View: Three things learnt in West Ham defeat v Eintracht Frankfurt
Defeat in Germany against Eintracht Frankfurt in the semi-final sees West Ham crash out of the Europa League on an incredibly unfortunate night for David Moyes.
The Scot was furious as Aaron Creswell’s red card all but sealed the Hammers’ fate with too high of a mountain to climb against the Bundesliga outfit with ten men – 1-0 on the night and 3-1 on aggregate.
An incredibly successful season for the east Londoners unfortunately won’t be topped with a trophy or at least a European final but it was a monumental effort nevertheless.
Here are three things that we at West Ham Zone learnt from the game…
Cresswell doesn’t learn
Did Cresswell not learn a thing from his sending off in the quarter-final against Lyon? The decision the referee made in that game was actually the wrong call because the left-back hardly touched him so you would have thought he would be on his best behaviour this time around.
There was absolutely no doubt about this one with the striker through on goal and no one else covering as he was dragged to the ground. The referee actually tried to help him out but VAR intervened to slash the Irons down to ten men. You just can’t get away with that in Europe.
It was a disgraceful decision that ultimately lost the Hammers the match.
Players did themselves proud
The players did themselves proud tonight. They left absolutely everything on the pitch and didn’t give up until the game was over. It would have been very easy to throw in the towel after such a terrible first half but they came out firing in the second.
It has been an absolute rollercoaster of a European tour for the Irons and they went out the right way – with their heads held high.
Moyes on the other hand did not with his sending off towards the end of the game.
Lack of experience
At the end of the day, it was a little bit of naivety from Cresswell and a lack of experience from the whole team that saw them crash out so tantalisingly close to the final.
You simply can’t afford to dominate at home in a European sem-final and come away having lost 2-1. Frankfurt are a very smart, well-coached team and despite being confident of turning the result around – tonight was always going to be difficult.
The huge positive is the massive amount of experience that this squad has gained from this season to hopefully take into the next.
In other West Ham news, a BBC pundit has urged West Ham to sign a £40million rated Chelsea wantaway, saying he would be a “great fit”.
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