Ipswich Town hadn’t been blown away in any Premier League contest to date, with valiant displays against the likes of Aston Villa and Fulham sticking out, until their visit to West Ham United this weekend.
The Hammers, who went into this game on a poor run of form under new boss Julen Lopetegui, ended up just brushing the Tractor Boys aside, as Kieran McKenna’s side fell victim to a 4-1 bruising on their travels to London.
The popular Ipswich boss will have plenty to ponder concerning his troops after this collapse on the road, mainly whether or not he should persist with Kalvin Phillips in the middle of the park, who struggled against his former loan employers.
Phillips’ performance in numbers
It was always going to be a big risk bringing the Manchester City flop in and expecting him to instantly set the world alight considering how poor he was for West Ham last season.
Phillips must have felt charitable coming up against some familiar faces this weekend, with the ex-Leeds United man inexplicably surrendering the ball within the first minute, which then allowed Michail Antonio to find the back of the net.
Moreover, after some horrible play out from the back presented an opportunity for Jarrod Bowen to run at the Tractor Boys’ defence early in the second 45 minutes, the brand new Ipswich number eight just couldn’t get tight to the ex-Hull City attacker who fired home a decisive strike to make it 3-1 on the day.
Phillips was hauled off the pitch late on consequently after failing to show to his former side his true self, as the 28-year-old continues to slip up when it comes to resurrecting his career.
Not many Ipswich players could hold their heads high after this humbling loss, in all fairness, with Omari Hutchinson notably poor too in attack for McKenna’s visitors.
Hutchinson’s performance in numbers
Hutchinson isn’t quite living up to his summer price tag of £20m playing in the Premier League, after regularly coming up trumps for the Tractor Boys in the Championship.
The ex-Chelsea youngster only has a mere assist next to his name from seven top-flight games so far, with zero goals also a worrying number when looking at his output, and it was clear for all to see why he’s been so ineffective this season watching his display up against the free-flowing Hammers.
| Hutchinson’s performance in numbers | |
|---|---|
| Minutes played | 83 |
| Goals | 0 |
| Assists | 0 |
| Touches | 44 |
| Accurate passes | 21/26 (81%) |
| Possession lost | 17x |
| Shots | 0 |
| Successful dribbles | 3/4 |
| Duels won | 4/12 |
| Stats by Sofascore | |
As much as Hutchinson would trouble the West Ham defence on occasion with a slaloming run, the 20-year-old lacked any end product to go with a mazey burst forward, with zero shots attempted on Alphonse Aréola’s goal.
He was also poor on the ball in patches of the contest, with the former Chelsea man squandering possession 17 times in total away at the London Stadium.
It would result in a low 5/10 match rating being dished out to Hutchinson come full-time by journalist Alex Jones, who was said he was given ‘little space’ by the Hammers defenders to strut his stuff.
McKenna will be tempted to rejig his attack now in an attempt to get more out of his underperforming number 20, with the 5 foot 9 trickster perhaps moved out to the wing – where he shone last season during his side’s promotion heroics.
He could, also, just be dropped, with Phillips no doubt worried about his starting spot too moving forward.
Hutchinson does have an audacious strike like the one above up his sleeve, but the top-flight is a different kettle of fish altogether from the Championship, as many of Ipswich players are now well aware of.
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