West Ham United proved that they are very much still in a relegation battle this season as they were thumped 5-1 at home by Newcastle United on Wednesday night, in a game which could potentially spell the end for David Moyes.
The pressure will surely now be ramped up on the Scottish manager after an embarrassing home defeat which leaves the Hammers only out of the bottom three on goal difference.
How did West Ham against Newcastle play out?
Although West Ham could have opened the scoring early on when Bruno Guimaraes hit his own post, it was one-way traffic for most of the 90 minutes.
Callum Wilson headed in from Allan Saint-Maximin’s cross to continue his fine run of form against the Hammers before Joelinton made it two after exploiting a Sunday League-esque defensive line from Moyes’ side.
Kurt Zouma gave the home side hope just before half-time after heading in Jarrod Bowen’s corner but any dreams of a comeback were quelled by Nayef Aguerd as he miscontrolled a simple pass, with Jacob Murphy robbing him of possession and squaring for Wilson for his second.
West Ham weren’t done there as Lukasz Fabianski gifted Alexander Isak the fourth.
The Polish ‘keeper made an inexplicable howler as he unnecessarily came flying out of his goal, only to fluff his lines and present the Swedish forward with an empty net to find.
That was before Joelinton compounded the home side’s misery by firing in a fifth, which the Hammers shot-stopper arguably could have kept out.
Who was West Ham’s worst performer against Newcastle?
There are plenty of names to choose from when deciding upon the Hammers’ worst player against the Toon, as individual errors from Aguerd and Fabianski were crucial in the visitors taking all three points.
However, there was another completely anonymous display from Tomas Soucek in West Ham’s midfield, with the Czech Republic international barely touching the ball in his 65 minutes on the pitch.
As per Sofascore, the former Slavia Prague man would earn a woeful 6.3/10 rating for his performance, with only Emerson, Bowen, Fabianski and Aguerd rated lower from the West Ham players to feature in the game.
Despite his role as a midfielder, the 28-year-old simply let the game pass him by, as he managed just 13 touches of the ball and eight passes in his time on the pitch, with Fabianski managing 31 touches by comparison.
This has been the story of Soucek’s season as he possesses the 16th-best pass average in West Ham’s squad, but he has averaged 27 passes per game in the top flight, which emphasises just how little influence he had against a dominant Newcastle side on Wednesday.
Unsurprisingly, the £65k-per-week midfielder’s woeful display caught the eye of journalists on Twitter, with Barry Collins writing:
“What the hell has happened to Tomas Soucek? An absolute shadow of the player that arrived. Has zero presence.”
David Rivers suggested that Moyes’ faith in Soucek was a stackable offence in itself, suggesting that his decision to keep playing the out-of-form West Ham man was “becoming comical.”
Although fingers will naturally be pointed at Fabianski and Aguerd for their shocking mistakes, Soucek completely went missing again. Indeed, he simply isn’t fulfilling his role as a midfielder, as a return of no shots, no key passes, no dribbles and no tackles represents a horrific all-round display.
