Shannon Cooke must improve after what she did for West Ham United Women v Man City Women
Shannon Cooke must improve on her performance for West Ham Women in the defeat to Manchester City Women on Sunday (1 October).
The defender was handed her first start for the club as the Hammers fell to a 2-0 defeat against the Citizens on the opening day of the WSL season.
But the 23-year-old didn’t put in the best display, as she conceded a penalty and was at fault for one of the visitors’ goals at Victoria Road.
Cooke has had to wait quite a while to be given her first start for the Irons since joining the club on a long-term deal in January.
That came after she spent four-and-a-half years with Louisiana State University (LSU) Tigers in the US, having previously been on the books of Arsenal, where she made two appearances.
The centre-back captained LSU for two seasons and played 94 times during her stint in the Bayou State, scoring nine goals along the way.
After sealing her deal with the East Londoners, she only made one appearance last season, coming off the bench in the 4-0 defeat to Manchester United in March.
It would have perhaps come as a surprise to have been named in the starting lineup for the game against Man City at the weekend in Rehanne Skinner’s first game in charge of the club.
She didn’t take the opportunity, though, after SofaScore handed her a 5.9 rating for her performance – the lowest of any player on the pitch.
Playing on the left-hand side of the back three, Cooke gave away a penalty when she was slow to close down Chloe Kelly before she was adjudged to have blocked the Citizens’ forward’s cross into the box with her arm.
The England international saw her penalty saved by Hammers captain Mackenzie Arnold, who got down superbly well to her right to push the ball around the post for a corner.
She was punished for her next mistake, though, as a neat stepover from Jill Roord saw her suck in and take the ball past the Irons defender before going on to score a debut goal for the visitors.
Cooke played the entire 90 minutes, having 47 touches of the ball but only recording a pass accuracy of 69 per cent throughout the afternoon.
She made just one tackle and didn’t win possession back for her side on any occasion, while she was dribbled past once and won just two of her five duels for a 40 per cent success rate.
It was by no means an easy game for the centre-back to make her first start for the East Londoners against a side that will be competing near the top of the WSL table.
But she will be disappointed with her contribution for the Hammers and will be hoping to put in a better performance if she receives the nod again for the game against Brighton on Sunday (8 October).
In other West Ham news, Declan Rice has shared a “strange” admission after securing his big-money move to Arsenal.