West Ham star Konstantinos Mavropanos has been slammed by fans over what he did before Chelsea’s opening goal against his side.
Chelsea took an early lead in the fourth minute with Nicolas Jackson scoring his third goal of the season. The Senegalese striker doubled the score in the 18th minute, racing towards goal and calmly finishing past goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. However, fans were more critical of Mavropanos for his role in Jackson’s first goal. Jackson’s performance gave Chelsea a fantastic start at the London Stadium.
The Greek defender wasn’t directly involved in Jackson’s run on the left, but fans felt he was too slow to recover through the center and could have supported Edson Alvarez, who was trying to track Jackson.
One fan remarked, “What was Mavropanos doing for the goal? He made no effort to get across and just marked space instead.”
Another criticized, “Mavropanos has been terrible for three league games in a row. He needs to be removed from the team.”
A third pointed out, “Mavropanos failed to close down Jackson while Alvarez was getting beaten. Poor performance for a center-back again.”
A fourth fan expressed frustration, “That was way too easy. Mavropanos looked like the slowest center-back in the world.”
Finally, one simply stated, “Pathetic defending.”
West Ham has garnered four points from their first four Premier League matches this season with new manager Julen Lopetegui. Their sole victory was against Crystal Palace last month, while they experienced losses to Manchester City and Aston Villa. Last week, the Hammers managed a 1-1 draw with Fulham, thanks to a last-minute equalizer from Danny Ings.
Lopetegui took over from David Moyes, who departed West Ham at the end of last season after a four-and-a-half-year tenure that included winning the club’s first European trophy.
