West Ham Players Graded after 4-1 Loss to Leicester City

The scoreline looked bad, and the actual match wasn’t much better. Outside of a stretch early in the second half where West Ham appeared to be clawing their way back into it, they were outplayed at King Power Stadium from the opening kick off.

The Foxes lost the league’s leading goal scorer and still put 4 behind Randolph and West Ham United. The Club is now squarely in a relegation battle sitting at 17th just on goal differential ahead of Bournemouth and Watford.

Here is how we graded the Hammers Players in the loss:

Randolph -5  He wasn’t at fault for any of the four goals. An upgrade, albeit slight, over Roberto and Martin when you look at the numbers so far.

Zabaleta- 6  Ran younger than his age in this one. Earned two WHU corners. Despite the fact Leicester attacked down his side, he was not the problem fullback in this match

Diop- 5.  Much like Zabs, Diop wasn’t the problem CB in this match. Had a chance to score off a header and wasn’t directly at fault for any of the goals

Ogbonna- 3 Not a good game for Ogbonna here. That’s unfortunate because he has made a case for HOTY all season.  Today he took a stupid penalty that resulted in the 3rd goal on the Penalty Shot and was undisciplined throughout the match.

Cresswell-3 Not his best night by a mile. Got beaten on the first goal because he was outrun and he got beaten on the final goal because he got sucked out of position deep into the six-yard box. Didn’t create any good chances on his corners after Snodgrass left the game.

Masuaku-3 (Subbed off 45’) Way out of position on Leicester’s 2nd goal. He is apparently taking the spot of Anderson and his best attribute is being on the ball, yet he didn’t run at any of the defenders with any intent. I know Moyes likes the player and he fits as a wing-back in a 3 at the back system but I just don’t see it a. He had a brief stretch of good play about 18 months ago and earned a contract. Bad idea.

Rice-6 Solid as usual. Can’t imagine what he would look like with a better midfield partner as he has to cover ground for Noble, Masuaku et al all over the pitch.

Noble-4 I thought he was going to will his side back into the game and eventually into a point after scoring West Ham United’s only goal on the Penalty early in the second half. But not so much. Was just ok and as mentioned above, he has the heart but not the wheels anymore and there is nobody left in the side that appears to be able to take his role away from him (RIP Jack Wilshire’s Career)

Snodgrass-4 (Subbed off 45’) Snoddy always seems to pass the eye test because he puts in a shift. But today he didn’t really impact the game in any meaningful way. His primary job is as service to Haller but the Hammers best attacks came after he left the pitch.

Lanzini – 4 The subject of recent outcries among supporters did nothing today to quiet the shouts for his ouster from the starting XI.  Largely invisible and I noticed what others have said in the match today –A player very reluctant to get into the action, stick his foot in their to make something happen. Probably residual effect from his injury, but if he’s not mentally ready or confident,  get him out of there.

Haller 5- I feel for this guy. His success rate in scoring is among the highest in the league; he has all the skills required of a striker but he gets ZERO service and he’s left to run it out for 90. Certainly moving forward the answer is to pair him with Antonio.

SUBS

Antonio -6 Once again, he changed the complexion of the game when he came on. Needs to be paired with Haller moving forward but that is such a big question mark due to his injury history.  This is the prime example of the type of player WHU needs to get into the squad at every position pacey and strong.

Fornals -5 Don’t get why he’s not starting games in favor of Lanzini/Masuaku. Maybe this will be the match that changes Moyes mind. There is one player in form at the moment in the squad and he is it, yet he can’t get the full 90.  This is really the only decision Moyes is making I don’t understand.

David Moyes- 5  I don’t think he got it right playing Masuaku or Lanzini in place of Fornals. But I will give him credit for this, hence the grade of 5: his subs impacted the game. He changed the shape. And although the final result looked poor in the scoreline, at least he tried something to change the clubs fortunes and for awhile in the second half, it worked. That is way more than we can say about the job Manuel Pellegrini wasn’t doing from West Ham United’s technical area.