A sloppy start cost West Ham on the south coast
(Picture: Getty Images)There were five cruise liners docked in Southampton as this game kicked off at St. Mary’s, a particularly busy weekend for the port city, and had West Ham consigned the home side to a fifth-straight Premier League defeat, Ralph Hasenhuttl may well have found himself dashing to make the last of them.
Instead, as Southampton stopped the rot and perhaps kept Hasenhuttl in a job, West Ham’s own, much happier, streak also came to an end, a run of four wins on the bounce since the international break halted by a 1-1 draw on the south coast.
For all there was controversy over Romain Perraud’s opener, the Hammers largely had themselves to blame, first for a sloppy start that gave confidence to a side playing without any, then for the profligacy that saw them muster 25 shots, but only four - including Declan Rice’s fine second-half leveller - on target.
There were early warnings signs that, after securing Europa Conference League knockout qualification on Thursday night, a West Ham lineup rejigged due to the absences of Kurt Zouma and Craig Dawson were not quite at it here.
Lucas Paqueta, usually automatic with his touch, mis-controlled as the ball dropped out of the sky and conceded a needless corner. Thilo Kehrer thought he had won a foot-race against Che Adams and then lost out in a shoulder-barge, bullied by the Scot and bailed out by the first of three fine Lukas Fabianski saves before the half-time whistle.
Between them, though, the Pole was beaten by Perraud’s deflected strike. Kyle Walker-Peters threw-in with his foot over the touchline, a foul throw, technically, but the kind almost never given, before Tomas Soucek throw a lazy leg at a clearance and shanked towards Jarrod Bowen, who found referee Peter Bankes blocking his path to the ball. Perraud profited and the home side were ahead.
Adams and Mohamed Elyounoussi were each denied when looking to double the lead, and while Fabianski was working wonders at one end, Gianluca Scamacca was doing just about everything but score at the other.
The Italian turned and almost found the top corner from 35 yards with Gavin Bazunu not in the picture, then curled inches wide of the far post after a sharp one-two in no kind of space with Jarrod Bowen. Paqueta ought to have equalised when heading wide from Scamacca’s cross, delivered after the 23-year-old had come off best in a tussle with Armel Bella-Kotchamp that saw the Saints defender forced off with a nasty-looking shoulder injury.
A magnet for half-chances, Scamacca’s snap-shot on the swivel deflected onto the roof of the net, where it was joined soon after the break by a brave, unorthodox effort, the striker hurling himself between two defenders to meet Bowen’s cross and cushioning goalwards off his thigh.
Moyes’ sudden death of specialist centre-back options had forced him away from the back-four upon which the Hammers’ recent upturn has been built, but chasing the game he had little choice but to gamble.
The frustrating Emerson was replaced by Said Benrahma and immediately the change paid, the Algerian dancing down the left, then darting back onside to lay-off into the path of Rice, who strode onto it and curled home with an assuredness that belied the fact he had not found the net in a Premier League game in almost a year.
The goal, understandably, drained the belief out of an increasingly gloomy St. Mary’s and there looked only one likely winner. Benrahma and Paqueta had shots deflected, Rice and Bowen optimistic handball shouts rightly turned down and Scamacca yet another sharp effort beaten clear.
The travelling support, you sensed, wanted their side to go for broke but Moyes declined, turning to Manuel Lanzini and Michail Antonio in the dying minutes, but only as like-for-like replacements for Paqueta and Scamacca.
