Last updated on October 3rd, 2024 at 10:35 am
Reading Time: 3 minutesJackson & Palmer: More encouraging signals for Enzo Maresca, another Chelsea victory on the road, and the sight of Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali seated together in the London Stadium stands. If everything at Chelsea appeared to be in order, then maybe we should discuss West Ham.
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Greatest football liberals in Europe
The East End jury had previously returned a negative verdict on Julen Lopetegui following two home losses. After years of admirable but frequently uninteresting play, many Hammers supporters supported David Moyes’s gradual replacement with a daring continental player. It has previously been noted that the Basque is not among the greatest football liberals in Europe.
Is he able to plan a defence? Not in opposition to Chelsea, anyhow. Their objectives resulted from large, painful holes in his squad. Nicolas Jackson’s first goal showed no defensive rigour at all, and the others were similarly careless in their execution.
Right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka was staring in the opposite direction as Jadon Sancho sent Jackson racing with a short free kick, and Edson Álvarez was not much more vigilant, running after the striker but unable to get past Alphonse Areola.
Sancho has two games and two assists, but much as at Bournemouth the previous week, the scorer was left with a lot of work to do, even though Areola might have performed better. Despite his goal against Bournemouth, Christopher Nkunku was benched until the second half, while Sancho—his fellow substitute at the Vitality—was granted his first start. With their keen sense of business, Chelsea thinks they have pulled off a coup by signing him on loan from Manchester United and paying a reduced transfer fee. Maybe Sancho is a better fit for mayhem at Chelsea than dysfunction at United. That’s the hilarious side of footballers.
As is the focus at Stamford Bridge these days, Chelsea may have a decent striker in Jackson, the rawest of materials, or at least an asset who can be cashed in for more than he cost. He was outstanding in east London, showing toothlessness at Bournemouth. He skilfully scored his second goal with the outside of his boot. With a poked through ball, Moisés Caicedo had — and far too easily— bisected Álvarez and Maximilian Kilman. After just eighteen minutes, the home crowd was booing and whistling, and Lopetegui was furious on the sidelines.
Chelsea are still hardly watertight themselves. They are still open to attacks from teams who can get beyond their midfield, just like they were against Bournemouth and even when they ran wild against Wolves last month. They were also fortunate. Following the decision by VAR Stuart Attwell that Wesley Fofana’s abuse of Crysencio Summerville was “fleeting,” PGMOL chief Howard Webb will need to provide an explanation.
For a little period, Injustice infuriated the Hammers, and Lopetegui appeared as mortified as Moyes might have when reporting the game from Doha. He’d had enough with eight minutes left in the first half. Robert Sánchez was called upon to make his first save when Tomas Soucek, a tactical move intended to add muscle, took the place of the anonymous Guido Rodríguez. The new arrival’s low, easy shot was attempted.
Seventy seconds after the restart
Seventy seconds after the restart, Jackson was passed through once more, and the striker’s deft pass evaded Kilman as he backpedalled, sending the three points westward along the District Line. Cole Palmer’s shot rang off a post, demonstrating his superior finishing ability. Lopetegui fumed as Maresca revelled. Despite Chelsea’s abundance of attacking skill, every goal was completely avoidable. Kilman and Areola had received no protection after Mohammed Kudus lost the ball in midfield.
Boos accompanied Summerville’s substitution for Michail Antonio; nevertheless, another flaw in the Hammers’ new formation is that Jarrod Bowen performs best off the wings rather than when expected to hold up the ball as a centre forward.
As Nkunku and João Felix arrived, Sancho and Palmer left to cheers from the home crowd. The former demonstrated his goal-scoring prowess with a header that drew a superb save from Areola.
Under the new management, Andy Irving, a Scot who was signed from Austria Klagenfurt nearly a year ago, made his Hammers debut in lieu of Lucas Paquetá, a letdown. Irving entered a contest that was zombie-like. That West Ham’s campaign was getting off to a bad start with three straight league losses at home, an undesirable club record, had long been
