TAKE TWO (BUT JUST ONE POINT)
West Ham 2 Burnley 2
This game can’t come quickly enough for anyone who witnessed the defeat against Freiburg on Thursday. Some questions need answering more than others. First one might be that if you’re facing a team that aren’t as good as you on paper, why not play high against them from the off? Secondly, Zouma’s knees. Though I appreciate that isn’t exactly a question.
Burnley are desperate. They’ve already played 27 / 38 games and have amassed just 13 points. Three wins and four draws. They won at Fulham, which West Ham failed (spectacularly) to, but even if they won all eleven of their remaining games, that would still only give them 44 points. Teams can go down with 42 points, as we’ve seen over the years. Last season 35 would have been enough. That’s another 22 points for Vincent Kompany’s side.
This narrative is pumping round my head as I watch West Ham fail to take the game to their opponents. Just one home win since beating Manchester United just before Christmas. With very little to record from the first ten minutes, David Datro Fofana then plays a one two off the returning Nayef Aguerd’s outstretched leg before unleashing a 25 yard thunderbolt of a shot past Areola. Speculative, yes; unpredictable, no.
Hammers offer little in response, and when Josh Cullen went down the familiar left channel in the last minute of normal first half time and hit the ball powerfully across to the far post, Mavropanos arrived with perfect timing (depending on whose side you’re on) to steer the loose ball under and beyond Areola. So that’s the team bottom of the Premier League (maybe not if the score stays the same) going in for the break with a two goal advantage.
David Moyes’ eyebrow appears to have raised slightly, in the style of Roger Moore, as he takes off Ward-Prowse and Phillips for Álvarez and Antonio at the start of the second half. That suggests power up front and in the midfield that clearly weren’t there earlier on. Another disappointment for Kalvin Phillips and a slight non-appearance for James Ward-Prowse.
Well, the panic button has been pushed, but within 60 seconds West Ham have pulled one back, Paquetá strolling through to caress the ball effortlessly past the time-wasting keeper James Twatfest. Álvarez is making a major difference in the midfield and Antonio is beginning to put pressure on Burnley’s previously untroubled defence.
If this were an episode of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five, predicting the final outcome of the game from this point on would be reasonably straightforward. But this ain’t no party. This ain’t no disco. This ain’t no fooling around. This is West Ham United, and this is 2024.
Fast forward 37 minutes, and with just 8 minutes on the clock, Burnley still have the lead. Now comes Moyes final throw of the dice. Off comes Aguerd, and on comes Danny Ings, a man who has worn claret and blue for two clubs against this third wearer of the livery.
And Ings makes an immediate impact, Antonio chesting Paquetá’s through ball into the path of Ings, who hammers home the equaliser. Or doesn’t. Antonio is a few inches offside. Another break, and Kudus fires agonisingly wide of timewaster Trafford’s left hand post. And seemingly within seconds we are into injury time, 8 minutes of it.
Now comes the moment the fans have waited for, a cross from Kudus reaching Ings who controls it before smashing home the equaliser. No intervening VAR this time. There are still a few minutes left, enough time for Ings to smash the ball against the crossbar and Antonio to put the rebound agonisingly wide. There is a big shout for handball but Hammers are denied a penalty and at the other end Areola saves from Brownhill to prevent an undeserved Burnley winner.
So in the end, it’s all square, and most Hammers’ fans would have taken that at half-time, but there remains the feeling that it could have been so much more if the team had started on the front foot against Komoany’s struggling side.
23 Alphonse Areola, 3 Aaron Cresswell, 5 Vladimir Coufal, 11 Kalvin Phillips, 15 Konstantinos Mavropanos, 27 Nayef Aguerd, 7 James Ward-Prowse, 10 Lucas Paquetá, 28 Tomas Souček (captain), 14 Mohammed Kudus, 20 Jarrod Bowen
Substitutes: 9 Michail Antonio, 19 Edson Álvarez, 18 Danny Ings
Goalscorers: Lucas Pacquetá (46), Danny Ings (90+1’)
