2025-09-30 07:02:06
Well, that might not have been the perfect start to Nuno Espírito Santo’s tenure as West Ham United boss, but it wasn’t far off.
The Hammers faced the difficult task of taking on a dangerous Everton side away from home on Monday night, and while they didn’t win, they also didn’t lose.
It was that man, Jarrod Bowen, who levelled the score for the East Londoners in the second half, and they looked more likely to score a winner than the Toffees.
Several West Ham starters put in a good showing on the night, but two stood out in particular, including Crysencio Summerville.
Summerville’s eye-catching performance
Monday night was Summerville’s third start on the bounce for West Ham, and while he did earn two assists in his eight-minute cameo against Nottingham Forest last month, it was his best performance of the campaign.
The former Leeds United star did make a few mistakes here and there, but was arguably as good, if not better, than Bowen, even if the Englishman managed to get on the scoresheet.
The Dutchman was a constant threat on the left, using his rapid pace, intricate close control and agility to make life nightmarishly difficult for Jake O’Brien from minute one.
On another night, the 23-year-old would have opened his account for the season when Jordan Pickford pulled off a brilliant reaction save from an incredibly close-range effort.
It wasn’t just us who were left seriously impressed with the winger, though, as Sky Sports awarded him the man of the match, and when you look at his statistics, it’s easy to see why.
|
Summerville’s game vs Everton |
|
|---|---|
|
Minutes |
77′ |
|
Expected Goals |
0.42 |
|
Expected Assists |
0.12 |
|
Touches |
55 |
|
Accurate Passes |
27/29 (93%) |
|
Key Passes |
1 |
|
Shots on Target |
1 |
|
Successful Dribbles |
3 |
|
Ground Duels (Won) |
8 (5) |
|
Fouls Won |
2 |
|
Clearances |
3 |
|
Shots Blocked |
1 |
|
All Stats via Sofascore |
|
In his 77 minutes of action, he amassed a combined expected goal and assist figure of 0.54, took 55 touches, completed 93% of his passes, played one key pass, completed three dribbles, won five of eight ground duels, won two fouls, made three clearances and even blocked a shot.
In all, Summerville put in a performance that should have fans very excited about what he could do this season, just like one of his teammates.
Nuno’s stand-out West Ham star
Now, while Bowen certainly deserves his fair share of praise for the goal he scored, everyone is already well aware of just how good he is.
El Hadji Malick Diouf might have been something of an unknown quantity to those non-West Ham fans who were watching – well, not anymore.
The former Slavia Prague gem was an absolute monster all night, bombing up and down the pitch with his, as one analyst put it, “explosive acceleration” that makes him so difficult to defend against.
The 20-year-old didn’t get himself an assist on the night, but it felt like every time he got forward in the second half, he would deliver a sensational cross into the penalty area with such whip and venom that, had someone got on the end of it, the Hammers would have scored another goal.
Moreover, Bowen’s goal came about thanks to Everton failing to deal with one of these crosses.
What made his deliveries so impressive was the fact that, a couple of times, he didn’t even stop to look or regain his balance; he’d just burst into space, wallop the ball with an immense amount of power, and it’d land in an extremely dangerous area.
It’s things like this that justify Sky Sports’ Joe Thomlinson calling the Senegalese star an “astonishingly good footballer and athlete” and another analyst making the bold claim that he’s “one of the best fullbacks in the league.”
Ultimately, while they didn’t get the win, West Ham looked like a far better team under Nuno on Monday night, and that is largely down to Summerville and Diouf making the left-hand side so much more dangerous.
