10 1GG Monday December 6 2021 | the times
thegame
TOM RODDY
Moyes outwits Tuchel at own game
RICE AND SOUCEK’S FORMIDABLE PAIRING
David Moyes's central midfielders Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek offer one of
the strongest, most defensively sound pairings in the Premier League,
as these tables showAllan (Everton) 43
C Norgaard (Brentford) 40
D McNeil (Burnley) 40
Rice 37Most tackles by midfieldersRice 30Y Bissouma (Brighton) 22
W Ndidi (Leicester) 22Most interceptions by midfieldersSoucek 43K McLean (Norwich) 31
O Romeu (Southampton) 30Most aerial duels won by midfieldersRodri (Man City) 1,114
P-E Hojbjerg (Tottenham) 910
J Henderson (Liverpool) 908
Rice 821Most passes by midfieldersSoucek 43O Romeu (Southampton) 25
C Norgaard (Brentford 23Most clearances by midfieldersRice 120Rodri (Man City) 115
K Phillips (Leeds) 114Most ball recoveries by midfieldersWest Ham United
Lanzini 40 (pen), Bowen 56, Masuaku 87^3RATINGS
West Ham United (3-4-2-1): L Fabianski 6 —
C Dawson 7, I Diop 7, K Zouma 7 (P Fornals
71min) — V Coufal 7, D Rice 7, T Soucek 7,
B Johnson 6 (A Masuaku 46, 7) — M Lanzini 7
(S Benrahma 85), J Bowen 8 — M Antonio 7.
Booked Coufal.
Chelsea (3-4-2-1): E Mendy 5 — A Christensen 6,
T Silva 7, A Rüdiger 6 — R James 7, Jorginho 6,
R Loftus-Cheek 6, M Alonso 6 (C Pulisic 73)
— H Ziyech 6 (C Hudson-Odoi 64, 6), M Mount 7
— K Havertz 6 (R Lukaku 46, 6).
Booked Christiansen, James, Jorginho.
Referee A Marriner.Chelsea
Silva 28, Mount 44^2TONY O’BRIEN/REUTERS
The solidity of
Rice and
Soucek, inset,
has been a big
part of West
Ham’s successYYYYY BYYYYYYYYYYYYMosThomas Tuchel had every reason to
be frustrated by the individual errors
that cost Chelsea victory away to
West Ham United
but the head coach
laid the blame for
Romelu Lukaku’s
ineffective display at
his own door.
Lukaku is one
week and three
appearances into his
return from the
ankle injury he suffered in October.
The Belgium striker’s impact as a
half-time substitute, after replacing
the injured Kai Havertz, was minimal
He wasn’t ready: Coach takes blame for Lukaku’s struggles
as he touched the ball only ten times
as a lead turned into a loss.
“The reality is it is my fault because
he is not ready for 45 minutes
physically,” Tuchel said. “Still we
decided to bring him on for his height
because we lost Kai,
and Kai had a crucial
role in defending set
pieces, which is a
huge threat from
West Ham. So this is
on me and I took the
decision so it is my
responsibility.”
Lukaku registered
one shot, which was off target, and
lost possession as many times as
Callum Hudson-Odoi, who only came
on in the 64th minute. The problemfor Lukaku, now on a run of ten
games without a goal for Chelsea,
was partly the strength of West
Ham’s back three but also the
service provided by his team-
mates. Havertz managed to
record only two shots in
his 45-minute appearance,
one on target and the
other blocked, and the
other measurements of
the German’s
performance were only
marginally better than
Lukaku’s.
Havertz joined the
lengthy list of injuries atChelsea, including N’Golo Kanté, Ben
Chilwell, Mateo Kovacic, Marcos
Alonso and Trevoh Chalobah, before
Wednesday’s long trip to Russia for
the Champions League group game
finale against Zenit St
Petersburg.
Édouard Mendy, the
Chelsea goalkeeper, was at
fault for Arthur Masuaku’s
late winner on Saturday and
conceded the penalty to
Jarrod Bowen that had
given West Ham their
equaliser. It was the first
time since December 2018
that Chelsea had suffered
defeat in the Premier
League after leading at
half-time. Tuchel wavedaway any suggestion he could drop
Mendy for Kepa Arrizabalaga, the
£72 million goalkeeper Chelsea have
in reserve.
“I don’t see at all why we should
have major doubts with Edu,” Tuchel
said. “Every little mistake and every
ball loss or every decision-making
when you struggle is so obvious.
That environment starts pointing
fingers. This is normal. We don’t
want this to happen because he is
crucial for us in our defensive
performance. Maybe on his very best
day today we could have won the
game 2-1.
