United Loss Should Be A Wake Up Call For West Ham

The utter shock that West Ham lost the previous match after a dominant first half should be a wake-up call and gut check for the Hammers’ players.

Three massive chances missed by West Ham in the first half tell the tale of a game that should have been put to bed by the 45-minute mark. All of the front three attackers were guilty of not taking their chances and all three should receive shared criticism for allowing Manchester United off the hook.

The first was off the head of ‘hey, maybe he isn’t a winger after all’ Pablo Fornals. His creativity is never in question, and the fact that he can still produce despite being in a wider position on the left-wing now is a testament to his overall skill level.

Still, a wonderful cross from Jarrod Bowen was seen wasted as Fornals sent the ball into the side netting of Dean Henderson’s goal. No goal, no shot on target, no test of the keeper, and ultimately no chance for the Hammers. A more clinical finisher would see a shot on goal in the same scenario, but Fornals’ heading isn’t going to win him any Golden Boots.

You can’t judge a player on a price tag he didn’t set, but Sebastien Haller’s missed opportunity after dribbling around Henderson will go down as one of the misses of the season. While the Hammers were pressing, Haller’s well-timed run saw him in alone on goal where he deked past Henderson, only to fall over and end the run without a shot on goal.

The embarrassment will surely motivate him to never get cute on a chance like that again, but the goal could have ended the United threat moving forward. His confidence, instead of boosted, will take a nosedive as a clinical striker needs to make that play.

Lastly, we have Jarrod Bowen, the Hammers’ untouchable right-winger who had the chance to score in back-to-back matches in this game. The chance came from a well-worked ball which Haller led onto Vladimir Coufal beautifully. Bowen, who was on the left-wing at the moment had a perfect pass squared to him but managed to bundle it wide in a shocking display of finishing.

Bowen has a longer leash than others as he helped seal the season with his transfer in last January, and because there is no other right-winger on the team that can push him for minutes. Some early shots were dangerous but ultimately fruitless, and this glaring miss needs to be circled as a failed turning point.

The point of examining and jumping on these attackers for their missed chances is more than just negativity for the sake of negativity. These players are better than their finishing against Manchester United suggests – they know this and we know this. By bringing light to it and drilling it out of them hopefully this team pushes on and starts up another win streak against Leeds later this week.