West Ham United player ratings v Silkeborg: Said Benrahma stars
West Ham edged out Silkeborg 1-0 in the UEFA Conference League as they managed to get their way out of their group as winners.
Manuel Lanzini scored the game’s only goal to give his side the three points in what was a relatively quiet performance from the Hammers.
Regardless, David Moyes will be happy with the result and can now turn his focus on Manchester United in the league.
Our player ratings from the game:
Alphonse Areola – 7
Made three important saves in the game and also commanded the players in front of him exceptionally well. If he ever had to make a case for a regular starting berth, this would be it.
Vladimir Coufal – 3
Not the best of performances for the right-back desperately trying to prove his worth. He did look threatening offensively, but defensively he will not be happy with his performance. He lost seven of 11 attempted ground duels and completed just three of his attempted eight crosses on the night.
Ben Johnson – 6
Playing as a centre-back, Johnson often had to cover up for Coufal, but did a good job at that and will be proud of the shift he put in. His passing was on point and defensively he did what was expected from him.
Nayef Aguerd – 7
A debut that he will be proud of him and he did not look like a player who was short on confidence or match fitness. Playing at the heart of the back three, it was business as usual for the summer signing. It made sense to take him off in the second half but a good game all in all.
Angelo Ogbonna – 6
Captained the side well and had a good game bringing the ball out of defence. If there were any criticisms of his performance, it was that he was not the kind of assertive presence Moyes would have wanted him to be.
Emerson – 5
Lost possession on 13 occasions and did not offer the kind of attacking threat many in his side wanted him to. He did register touches in decent positions but the final ball was something that was lacking.
Pablo Fornals – 8
He was our Man of the Match as we felt that he seldom put in a foot wrong. He was impressive taking on players and played a number of important passes into the final third. He also had a pass accuracy north of 85 per cent which is never a bad thing.
Conor Coventry – 7
Got a rare start under Moyes and did not let the manager down. There have been calls to see him play more often and one can now see why. His pass accuracy was 93 per cent as he pulled the strings in the middle of the park. Defensively too, he was at the right place at the right time.
Manuel Lanzini – 7
Showed his serves from the penalty spot and that was crucial as it won his side the three points. However, his overall performance was not the best and he’ll be the first one to tell you that. He did have moments of indecision in possession but the rest of it was pretty straightforward.
Said Benrahma – 8
Another player who had an impressive game. Starting in a more advanced position, Benrahama did a lot of what a normal striker did and would be gutted not to have found the back of the net. He had four shots on goal and on another day he would’ve got his name on the scoresheet.
Michail Antonio – 5
Antonio struggled to get involved in the game and thus his link-up was not at where it usually is. He lost all of his attempted aerial duels and even on the ground, he was only successful with 50 per cent of them. He did not offer himself too many goal-scoring opportunities either.
Subs
Thilo Kehrer – 4
Declan Rice – 5
Tomas Soucek – 4
Flynn Downes – 4
Gianluca Scamacca – 4