Summerville and Ings denied as Everton hold West Ham to goalless draw Was that enough?
In the second half of the match, the tension was palpable as both teams pushed for a crucial goal. West Ham was determined to capitalize on their chances, and they mounted a fierce attack. The ball found its way to their talented striker, who unleashed an incredible strike from just outside the box. It was a powerful shot that seemed destined for the back of the net.
But Jordan Pickford was ready. With lightning reflexes, he dove to his right, fingertips grazing the ball just enough to send it soaring over the crossbar. The crowd gasped, and then erupted in cheers for the Everton goalkeeper’s remarkable save.
As the game resumed, Pickford, still buzzing from the adrenaline of the moment, turned to the West Ham player who had taken the shot. With a playful smirk, he delivered a quick, three-word jab: “Not today, mate!” It was a blend of confidence and humor that lightened the atmosphere, even amid the intensity of the match. His comment not only showcased his skills but also highlighted his spirited personality, reminding everyone that football is as much about enjoyment as it is about competition. The moment became a memorable highlight of the match, showcasing the camaraderie and rivalry that make the sport so thrilling.
The reports had suggested that West Ham would review Julen Lopetegui’s future over the international break if West Ham lost to Everton. They avoided that but, other than the fact they picked up
another point, inching their way towards safety next May, was a featureless goalless draw really so much better?
This was, for long periods, a terrible game of football and, while West Ham will probably feel they had the better of the chances, certainly after half-time, when Jarrod Bowen curled a shot just wide, Crysencio Summerville hit the post and Danny Ings drew two fine saves from Jordan Pickford but, still, nobody could call this a performance that made an undeniable case for Lopetegui to stay on.
A fanbase that had become largely frustrated by the football produced by David Moyes’s side towards the end of his second tenure was not ploughing home through the Christmas shoppers in Westfield with joy in their hearts. The most memorable moment was probably a right-footed first-time 25-yard shot taken on by Vitalii Mykolenko that was so badly sliced it barely made the box.
The setting matched the dismal mood. It was a damply raw November afternoon, a fine mist illuminated by the floodlights as the cabin at the top of Anish Kapoor’s Orbital loomed in the greyness like a Soviet-era ski-lodge. It was subdued and cold and sad and weary, the awareness of past glories and a knowledge of the distance these present iterations are from them weighing on everybody. Even the setting of Land of Hope and Glory favoured by the military band before kick-off was oddly discordant.
There were mishit passes, misplaced passes, misconceived passes and passes to literally nobody at all. When the press-box monitors went off in the first half, it felt like an act of kindness. At times in the opening period the games reached the specific pitch of tedium at which people begin to wonder how Thilo Kehrer’s been getting on since he left West Ham for Monaco.
West Ham have moved into one of those phases where everything is going wrong. Money was spent in the summer – £130m of it – but of the ten players who came in, only Aaron Wan-Bissaka made a clearly positive impact. Carlos Soler has started one league game; Guido Rodríguez looks remarkably slow; Luis Guilherne, who cost £25m from Palmeiras, has managed five minutes off the bench; Niclas Füllkrug has barely played because of injury; and Maximilian Kilman has been error-prone. Inevitably Tim Steidten, the technical director who had such an awkward relationship with David Moyes, has come under scrutiny.
Good players – Bowen, Lucas Paquetá and Mohammed Kudus – are out of sorts. Lopetegui has convinced nobody he is the man to lead the club into a bright post-Moyesian future. Discipline has become a major issue, with Kudus banned for five games after his antics towards the end of the defeat to Tottenham, while Edson Álvarez picked up a stupid second yellow at Nottingham Forest last week, before offering an apt visual metaphor for West Ham’s season by losing his way to the tunnel.
Occasionally Summerville, one of the summer signings who has shown occasional flickers of promise, would go on a little run, his whirring legs a pleasing distraction from the general drabness, although his most decisive contribution was probably his charge back to block after Idrissa Gueye had released Abdoulaye Doucouré. Had there been slightly more pace on the pass, or had Doucouré been prepared to take on the shot first time, he might not have had the opportunity. Everton’s loss at Southampton last week ended a run of five games without defeat but this is not a side playing with any great zest or flair.
Only in the final minutes before the break did anybody actually look like scoring, Pickford denying first Bowen and then Michail Antonio. That was the prelude for a more open second half, but the bar was low. A point apiece may end up being very useful in dragging both clubs towards mid-table but the idea that 60,000 people willingly turned up to watch is, frankly, mind-boggling.
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