Stephen Warnock praises West Ham United defensive unit during 2-0 loss to Tottenham
Match of the Day 2 pundit Stephen Warnock believes West Ham United defended “extremely well” and showed a great work rate in the first half of their Premier League clash against Spurs on Sunday (19 February).
The Hammers fell to an uninspiring 2-0 defeat at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and remained in the bottom three of the Premier League table after victories for several relegation rivals over the weekend.
Despite the defeat, David Moyes’ side went into the break at 0-0 and nullified many of Spurs’ attacking threats until the deadlock was broken in the 56th minute by Emerson Royal.
Speaking on Match of the Day (19 February, 35:15), Warnock praised the back-five of West Ham – especially Thilo Kehrer – for their defensive efforts against their Champions League-chasing opponents.
When asked if the Hammers had a clear gameplan, he said: “Yes, they did, and it was to nullify Spurs, and they did that extremely well in the first half.
“And the way they did it was by going into a back-five. We know David Moyes had changed his formation in the last few games by using Coufal and Emerson as his wingback. They worked extremely hard to nullify Spurs. They got numbers in the box and made it difficult for Spurs to play through them.
“Kehrer here defends exceptionally well in one-on-one situations, Soucek never switches off and makes sure he got the ball, and then it’s the reaction from the West Ham players.
“It’s that work rate. The doubling up in numbers and making sure that they worked hard as a unit, and they did that in the first half.”
Attack the problem
Although West Ham United were solid in defence during the first half, they fell to pieces after the break as Spurs began to turn the screw.
For the second goal, Angelo Ogbonna was largely at fault after dawdling on the ball, and it was too easy for Harry Kane to play in Son Heung-Min as a result. Even if the Hammers had held on at the back, the worrying aspect of this performance was the lack of attacking threat Moyes’ side held.
Antonio could be the scapegoat of West Ham’s faltering attack, but he had no service all game as both Vladimir Coufal and Emerson were pinned back and struggled to bomb forward into the final third.
Considering their lack of attacking threat as well a midfield three of Declan Rice, Tomas Soucek and Flynn Downes, the 32-year-old was never going to get the service he required.
The nagging question for many fans will be, what does Danny Ings have to do to get a start?