Graham Potter’s first game back in the dugout for 20 months ended not only in an FA Cup exit, after the brightest of starts, but with the loss of two more strikers as West Ham’s hopes of resuscitating their season received further damage.
After his appointment the day before this FA Cup third-round tie, the new West Ham manager saw his team carry out his brief but clear pre-match requests stylishly, as they led through Lucas Paquetá’s early goal. But after injuries to Niclas Füllkrug, with what appears a serious hamstring problem, and Crysencio Summerville, Potter will not be contemplating any honeymoon period.
Aston Villa prevailed through Amadou Onana’s equaliser, following a corner that should not have been given, and Morgan Rogers’ late goal as the club continued their 150th anniversary celebrations by winning only their second FA Cup game in nine years.
Potter enthused, in his understated manner, over the “excitement” of being back on the touchline but also said that “you still can’t replicate that feeling when the opposition score and [you feel it] into your stomach”.
“I think the first half we started really well,” he said, “had a good defensive organisation, carried a threat [and] scored a really good goal. Everything we spoke about, you could see the players were trying to do. There was a lot to be pleased about. Losing Niclas was a blow for us.”
With Michail Antonio out for the season with a broken leg and talisman Jarrod Bowen out with a foot injury until March, West Ham’s attacking resources are extremely stretched as they prepare for critical home games against Fulham and Crystal Palace next week in the bid to climb away from the relegation zone.
West Ham’s playing style under Julen Lopetegui, who was dismissed after only nine months in charge, is something Potter can clearly improve, as the players displayed in the first 20 minutes, but what can be done in the transfer market may prove to be as significant. “We have to see the extent of the injuries and see how long it will take for guys to come back,” the former Brighton and Chelsea manager said. “We don’t know the extent. If those are out it [the transfer market] is something we have to look at.”
Füllkrug played a key role in West Ham’s goal. Max Kilman, receiving Lukasz Fabianski’s ball out, played a deliberate pass up for the Germany striker to head back for Mohammed Kudus, who chested the ball down before striking it on the rise out wide to Summerville. He crossed, low and square, for Paquetá to sidefoot home. Only four minutes later however Füllkrug pulled up with a hamstring injury, to be replaced by Danny Ings, while Summerville did not come out for the second half after an unspecified problem.
On a night when these claret and blue teams changed their kits, perhaps both ended up showing their true current identities; Villa through their ultimately classy resilience and West Ham in having their bubble burst.
Villa commemorated their anniversary by walking out in the black shirts that their predecessors played in but it was West Ham who came flying out, in their white kit, unrecognisable from the team that had led Lopetegui down a rabbit role.
This was Villa’s 29th game of the season, and their second of a packed January of seven matches across three competitions. But they played as if they did not want to be out there in the freezing cold in the first half.
Villa upped the ante as the game approached the final quarter, Youri Tielemans shooting wide from the edge of the area before Ian Maatsen finally forced Fabianski into his first save of the night in the 69th minute.
West Ham could complain that Villa should not have been awarded a corner in the first place. But from Leon Bailey’s delivery, Tyrone Mings flicked on, Ezri Konsa played the ball back and Maatsen’s shot was deflected out of Fabianski’s control by Tomas Soucek, inviting Onana to stab home the rebound.
With the Villa crowd now resurgent, Tielemans played one of his trademark through passes from deep to invite Emiliano Buendía to feed Ollie Watkins running down the inside-left channel. The England striker crossed perfectly for Rogers to sidefoot home from close range.
“Today we were trying to play for this anniversary and with the supporters trying to share this moment,” Unai Emery, the Villa manager, said. “This club won this competition seven times, and it’s important for our supporters, so we need to be proud of our past but be protagonists in the present and the future.”
Source: theguardian.com
