Match report
Watford were much the better side with the goalscorers Will Hughes and Richarlison both so impressive, the wing-backs Marvin Zeegelaar and Kiko Femenia excellent and Heurelho Gomes producing some exceptional saves. West Ham created some good chances but David Moyes will have learnt plenty about what a tough job he has ahead. They remain in the bottom three, while Watford have ended their run of three straight defeats and climb one place to eighth. On that evidence, Everton might be persuaded to up their latest bid for Marco Silva.
That’s all from me, thanks for reading.
Full-time: Watford 2-0 West Ham
Andre Marriner blows the final whistle and David Moyes’s West Ham reign begins in defeat.
Updated
90+6 min Andre Carrillo replaces Andre Gray for the final minute or so.
90+5 min Pass, pass, pass. West Ham can’t get a touch. Watford work it into Richarlison’s feet in the box, who shuffles on to his right before squirming a shot just past the far post.
90+3 min Not the best delivery and Watford clear their lines. Will Hughes is handed man of the match by Alan Smith on Sky, and while he has been excellent I feel Heurelho Gomes can’t have had many better games than this one.
90+2 min Masuaku fires pass of the match across the pitch on to Lanzini’s chest. Zeegelaar fouls the Argentine and he will take the free-kick himself.
90 min Eight minutes will be added on following that Marko Arnautovic injury. Time for West Ham to hit back, but Watford seem the more likely to score right now.
88 min Watford’s ability to keep hold of the ball when they need to is really impressive.
87 min A shout for handball in the penalty box against a lunging Winston Reid, who waves away the crowd’s appeals. The referee ignores them too.
85 min Femenia is off and Watford are temporarily down to 10 men, but Jose Holebas is quickly brought on to replace the wing-back.
84 min Meanwhile the excellent Kiko Femenia is down with some kind of problem. He lies back holding his forehead while a physio assesses his knee and this might force another change.
83 min Watford change: Will Hughes has been excellent, scoring the first and setting up the second, and he is replaced by Roberto Pereyra to applause from Vicarage Road.
82 min West Ham are controlling possession but when they lose it they seem at risk of being caught on the counter. This time Mark Noble denies Watford the chance to break by blocking off Richarlison.
Updated
80 min West Ham have played well in the past couple of minutes without creating another clear chance.
78 min Watford come forwards again, Zeegelaar delivering a low cross which is put behind by Cresswell.
76 min West Ham have been entirely outplayed here yet oddly they might have scored three goals on another day. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m interested to find out their xG.
74 min Lanzini fires a shot past Gomes but it’s brilliantly blocked on the line by the well-positioned Kabasele. Close but no luck, once again.
73 min Arnautovic is finally off. Apparently he told Moyes: “Don’t change me,” but he has been changed as Arthur Masuaku comes on.
71 min The replay is inconclusive but possibly Zeegelaar accidentally trod on the Austrian’s hand. Arnautovic is still down being treated.
69 min Arnautovic is down, writhing on the floor in distress holding his wrist. It didn’t seem like a particularly heavy challenge so it might be that he landed awkwardly, but there seems some concern and the game is stopped.
Updated
67 min Gray is adjudged to have fouled Ogbonna in a tussle in the corner.
65 min Diafra Sakho replaces Andy Carroll, Moyes’ first change.
Goal! Watford 2-0 West Ham (Richarlison, 64)
When they do eventually get out, it doesn’t last long and suddenly Watford are on the counterattack. Hughes finds Richarlison advancing on the left and he dribbles into the box before slamming a low shot at goal. Hart gets fingertips to it but no more.
Updated
62 min West Ham cannot get out of their defensive third. Crosses are flying in from both wing-backs and the Hammers are just trying to stay in it.
60 min Another fantastic save, this time by Joe Hart, denies Mariappa from close range. This match has been much the opposite of this one:
Championship goalkeeping masterclass at Sunderland v Millwall pic.twitter.com/3DEkymi6Wj
— James Dart (@James_Dart) November 18, 2017
59 min Gray tries to bend one into the top corner but Reid gets an important toe to the ball to deflect it over.
