Thomas Frank described our victory at West Ham as a ‘clear and well-deserved win’ as we put the Hammers to the sword 3-0 at London Stadium on Saturday evening.
There were many boxes ticked as second half goals from Pape Matar Sarr, Lucas Bergvall and Micky van de Ven saw us home – Xavi Simons with an impressive debut, Mathys Tel working tirelessly up front, Pape and Lucas’ sheer energy in midfield and another clean sheet – our third in four games as we made it three wins in four.
We grew into the game after an even opening period and with crosses flying into West Ham’s box from all angles – Xavi and Mo Kudus particularly impressive – the home side racked up 27 clearances in the first half alone. That would to 42 by the final whistle.
Pape leapt unchallenged to power home his header from Xavi’s corner for 1-0, Lucas Bergvall produced a superb, controlled looping header from Cuti Romero’s cross for 2-0 and Micky drove home from close range for the third – three goals in 17 minutes and with Thomas Soucek sent off for a reckless challenge on Joao Palhinha, it was game over.
Speaking to us afterwards, Thomas reflected: “Yes, it was a very good win. I thought we performed very well in big spells of the game. The first 15, 20 minutes were even-ish but after that, I think we got more and more hold of the game.
“We ended very strongly in that first half, dominating, creating chances, crosses, you’re just waiting for that first goal to come. It didn’t come. In the second half, we just kept going and we scored good goals from Pape, a well-drilled corner, the second goal maybe even better, a fantastic ball from Romero to Lucas, really good and we just kept going. So, a clear and well-deserved win.”
We mentioned to Thomas about forcing West Ham into those 27 clearances in the first half in what appeared to be a clear policy of getting as many crosses into the box as possible – not forgetting that Cuti also had a goal disallowed after a VAR check, after heading home from Mo’s corner.
“27 - that's a lot,” said Thomas. “I’m big on trying to produce crosses, because they are so difficult to defend, especially with the risk of defending right up there, so we can cross, win it again, then another one. Then, one time, you will hopefully eventually crack them open, so, that bit succeeded today.”