ALCOHOL TEST FOR WEST HAM
Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2 West Ham 0
Tonight’s game offers some new managerial challenges for Moyes, which he’s met, unsurprisingly, by playing Emerson as a wing back in front of Aaron Cresswell. Will West Ham manage to handle the 40 game unbeaten stride of Alonsa’s stylish Leverkusen side?
There is a general story travelling around town about an ‘Alcohol Test’ that fans may have to take at the stadium before the game. Specific questions have been suggested in preparation.
What is the fermentation process for beer?
How is whisky stored?
At what temperature does the sugar turn to alcohol?
I am ready to offer myself as a qualified invigilator for the test if needed.
Once fans have taken the test there will be pilsner and wine inside the ground on sale to away supporters. My imagination is conjuring up a picture of mulled wine left over from Christmas and served by Leverkusen staff in Santa Claus garb.
The walk to the ground is about a mile through a park, not unlike the small forest on the edge of town that fans had to traverse a couple of seasons ago before the game against Eintracht Frankfurt. The local police are less tooled up than their Frankfurt counterparts and banter cheerfully with the Hammers faithful, after the slowest train ride ever known. They probably know what’s about to happen on the pitch.
Bayer are awarded a free kick after just two minutes which Coufal defends expertly under pressure from Edmond Tapsoba, who clashes heads with him for his troubles. The game will be full of this. The referee is the same Portuguese official who was in charge of Brazil’s recent 1-0 victory in a friendly at Wembley. If he has to have a word in his ear, at least he’ll understand him, even if he doesn’t agree.
An early shot by Stanišić is flicked on by Patrick Schik, but Fabianski goes down well to smother the deflected effort. Antonio then breaks free at pace and feeds Kudus, but his effort is weak and straight at the keeper Kovár. Still, a shot on the board, and the best chance yet for either side.
The ground is similarly sized to that of Freiburg, all red and black, with an equally energised crowd. Leverkusen have their first corner on 15 minutes but it is short and wasted. Hammers are well drilled and deal with the early pressure in reasonable comfort. That is, at least, until Paquetá gets booked in the 21st minute for some unnecessary afters. Well at least he can play without fear now. He’s out of the tournament, unless Hammers win this two-legged tie.
Leverkusen put a corner count score up on the main screen as if representing some sense of moral advantage. There is a gasp from the West Ham supporters, who clearly are unfamiliar with the term ‘Ecken’. The disappointment of the Paquetá card quietens the Hammers’ fans for a few moments, but the team still look compact and organised. A replay creeps onto the screen in the press lounge after a Leverkusen attack, revealing a covert sneaky handball that Coufal has got away with. No one appealed and it escapes the eyes of the VAR experts if not the TV match director.
Another long range but precise show from Tapsoba is superbly saved by the gloved fingertips of Fabianski. 35 minutes up and the teams are still level. At this point it does look as though Moyes may have measured this correctly. West Ham’s first corner on 37 minutes, but Mavropanos’ header just finds a defender’s chest back to Kovár.
A minute later, another corner. Zouma is pulled to the ground, but there is mysteriously not even a mild inquest about the challenge. Is anyone staffing the VAR feed? That’s two penalties that should have been awarded.
The first ten minutes of the second half see a yellow for Emerson which puts him out of the second leg, too. Both absences would be covered by the return of Bowen and Álvarez, so there’s that, but again a disappointment settles over the Hammers’ fans for a few more minutes. These two still have half an hour to contribute to what could be a superb away result.
Paquetá incurs the whistling wrath of the home fans each time he touches the ball, the greatest compliment. It’s Leverkusen who make the first substitutes, Tella replacing Frimpong and Hincapie replacing Stanišić. Tapsoba gets away with another foul on Antonio, after Coufal is temporarily knocked over blocking a cross from a couple of yards. Now Fabianski makes the save of the game from Shick’s smart header, tipping it over from just a couple of yards out.
Hammers control the advancing Leverkusen attack, and break with Kudus but Paquetá is unable to make the final necessary link to make the breakaway count, before a Xhaka shot is hit narrowly wide.
Now a couple more substitutes from Leverkusen, Schick is off for Boniface and Adil for Hofmann. What an honour for West Ham that they’ve seen off the Leverkusen striker. Still the Germans push forward. Still West Ham keep them at bay. Fabianski makes a superb save from Hofmann after he beats the offside trap. There are less than ten scheduled minutes left.
Leverkusen have a corner on 81 minutes, and now Hofmann’s hopeful first time volley from the edge of the area finds its way through the crowd of defenders past the unsighted Fabianski. This is the side with a legendary reputation for striking late in a game. Aguerd and Johnson come on for Mavropanos and Kudus. Just a few minutes to hold on to restrict Leverkusen to a narrow one goal lead for the second leg.
Aguerd and Souček (twice) now make brilliant blocks to keep out powerful shots from inside the area. Now, as the three minutes extra time are signalled, substitute Boniface swivels his neck and heads Hofmann’s inch perfect cross past Fabianski. It is a sickeningly brilliant header that perhaps flatters the German side after West Ham’s brave rearguard action.
For all his flicks and through balls, there are times when Paquetá is a player West Ham are carrying. His skill and subtlety are undermined by childish antics when he perceives himself as not protected by referees. Perhaps he has been found out in terms of temperament. There were barely twenty minutes on the clock before he was booked. He lost the ball in midfield on many occasions when balance and control were needed. The histrionics and outrage can seem tiresome to referees keen to show who is the real boss. Without discipline, a player can soon become a liability. Tonight there were times when Paqueta has been just that. If Guardiola is watching, he will be having second thoughts.
As West Ham’s weakest performer on the night, having the talisman out of the side at London Stadium might not be the disadvantage the West Ham faithful would otherwise consider it, and this might not be the last Hammers European adventure of this sequence, whatever it feels like at this moment.
1 Lucasz Fabianski, 3 Aaron Cresswell, 4 Kurt Zouma (captain), 5 Vladimir Coufal, 33 Emerson, 15 Konstantinos Mavropanos, 7 James Ward-Prowse, 10 Lucas Paquetá, 28 Tomas Souček, 9 Michail Antonio, 14 Mohammed Kudus
Substitutes: 2 Ben Johnson, 27 Nayef Aguerd
