Things went all pear shaped for West Ham United boss David Moyes in the final 10 minutes of our Europa League clash with Bayer Leverkusen out in Germany last night.
Bayer Leverkusen taught West Ham and David Moyes a real lesson in the Europa League yesterday, the main one being that the game lasts 90 minutes plus, not 80.
The Hammers were solid on the most part last night but there were big setbacks before we conceded, including when Lucas Paqueta and Emerson Palmieri picked up yellow cards, ensuring that they would miss the second-leg back at the London Stadium.
Leverkusen had the majority of the ball – that was to be expected. However, we did look dangerous on the counter attack at times.
Michail Antonio really stood out as one of our best players and the likes of Owen Hargreaves and Joe Cole raved about the 34-year-old’s display.
Leverkusen are one of the very best teams in Europe, so there is no shame to losing to Xabi Alonso’s side. However, it’s just a shame that we didn’t assert ourselves onto them more in the second-half.
We were always going to concede in the end – something that I warned everyone about pre-game. It must be said though, Alonso’s side were so, so good.
There was plenty on display from the Germans to be impressed by. However, Moyes singled out one thing that will really surprise you…
Moyes makes surprise admission after Leverkusen beat West Ham
The Scot looked absolutely crestfallen on the touchline during the final 10 minutes of the game last night.
As Leverkusen went for the win, the West Ham players tried to shut up shop but it was an unsustainable game-plan in the end.
The pressure from the Germans proved to be too much, and we folded like a rotten old deckchair. It’s just so hard to execute a defensive game-plan like that for 90 minutes without losing concentration.
It is what it is though. The boys now have to put in an incredible performance back in East London next week if we are to progress through to the semi-finals.
Hopefully they learned a few things from our opponents last night. Moyes certainly did but it might just surprise you what that was…
The Scot spoke to reporters after the 2-0 defeat last night, and highlighted how impressed he was by something in particular inside the BayArena last night, as quoted by WHUFC.com:
“I have to say their press was incredibly intense, incredibly fast, and the way they get the ball so quickly through the ball boys was something else to see. It was something for us to learn.”
I have to say, it was impressive to watch the ball-boys in action. However, there was plenty more on display that we could learn from…
How about the way that they aggressively press as a team in an orderly manner? How about their intricate little passing triangles?
What about Moyes himself learning from Leverkusen boss Alonso in the way that he made substitutions to impact the game against West Ham?
The Bundesliga side are on another planet to the Hammers right now, there’s no arguing against that. I can’t help but feel like we rolled over for them in the end though.
And the way that their ball-boys quickly got the ball back in play was well down on my list of things that our players could learn from the defeat out in Germany.
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