Battered West Ham Bow Out Of FA Cup To Wigan

The League One side dominated the ball, the pitch, and the opposition in this FA Cup match, seeing West Ham United eliminated from the FA Cup. The final score read 2-0 to Wigan who, without the West Ham supporters, put up a poor home crowd but in the end, it did not matter. The Wigan team was poised to press West Ham early and they did so without much resistance. The true storylines of the match were the depleted West Ham squad taking on even more injuries, and the team’s most creative, active player taking a stupid and classless red card.

The goals against were of two different sorts. The initial goal was scored by Wigan forward Will Grigg was a masterfully crossed ball that found Grigg on the far post. West Ham center back Reece Burke was ball watching and lost his man, who did terrifically well to pop his header past keeper Joe Hart. The goal came just seven minutes into the match and set the tone for what was already expected to be a difficult match for West Ham.

The second goal again came from Grigg off of a Burke play, but this one was a blatant miss by the match officials. In the 60th minute, an innocuous ball came over the top to the Wigan forward who nudged it on, then turning and blasting it into Burke, who was boxing out the attacker. Only a few feet away, with his arm tucked against his body, Burke was called for a handball in the box resulting in a Wigan penalty goal. Burke, unlike the first goal, did everything right — he kept the man outside, tucked his arm, and lunged with his leg to further shield the net. On this occasion, the line judge called the block a penalty, and helped in cementing West Ham’s FA Cup fate.

Coming into the match, only five mainstays in the regular starting 11 saw the pitch: Arthur Masuaku, Pedro Obiang, Aaron Cresswell, Pablo Zabaleta, and Angelo Ogbonna. By the end of the match, Obiang would need to be stretchered off, and Masuaku would see a red card. Obiang was a victim of a crunching tackle that caught his ankle and knee in the opposing player’s legs, twisting them in an uncomfortable fashion. After being stretchered off Obiang was seen in the players’ tunnel on crutches, a slightly good sign, as he did not have to be taken to the hospital.

Emotions boiled over when Masuaku inappropriately and embarrassingly spit on or towards an opposition player. After taking a needless push on a ball out of bounds in the attacking half, words were exchanged between the two players resulting in the West Ham winger spitting in the direction of the player. The referee made the correct decision in sending off Masuaku, as that act is not acceptable in the game. Manager David Moyes confirmed that after asking the player if he did spit his response was “yes.” With a team already thin on players, Masuaku’s poor decision making will leave the squad even thinner.

The pressure is mounting on West Ham’s board to sign new players in the expiring transfer window. Joao Mario, West Ham’s newest and only member of the squad, also made his first appearance for the team. As a halftime sub, Mario looked energetic and tricky but sadly had no outlets to pass to as both strikers Javier Hernandez and Antonio Martinez were nowhere to be found for the entire match. West Ham is in dire straits for their Premier League survival after this Wigan match, if they do not add more players to strengthen their squad, pressing up the table.

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