OPINION
West Ham were aiming to continue their good form when they travel to face Brighton & Hove Albion on Friday night but were unable to.
Manuel Pellegrini’s side were undefeated in their last three Premier League clashes ahead of their match with The Seagulls and didn’t get off to the best start.
The Hammers found themselves going into the half-time break behind due to Glenn Murray putting the Seagulls 1-0 ahead and never recovered.
Despite enjoying lots of possession Pellegrini’s side weren’t able to turn it around and their bad run when comes to playing The Seagulls continued.
Forever West Ham has awarded every player a rating for their performance during the 1-0 defeat to Brighton with two proving to both be liabilities in 3/10 displays.
Goalkeeper and defence
Lukasz Fabianski – 6 – Made a few comfortable saves and can’t take too much critisim for conceding in the first-half. The goalkeeper thought he had fancy feet and was nearly embarrassed by Murray in the early stages of the second-half.
Pablo Zabaleta – 5 – Never stops going forward but always put his defensive duties first, reassuring presence at times. However does need to take some blame for actually being caught out of position during Murray’s goal but that was a rare error by the veteran.
Fabian Balbuena – 5 – Did well to get the better of his marker consistently when the Hammers had a trio of corners in the first 20 minutes of the match. Balbuena could have scored as had a golden opportunity but fluffed his lines. Got bypassed in the 71st minute with ease.
Issa Diop – 5 – Needed his manager to push him up more in the first-half and didn’t look as solid as he did in previous outings during the first 45 minutes.
Arthur Masuaku – 3 – Was bypassed with ease in the fourth minute which wasn’t exactly reassuring. Masuaku appeared to be at fault for Brighton’s opening goal and then to make matters worse he appeared to blame his teammates. The left-back was a liability for his side once again.
Midfield
Declan Rice – 8 – Did some good early defensive work. Covered Masuaku driving forward and being caught out of position.
Pedro Obiang – 4 – Easily loss the ball in the 11th minute but powered back to try to win the ball for his side. Obiang didn’t look at the races and was subbed in the 59th minute.
Mark Noble – 6 – Tried to get back to block Brighton’s cross for the opening goal but didn’t have the pace to get back. Noble didn’t shine like he did against Manchester United and lacked that little bit of quality needed in midfield.
Attack
Andriy Yarmolenko – 3 – Robbed of possession after being too casual on the ball in the 25th minute which led to the Hammers falling a goal behind. Yarmolenko look oddly off the pace for a lot of the game. The winger due to his lack of ability to cover the necessary ground for his team and tendency to give the ball away, he was a liability in Friday’s game.
Felipe Anderson – 6 – Clever free-kick in 13th minute to give Marko Arnautovic a decent effort on goal. Showed glimpses of his ability in the first-half but nowhere near enough. Clearly tried hard unlike his fellow winger.
Marko Arnautovic – 7 – Started the game strong, forces something to happen when he has no right to. Arnautovic looked lively and didn’t give up during the game. One of the few positives for the Hammers.
Substitutes
Michail Antonio on for Obiang (59 minutes) – 5 – Showed signs that he had the tools to make a difference but it wasn’t enough.
Lucas Perez on for Yarmolenko (70 minutes) – 4- Quiet.
Robert Snodgrass on for Noble (83 minutes)- 5 – Got Booked, but was noticeable when he came on.
