West Ham United incident v Frankfurt leaves talkSPORT pundit baffled
West Ham United bowed out of the Europa League at the semi-final stage on Thursday (5 May) as Eintracht Frankfurt booked their tickets to Seville.
Rafael Santos Borre scored the decisive goal on the night to break Hammers hearts everywhere in a raucous atmosphere in Germany when the visitors lost their discipline.
Aaron Cresswell was the first Irons man to be sent off as he foolishly pulled back the onrushing Frankfurt player as he started to bear down on goal midway through the first half.
David Moyes was later sent to the stands for kicking the ball in the direction of a ball boy in the second half to compile the misery of the evening.
talkSPORT pundit Jamie O’Hara was in complete bewilderment at Cresswell’s decision to drag the man back though in an incident that cost West Ham the chance to turn the game around.
“What is he thinking,” O’Hara said via his personal Twitter account after VAR confirmed the red card with a review.
Not ready
Eintracht Frankfurt was arguably the easiest game West Ham could have hoped for in the Europa League semi-final with RB Leipzig above them in the Bundesliga and Rangers in the other half of the draw.
So there was never going to be a better chance to reach the final than this but from the very first minute of the tie, the Irons did not look ready to be winners or even finalists.
There is a clear lack of experience on big European nights that cost them dearly and it wasn’t only evident on the pitch but on the sidelines too.
Unfortunately, there is no easy way to gain such experience and as hard as this defeat will be to take for those individuals within the club, it is a very important learning curve on the road to success.
Moyes should have known better though having managed in the Champions League with Manchester United and his lack of self-control on the touchline did not help the cause whatsoever.
In other West Ham news, these table-topping Europeans want to sign one of Moyes’ stars for a pitifully low transfer fee.
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