Aaron Cresswell handed 1/10 in shocker – West Ham United player ratings v Fulham
It was a tough day at the office for David Moyes and West Ham as they were romped 5-0 by Fulham in a very one-sided match.
The Hammers fell to pieces in the first half at Craven Cottage, with Raul Jiminez, Willian and Tosin Adarabioyo scoring three unanswered goals. Substitute Harry Wilson curled in a beautiful effort from long-range before a late goal by Carlos Vinicius to make sure all three points went to the home side.
Losing 5-0 to Fulham will need to be a lesson learned if West Ham are to set their sights on the top six spots and the players will need to take a long, hard look at themselves for their performance on Sunday afternoon.
Here, West Ham Zone rates the West Ham players out of 10 for their performances against Fulham.
Lukasz Fabianski – 5
There was not much the goalkeeper could do about any of Fulham’s goals. The defence in front of him should feel guilty for not protecting Fabianski. The shot-stopper’s 67 per cent passing success was decent enough, while he managed to pull off three saves to keep West Ham from going even further behind.
Vladamir Coufal – 5
It was an unusually quiet performance from the Czech defender. He is normally one to spark some energy with a crunching tackle but he was unable to get close to anyone. The right-back managed to get forward on a couple of occasions but his teammates could not find him with the cross-field passes.
Kurt Zouma – 5
It was difficult to be as poor as his partner in crime, Nayef Aguerd. And that is the best way to describe West Ham’s defending – a crime. With the spotlight firmly on his teammate, Zouma was nothing more than average, unable to paper over the cracks in the Hammer defence.
Nayef Aguerd – 2
Aguerd, the sloppiest defender against Fulham. The Moroccan left Cresswell with two players to mark as Raul Jiminez headed home the opening goal, while his wayward passes continued to cause his own team problems.
Aaron Cresswell – 1
Having picked up a needless booking after 18 minutes, Cresswell was beaten at the back post for Jiminez’s opener and allowed Alex Iwobi into West Ham’s penalty area on multiple occasions. With Emerson Palmieri on the bench, Cresswell was a poor choice by David Moyes but hooking the Englishman at half-time was the right call.
Pablo Fornals – 4
Despite a decent start, Fornals’ impact on the pitch gradually disappeared, managing to take just 20 touches before also making way for Emerson at half-time. His performance will make it an even bigger challenge to offload the player in January.
James Ward-Prowse – 5
Ward-Prowse did his best to control the West Ham midfield, but with 38 per cent possession, it was almost impossible for him to build on his goal against Tottenham Hotspur last time out. The midfielder’s free-kick after 6 minutes was one of the few threats to Bernd Leno’s goal.
Tomas Soucek – 4
Soucek was almost non-existent throughout the match against Fulham, failing to make his presence known – a rather disappointing display following his recent heroics.
Lucas Paqueta – 6
Paqueta was one of the few players who looked like they cared but it was not enough to save West Ham from being hammered 5-0 by the Cottagers. His frustrations were evident and Moyes chose the safe choice to substitute their star man.
Jarrod Bowen – 5
Invisible. Like many of his teammates, Bowen went missing on the pitch, with Fulham doing well to nullify the West Ham attack. There was a slight spark once the trio of substitutions were made after the hour-mark, linking up nicely with Said Benrahma but it was far too late for a comeback.
Mohammed Kudus – 4
Similar to Bowen, Kudus was relatively quiet and failed to make an impact at Craven Cottage. No bursts of pace, attempts at any silky skills, or shots at goal meant he was replaced by 19-year-old Divin Mubama.
Substitutes
Konstantinos Mavropanos (On for Aaron Cresswell 46′) – 5
Mavropanos coming on to form a back three helped West Ham to see out an extremely poor 5-0 loss.
Emerson Palmieri (On for Pablo Fornals 46′) – 5
The Italian should have started the match but was benched for Cresswell. It was too late by then as none of the substitutes could impact the result.
Divin Mubama (On for Mohammed Kudus 64′) – 5
The youngster had a couple of half-chances but Fulham’s defence was too strong for West Ham to handle.
Angelo Ogbonna (On for Kurt Zouma 64′) – 5
Ogbonna helped calm things down, but with Aguerd still on the pitch, it was impossible for the Hammers to build from the back. It was an average appearance from the centre-back who did the best he could.
Said Benrahma (On for Lucas Paqueta 65′) – 5
Benrahma had a couple of shots, forcing Leno into a save but blasting the other shot over the Fulham crossbar. A good introduction but was still unable to score.
In other West Ham news, a BBC pundit has admitted that he’ll come out of retirement just to play with a West Ham star after what he did recently.