Manchester City had too much for West Ham United on Saturday afternoon as they came away with a convincing 5-0 victory, but Hammers fans should take encouragement from the debut performance of Sebastien Haller.
The Frenchman had a solid pre-season following his £45 million move from Eintracht Frankfurt and made his bow at the London Stadium as the Premier League champions won comprehensively.
Haller led the line, with a creative trio of Michail Antonio, Manuel Lanzini and Felipe Anderson operating behind him. He was not provided with especially impressive service in the final third, but he proved to be a nuisance for City with his intelligent movement and deft touches.
The 25-year-old marauded along the front-line with effortless confidence, attempting to find space between the lines to act as a focal point for his side. Manuel Pellegrini is known to prefer physically imposing forwards, but Haller is by no means an archetypal target man despite his presence. It’s one thing to be tall and strong, but another to put such prowess to effective use, and the Irons star is adept at maximising his skill-set.
Manchester City were typically well organised, suffocating West Ham’s room to manoeuvre genuine, clear-cut opportunities. However, the Hammers used their record signing as a focal point, and his ability to play with his back to goal helped them to fashion dangerous counter-attacks and fluid build-up play in the first half.
Haller was happy to allow the likes of Lanzini and Antonio to run beyond him, dropping into deeper areas and pulling wide to help provide greater space for his teammates to burst into centrally, dragging defenders away with his movement.
Sculpted by the tactical nous of Adi Hutter in Frankfurt, and no doubt instructed by the equally astute Pellegrini, Haller provided West Ham with an auxiliary defender from the front. While he did not press with breathless, unrelenting aggression, he positioned himself cleverly, cutting off the passing lanes between City’s centre-back pairing of Aymeric Laporte and John Stones and holding midfielder Rodri.
By stemming the possibility of Guardiola’s side playing to the Spaniard from deep, they were forced to explore other avenues, pushing out to the wider areas at times, ergo affording West Ham the chance to limit the influence of the likes of Kevin de Bruyne and David Silva before the break.
Chances came at a premium, but Haller did well to occupy City’s defenders. In the 35th minute, he attempted an audacious, acrobatic attempt with his back to goal, but saw his effort easily saved by Ederson. There was no real danger of an equaliser, following the opener from Gabriel Jesus in somewhat fortuitous circumstances, but the Hammers forward’s capacity to create something out of nothing, while pinning defenders, will be invaluable to Pellegrini’s approach.
West Ham struggled to contain the visitors, and they won’t be the only ones this season. Raheem Sterling calmly dispatched De Bruyne’s through ball to double City’s advantage, and in the blink of an eye, it could well have been 3-0 but for VAR rendering a tap-in from Gabriel Jesus as illegitimate.
Haller was, for swathes of the match, deprived of genuine service. He joked about whether or not he would touch the ball in his Hammers debut, and at times, it did feel as though he was absent. However, portraying his tactical versatility, he was able to adapt to a different approach, namely forcing Stones into more risky passes and ensuring that he was not culpable for any straightforward balls out from the back, provoked by lackadaisical pressing.
West Ham were slightly more threatening upon the introduction of Javier Hernandez. The Mexican was unfortunate not to score in the 73rd minute after Ederson remarkably saved his point-blank effort. From the rebound, Lanzini’s headed attempt was stopped in even more impressive style by the Brazilian.
VAR would not come to the Hammers’ rescue again, though, as Sterling – whose run saw him positioned in a marginally onside position – doubled his tally for the afternoon with a well-taken lob over Lukasz Fabianski’s head. Sergio Aguero, having been made to retake a penalty – another of VAR’s decisions – made it 4-0 in the 86th minute.
Haller’s afternoon ended in disappointment; he was hauled down in stoppage time, but Mike Dean did not blow his whistle, and City proceeded to slice West Ham’s defensive structure apart, as Sterling bagged his hat-trick. It was typical of the Frenchman’s frustrating second half, as he dropped into an unusually deep area of the pitch in an attempt to merely involve himself. The Hammers simply must work to supply him 20, 30, maybe even 40 yards higher up the pitch.
Not every game will be like this for Haller; in good time, he will be presented with opportunities in front of goal, rather than with his back to it. However, in a game that would prove nightmarish for most forwards in world football, he looked at home when he was involved. West Ham fans can look forward to seeing more of their new talisman this season despite a humbling introduction to the 2019/20 campaign.
