A very straight-forward and strong West Ham performance in the dismantling of League One Doncaster with every single player thriving in the FA Cup drubbing. Here are the player ratings from the cruising victory.
A little prenote to the ratings: David Moyes and each player selected deserve a ton of credit for this match. West Ham teams from seasons past would crumble with the compact schedule and lack of team depth but the pedal was to the floor in this convincing win.
Lukasz Fabianski – 10/10: The Polish keeper was unphased in this match with his team bossing possession and dictating play but Fabianski made some very solid saves in the few attacking chances against. And he graciously bowed out for Nathan Trott’s debut.
Ryan Fredericks: 8/10: Picking up from his forgotten about strong start to the season, Ryan Fredericks overlapping run down the right side and perfect cross assisted the opening goal for the Hammers. He played very well and earned a lot of respect for his no-nonsense game.
West Ham’s 2+ goal lead was the first time the Hammers led a game by more than one goal since beating Leicester City this season.
Issa Diop – 7.5/10: The out of favour defender has some growing to do and he did just that in this Cup match. He was still a little nervy at times, but confidence will be gained from his clearances and play with the ball at his feet.
Fabian Balbuena – 7.5/10: He and Diop had similar performances, solid at the back, passing was good, and nipped a few nervous chances away when things got tight at the back. Professional and solid.
Ben Johnson – 7/10: Going forward, Johnson looked very good. He linked up with Said Benrahma and Pablo Fornals very well but got caught out in possession up the pitch on more than one occasion. He is a good player with ‘make up’ speed, too, and played a solid match.
Mark Noble – 8/10: The skipper was back, without Declan Rice beside him, and had a very strong Noble-type match. He was pressing forward, tracking back, patrolling the top of the box looking for a cheeky volley to crush in the net, and sent the near-post delivery in that eventually went in as an own goal to boost the lead to 3-0. The skipper was class.
Tomas Soucek – 8/10: Despite his best efforts for an incredibly guided volley that was just tipped over the bar and a contortionist’s header at the back-post, Soucek was not on the scoresheet but played very well. He had more chances to play with the ball at his feet and looked solid as ever, too.
Manuel Lanzini – 8/10: No assists or goals to his name, but Manuel Lanzini was electric in this match, specifically in the first half. He linked up well in the free-flowing front four from David Moyes and was looking dangerous from range. Just needs to find the corners!
Pablo Fornals – 9.5/10: The man of the match in this one, Pablo Fornals crushed an unlikely volley to open the scoring inside two minutes and bossed the game for the remaining 88 minutes. His strike was extremely well taken and he was hungry for more with chances to add even more tallies to his name.
Said Benrahma – 9/10: Still searching for that first goal, and making Doncaster look silly along the way; Benrahma’s skills were on display in this match as he paralleled Fornals’ solid attacking performance on the left. His slick pass set up Andriy Yarmolenko’s goal, too. What a player!
Andriy Yarmolenko – 9/10: A bit of a surprising start at striker, but Yarmolenko showed what he often does for his home nation of Ukraine up top as a lone striker. His wonderful goal was a picture-perfect chip over the keeper and his ability to pop out wide and support his wingers was superb, too.
Substitutes:
David Moyes used his subs to absolute perfection in this match, handing out THREE West Ham first-team debuts. The first and most impactful sub was forward Oladapo Afolayan who replaced Tomas Soucek in the 70th minute. His energetic play did not go unnoticed and his striker intuitions saw him open his West Ham account with his first goal just eight minutes later.
Moyes also subbed Lukasz Fabianski in the 83rd minute for Nathan Trott’s debut (clean sheet, not a big deal), and promising defender Jamal Baptiste who replaced Ryan Fredericks in the 83rd minute as well.
A clean sheet, offensive dominance, three debuts, and a debut goal for Afolayan. As well as this West Ham team played, manager David Moyes gets a 10/10 for his set up, management, and game management in this FA Cup clash. Bring on the big boys!