West Ham suffered a 4-0 drubbing by Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday afternoon, with the east London club going down by three goals in the opening 38 minutes of their final pre-season game.
The Irons’ first half capitulation epitomised what’s been a difficult few weeks at the club with Mail Sport reporting that David Moyes could be nearing an exit, amid internal rows over the club’s recruitment.
They are yet to make a new signing this season, and today, Leverkusen showed the Irons the benefits of investing in an already good squad of players.
New acquisitions, Jonas Hofmann and Victor Boniface helped to both score and set up the a trio of spectacular first-half goals that left West Ham stunned.
Boniface, 22, was particularly a handful throughout the match, with the 6ft 2in striker notably having several opportunities to score, but was also unselfish during the match, teeing up his team-mates on several occasions while also winning a penalty to help his side score their fourth goal in the second term.
David Moyes’ side were beaten 4-0 by Bayer Leverkusen in their final game of their pre-season campaign
Victor Boniface (right) dazzled during the match, with the striker being involved in all four of the goals, while scoring once himself
Leverkusen looked very dangerous throughout the match, threatening down both the right and left channels and stopped West Ham from having many chances during the match
Hofmann, meanwhile, stunned the London side within nine minutes of kick-off, hitting a superbly taken free-kick from just on the edge of the penalty area, bouncing his attempt off the post and into the net.
It was a needless free-kick to concede too, with West Ham losing possession in the middle of the park, allowing Boniface to break free on the Hammers goal. Kurt Zouma would concede the foul, bringing him down on the edge of the box and be awarded a yellow card.
West Ham were certainly slow to start, and set the tone for the match, with Xabi Alonso’s showing some excellent rotational play down the wings through Jeremie Frimpong and Amine Adli.
Both players were impressive and added a lot of speed to their attacks, weaving their way around the visitors defensive lines to produce several threatening attacks throughout the match.
Jonas Hofmann (pictured) who also recently joined the German outfit, provided the opener with a superbly taken free-kick on the edge of the penalty area
Moyes made several changes at half-time notably bringing on striker Michail Antonio (left)
It wasn’t long before the home side had doubled their lead, with Adli back-heeling the ball into the feet of Hofmann, who, instead of shooting, cleverly played a pass across the face of the goal towards Boniface on the far post.
While it appeared the the 22-year-old striker had tapped in for his second score, it was later confirmed that it Thilo Kehrer had conceded an own goal, with Boniface doing enough to help put his side 2-0 up.
After the goal, the Europa Conference League winners found a bit of momentum, with Thomas Soucek crashing a header into the cross bar just on the half-hour mark, their first and most dangerous attempt of the opening exchanges.
But despite their best efforts, Leverkusen would score again soon after, with Boniface chasing after a cute ball that was dinked over the Irons defence and hit a thumping shot across the face of the goal into the side netting.
It was a poor start to the match and Leverkusen would come out of the blocks just as quickly in the second half.
Had it not been for substitute goalkeeper Alphonse Areola’s out stretched left-arm, the Hammers could have gone down just after the break, with Boniface teeing up Adli, who thumped a powerful left footed shot across the goal.
Change was certainly needed and Moyes intervened after 45 minutes, altering the shape of his team, while also bringing on Michail Antonio, Vladimir Coufal and Nayef Aguerd.
While they did have to weather more attacks from the German club, West Ham did show signs of improvement, denying Leverkusen the space they were afforded in the first half.
The Hammers also conceded a penalty in the later stages of the match to concede their fourth
Leverkusen, meanwhile, were superb throughout and stopped West Ham from mounting many meaningful attacks in the game
It was an excellent end to pre-season for Xabi Alonso’s (pictured) side, who will now taken Teutonia Ottensen in the German Cup before the Bundesliga starts in two weeks time
West Ham will now take on Brighton in the opening round of Premier League fixtures but it will be interesting to see how they set up for the match next week
It will be interesting to see what formation Moyes opts to play next weekend in their opening Premier League clash against Bournemouth, notably switching to playing three fixed defenders at the back during the match.
Boniface could have had his second soon after, finding himself one-on-one with Areola, and as he tried to fool the French goalkeeper by stepping over the ball, Kehrer dashed back to pull off a fantastic last-ditch tackle to deny the striker an attempt on goal.
But Leverkusen’s fourth goal would eventually come, with the Nigerian striker breaking free once again before being brought down inside the penalty area. Substitute Robert Andrich would extend the lead to from the spot.
The Irons would press and advance upfield against the home side in the later stages of the match, but again could not find a way into the the Leverkusen penalty area.
Ultimately, Alonso’s side were very well organised today which is impressive considering that the Spaniard has only been in charge of the team since last October.
They look a dangerous side to beat this year, particularly with Boniface up top, but it is a tough one to take for Moyes, who will have plenty to think about ahead of the new season.
