SLAV’S RETURN
West Ham United 0 West Bromwich Albion 1
Saturday 25th January 2020
London Stadium, the newest ground in the Premier League, is a stadium that managers have come to enjoy visiting over the last three and a half seasons. The only current Premier League sides yet to win here in all that time are Aston Villa, Sheffield United and Norwich City, the three teams who were promoted from the Championship last year.
The Fourth Round of the FA Cup has nevertheless thrown the Hammers a fixture that might offer the chance to make it three games out of three that they have managed to defend their home status against, this being the side most likely to be playing them in the Premier League next year, if they can manage to stay in it for another season. The team are West Bromwich Albion, managed by the ex-Hammers man who was sacked in November 2017, Slaven Bilic. He was then replaced by his opposite number today, David Moyes, though Moyes is in his second incarnation as West Ham boss. Bilic could be forgiven for being unaware that Manuel Pellegrini had ever worked here. Now he has built a strong West Brom side who are currently top of the Championship, and he might fancy his chances this afternoon.
One thing Bilic has always been good at is surprising opposition with his tactics on the road. Few will forget his first three away games managing West Ham, where he took maximum points from visits to Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City. This afternoon he is the away manager, and he gets a generous reception from Hammers fans who imagine their number is already in the hat for the fifth round draw. Those of us who have followed the club for a while have an idea that this will not be an easy game, and the three places that separate the sides across the leagues suggest that this may well be right.
Unlike his predecessor, Moyes has understood that the home fans take all competitions seriously, and he has put out a strong side to demonstrate intent. West Brom, who haven’t, still make the first assaults on goal, and Randolph is tested early with a decent shot from Edwards that he manages to get down to just in time to palm away to safety.
There are just nine minutes on the clock when, in their second serious attack, West Brom score, Conor Townsend hammering home wide on the left after good link up play with Charlie Austin. These days Bilic sports a scholarly beard which hangs a good six inches below his chin, and he unsurprisingly gives it a few congratulatory tugs to celebrate his side’s early strike. Just eight minutes later it is Townsend again, this time sending in a menacing cross which is headed narrowly wide by the Baggies’ best player of the afternoon, Krovinovic.
West Ham find themselves camped in their own half for most of the first half and after a rare moment of indecision from Declan Rice, Townsend intercepts and sends in a perfect hanging cross for Austin, which the striker manages to put wide with only Randolph to beat. Rice makes up for his error five minutes later with a decent strike from outside the area which Bond watches miss the target by less than a foot. It’s West Ham’s only decent chance in the whole of the first half.
Moyes makes a bold triple substitution at the beginning of the second half, replacing Sanchez, Fornals and Balbuena with Noble, Antonio and Ogbonna. Five minutes in though, and West Brom almost get a second. Edwards’ cross is headed powerfully goalwards by Austin, but straight at Randolph. Finally West Ham begin to string a few decent passes together, and Lanzini hits in an exquisite cross which Ajeti deflects sweetly with a flick of the head, but agonisingly just past Bond’s left hand post. Ajeti is in the thick of the action on the break minutes later, and Ajayi is red-carded for holding him back, having been yellowed already in the first half. Can the Hammers now make the extra man difference count in the last twenty minutes? There is a sudden industry about Moyes’ outfit. Mark Noble is just inches wide with a curled shot from just outside the area and in the final scheduled minute Rice produces another skidding long shot that Bond manages to parry, fortunate that no one is around to tuck the loose ball away.
In injury time Antonio throws off his marker and chooses not to go down after he is clearly tripped in the area by Tulloch. Instead he sets up another chance for Rice, which Bond this time pushes away cleanly. There is still time for one last attack when Noble feeds Antonio and his cross is cleared straight back at the Hammers’ midfield general who, arriving prematurely, can only spoon his shot over the bar. So West Ham’s hunt for silverware in 2019-20 is over, and yet another manager has won at London Stadium. It is another away scalp for Slaven Bilic and the other ex-Hammer on his staff at the Hawthorns, Julian Dicks.
Moyes’ side have now got a handful of home games in the next few weeks to gather the points to ensure that these two sides meet here again next season.
West Ham: 35 Darren Randolph, 5 Pablo Zabaleta, 4 Fabian Balbuena, 23 Issa Diop, 3 Aaron Cresswell, 18 Pablo Fornals, 15 Carlos Sanchez, 41 Delan Rice, 27 Adrian Ajeti, 22 Sebastien Haller, 10 Manuel Lanzini
Substitutes: 16 Mark Noble, 21 Angelo Ogbonna, 30 Michail Antonio
