West Ham United started their 2017 FA Cup campaign against Manchester City on Friday night, hoping to have something to play for this year, but those hopes were very quickly crushed. The home side were well and truly beaten 5-0 in their first FA Cup tie at the new stadium, compiling more misery on what is already a very disappointing season for the Hammers.
The game started quite evenly, with both sides having their chances to break the deadlock, but it was the away side who got the early advantage, when Angelo Ogbonna was seen to have fouled Pablo Zabaleta in the box and City were awarded a penalty. Yaya Toure converted the penalty with a right footed shot to the bottom left corner.
West Ham should have been on level terms almost immediately after a good run and shot by Michail Antonio, which forced a parry from Willy Caballero straight to the feet of Sofiane Feghouli six yards out, but with the goal at his mercy, the winger side-footed wide of the far post.
City doubled their lead after a lovely flowing move down the right flank involving David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Bacary Sagna, before the latter's brilliant centre was bundled into his own net by Havard Nordtveit with Raheem Sterling breathing down his neck, leaving West Ham with a mountain to climb before half time had even arrived.
The tie looked to be over already as the visitors once again cut the West Ham defence to pieces and this time it was Sterling who beat the offside trap from Aguero's through ball, before he picked out the unmarked Silva some six yards out and the Spaniard had no problems tapping the ball past the helpless Adrian.
Manchester City added a fourth shortly into the second half after Sterling broke clear to the left-hand byline, before pulling the ball back to the waiting Toure on the edge of the box and the midfielder's low drive was then touched home by Aguero hanging about six yards from goal.
The away side finished the rout not long before the end when John Stones rose high to guide Nolito's left-wing corner goalwards and despite Mark Noble's intervention on the line, referee Oliver gave it after consulting his watch which told him the ball had indeed just crossed the whole of the goal line.
It was another terrible night for the Londoners and it surely means that they will be trying to bring in some fresh faces this month as this was a massive wake up call for Slaven Bilic and the clubs owners.
Goalkeeper and defence
Adrian (4) - He made some decent saves but his decision making was very poor, something which we have been accustomed to seeing this season. His confidence looks to be extremely low and having a goalkeeper like that behind you, is not going to give the defence a lot of confidence.
Havard Nordtveit (4) - It was a bad night for the Norwegian. He was troubled all night by Raheem Sterling and even scored an own goal in the first half. After some encouraging performances of late, it was certainly one that was reminiscent of his early season form.
Winston Reid (7) - The only West Ham player on the pitch who had a good game. He has been West Ham's most influential player all season and he looked far too good to be in that side last night. It says a lot when he was rock solid at the back and the team still conceded five.
Angelo Ogbonna (4) - He has had a disappointing season and it continued last night. He has a tendency to back off too much when closing players down, therefore giving them too much time to pick out a pass or run with the ball. He was also found ball watching too many times, which led to the fourth goal in particular.
Aaron Cresswell (5) - The usually reliable left back just couldn't get going last night. When Havard Nordtveit switched the ball over to him in the first half and he failed to control the ball, leaving it to go out of play, it represented what his game was going to pan out like. He had encouraging moments but nowhere near what you would expect from him.
Midfield and attack
Pedro Obiang (6) - He was again one of the better ones but that means nothing when the team performance was that bad. He tried to get the ball down and play and did win a few 50/50's but it still wasn't good enough.
Edimilson Fernandes (4) - He was almost non existent. He never really looked like he wanted the ball, he never looked lively and that isn't something which he is known for, as he is usually a very positive minded midfielder who looks to play fluid attacking football. Looked majorly out of his depth.
Michail Antonio (5) - He looked very fatigued not long into the game and gave up too easily when he lost the ball, which again, isn't something which he is known for. Apart from the shot which Caballero parried which Feghouli should have put the rebound away with, he didn't trouble the City defence one bit.
Manuel Lanzini (5) - He never really got going. He had a bright opening ten minutes but apart from that, he was quiet. For an attacking midfielder, he was playing incredibly deep and no wonder West Ham never really looked like scoring.
Sofiane Feghouli (5) - He tried to go forward and take people on and produced some decent deliveries but it wasn't frequent enough. If he hadn't missed that sitter shortly after the first goal, then it could have been a completely different game. But instead, it all went the away side's way.
Andy Carroll (5) - He was very isolated up top. In many people opinions, he just isn't suited to being a lone striker and needs someone who he can knock the ball down to. He did hold the ball up well and distributed it well to the wide areas when he got the chance though.
Substitutes
Mark Noble (5) - He came on and gave the back four a bit more security and took no risks when on the ball. He didn't change the game at all in the attacking areas though.
Dimitri Payet (5) - The opposite to Mark Noble, he gave West Ham an extra push going forward, taking on players and getting it up the pitch quicker, but offered nothing going back. The story of his season.
Ashley Fletcher (5) - It was always going to be hard coming into a game like this, already being comfortably beaten and playing aginst a back four full of confidence on your own. He never posed any real threat but he tried to make things happen.