West Ham United’s alarming second-half syndrome this calendar year has seen the Hammers ship 16 goals between the 46th and 60th minute across all competitions.
David Moyes’ side are gaining a reputation for being slow-starters in the second-half of games and their apparent lack of concentration is beginning to cost them valuable points, as the West Ham faithful found out once again against Crystal Palace on match week 14.
West Ham’s Second-Half Syndrome
Odsonne Edouard’s 53rd minute strike for the Eagles ensured the points were shared at the London Stadium when in reality, the goal was gifted to the Palace forward.
The 1-1 draw isn’t the worst result, considering Palace completed the double over West Ham last year but the home side were much more dominant and their sluggishness came back to haunt them.
The week before at Burnley, the Hammers gave away a penalty just a few minutes into the second-half and Jay Rodriguez made no mistake from 12 yards. David Moyes’ side would score twice late on to snatch all three points.
Konstantinos Mavropanos scored an own goal in the 55th minute in the 3-2 defeat away to Brentford at the start of November, another game in which West Ham could arguably have got a point or maybe all three.
It's another slow second-half start for West Ham.
Odsonne Edouard equalises for Crystal Palace.#WHUCRY | #CPFC
🎥 @SkySportsPL pic.twitter.com/nKwinRBPEw
— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) December 3, 2023
Dominic Calvert-Lewin also took advantage of West Ham’s second-half sloppiness, scoring what turned out to be the only goal of the game after 51 minutes to gift Everton a vital away win in October.
Aston Villa’s Douglas Luiz, Newcastle’s Alexander Isak, Liverpool‘s Darwin Nunez and Manchester City’s Jeremy Doku are the other four players who have netted against the Hammers between the 46th and 60th minute in the Premier League this term.
However, West Ham are in a comfortable mid-table position and are through to the knockout stages of the UEFA Europa League so all in all, things are going considerably well but they must halt the second-half syndrome of shipping goals.
Moyes will have to contend with a jam-packed schedule in December, continuing with a London derby against rivals Tottenham. That is the first of seven games across the festive period, with Fulham, Wolves, Man Utd and Arsenal all awaiting them in the Premier League and two cup games added in for good measure.
The Hammers gaffer will need to conjure up a new half-time team talk regime if he is to galvanise his players, whose dormancy is providing a cause for concern.
2023 Goals Shipped Between 46th-60th Minute
- 14/01/23 – Daniel Podence – 48th minute
- 19/02/23 – Emerson Royal – 56th minute
- 04/03/23 – Joel Veltman – 52nd minute
- 05/04/23 – Callum Wilson – 46th minute
- 13/04/23 – Hugo Cuypers – 56th minute
- 03/05/23 – Nathan Ake – 49th minute
- 16/09/23 – Jeremy Doku – 46th minute
- 21/09/23 – Petar Stanic – 48th minute
- 24/09/23 – Darwin Nunez – 60th minute
- 05/10/23 – Roland Sallai – 49th minute
- 08/10/23 – Alexander Isak – 57th minute
- 22/10/23 – Douglas Luiz – 52nd minute
- 29/10/23 – Dominic Calvert-Lewin – 51st minute
- 04/11/23 – Konstantinos Mavropanos (OG) – 55th minute
- 25/11/23 – Jay Rodriguez – 49th minute
- 03/12/23 – Odsonne Edouard – 53rd minute
Add Sportslens to your Google News Feed!
