Second Half Explosion Sees West Ham Overpower Ipswich

West Ham’s paid match of their preseason doubleheader saw a tentative yet strong squad grow into and eventually dominate a solid Ispwich team!

Ten pound lighter but well entertained, watching West Ham take on Ipswich was an eventual delight as the Hammers ended up turning over the strong-starting Blues team in a lopsided victory.

The team news was a bit shocking as Conor Coventry was playing right-back, Aji Alese was starting at centre-back, Felipe Anderson was in the #10 position, Roberto was on the bench, and the rest of the subs were Academy players, but Moyes seemingly knew what he wanted to see.

Ipswich started on the right foot, winning and holding the ball in the midfield. Tomas Soucek wasn’t his normally sharp self, but Jack Wilshere was the real issue early in this match. He often paused with possession and made short passes that ended up turning over possession.

The shining star in the first half of this match, which would end 1-0 for the Hammers, was centre-back Aji Alese. It was a bit of a surprise for him to start this match over Goncalo Cardoso, but the 19-year-old who spent last season on loan at Accrington Stanley in League one was great in the air, jumped up in the play well, and was certainly the better of the two centre-backs with Balbuena.

Sebastien Haller had a very poor start to this match with two clear, alone on goal opportunities he scuffed directly into the keeper. He would be the beneficiary of his tricky and supremely skilled left-winger, though, as Grady Diangana assisted two of Haller’s three goals, with Ipswich gifting him the other.

He looked more threatening after his first goal at the end of the first half and was a menace in front of goal in the second half, too. It appears Haller is a confidence player, and once he was in the goals there was no stopping him – even without a striker partner.

Some notable performances outside of those already mentioned: Coventry was terrific at right-back! He made some poor decisions further up the pitch but was a solid and reliable tackler, and made Ispwich earn everything down his wing.

Diangana was a close second to Alese for man-of-the-match, picking up where he left off in the Championship last season. He was fast, elusive, confident, and dynamic on the left-side. It is very hard to see who will unseat him on that wing if he keeps up that pace.

Lastly, Felipe Anderson had his best match of 2020. That may not be saying much, but Anderson was engaged in his #10 role on both sides of the pitch and looked motivated to play on both sides of the ball. He reigned in some early errant flair plays that missed the mark and continued on to mix inside and outside play with ease. A promising and confidence-building performance.

With three goals to Haller, one to Soucek, and a terribly diabolical decision to step up and not tackle from Balbuena leading to the only goal against, West Ham cruised to a win after a much easier second half. It was a strong and relentless effort from the Irons, one that will do a world of wonders mentally moving forward.