Emerson issues complacency warning after West Ham United survive Anderlecht scare
By Kwame Boakye
Emerson is confident that West Ham have what it takes to win the Europa Conference League but admits they must manage games in a better fashion after their 2-1 win over Anderlecht on Thursday.
First-half strikes from Said Benrahma and Jarrod Bowen put the Hammers firmly in control, but the home side failed to press home their advantage after the break and faced a nervy finale after Sebastiano Esposito reduced the arrears from the penalty spot in the 89th minute.
The win guaranteed the east Londoners a place in the knockout rounds of the competition, but Emerson believes they cannot afford to be complacent in the future if they want to be serious contenders to win the trophy.
“The objective for us was to qualify and we did this so we are proud of what we did in the group because we played four games and we won all four, but we need to improve and play better,” the Italy star told West Ham’s official website.
“In the second half, we didn’t do very well, so now it’s time to think it over and get ready for Sunday.
“We did very well, but in the end we started to lose too many balls in the midfield and up front and we need to learn to control the game more because, although we did well, we don’t need to suffer and we suffered in the end when they scored one goal and the last six or seven minutes were hard, but we did well and we won.
“Why can’t we go all the way? I won some things in Europe – the Champions League, the Europa League, the European Championship with the national team – so I just miss the Conference League! We can do this, but we need to work hard to arrive there step by step.”
Lesson
West Ham have been one of the most impressive teams in the Conference League this season, and have one of the most talented squads in the competition.
They are rightly amongst the favourites to lift the trophy in June; but they cannot afford to take their foot off the pedal when in they’re in commanding positions.
Their first-half performance against Anderlecht was superb and even without the likes of Michail Antonio and Gianluca Scamacca they carried a real threat going forward and arguably should’ve been more than 2-0 up at half-time.
They just needed to match the intensity and desire of the first half and they would’ve seen out the game in far more comfortable fashion, against better teams deeper in the competition they could be punished for such complacency.
The Hammers have had their warning and must heed the lesson if they want to go all the way.