L’Equipe West Ham player ratings: Antonio superb, four players get 5/10
French newspaper L’Equipe has rated West Ham players out of 10 after their 1-1 draw versus Lyon in the Europa League on Thursday.
The popular French newspaper daily wasn’t impressed that Lyon failed to capitalise on the numerical advantage after Aaron Cresswell got sent off in the first half.
In fact, L’Equipe has only given 7/10 to Michail Antonio, while Cresswell managed 3/10.
“Antonio did everything for them. Ultra present with his calls, dominating in the air,” wrote L’Equipe.
Jarrod Bowen, who scored for the Hammers got only 6/10, while as many as four players – Craig Dawson, Said Benrahma, Alphonse Areola, and Declan Rice – managed 5/10. Ryan Fredericks and Tomas Soucek got 4/10.
It’s not like L’Equipe gave high marks to Lyon players as well. It shows they weren’t too impressed with the overall standard of the game.
Big second leg
It is always tricky to play the first leg at home, and the Hammers have got an uphill task from here on to move into the semi-finals.
West Ham have no other options but to score in the second leg and at the same time make sure they remained tight at the back.
The player ratings are subjective, but surely, they must have been watching some other games. Dawson and Rice only 5/10?
That’s harsh and unfair. Dawson has been sensational last night, and he was rock solid at the back.
The fact that L’Equipe gave Zouma more points than Dawson shows their bias towards the French players.
Rice produced a fabulous performance in the middle of the park, but it seems the French newspaper weren’t too impressed with him either.
In fact, major French media outlets hold the opinion that Cresswell was “guilty” [Le Parisien] for his challenge on Moussa Dembele.
In other West Ham news, Jason Cundy was similarly outraged at the incident as he exploded live on talkSPORT.
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