West Ham outclassed by Manchester City

West Ham 0-2 Manchester City West Ham succumbed easily against a Manchester City side playing well within themselves at the London Stadium. The home side somehow managed to start the season without four recognised centre backs (Craig Dawson, Angelo Ogbonna and Nayef Aguerd all injured, Issa Diop not available to play), forcing full back Ben Johnson to play as makeshift in the role, with Declan Rice playing deeper than usual to try to cover. The one cause for optimism came with some nice touches from new striker Gianluca Scamacca. But the headlines were taken by City's new striker Erling Haaland, who clinically took his two chances. The first came after City had dominated first half possession. Haaland was put through by Ilkay Gundogan into the penalty area, where substitute keeper Alphonse Areola brought the big Norwegian down. Haaland duly converted the penalty to register his first goal for City. The away side were unlucky not to go further ahead after half time, when a ball was swept across, finishing with Gundogan driving wide. West Ham then rallied, with substitute Said Benrahma forcing a save out of Ederson. But the West Ham comeback was quickly snuffed out, when Kevin De Bruyne found Haaland with a brilliant through ball. The striker duly finished, stroking the ball under the advancing Areola. The best effort from West Ham came in the 72nd minute, when Vladimir Coufal found Scamacca with a cross from the right. The big strikers header was pushed wide by Ederson at full stretch, though Scamacca would have been ruled out for offside.. West Ham manager David Moyes admitted to being outwitted by City, who played their full backs so far up. "Today, tactically, they were best. We tried to press but couldn't," said Moyes. "They completely outplayed us." City manager Pep Guardiola described his team's performance as "exceptional in every way." Guardiola was pleased with Haaland's performance, declaring he would not solve all the problems but be part of the team. "We want to add something more to his game, to make him a better player" , said Guardiola.