Gregoritsch gives Freiburg first-leg lead as West Ham denied late penalty
West Ham is currently on the rocks as their ambition to make it through to the quarterfinals of the Europa League seems uncertain following a lackluster display that was marred by several erroneous decisions , culminating in their defeat away from home against Freiburg.
If David Moyes wants his team to have any chance of success, they'll have to step up their game in the upcoming match at the London Stadium next week. West Ham wasn't sharp enough, and their lackluster performance cost them the game when Michael Gregoritsch scored the winning goal in the final moments due to a misstep by Edson Álvarez.
According to the blog post, West Ham started as the expected winners since they had previously beaten Freiburg twice. However, during the first half, they seemed to lack energy and were not making much progress towards scoring. Their lone opportunity came when Mohammed Kudus created an opening for Jarrod Bowen, but he failed to connect with the ball. Additionally, their passing game was not up to par, which led to frustration from their coach, Moyes. Even their top playmaker, Lucas Paquetá, was struggling to find his rhythm.
Kudus was having a troublesome game on the right, which wasn't beneficial. Additionally, Moyes was concerned about their lack of control in midfield and became displeased as he saw his team continuously lose possession in hazardous zones.
Freiburg didn't perform much better. They were in ninth place in the Bundesliga, and their recent performances have been somewhat disappointing, causing them to appear uncertain on occasion. Although Roland Sallai had a chance to score, he missed from a challenging angle, and Lucas Höler's shot went straight towards Lukasz Fabianski despite his effort to break through the center. Nevertheless, West Ham didn't seem to be thrown off balance. They were comfortable relying on their sturdy center-backs, Kurt Zouma and Konstantinos Mavropanos, to deal with a series of hopeful crosses.
If West Ham had continued to play passively, it could've gone wrong for them when Sallai almost scored with an overhead kick early in the second half, thanks to a delivery from the right. So, the team had to be more proactive and they almost got a goal when Mavropanos hit the woodwork, after Noah Atubolu couldn't save James Ward-Prowse's corner.
A chance opened up for the team to retaliate. Paquetá was not pleased to receive a yellow card for committing a foul on Ritsu Doan. He missed a header when Kudus provided a cross. Later on, Paquetá and Kudus worked together to set up Bowen. Bowen managed to dribble past defenders before his shot was brilliantly saved by Atubolu.
However, the match was still quite disjointed. Due to a muscle issue, Emerson Palmieri was substituted for Aaron Cresswell at left-back for West Ham. Paquetá was disappointed with himself for over-hitting a challenging pass to Kudus.
In the game between Freiburg and West Ham, there were a few missed opportunities on both sides before Freiburg ultimately scored. Ward-Prowse's shot was not very strong and easily blocked by Atubolu. Gregoritsch also had a chance but his header was saved by Fabianski. Sallai had a chance to make a break but his touch was too heavy. As the game progressed, West Ham seemed to lose focus and made some mistakes, such as Álvarez giving possession away. Freiburg took advantage of this and Sallai took a shot from the left, with Gregoritsch tapping it in from close range. Near the end of the game, there was some drama when it appeared that Weisshaupt had handled Soucek's shot, but the referee did not award a penalty after reviewing the footage on the sideline.
