just above the relegation zone. If this result, which was gracious on the scoresheet to West Ham, doesn’t spur on a manager change, colour me surprised. Look for a loss to Leicester City on Saturday to be the final, long overdue nail in Pellegrini’s coffin.