Former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock pointed out how Tottenham Hotspur managed to punish West Ham United in Sunday’s 2-0 defeat.
The Hammers dropped back into the bottom three at the weekend after second-half goals from Emerson Royal and Son Heung-min secured all three points for Spurs, leaving their London rivals 18th in the Premier League table one point away from safety.
With Spurs inconsistent since returning from the World Cup break, with six wins and five defeats from 12 games in all competitions, West Ham would have fancied their chances of coming away from the Premier League clash with at least a point, especially after a four-game unbeaten run leading up to the fixture.
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After a solid defensive display in the first-half that looked to be the likely outcome. Spurs had over 60% possession in the opening 45 minutes but couldn't find a way to break down the Hammers' back line. Pierre-Emile Hojberg’s low drive from range and Richarlison’s run in behind provided the only real test for West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, with Cristian Romero heading narrowly over.
“There was a game plan and I think that was the big thing, it was to nullify Spurs, and [West Ham] did that extremely well in the first half and the way they did it was they went with a back five,” said ex-Liverpool full-back Warnock on BBC's Match of the Day 2.
"We know David Moyes has changed his formation in the last few games and he’s got [Vladimir] Coufal and Emerson as wing-backs. They’ve worked extremely hard to nullify Spurs, they’ve got numbers in the box, made it difficult for Spurs to play through them. [Thilo] Kehrer defends excellently well in one v one situations. Soucek never switches off, makes sure he gets back and pinches the ball.
“Then, it’s about the reaction from the West Ham players, making sure that they are doubling up. Coufal and Kehrer here, look at the position of Kehrer here, wants to go tight to Richarlison, gets spun, but the reaction from Coufal, making sure he gets back in and pinches the ball off him. It’s that work rate, it’s the doubling up on numbers, making sure that they work hard as a unit and they did that in the first half.”
But West Ham’s hard work came undone and they would leave north London disappointed after Spurs turned it up a gear in the second period. Emerson Royal finished off a sweeping move from front to back, with Hojberg’s threaded through ball latched onto by Ben Davies who set up the Brazilian for the opener. Son came off the bench in the 68 th minute and didn’t take long to help Spurs double their lead. Harry Kane won a battle with Angelo Ogbonna for the ball before teeing up the South Korean to dispatch.
Warnock highlighted that West Ham’s two wing-backs often found themselves caught out in the second period, which allowed Spurs to punish the visitors. Coufal, praised for his first-half peformance, ended up giving the ball away a total of 35 times over the course of the game, according to Sofascore, which is way higher than any other Hammers player, with Declan Rice and Jarrod Bowen next in the stat after losing possession on 16 occasions.
On Spurs' second goal, Warnock added: “The weight of the pass is perfect into Son and Son’s first touch is outstanding, but I think this is where David Moyes will be disappointed. A lot of the clips that we are showing here is showing the wing-backs out of position.
"They are not as tight and not as organised as they were. It’s allowed Spurs now to make these attacks happen and they got punished. They got punished by quality because them two players, Son and Kane, the way they link up, gave them an opportunity and they’ll punish you.”
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