David Moyes absolutely livid with Ben Johnson in West Ham United collapse at Brighton – BT Sport pundit
Ben Johnson was roundly slammed on BT Sport for his “horrendous” defending for West Ham at Brighton, with Steve Sidwell claiming that David Moyes will be “absolutely livid” with him.
The Irons right-back had a nightmare afternoon as all the positivity from the win over Nottingham Forest last week (25 February) was blown away with a dreadful 4-0 loss at the Amex.
Johnson had an inglorious part in the first three goals, but his complete lack of defensive work as Joel Veltman chested his side 2-0 up after the break with all the time in the world inside the six-yard box, was the most egregious, causing pundits Rachel Brown-Finnis and Sidwell to blast his play.
Speaking on BT Sport Score (4 March, 4.11pm) former England goalkeeper Brown-Finnis said: “It’s a lovely ball in… it dribbles all the way. Poor defensively. [Alexis] McAllister flicks it on and it goes all the way to Veltman. There was absolutely no-one on him at all.”
“Terrible defending,” Jules Breach cut in.
“Completely,” agreed Brown-Finnis, “It’s Ben Johnson who loses his man, Veltman, who finds himself in absolutely acres of space. He doesn’t have to head it, doesn’t have to play it with his foot, he’s got time to just [chest it in].”
Sidwell and Stephen Craigan suggested it was zonal marking that the Hammers man had failed to react to at all, with the former also adding that it was “terrible defending”.
“David Moyes will be absolutely livid with that. That is horrendous,” said Sidwell.
Woeful
Johnson had already been caught under a high ball and let Kaoru Mitoma inside him to be felled by Jarrod Bowen for a penalty, and he was a step off the Japanese winger when he subsequently turned in the third at the far post.
But on a day where everyone was pretty awful, and the 23-year-old particularly poor, there was really no explanation for him standing in the middle of nowhere for Veltman’s goal.
Whether he was marking man-to-man or zonally he was completely redundant standing alone in the West Ham area while an opposing player casually scored just yards away.
Moyes will have been fuming on the touchline to see his side perform so abjectly, and so soon after finally finding some semblance of quality last week.
The pressure has shot back up on the Scot, with fans sick of watching such poor performances over a season as disappointing as this has been.
All positive signs over recent weeks were washed away with the showing on the south coast, and there are major questions that must be answered about where this team is headed.