West Ham United played host to Crystal Palace in the Premier League this afternoon.
Graham Potter took charge of only his second Premier League game since taking over at West Ham nine days ago, with Crystal Palace providing the competition.
The players are starting to buy in to Potter’s methods, but the Hammers are far from the finished article right now.
It was a really disjointed performance from West Ham against Palace at the London Stadium today.
The Eagles deservedly took the lead early on in the second-half, and the Hammers players looked a yard off the pace all over the pitch.
Jean-Philippe Mateta then made it two from the spot late on.
The visitors were more than deserving of all three points in the end as well.
West Ham were far too placid this afternoon, and Potter clearly has a lot of work to do on the training ground with his players.
How did the players fare in our player ratings though?
West Ham player ratings vs Crystal Palace
Here’s how we rated the West Ham players for their performances this afternoon…
Lukasz Fabianski 7
A solid performance from the ever reliable Fabianski. His distribution seems to have improved as well.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka 5.5
I wasn’t hugely impressed with Wan-Bissaka this afternoon. He was far too passive and didn’t seem to have any energy this afternoon.
Aaron Cresswell 5
I’m not sure how or why we are in 2025 and Cresswell is still playing Premier League football for West Ham. He’s well past it now, and needs to be moved on asap.
Konstantinos Mavropanos 5
Mavropanos wasn’t actually bad at all today, until he made a ridiculous decision to raise his boot high when already on a booking. He just can’t help himself can he?
Max Kilman 5
The 27-year-old was nowhere near aggressive enough against Jean-Philippe Mateta this afternoon. One of Kilman’s poorer performances.
Emerson Palmieri 5.5
Very average from the Italian. He is struggling to reach the levels he showed in the 2023/24 season.
Guido Rodriguez 4
Incredibly poor from the Argentine today. He was miles off the pace and just doesn’t look anywhere near the level required to succeed in the Premier League. Hooked at half-time, unsurprisingly so.
Edson Alvarez 4
Another poor performance from the Mexican. He was reckless in the challenge and looked far to slow to be playing in the middle of the park for a Premier League team.
Tomas Soucek 6
He worked hard as per usual but didn’t get in enough dangerous positions to cause Palace problems.
Lucas Paqueta 4
A really underwhelming performance from the Brazilian. He just wasn’t at the races this afternoon, and lost possession time and time again. That was really disappointing from Paqueta after a couple of really encouraging displays.
Mohammed Kudus 6
The Ghanaian didn’t get into the game at all. I feel like he’s bing massively misused at West Ham, and Potter must find a way of getting the best out of him.
Subs:
Carlos Soler 6
Fairly anonymous after he came on. I expect so much more from the Spaniard.
Ollie Scarles 7
Added some much-needed enery and impetus down the left-hand flank when he came on. I really like this kid.
Lewis Orford 6
Nice and tidy with his passing, but didn’t take enough risks for my liking.
Danny Ings 6
Just not good enough from Ings. He needs to do so much more in attacking areas.
Luis Guilherme N/A
West Ham vs Crystal Palace conclusion
The first-half display from the boys was very poor – one that lacked any kind of intensity or direction.
That’s fine – things will take time to improve under Potter, and the progress will never be linear.
There will be plenty of bumps along the road, but the players must continue to try to adapt to Potter’s methods.
It will take time for everything to click, but once it does, we will be a real force, I’m convinced of it.
A couple of top-class signings in the January transfer window would take the Hammers to a whole new level.
We all have to be patient with. Potter and his team though. Positive change never happens overnight.
And the West Ham player ratings from today’s clash with Crystal Palace proves that there is a lot of hard work still to be done.
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