Gary Taphouse slams Alphonse Areola’s judgement in Genk win
West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola’s lack of judgement was discussed by Gary Taphouse on commentary on Thursday night.
The Hammers stopped started ahead of first-choice Lukasz Fabianski and kept a clean sheet in their 3-0 win against Genk.
However, his goal was rarely threatened and on one occasion when it was in the first half, he failed to deal with it confidently.
Discussing that incident later in the game, Taphouse, a Sky Sports commentator, said on the UEFA world feed (21/10/21, 9:33 pm), “A relatively quiet game for him. He had that aberration in the first half when he came for a ball he had no chance of getting. Poor judgement.”
Looked shaky
Areola was far from convincing in goal for the Hammers, despite keeping a clean sheet.
He had a few jittery moments with the ball at his feet and was not the authoritative presence one would like their goalkeeper to be.
It could be down to the fact that he’s had very little game time so has not formed that understanding with the rest of the group.
David Moyes has a big decision to make whether or not he’s going to succeed Fabianski.
From what we’ve seen of the PSG man on loan at the Hammers is that he’s still finding his feet here and may not be the best fit for the club.
These are still early days and we’re hoping to see improved performances from him whenever he’s handed starts.
The manager won’t make knee-jerk decisions after one game, but he will hope that this was a one-off rather than a pattern.
In other West Ham news, Nolan & Ogbonna celebrated Chesters’ Hammers debut at full-time v Genk
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