The West Ham United players made a really good fist of the Europa League second-leg clash with Bayer Leverkusen last night.
West Ham gave the Bayer Leverkusen players one hell of a game at the London Stadium, and on another night we would have progressed through to the semi-finals of the Europa League.
David Moyes set his team up to go for the jugular, and we suffocated the Bundesliga champions from the very first whistle. How different things could have been, had he taken that approach out in Germany last week!
That’s all we demand as fans – players who put everything on the line and a team that starts on the front foot with the intent to win games.
As mentioned already, every player showed that kind of attitude last night, but three of them really surprised me…
Three surprise West Ham heroes who stunned me against Bayer Leverkusen
I have to say, every single player deserved huge praise at the final whistle last night. To a man, they all put in 110% effort, and they left nothing on the pitch.
That said, there were three players in particular who really surprised me with their unbelievable performances…
I have been highly critical of the 29-year-old centre-back this season. He hasn’t been in good form at all since the start of the campaign, and he hasn’t fulfilled his captaincy duties with distinction either. It’s clear to see that Zouma is struggling physically, but boy did he silence some of his critics last night with a really dominant performance.
The powerful Frenchman didn’t allow either Patrik Schick or Victor Boniface a sniff throughout the entire game. He led by example at the heart of our defence and looked like the old Kurt Zouma.
The former Chelsea man made two interceptions, four clearances and one block. He won three aerial duels, as well as recording a pass completion rate of 86.4%. It was a top-class performance all round from Kurt, and one that really shocked me, given his recent form.
Wow! That’s all I can say about the 29-year-old’s exceptional performance against the Bundesliga champions last night.
He led the press from the front and hunted down the Leverkusen players with high energy, determination and a real kind of tenacity. Ward-Prowse was aggressive in the way that he played and showed me something that I haven’t seen from him before.
It’s clear to me after watching that match last night that he should never play in a double pivot again, but instead be deployed as the advanced midfielder who initiates our press high up the pitch.
He made two tackles, three keys passes, and recorded a completion rate of 86.1% from 43 passes attempted. The former Southampton man clearly still has a key role to play for us over the next few years, and last night’s performance has to be the benchmark for him now.
Now, there will be those out there criticising Cress for his role in Leverkusen’s equaliser last night. Sure, he shouldn’t have turned his back on Jeremie Frimpong, but he was still incredibly unlucky that the ball ended up in the back of the net.
As far as I’m concerned, the 34-year-old deserves nothing other than praise for his performance at the London Stadium last night. He defended with aplomb and provided real support for Mohammed Kudus down our left hand side throughout the entire 90 minutes.
The former Ipswich Town man has regressed over the past few years, but there’s no denying that he looked more like his old self against Xabi Alonso’s side.
Cresswell made one tackle, two interceptions, one clearance, one key pass and two long balls found their intended target. He also whipped five crosses into the Leverkusen penalty area. I have no doubts that he will leave the club at the end of this season, but it goes without saying that he’s been an incredible servant for this football club.
West Ham were extremely unlucky not to beat Bayer Leverkusen by two clear goals or more last night. Our lack of strength in depth stopped us from reaching the semi-finals of the Europa League in the end.
Let’s just hope that we have many more evenings at the London Stadium like the one last night in the years to come.
There are plenty of players who need to be moved on in the summer. Before last night, I wouldn’t have been bothered if any of those three mentioned above left at the end of the season.
However, their heroic performances against Leverkusen showed me that they all still very much have something to offer West Ham.
All stats provided by Who Scored.*
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