West Ham United 1
Payet 57’
Middlesbrough 1
Stuani 51’
Man of the match Dimitri Payet (West Ham United)
LONDON // Antonio Barragan closed him down quickly but was outdone by a terrific turn. Marten de Roon, next to approach, was taken out with a drop off the shoulder on the corner of the box, before Calum Chambers, Ben Gibson and George Friend were all skipped past as if they were training cones on a practice pitch.
Victor Valdes, the final barrier of Middlesbrough’s crumbling defence, was by that stage powerless to stop the ball rolling past him and into the back of the net.
1-0 down and staring a fifth consecutive league defeat in the face as the match approached the hour-mark, West Ham United were in desperate need of a lift. Dimitri Payet, to the surprise of no one, was the man to give it to them.
It was a stunning solo goal from the France international, who left half of Middlesbrough’s outfield players trailing in his wake on his way to drawing the hosts level. It was a vital intervention, too: up to that point, Slaven Bilic’s side had been desperately lacking any sort of imagination, and it was difficult to see how they would get back into the game but for a moment of individual magic.
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West Ham have not had the easiest start to life at the London Stadium, numerous off-the-pitch problems at their new ground compounded by many more on it. “I want to go home,” a small but not insignificant number of supporters sang in the first half on Saturday, their unrest at the club’s contentious decision to relocate from Upton Park exacerbated by a return of just three points from the first 18 available.
Any fans who were expecting to see their team start quickly against Middlesbrough in a bid to banish recent woes were left disappointed: it was all rather flat from West Ham in the first period, with little urgency in their performance both with and without the ball. Payet embarked on a couple of dangerous dribbles down the left and Mark Noble hit the bar just before the break, but there was otherwise very little for the natives to get excited about.
Middlesbrough did well to take the sting out of proceedings with some patient passing, and although they struggled to really penetrate West Ham’s defensive unit, Aitor Karanka would have been reasonably happy with his players’ work in the first 45 minutes.
He was even happier shortly after the restart, Cristhian Stuani nodding home Viktor Fischer’s corner to give the visitors the lead and leave over 50,000 West Ham followers fearing the worst. Given how little their side had created up until that point, their pessimism was perfectly understandable.
Payet, though, had other ideas.
“I cannot see many players scoring this kind of goal,” Bilic said afterwards. “It reminded me of Messi’s goals.”
Relying on Payet, 29, for flashes of inspiration may not be a sustainable strategy for West Ham, but on this occasion it was enough for them to stop the rot and pick up a much-needed point. For now, at least, that will do.
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