Stewart Robson blasts ‘shocking’ West Ham performance against Manchester City
Stewart Robson has blasted the defensive approach of West Ham United in their demoralising defeat against Manchester City.
The Hammers lost 2-0 in their season opener against the reigning Premier League champions at the London Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Robson, while speaking on ESPN coverage, believes that the Irons could have put up a bigger fight against Pep Guardiola’s men.
“If you look at the game between Fulham and Liverpool, Fulham made it difficult for Liverpool throughout the game,” he said. “This match had the highest crowd that West Ham have ever had for a home game
“You expected West Ham to be in the faces of Manchester City, trying and pressing them fairly high. However, they sat back and allowed City to play the passing game.
“It was almost a walking phase at times. It was very easy for Manchester City to get into the wide areas and break through West Ham.
“It was a shocking performance by West Ham. Great game for Manchester City and Haaland, but very poor for West Ham.”
The best managers in the world always tend to play their teams according to their players’ strengths. If you look at the West Ham team from midfield to attack, they must be ranked amongst some of the best teams in the competition.
However, it is the defence that has huge question marks over it due to an injury to Nayef Aguerd. The new signing is suffering from a knee injury that he sustained in pre-season and won’t be available until the end of this year.
When you have players like Gianluca Scamacca, Jarrod Bowen, Michael Antonio, and Flynn Downes, it screams goals and creativity.
The fact that neither Scamacca nor Downes started the opening Premier League fixture shows that Moyes was reluctant to take the game to the opposition.
It was always going to be a tough afternoon, and let’s hope it can be put behind the squad as they travel to Nottingham Forest next time out.