Roberto’s gaffe ensures Burnley end poor run with win against West Ham
PA Media
Date Published Sat 9 Nov 2019 17.28 GMT

West Ham’s misery continued as Burnley ended their own poor run with a thumping win at Turf Moor. The strikers Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood celebrated new contracts with a goal each and Wood had another chalked off by VAR.

The third goal was a calamity for the visitors’ goalkeeper, Roberto, who was given a vote of confidence by Manuel Pellegrini on Thursday following criticism of his performances in the absence of the injured Lukasz Fabianski.

Roberto was at sea all afternoon with high balls and the nadir came in the 54th minute when he pushed Ashley Westwood’s cross into his net for an own goal.

West Ham’s miserable day was complete when Manuel Lanzini was carried off on a stretcher in injury time with a shoulder injury after landing awkwardly following a foul by Westwood.

Pellegrini refused to comment directly on Roberto’s performance. “I feel that the team didn’t play well, we lost 3-0 and the responsibility is with all of us. Of course when the player is not in their best moment they worry about that but he has experience. I think it’s difficult to analyse the [team’s] performance when you concede such easy goals.”

It is now six games without a victory in the league for West Ham, whose slide down the table continues while Burnley return to the top 10. Sean Dyche had made it clear how dissatisfied he was with Burnley’s first-half performance last weekend, when they conceded three times against Sheffield United and slipped to a third straight loss.

He responded by changing both his full-backs, bringing in Phil Bardsley and Charlie Taylor for Matt Lowton and Erik Pieters, while Wood was fit after missing the last two games with a hamstring injury.

Pellegrini made two changes to his team, with Ryan Fredericks and Pablo Fornals preferred to Pablo Zabaleta and Andriy Yarmolenko, but there was still no Jack Wilshere.

Yarmolenko was pressed into service in the 20th minute in place of the hobbling Mark Noble, injured in a tussle with Barnes, by which point the Hammers were already behind.

Burnley began like a team with something to prove and Barnes poked in an 11th-minute opener after James Tarkowski had nodded a Westwood corner back into the six-yard box. West Ham were furious, arguing – rightly – that it should not have been a corner, with Barnes getting the final touch.

But they could not blame the referee, Kevin Friend, for their lacklustre display; the visitors were unable to get any foothold in the game against the energy and directness of Burnley.

It took 28 minutes for West Ham to win their first corner – they did not manage a shot in the first half – but the momentum remained very much with the home side who thought they had doubled their lead eight minutes later.

Wood powered a header into the top corner from Dwight McNeil’s sumptuous cross but a VAR check showed the striker was marginally offside. There was no denying the same player eight minutes later, though. The rumoured Manchester United target McNeil, who was again excellent, robbed Fabian Balbuena on the left and he squared for Wood to sweep home. Roberto, whose throw put Balbuena in a difficult position, got a hand to the ball but could not keep it out. Wood celebrated by mimicking Friend’s VAR check, but this time there was no doubt.

West Ham began the second half with much more purpose but their hopes of a comeback were in effect ended by Roberto’s howler. The keeper claimed he was fouled by Barnes and there was another lengthy VAR check, but technology did not spare his blushes.

Ironically, the Spaniard then produced two good saves to deny Wood and Phil Bardsley while Nick Pope was called upon for the first time to keep out a firm shot from Cresswell.

Burnley again had the ball in the net from a corner moments later through Ben Mee but this time Friend did penalise Barnes for fouling the keeper.

Roberto came up with the best save of the match with seven minutes left, tipping over Jeff Hendrick’s fierce strike, but the damage had been done.

Dyche was delighted with the turnround in Burnley’s form. “Alter ego, wasn’t it?” he said. “Last week we weren’t even close to a performance. Today it came flooding back in, the edge that we play with, the organisation, the shape and the belief in the team.”