Trevor Sinclair feels West Ham United produced a solid display at Sevilla but were lacking as Jarrod Bowen sat out the Europa League meeting through injury, he said on talkSPORT.
The Irons travelled to Spain for the first-leg of their last 16 tie on Thursday but returned to England defeated. Munir El Haddadi struck the only goal of the night on the hour mark by sweeping home Marcos Acuna’s free-kick.
West Ham enjoyed their own chances to break the deadlock in their first major European knockout fixture since 1981. But neither Nikola Vlasic, Tomas Soucek nor Manuel Lanzini had the crucial touch to beat Yassine Bounou.
Michail Antonio once more led the West Ham attack, yet spurned his best chance to score at Sevilla. Bounou could only parry Vlasic’s early header, but the Jamaica striker missed his kick and chance at an 11th goal this season.
Sinclair believes Antonio’s link-up play was otherwise good, but West Ham lacked in attack with an injury sidelining Bowen. The 25-year-old developed a knock at Liverpool last week, which will also stop him from facing Aston Villa.
Sinclair feels West Ham are missing Jarrod Bowen for his ‘aggressiveness’
Moyes will hope West Ham’s attack is more productive at home to Aston Villa this Sunday than they were against Sevilla, with Bowen yet to shake off the injury that kept him out of the Europa League tie to face Steven Gerrard’s side.
Sinclair notes his former team lacked in Spain without Bowen’s growing fierceness in the frontline. The Leominster-born dynamo has scored 12 goals in 39 appearances so far this season, while helping to create another 11.
“Going forward, Antonio ran in behind and he was a good link-up player,” Sinclair said. “I think, more than anything, they missed Jarrod Bowen, with his goals, and his threats, and his directness, and his aggressiveness on the ball.
“He’s got great intensity, and I think that was one of the key aspects where West Ham didn’t look as sharp going forward in that final-third. But all in all, I thought it was a good performance.”
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