Pablo Fornals dismal as Lukasz Fabianski saves embarrassment – West Ham United player ratings vs Backa Topola
Tomas Soucek rescued a turgid West Ham performance away in Serbia as they strained to a late 1-0 win against Back Topola.
A pretty dismal first half saw little threat of a goal outside of a nice stop made by Lukasz Fabianski after Aaron Cresswell’s aimless pass had given away possession.
The action didn’t improve after the interval as David Moyes’ decision to rotate his depleted squad did not pay dividends and the Hammers struggled to get much of anything going until Maxwel Cornet found Soucek at the back post to poke home a late winner.
Here, West Ham Zone rates the Irons players out of 10 for their performances in Serbia.
Lukasz Fabianski – 8 (Man of the Match)
That he was probably the best performing West Ham player says a lot about the quality of the match, as he made a few important saves to prevent what could have been a very poor defeat. Had to stretch to make an early low stop and then produced a vital save to keep out a deflected effort after Cresswell had needlessly given the ball away after half an hour.
Ben Johnson (off for Kehrer ’79) – 4
Won’t have done much to convince Moyes to give him a game over Vladimir Coufal any time soon. Perhaps understandably looked off the pace in just his second first-team appearance of the season. Beaten too easily a number of times when attacks came down the West Ham right.
Konstantinos Mavropanos – 7
Defensively solid, if slightly slack in possession, and needed to be on a number of occasions to tidy up balls into the box from both flanks. Barely had to do anything in the second half, and couldn’t get on the end of a bouncing Ward-Prowse cross to the back post late on.
Nayef Aguerd – 5
Okay but looked less assured than Mavropanos in the face of what little threat Backa Topola could put together.
Aaron Cresswell (off for Emerson 79) – 4
Poor game. Much like Johnson on the other side he looked short of match practice after Moyes’ decision to hand him just a fourth outing of the season. Almost put West Ham behind with a very sloppy error on half an hour which Fabianski rescued for him.
Tomas Soucek – 7
Ultimately the difference despite a pretty pedestrian performance in midfield as he was unable to have much of an impact in either box until the final minutes. On the few occasions that he threatened to get on the end of a cross he conceded a foul. Finally got it right at the death.
James Ward-Prowse – 6
Some nice forward passing at the base of the midfield without being able to find anything incisive during a frustrating first 45. Delivery from set pieces was obviously threatening but didn’t look like creating much from open play.
Pablo Fornals – 3
Offered very little as an uneventful game largely passed him by for most of the evening. Booked for a late challenge after the break in arguably his most notable contribution.
Lucas Paqueta – 7
Quality on the ball was evident from the off and the hosts quickly resorted to repeatedly fouling the Brazilian. Influence faded after some early sparks as both sides settled into a war of attrition.
Said Benrahma (off for Cornet ’67) – 5
On the plus side he was an outlet down the left and was at least involved in the action. But lacked any sort of end product and wasted possession in forward areas. Offered little in terms of defensive support as the home side got most joy down his flank in the first half.
Divin Mubama (off for Ings ’67) – 5
Full of running in his first ever West Ham start but that arguably kept him out of danger areas as he chased down possession. Starved of meaningful service by his teammates, making it less than ideal conditions for his big opportunity, but struggled with his touch.
Subtitutions
Maxwel Cornet (on for Benrahma ’67) – 7
Didn’t really lift the level of performance in any meaningful way until he found one crucial moment on quality with assist for the winner.
Danny Ings (on for Mabuma ’67) – 5
Briefly injected some intent after his introduction but soon stopped seeing much of the ball, and went the same was as Mubama before him.
Thilo Kehrer (on for Johnson’79) – N/A
Emerson (on for Cresswell ’79) – N/A
In other West Ham news, Tim Steidten has locked onto a long-time favourite as Moyes “actively pushes” for January transfer.