[ad_1]
As West Ham players flocked to Angelo Ogbonna after the full-time whistle here, the celebrations seemed to have both relief and elation.
Before Ogbonna’s header 10 minutes from time that consigned Leeds to another loss at home, you felt that a combination of wasteful visitors and Illan Meslier’s heroics would leave West Ham back to London with just one point, instead. of the three which ultimately brought them to fifth place before the rest of the weekend’s action.
But this West Ham team, which continues to show promising signs with David Moyes, is nothing but determined. Even after Ogbonna’s goal, it was the visitors who pressed for another goal, as opposed to Leeds fighting for a draw that, on balance, they might not have deserved given the dominance of their opponents.
Leeds have obvious weaknesses at the rear, highlighted not only by West Ham’s two goals from set pieces, but by the fact that only West Bromwich Albion have conceded more goals than Marcelo Bielsa’s side this season. However, the great litany of opportunities that West Ham created emphasized that they are moving in the right direction this season.
But how far can they go? “Well, I can only talk about what we’ve done so far,” Moyes said. “We were good after the lockout, but we improved again. This game, playing against Leeds, is different from any other you face in the league, but we were good. We had a good chance of going even further. “
You always felt that Leeds, more than any other side, would suffer with a semblance of fatigue behind closed doors this season. That’s reflected in his form at home since promotion, with just one win and just five points in his first six home games this season. Here, they can have no complaints about the form of their last defeat.
The promise they started with, which led Mateusz Klich to repeat the penalty that gave them the lead after a foul by Lukasz Fabianski on Patrick Bamford, quickly faded. The forced defensive changes have been too frustrating a familiarity for Leeds this season, and they were forced to make another one here, with Luke Ayling replacing the injured central defender Robin Koch.
But almost half of the goals conceded by Leeds with Bielsa come from set pieces, and those old habits came back to haunt them once again. Jarrod Bowen’s cross was greeted by Tomas Soucek, and while Meslier should have done better to prevent the Czech midfielder from scoring his third goal in four games, he was crucial in keeping Leeds in the game from then on.
But despite a series of missed opportunities, several of them falling to Sébastien Haller, it was another dead ball, delivered by Aaron Cresswell and finished off by Ogbonna, that was decisive. “What is happening is not exclusive,” insisted Bielsa. “This problem that we have, we have had it in the past before, we solved it and now it is happening again. There are no mysteries in the things we have to do. “
Not even a tactical shakeup after the break, with Bielsa changing his left side entirely and introducing Jamie Shackleton and Hélder Costa, stunted West Ham’s dominance. Bamford shot very shortly after the restart, but it was soon the visitors who enjoyed the most opportunities.
Bowen found Haller unmarked in the six-yard box, but his shot was blocked by Ayling, before Pablo Fornals narrowly deflected and Fabián Balbuena was denied by an impressive one-handed save from Meslier, who looked like he was going to atone for your former. make a mistake and win a much-needed point at his side.
But when Ogbonna overcame the Leeds defense, backtracked and headed for the top corner of Meslier’s net, the home defenders fell to their knees, knowing their Achilles heel had struck again. As Leeds are beginning to find out the hard way, there is no room for lapses of that magnitude in the Premier League.
