Brentford 2 West Ham 0: Bees confirm top 10 finish by breezing past below-par Hammers as Moyes rings the changes
FOR West Ham manager David Moyes, there is only one match that matters and it was certainly not this short trip to west London.
The Hammers could have no complaints over defeat to Brentford who were deserved winners with Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa both scoring in the first half.
And the main consolation for West Ham is that too many of the starting XI will feature against AZ Alkmaar in the second leg of their Europa Conference semi-final on Thursday.
Certainly, if Declan Rice lifts a European trophy in Prague on June 7 - and there is no reason why he cannot - throwing some of the club’s under-cooked, bit-part players under the bus for this match will have been worth it.
The only worry is that two of the club’s potential starters on Thursday, keeper Lukasz Fabianski and defender Nayef Aguard, looked pretty shaky in a really poor first half.
Moyes made nine changes from the first 2-1 win over AZ Alkmaar. Maybe more significantly, only Fabianski, Aguerd, Angelo Ogbonna and Tomas Soucek remained from the side which started the 1-0 win over Manchester United a week earlier.
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So this really summed up how seriously Moyes was taking this game with both eyes, rather than just the one, focusing on the trip to Holland.
Michail Antonio was not risked due to a calf issue while Maxwel Cornet was handed only his second League start for the club and first since October.
Equally, Manuel Lanzini‘s fall from grace at West Ham was illustrated by the fact this was his first Premier League start since the opening game of the season.
Brentford were missing Ivan Toney due to a hamstring problem but they still caused West Ham plenty of problems before the game petered out.
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And considering they are likely to be without Toney for some time if he is banned, as expected, this is of some comfort.
Thomas Frank’s side should have taken an early lead but Mikkel Damsgaard glanced a header wide following Kevin Schade’s cross.
Fabianski rushed off his line for that and a few fingers were also pointing at the Pole for Bryan Mbeumo’s goal as the shot went through him.
Equally, West Ham’s defending was also poor as Aguerd lost possession with a terribly short pass to Flynn Downes.
Also, left-back Emerson was woefully out of position with Mathias Jensen delivering a square pass to the unmarked Mbeumo.
In fairness, Fabianski delivered a decent save from Wissa and it was in a similar position - low to the right but close to his body - to the one he conceded..
Brentford should have had a second but Damsgaard and Wissa were unable to scramble the ball over the line after the Hammers failed to deal with Jensen’s long throw.
Encouraged by that moment, it was no surprise that Jensen chose another long throw from the other side of the pitch a couple of minutes later and this time, it worked a treat.
Ben Mee flicked on the throw and Wissa scored with a header from six yards.
Mbeumo could have had another but his goal-bound header at the start of the second half was blocked superbly by Angelo Ogbonna.
WIth his team all over the place, Moyes made three substitutions just before the hour mark.
This not only included Rice and Divin Mubama but also former Brentford forward Said Benrahama, who received a good reception from the locals who sang that the player wanted to ‘come home’.
Although Bees midfielder Damsgaard missed a sitter, West Ham improved with their subs and thought they had pulled one back through Danny Ings.
Yet VAR spotted a slight handball by sub Mubama after Benrahama’s floated cross hit the post and having been called to the TV screen, ref Michael Oliver ruled out the effort.
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Yet Brentford were generally in control and after a difficult spell in April, they have now managed three wins in four and are ending another fine season on a real high.
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