West Ham United were on the wrong end of a 4-3 scoreline in a thrilling clash away at Crystal Palace this afternoon, as they were drawn back into a relegation dogfight with just a few matches of the Premier League season remaining.
The game at Selhurst Park was delayed by 15 minutes due to a technical decision, however, when it finally did start, West Ham took just minutes to score through Tomas Soucek. David Moyes’ side were then hit with three goals in quick succession and despite a Michail Antonio goal just before the break, they were losing 3-2.
Eberechi Eze scored a penalty to extend their lead before Nayef Aguerd set up a tense finish, however West Ham couldn’t score an equaliser, and they had a lot of poor performers throughout.
Pablo Fornals was given a start yet clearly didn’t take his opportunity, playing just 45 minutes while taking only 22 touches, completing 12 passes, winning one duel and losing possession seven times and not having the desired effect that Moyes was expecting, especially following his Scorpion kick heroics last weekend.
His replacement, Said Benrahma, wasn’t exactly much better, in fact, his performance was probably the most disappointing out of the whole squad during their defeat.
How did Said Benrahma perform for West Ham United against Crystal Palace?
Guardian reporter Jacob Steinberg wasn’t enthralled by the Algerian’s performance, tweeting: “A special mention for Benrahma. That miscontrol on the edge of the Palace area in the 93rd sums him up. It’s just a constant lack of discipline and focus. Such an underwhelming player, not worthy of the hype he gets.”
Scathing criticism indeed, although his performance was woeful against Palace as he received a Sofascore rating of 6.2/10 while he completed only four passes during his 45 minutes on the pitch, a shocking statistic.
His attacking contribution didn’t exactly mount to much either, succeeding with zero of his three dribble attempts, having no shots on target and failing to deliver either of his two crosses, proving that he was a passenger throughout the match.
Winning just two duels from nine suggests he was far from in the mood to make an impression on the game, with Palace easily able to nullify anything that he did, and his terrible display will ensure he likely won’t be starting a match for the foreseeable future.
With a European semi-final tie coming up shortly, Moyes will need to manage his squad if he looks at achieving both success on the continent and retaining West Ham’s place in the Premier League.
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