58 min David Moyes looks to be readying a couple of substitutes.
56 min Femenia booms a cross way over the rabble in the box. Watford continue to control the game but are struggling to carve out a chance in the area.
Updated
54 min Good buildup by Watford once more, who constantly seem to have a man in acres on one side or the other. Eventually Will Hughes touches it out of his feet and tries a long-range effort but it’s deflected kindly for Hart to catch.
52 min Doucoure goes so close to all but ending this match, bending a shot from 25 yards just wide of the far post with Joe Hart rooted.
51 min Another fantastic chance for Kouyate. Arnautovic holds off Britos to earn himself a little space on the right side of the box. He crosses low for Kouyate who should hit the target but flies his first-time shot high over the bar.
Updated
49 min Femenia is good, isn’t he? He bursts down the right, terrifying Cresswell before slamming a low cross to Andre Gray. The striker gets boot to ball but it spins wide of the near post.
47 min Obiang passes the ball off the pitch about 10 yards away from Arnautovic, his intended target, and it rolls past David Moyes standing perplexed on the touchline.
Kick-off!
Watford start the second half and begin with some steady passing at the back.
“I know some people will disagree with me on this,” emails Kelvin, “but despite Richarlison’s undoubted talent, he seems to go to ground way too easily. Plus that rolling around thing he does does him no favours.” I would not disagree with that.
Watching the replays of those West Ham chances at the end of the half, the first save is brilliant, as is the second, but the third one was there for Arnautovic to tap in and he sliced it, allowing Gomes half a second to reach up and palm the ball to safety. Some fantastic stops but the Austrian should have scored. On Carroll’s flying elbow early in the game, I’m still convinced it should have been a red card.
“To Gary Naylor’s point, Tom is aptly named,” emails Michael Huppe. “He learned at United that if you pass mostly sideways and backwards it belies your lack of pace.”
Half-time: Watford 1-0 West Ham
Watford lead at the break and they’ve been much the better team, yet they have Heurelho Gomes to thank for three sensational saves at the end of the half.
Updated
45+2 min WHAT A DOUBLE SAVE! Arnautovic slams a header towards goal and a deflection seems to take it past Gomes, yet the goalkeeper throws out a hand and makes a miraculous stop. No matter as Arnautovic can tap in the rebound, but somehow Gomes smothers that one too and David Moyes is left with hands on head.
Updated
45 min There will be four minutes added on following the various incidents but particularly the injury to Zeegelaar in the opening minute.
44 min That was West Ham’s best moment by far and they seem encouraged. Zabaleta sends a cross towards Carroll and Watford defend it. He tries again and this one runs through to Lanzini on the left side of the box. Things get scrappy and eventually Obiang tries a long shot, but it flies high over the Watford goal.
42 min WHAT A SAVE! Or miss, depending on your viewpoint. West Ham suddenly put together a lovely move of crisp passing and when Kouyate is set through on goal he must score, surely, but Gomes rushes off his line and deflects the shot past the post with his body.
Updated
40 min Pedro Obiang jams a boot into the back of Will Hughes’s ankles and hands Watford a free-kick in a useful position on the right-hand side. DiCaprio delivers but it’s defended easily enough.
38 min Richarlison fouls Obiang. Hart launches the free-kick forwards and West Ham build up well when they claim the second ball, but a moment later Zabaleta gives away a foul and their momentum is lost.
@lawrenceostlere There's something heroic, something inspirational about how Tom Cleverley has forged a career in football despite his lack of pace. Is there a biopic in the works, possibly starring Tom Hanks?
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) November 19, 2017
DiCaprio, for me.
36 min Watford are exceptionally composed in tight spaces, a product of Marco Silva’s coaching you suspect. They work their way smartly out of a tight spot via Doucoure and Cleverley before Miguel Britos makes a terrible decision to shoot from 35 yards. It does not go near the goal.
