Soccer Football - Premier League - Brighton & Hove Albion v West Ham United - The American Express Community Stadium, Brighton, Britain - March 4, 2023 West Ham United's Ben Johnson in action with Brighton & Hove Albion's Pervis Estupinan REUTERS/Toby Melville EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club /league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details.
talkSPORT commentator Tom Rennie slammed defender Ben Johnson in West Ham‘s humbling 4-0 loss to Brighton today.
The Lowdown: Irons taste defeat…
The east Londoners, in their battle to avoid Premier League relegation, tasted defeat at the hands of Europe-chasing Brighton in a real afternoon to forget.
West Ham travelled to the Amex knowing they were in a deep fight against the drop and things couldn’t have started any worse when Alexis Mac Allister put the home side in front early on.
The Argentine’s penalty was just the start with Joel Veltman, Kaoru Mitoma and Danny Welbeck adding more goals in the second half – compiling misery on to the on-looking David Moyes.
The Latest: Johnson slammed…
It was a very dismal display from West Ham as Rennie took issue with right-back Johnson in particular.
The Englishman was at fault for both of Brighton’s first goals, losing the ball in the air for the home side’s first and was caught ball-watching for the second.
He criticism, stating:
“Ben Johnson. I’m sorry, but that’s appalling. He’s so far short of the quality required. Both goals, he’s just asleep.”
The Verdict: Off-day…
The homegrown defender has displayed signs of true promise in recent seasons but today seems like a true afternoon to forget.
Former West Ham assistant coach Stuart Pearce is among those to have praised Johnson for his fine form last season but performances like this afternoon’s won’t do much to grow his reputation.
That being said, the still-young 23-year-old is still very much becoming the finished package and could need time to develop before we see his very best again.
The more experienced Vladmir Coufal perhaps would have been a better option for such an encounter but now it is very much back to the drawing board for Moyes.
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