WHZ Tactics: Messy defence costs West Ham dearly in 2-2 draw v Brighton
West Ham may have came from behind twice to rescue a draw against struggling Brighton on Sunday but the defensive performance from David Moyes’ men was a major concern.
Ahead of the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, we wrote to show how wasteful Brighton have been in the Premier League this season yet the Irons managed to hit the self-destruct button ahead of conceding both goals on Sunday.
According to stats by Wyscout, Brighton had an xG of just 1.07 at the London Stadium but managed to net twice. West Ham also had far worse defensive numbers than they have done on average in the Premier League this season, as seen on the graph below.
Interestingly, Moyes was criticised before and after the game for naming a defensive-minded starting line-up. The Hammers boss reverted to a back-three with Ben Johnson replacing Pablo Fornals in the side while Mark Noble retained his spot as the more advanced central midfielder.
Clearly, Moyes’ defensive set-up failed and West Ham’s ineptitude at the back was clear to show in both of Brighton’s goals on Sunday.
Below is an image of the build-up to Brighton’s first goal when Neal Maupay scored.
Solly March has the ball out wide and on-rushing defender Dan Burn has over-lapped him on the outside. Vladimir Coufal is caught in two minds about whether to close down March and stop the cross or keep track of Burn, who’s likely to find himself in a good position to fire a cross at close range if he gets hold of the ball and too much space.
We’ve also highlighted West Ham’s defensive line in this still image. The Irons play with a back-three or even a back-two when they’re on the ball but when they defend, they have to defend as a back-five. It’s useless having the three centre-backs bunched up defending two players in and on the edge of the penalty area. As for Ben Johnson, he’s nowhere near the defensive action.
Fabian Balbuena has to come out wide to help Coufal. Tomas Soucek had one attacker marked while Angelo Ogbonna and Aaron Cresswell – plus Johnson if he had gotten back quick enough – could then be left to mark the other two Brighton forwards.
Instead, you can see below what happened as Coufal committed himself to March, allowing the Brighton winger to play a simple pass to the unmarked Burn.
Although West Ham’s three centre-backs were around the penalty area, two of them ended up marking Danny Welbeck and space opened up for Maupay as Balbuena was then left caught in the same two minds Coufal was. Commit to the ball or stay and mark.
After a scramble involving Declan Rice, Maupay managed to turn and score but this goal would have been easily avoided if the back-three had spread itself out more. Coufal shouldn’t have been left to defend against two players on the right and Johnson should have tucked in more to allowed Balbuena to move over.
Brighton’s second goal didn’t look great for the Irons either.
Coufal was again at the centre of this as West Ham were caught napping when the away side took a short corner. Coufal didn’t react in time to get close enough to stop the cross into the penalty area which was headed home by Lewis Dunk.
You can also see in the image below how Dunk was the quickest to start making a run towards the danger area with Sebastien Haller doing his best to mark him.
Cresswell and Soucek both went to head the ball clear but both missed it because they didn’t react quick enough to judge the cross, allowing Dunk to poke the ball home after it dropped down.
Gary Neville, who was covering the game on Sky Sports, described the goal best by saying: “[Brighton] just caught them by surprise. West Ham just weren’t set.”
While there are obvious debates about whether the ball hit Dunk’s arm just before he scored, there’s no defence for the horrific defending by such a defensive-minded team on Sunday.
Brighton were there for the taking and Moyes, as well as his players, let supporters down.
Up next for the Irons is a difficult trip to play Southampton at St Mary’s.
We’re expecting a far better defensive performance against Ralph Hassenhuttl’s side but in order for that to happen, a change of shape and personnel might have to happen.
In other West Ham news, Frank McAvennie has made a prediction for the clash against the Saints.