34 min West Ham seem to have ridden out a period of pressure without conceding a second goal and that is about as positive as it gets for them in this first half. Another player is in the book – Marko Arnautovic, having slammed into Tom Cleverley after a heavy touch.
32 min Close! Hart parries away a shot from Richarlison and gets up to see Femenia slam the rebound just wide of his far post. Some positive vibes on email from Redo City: “West Ham set out their stall by installing David Moyes as coach. Since leaving Everton he has been humiliated every where he has gone. His authority is nowhere as a falling manager, on a short contract. The Sullivan & Gold partnership will be the end of a great club.”
31 min Some more interchanges between the front three of Watford create a half-chance for Andre Gray in the box but the angle is tight and Joe Hart catches his high shot.
30 min Lanzini delivers well but Britos manages to get a smidgen of forehead on the ball at the back post to clear the threat.
29 min Britos sprints across to the left to wipe out Kouyate. Yellow card, and a promising free-kick for West Ham.
27 min Andy Carroll is hunted down by three Watford players, and after they pinch it from him he reacts with a deliberate barge into Richarlison. The home support want a red card but Andre Marriner rightly chooses yellow. Silly stuff by the man returning from suspension.
Updated
25 min Watford come forwards again, this time via Hughes on the right side. They reach a dead end and pull back before advancing down the left, Zeegelaar powering inside and shrugging off two defenders before the eventual cross is blocked by Winston Reid.
23 min Cresswell tries to find Carroll with a high ball but lumps it far too long and off for a goal-kick.
22 min Richarlison goes down in a clash with Pablo Zabaleta just inside the box and Vicarage Road roars, but Andre Marriner is not interested. The replay shows there was a bit of contact and the full-back certainly didn’t touch the ball, but it seemed the Brazilian’s momentum had more to do with his fall than the defender’s attentions.
Updated
20 min Hart chips a nice pass for Andy Carroll who leaps and powers a header onwards, but bizarrely no team-mate anticipated he might win it.
@lawrenceostlere I feel jet lagged just hearing about Winston Reid’s travel over the last week. How is he playing?
— Finegan Gringleberry (@FinGringle) November 19, 2017
Not great so far, failing to do much about Watford’s goal before seeming to block Andre Gray making a run past him. Things can only get better.
18 min David Moyes gesticulates on the bench next to Stuart Pearce, who sits quietly and nods. Up in the stands, Alan Irvine seems to be giving Moyes some insight via a headset. “There’s one!” cheers JR from Illinois following his earlier email. “Off to a great start! Just nine more to go!”
Updated
16 min Zeegelaar sends in another cross to cause uncertainty in the West Ham defence, this time drilling a low ball across the face of goal, but no Watford player anticipates it. The Dutch wing-back has started well and has bounced back quickly from that blow by Andy Carroll’s forearm.
14 min Some nice zip to Watford’s play since the goal, Hughes looking full of confidence as he tries to link up with Andre Gray but the return pass from the striker is slightly overhit. A moment later Gray complains he was held back chasing a throughball, a complaint the crowd support, but Andre Marriner is not convinced.
12 min Moyes not off to a flyer quite yet. “Wasn’t one of the criticisms of Bilic his over-reliance on inspirational speeches?” emails Peter Oh. “Moyes sure has fixed that problem.”
Goal! Watford 1-0 West Ham (Hughes, 11)
Zeegelaar finds Richarlison who dribbles in from the left before returning the ball to his full-back. He delivers a cross, and in the ensuing scramble Will Hughes swivels smartly before slamming his first Watford goal past Joe Hart from 10 yards.
Updated
8 min Kabasele shakes that one off. It has been more royal rumble that football match so far. Watford take hold of the ball, briefly, but can’t make anything meaningful with it in the final third – something which blighted their performance in defeat against Stoke recently.
6 min Cresswell aims a cross into the middle but scuffs it along the ground when Carroll was at the far post. Another incident involving Carroll in that buildup – he jabbed an elbow into Kabasele’s chest and he’s down clutching his ribs.
