Watford 1-4 West Ham: Bowen's Brilliance and Dawson's Dallying
Four minutes into West Ham’s 4-1 win over Watford at Vicarage Road, I was very concerned. David Moyes’ side fell behind early, were yet to establish a foothold in the game, and looked like they could enter a death spiral at any moment.
Thankfully, from a West Ham perspective, the travelling side went on to snap their six-game winless run by thumping the Hornets with an accomplished attacking display. (I’ll get to the Hammers’ defensive antics later.)
Here’s my (brief) take on today’s game:
Jarrod Bowen’s Magic
Oh my, Jarrod Bowen knows ‘ball – and it shows in his stat-line versus Watford:
2 assists
3 key passes
3 big chances created
4/5 dribbles completed
6/9 ground duels won
2/5 aerial duels won
He was superb all afternoon against Claudio Ranieri’s somewhat hapless defence. Playing off the right flank, Bowen was composed in possession, moved into smart positions while West Ham had the ball, and battled fiercely to win it back when they didn’t.
Although Watford’s defence left a lot to be desired on West Ham’s fourth goal, the way Bowen sauntered into the box, conned Francisco Sierralta, and set up Nikola Vlasic with the perfect assisting pass was frankly disgusting.
Also of note: Bowen’s relationship with Michail Antonio feels intuitive at this stage, he just knows when and how to feed his centre forward. Likewise, he knows when to be fast and when to be slow: he controls the tempo of the game excellently for a wide-player.
Whisper it quietly, but Jarrod Bowen looks a lot like an England international.
Craig Dawson, Man…
This was my take after Watford’s goal.
I stand by it.
Craig Dawson is a replacement-level centre-back in the Premier League. He’s serviceable as a player who steps into the line-up to cover for an absent first-teamer for a game or so. But that’s it.
Watch Watford’s goal - and allow me to explain why I feel as I do.
Firstly, it’s a great strike by Emmanuel Dennis. Fair play.
Secondly, it’s terrible 1v1 defending by Craig Dawson. Not so fair play.
There are three reasons why I’m so aggrieved by this incident.
When Joshua King passes the ball, Dawson is flat-footed and completely square to the play…
As a result, Dawson is off-balance (and in Issa Diop’s way) when Dennis receives the ball.
To compensate for this, Dawson literally scrambles to recover lost ground, commits to making a block before Dennis shoots and gives the Watford forward too much space as a result.
Three mistakes. In the same phase of play. Because Dawson isn’t a reliable defender when the ball is on the floor. Argh.
And it wasn’t an isolated incident. He coughed-up a glorious look in the final moments of play, gifting Watford possession, and the chance to charge at Lukasz Fabianski unopposed.
As I tweeted, I don’t want to dunk on Dawson. He’s provided West Ham with exceptional value since he joined (initially on loan) and is player worth keeping around. He just isn’t a starter.
There is, however, an easy solution.
West Ham should simply recruit a young centre-back with above average mobility so that Dawson isn’t left exposed through the second half of the season.
So, over to you - West Ham United FC scouting department.