James Collins destroys ‘shocking’ Said Benrahma after first-half incident in West Ham United v Newcastle
BBC Sport pundit James Collins has blasted West Ham midfielder Said Benrahma for his “shocking” defending as Newcastle’s Callum Wilson opened the scoring in their match on Wednesday (5 April).
The Newcastle striker was allowed plenty of space in the Hammers box to head home in the sixth minute at the London Stadium.
And former West Ham defender Collins was not at all pleased with Benrahma’s part in the goal, failing to stop a cross from Allan Saint-Maximin.
“Terrible from West Ham, they got off to such a good start, high tempo, the fans were behind them,” Collins said on BBC Radio 5 Live, as quoted by BBC Sport. “Benrahma’s defending to stop the cross from St-Maximin is shocking.
“A man of Callum Wilson’s quality, you would expect him to score from there but from West Ham’s point of view it is terrible defending.
“David Moyes is absolutely furious with his team. That is a real killer blow for West Ham.”
Disastrous start
West Ham have long been fearing for their Premier League safety this season, with results simply not going the way that Moyes would have wanted.
It certainly isn’t an easy task taking on an in-form Newcastle side who are currently eyeing to establish themselves as a top-four team, but the Hammers have put up a good fight, going into the break 2-1 down.
Eddie Howe’s side are known to be tough to score against, which coupled with the fact West Ham have been failing massively in the final third this season was not a positive omen for the hosts going into the game.
Moyes will perhaps already eyeing his bench to see if improvements can be made on the pitch for the second 45 minutes, but there is still hope that the current 11 can take something off the visitors here.
A draw against an impressive Magpies team would boost West Ham massively, and would also send a warning to other Premier League strugglers that the Hammers will not go down without a fight.