5 min Zeegelaar returns to the fray with cotton buds or something similar shoved up both nostrils.
3 min Zeegelaar is off the pitch with his bleeding nose being carefully attended to. “I can’t put my finger on exactly why but I take a great deal of pleasure in watching footballs fly past Joe Hart and into the net,” emails JR from Illinois. “I have also developed a decent amount of schadenfreude where David Moyes is concerned so we’ve got a perfect storm brewing here. Nothing personal West Ham fans but I hope Watford win 10-0.”
“How does Carroll not get a yellow for that?” JR adds. “Crazy.” It was a red in my book.
2 min Marvin Zeegelaar is down receiving treatment and it looks like there is some blood coming from that wound sustained by Carroll. The replay shows that it was a very similar clash to that with Burnley’s Ben Mee (I believe) a few weeks ago which saw him sent off.
Updated
Kick-off!
Andre Marriner gives his whistle a peep and we’re under way – and straight away Andy Carroll smashes an arm into debutant Zeegelaar’s face.
The players enter the field of play. On Sky Sports, pundit Alan Pardew is asked what advice he would give to the West Ham players, and he talks for a long time before finishing with “Do what you do.” Inspiring. Hands shake and they are about to get under way.
“Where’s Antonio?” emails Graeme Arthur. He’s suffering some rib knack.
Was Moyes this cheery at Everton?
David Moyes, sounding as optimistic as ever: “We’re ready to go. We’ve had a few training sessions this week and last week. Have we done everything we could? No. Have we had enough time with the players? No. We’re a bit limited in what we can do. I’ve been saying ‘Let’s make sure we do the job right’ but [the players] need to take responsibility themselves. Most important is we want to be a team that doesn’t lose.”
David Moyes’s new backroom staff:
So Marco Silva hands Marvin Zeegelaar a debut at left wing-back, the Dutch summer signing from Sporting. David Moyes makes three changes from Slaven Bilic’s final match, a couple of which are enforced with Javier Hernandez and Andre Ayew injured and unwell respectively. He hands Marko Arnautovic a chance to reestablish himself in the side while Andy Carroll leads the line.
The teams
Watford: Gomes; Mariappa, Kabasele, Britos; Femenia, Cleverley, Doucoure, Zeegelaar; Hughes, Richarlison; Gray
Subs: Karnezis, Carrillo, Prodl, Holebas, Capoue, Okaka, Pereyra
West Ham: Hart; Zabaleta, Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Obiang, Noble, Kouyate, Lanzini, Arnautovic; Carroll
Subs: Adrian, Masuaku, Martinez, Fernandes, Sakho, Quina, Rice
Referee: Andre Marriner
Updated
Preamble
It is difficult to find the words to dress up David Moyes’s return to management as exciting without lying. It wasn’t always this way; back around the time when Manchester United were winning a historic treble, a young red-headed Scot was winning Division Two titles and manager of the year awards with Preston as the next talented British coach on his way to the top. Moyes retained much of that promise at Everton but as we all know, his reputation began to rapidly disintegrate soon after signing a six-year contract at Old Trafford.
Four years on and he has passed through Real Sociedad and Sunderland without success, the latter failure wearing a particularly weary and pessimistic hue. Oddly though, there is something in the idea that West Ham, a team who have lacked any semblance of organisation for some while, could do without an exciting appointment for now but someone prepared to spend some time on the training ground making them hard to beat. They are in the bottom three with some top-half players and perhaps a bit of structure is all that’s required in the short term. West Ham wisely opted for six months rather than six years; they have plenty of time to line up a new man next summer if required.
Interestingly, he begins his West Ham reign against one of the most exciting young coaches in English football right now, Marco Silva. Watford are desperately trying to keep their prized asset from Everton’s grasp but it is possible that this will be Silva’s final game in charge. Either way, Watford could do with a positive result following three straight defeats. West Ham could do with Moyes getting his points tally off the ground – any excitement will be a bonus.
Kick-off: 4pm GMT.
Updated
