Dean Ashton slams ‘drab, dreadful’ West Ham performance v Brighton live on Sky, says board have been sent message
Sky Sports pundit Dean Ashton slammed the “drab, dreadful performance” West Ham put in against Brighton and says it was a message sent to the board about the need to recruit.
Mohammed Kudus and Lucas Paqueta were both absent for the lifeless goalless draw on Tuesday (2 January), with the former headed to the Africa Cup of Nations and Paqueta out with injury.
Former Hammers striker Ashton, speaking on Sky Sports News (3 January, 10:25am), thinks it showed the club still have work to do in terms of recruitment given their struggles without two of their leading players.
“I think it’s a good point I guess in the end, another clean sheet, but it was a pretty drab, dreadful performance I was there to watch it live,” he said,
“The atmosphere was flat, I thought Brighton were the only team who came to genuinely win the game.
“It really did show what West Ham lack when they don’t have those star quality players and maybe gives David Moyes and certainly the ownership an idea of what’s required to strengthen that squad.”
It happens
Look, it was a shoddy performance from West Ham absolutely no one is making any bones about it and certainly it was not the way David Moyes would have envisaged things playing out to round out their festive schedule.
There were some mitigating factors, though. Not having Kudus is obviously a huge miss and Paqueta brings that creative spark. Any team would miss players of that quality and the Hammers just simply don’t have the depth to replace what they bring right now.
And as for a flat atmosphere, well it was January 2 – Christmas and New Year has gone, the scheduling of the game itself felt a little off given all the other teams had completed their Christmas schedules so that is understandable too.
Was it a good performance? No, far from it, no one will remember this game. Was it a good point? All told, yes it was. So, maybe just take the point and move on, and put the focus on how to get the most out of the team without Kudus and, hopefully not for long, Paqueta.
In other West Ham news, the Hammers are eyeing a move for Eric Dier.