The likes of Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund and Sevilla will know better than to judge West Ham on the basis of this low-key defeat. There was nothing riding on this for David Moyes’s side, who had already reached the last 16, and there is no chance that they will think back to losing to Dinamo Zagreb when they resume their European adventure in March.
This was a night for experimentation. West Ham gave opportunities to seven homegrown talents and Moyes could take heart from the fact that Dinamo, who are through to the Europa League’s play-off round, won only thanks to a wonder goal from Mislav Orsic.
“The young players did well and recovered after we lost an early goal,” Moyes said. “If at the start of the European campaign you’d have said we had European football after Christmas we’d have been really pleased. But we’ve won the group. Now we’re looking forward to the knockout part. West Ham are a big team. We’re a side people will be worried about.”
Untouchable at the top of Group H, West Ham had the luxury of taking it easy before visiting Burnley on Sunday. Michail Antonio, Jarrod Bowen, Lukasz Fabianski, Tomas Soucek and Declan Rice were rested and the intrigue lay in whether a starting XI containing five youngsters would be capable of handling Dinamo, who needed a point to finish second and guarantee progression to the revamped knockout phase.
The Croatian champions were not in a merciful mood. Only four minutes had passed when Orsic, whose hat-trick knocked Tottenham out of this competition last season, collected a throw on the left, moved inside and pondered what to do next. Nothing appeared to be on, but Orsic is a wonderful striker of the ball and when Andriy Yarmolenko backed off, that was the invitation the forward needed to unleash a vicious, wobbling drive beyond Alphonse Areola’s dive.
The kids who made up West Ham’s back four had seen the difference between youth football and the real thing. Dinamo’s football was intricate and there were difficult moments for West Ham as the opening period wore on. Luka Ivanusec worked Areola from the edge of the area and Orsic almost stole in for a second when Aji Alese, a 20-year-old making his second start at centre-back, had a mix-up with Harrison Ashby, a highly promising 20-year-old right-back.
To their credit, West Ham’s academy products stuck at it. Emmanuel Longelo, 20, had an excellent full debut at left-back. Jamal Baptiste, one of the most highly rated teenagers in England, brought the ball out confidently from centre-back on his first start. On the right, meanwhile, there was plenty of adventure from Ashby, who created West Ham’s best chance of the half when he crossed for Sonny Perkins to head over.
Europa League
The eight group winners – Lyon, Monaco, Spartak Moscow, Eintracht Frankfurt, Galatasaray, Red Star Belgrade, Bayer Leverkusen and West Ham – progress automatically as seeds to the last 16.
The eight group runners-up – Rangers, Real Sociedad, Napoli, Olympiakos, Lazio, Braga, Real Betis and Dinamo Zagreb – go into two-legged play-off ties.
In the play-offs, each team will play one of the third-placed Champions League sides – RB Leipzig, Porto, Dortmund, Sheriff, Barcelona, Atalanta, Sevilla or Zenit. The winners will progress to the last 16.
Conference League
The eight group winners – Lask, Gent, Roma, AZ, Feyenoord, Copenhagen, Rennes and Basel – progress to the last 16 as seeds.
The eight group runners-up – Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Partizan Belgrade, Bodø/Glimt, Randers, Slavia Prague, PAOK, Qarabag and either Vitesse or Tottenham – go into the play-off round.
There, they will each face one of the Europa League's third-placed teams – Sparta Prague, PSV, Leicester, Fenerbahce, Marseille, Midtjylland, Celtic or Rapid Vienna – over two legs for a last-16 place.
Both play-off draws will be held on 13 December, with ties played on 17 and 24 February. The last-16 draws will follow on 25 February, with games played on 10 and 17 March.
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Otherwise West Ham offered little in attack. It was not a surprise that they lacked a presence with Perkins leading the line on his full debut. To put it into context, the 17-year-old was 196 days old when Mark Noble made his debut for West Ham in a League Cup win over Southend at Upton Park on 24 August 2004.
Noble, who walked back to his home in Canning Town that night, was in central midfield here, still going strong at 34. Next to the captain was Alex Kral, who is yet to make an impact since joining on loan from Spartak Moscow. This felt like a big opportunity for Kral, although it did not help his cause that he spent most of his time covering for Yarmolenko, who spent much of the contest infuriating his teammates with a series of bewildering decisions in the final third.
Yarmolenko was booed off when he was substituted in the dying stages. West Ham had huffed and puffed during the second half, although there were some encouraging moments from Nikola Vlasic. The £30m Croatia international looked capable of making something happen.
By the end, though, there was a sense of inevitability about the outcome. Dinamo, who almost doubled their lead when Orsic stung Areola’s palms, were comfortable. Moyes, who gave late debuts to Keenan Forson and Freddie Potts, whose father Steve, and older brother, Dan, both played for West Ham, was thinking about the future.