“But now it is on us to also be there
for him and to go through there with
him. We would not do anything else
with anybody else and that’s it.”TOM RODDY
hhhLukaku was ineffective in
his third appearance back54
The number of team changes
made by Chelsea in the
Premier League this season,
14 more than any other sideWith the Premier League now so
densely populated by the smartest
managers from all corners of Europe,
it was good to be reminded that not
all cerebral coaches come from
overseas. Of the present crop, only
Watford’s Claudio Ranieri has a
history in this division that stretches
back longer than David Moyes. The
Scot took over at Everton in 2002 but,
19 years on, he is somehow still able
to manipulate his teams into
significantly overperforming.
West Ham United’s victory over
Chelsea on Saturday, a result that
knocked the European champions off
the top of the Premier League table,
was their third game in seven days,
and yet this was a Moyes masterclass
that looked months in the making.
The key decision was the
formation. In spite of having so few
days to train, Moyes chose to match
Chelsea with a back three of Issa
Diop, Craig Dawson and Kurt Zouma,
with Ben Johnson and Vladimir
Coufal as wing backs for the first time
this season.
Moyes had identified Chelsea’s
weakness against a back three.
Thomas Tuchel knows his Chelsea
team struggle when mirrored and is
understood to be reluctant to use four
at the back as the present system
covers the weaknesses of Thiago Silva
in defence and Jorginho in midfield.
But it was still a gamble for Moyes,
and one which initially appeared to
come at a cost as it meant West Ham
conceded the central areas.
This was evident in Mason Mount’s
goal, the first-time volley executed
with exquisite technique to regain the
lead for Chelsea, as Ruben Loftus-
Cheek and Hakim Ziyech were
afforded so much space in the build-
up. But the two times West Ham’s
goal was breached had mitigating
factors: Johnson was unable to catch
Mount as he had pulled up with a
muscle injury while Silva’s headed
opener would have been avoided had
Michail Antonio jumped to defend
Chelsea’s corner.
Where Tuchel’s team are usually
most dangerous is out wide. Reece
James’s delivery from right wing back
is often their deadly weapon but West
Ham’s formation and determination
left it blunt. The back three, along
with Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek
in central midfield, plus Coufal at
right wing back, made 25 clearances.
Romelu Lukaku may still bereturning from an ankle injury but
the big Belgium striker, a second-half
substitute, had little chance among
the giants wearing claret and blue.
Dawson, Diop and Zouma
successfully made 100 per cent of
their tackles, too.
“I’m not going say we’ll have all the
possession or we’ll always be like that
but we have a resilience and a
determination to find a way of
winning some games,” Moyes said.
“This is in the process of trying to
build a team and build a club.
“The players are doing a brilliant
job at the moment of trying to
compete and do the best they can,because that’s the Champions League
winners. With three games in six
days, [against] Champions League
runners-up [Manchester City],
Champions League winners and
Brighton in midweek. It’s been a
really tough week for us.”
But it was one in which this rather
slim West Ham squad took a step
forward rather than back. They
remain in the top four and are already
in the round of 16 for the Europa
League, which renders Thursday’s
final group game against Dinamo
Zagreb fairly meaningless.
It provides another opportunity to
rest Antonio, who had such anexcellent start to the season but is on
a run of seven games without a goal.
After his first-half error for Silva’s
goal, Antonio was far more influential
and worked well with Manuel Lanzini
and man of the match Jarrod Bowen
who were playing off him.
All three wounded Chelsea’s
defence. Bowen’s confidence and
adventure forced Édouard Mendy’s
mistake that led to Lanzini scoring
the penalty, his movement and
excellent finishing earned the second
goal after Antonio’s smart hold-up
play, and it was Antonio’s assist for
Arthur Masuaku’s freak winner from
out wide.
“I thought Mic was closer [to his
best] but Jarrod was the one who
stood out,” Moyes said. “We were a
bigger threat in the second half which
we hadn’t been in the first half but a
lot of that is to do with maybe not
regaining the ball or pressing high
enough or keeping the ball when we
got the opportunities.”
Part of that was Masuaku’s
introduction, a forced change after
Johnson’s injury. “He gives us a
different speed and he’s got an ability
to get across the ball,” Moyes said.
“He gives us a balance if we need to
play with a wing back in any game.”
West Ham now have a new weapon
at their disposal — a shape-shifting
team who are punching so high above
their weight that the European
champions were knocked down.
“The bit now is: can we be
consistent? We’re in a better position
than last year and we finished in
Europe, so the target is to try and get
closer to them [top sides],” Moyes said.