WHZ View: Bowen risks being axed after lifeless display in West Ham draw v Fulham
West Ham were far from their best as they plodded to an underwhelming 0-0 draw with Fulham.
David Moyes will take the point but we failed to capitalise on the teams around us, with Everton and Manchester United also drawing.
There were some notable disappointments as Michail Antonio was forced off with injury, and Jarrod Bowen failed to impress in his 56-minute showing.
The winger has shone at times this season but has looked off the pace of late.
He has managed just three shots in his last five games (WyScout), with his only effort on target a goal against West Brom that he scored with his chest.
Against Fulham he failed to turn around his recent form, and he risks losing his place in the side due to the arrival of Jesse Lingard.
The Man United loanee was in fine form against Aston Villa with two goals.
He linked up well with Antonio and Said Benrahma in that match – something Bowen did not do on Saturday, as the image below evidences.
The Hammers did not stretch Fulham very often and Bowen did not get many touches in the final third as a result.
On the occasion shown above he did, however, but poor decision making meant West Ham failed to make the most of the opportunity.
Bowen tried to find Antonio even though he was surrounded by three Fulham players in the box – Benrahma by contrast had found space while Lingard was free at the back post.
Lingard’s intelligent movement led to his goals in mid-week, and that may lead Moyes to pick him ahead of Bowen.
The latter works best on the counter-attack, and struggles when it is our job to break teams down.
He evidenced that against Fulham with a WhoScored rating of 6.0, while he did not fair much better against Crystal Palace recently, either.
The snapshot above shows his decision making was not up to scratch once again.
Bowen attempted to curl in a shot with two Palace players closing him down when Declan Rice and Benrahma were better placed to shoot.
If he had shown more awareness and looked around him he would have known that, and that is where Lingard may prove to be an upgrade.
Furthermore, Bowen managed just 76% pass accuracy in that match and gave away possession 13 times (SofaScore).
And the recent form of Benrahma means he is now arguably more important to us than Bowen, with three assists to his name.
Moyes, therefore, has a difficult decision to make in regard to his wide options, and hopefully the competition for places leads to better performances from everyone.
In other West Ham news, ‘The way he’s going…’ – Andy Gray shares verdict on future of West Ham loanee Dawson.