West Ham 2-1 AZ: Player ratings as Hammers come from behind in Europa Conference League
West Ham are inching closer to a first major European final in 47 years following Thursday night’s 2-1 win in the first leg of their Europa Conference League semi-final against Dutch side AZ at the London Stadium.
It was very much a cliched game of two halves for David Moyes’ Hammers, who didn’t really turn up until the final half hour and initially went 1-0 down from a fine Tijani Reijnders strike. But a Said Benrahma penalty and a poacher’s finish from Michail Antonio turned it round.
A technical AZ side controlled the ball in the early stages, with West Ham happy to let them have in their own half and spring counters when the opportunity arose. As such, the first chance of the game fell to the hosts when Jarrod Bowen missed the target with a close-range header.
Benrahma later tested AZ goalkeeper Mat Ryan from outside the box, while a better final pass from Lucas Paqueta would have played Antonio in. At the other end, teenage winger Myron van Brederode curled an effort from the left straight at Alphonse Areola.
Neither goalkeeper was troubled for most of the rest of the first half, with players from both sides missing the target one after the next until Jens Odgaard finally put a long distance effort on target that was saved by Areola.
West Ham’s passive style was punished shortly before the break, albeit with a degree of controversy. The Hammers felt they deserved a free-kick for a slight push in the back from Sam Beukema on Paqueta, which was followed by AZ quickly going up the other end and taking the lead through Reijnders’ low shot from 20 yards – the ball bounced in front of Areola, but it was poor from him.
A VAR check was carried out, but there wasn’t enough in the Beukema push to overturn it.
West Ham’s lack of energy and tempo extended to the start of the second half and the growing frustration among fans inside the London Stadium was becoming clear. But that seemed to spark something in the home team and Bowen became more involved for the first time since the early stages, firing a dangerous only just wide on the hour.
Bowen was involved again soon afterward to win the penalty that got the Hammers back into it. He leapt to meet Tomas Soucek’s header back across goal, beating Ryan to the ball and getting a whack in the face from the goalkeeper’s fists. Benrahma had to wait a long time to take the pressure spot-kick, but made no mistake by lashing an unstoppable effort into the side netting.
West Ham maintained that higher intensity and were rewarded with their second when Antonio reacted quickest to tap-in in a rebound from Naif Aguerd’s header that had been blocked on the line. AZ hadn’t dealt with a corner and Declan Rice chipped the ball back into the danger area.
Substitute Danny Ings had a late opportunity to extend the lead but didn’t make any contact with a dangerous cross into the box in stoppage time. Even so, West Ham have a narrow aggregate lead to take Alkmaar next week in the hope of getting to the final.
West Ham player ratings (4-2-3-1)
GK: Alphonse Areola - 4/10 - Will know he should have done better with Reijnders' shot. Didn't actuallt have much else to do.
RB: Thilo Kehrer - 5/10- Wasn't massively invovled and had problems with Van Brederode.
CB: Kurt Zouma - 7/10 - Looked keen to defend on the front foot when AZ got into the final third. Even made a lung-busting dribble forward at one point.
CB: Naif Aguerd - 7/10 - Almost scored the go-ahead goal himself but his blocked header was still a major contribution as Antonio tapped in. Defended pretty well.
LB: Aaron Cresswell - 5/10 - Limited impact.
CM: Tomas Soucek - 6/10 - Made virtually no attempt to close down Reijnders' shot when the AZ player was clearly shaping to shoot. Played a key role in winning the penalty.
CM: Declan Rice (c) - 7/10 - Close to flawless in possession and made more of a telling impact as West Ham grew as a team later in the game.
RM: Jarrod Bowen - 7/10 - Missed an early header and was quiet for a while but then burst into life about an hour in and went on to win the penalty.
AM: Lucas Paqueta - 5/10 - A few better passes in good positions could have led to clear chances. Was trying to buy a free-kick when he felt minor contact from Beukema before the goal.
LM: Said Benrahma - 8/10 - Made a bright start and seemed to be the only player in West Ham colours for long spells with any sort of purpose. Scored the equaliser.
ST: Michail Antonio - 7/10 - Seemed to be going through the motions and at times was literally just walking. But he crucially had the sharpest reactions when it mattered most.
Substitutes
SUB: Danny Ings (79' for Antonio) - 6/10
SUB: Pablo Fornals (90' for Benrahma) - N/A
Manager
David Moyes - 6/10 - There was a clear gameplan to let AZ have the ball, but it was too passive to make an impact. The energy did improve in the second half, which was what won the game.
AZ player ratings (4-2-3-1)
GK: Ryan (4); RB: Sugawara (6), CB: Beukema (6), CB: Hatzidiakos (6), LB: De Wit (6); CM: Clasie (6), CM: Reijnders (7); RM: Odgaard (6), AM: Mijnans (7), LM: Van Brederode (7); ST: Pavlidis (5)
Subs: Lahdo (5), Mihailovic (6)