An edgy London Stadium encounter resulted in a West Ham victory after an emotionally draining week for Hammers’ captain Jarrod Bowen. Having been called upon to act with maturity off the pitch with Michail Antonio’s dreadful accident and Lopetegui’s teetering on the edge of the abyss, West Ham’s skipper delivered a man of the match performance and scored a classic Bowen special to deliver his under-fire coach the victory.
Bowen’s judo match with Mario Lemina after the final whistle has drawn different opinions from different sources. Goal.com see the Wolves captain to blame with their take on it: “Jarrod Bowen dragged to the ground by Mario Lemina in FURIOUS scuffle”: Whilst former referee Keith Hackett in West Ham Zone ‘s exclusive suggests “ Jarrod Bowen could have been sent off for West Ham v Wolves, FA to review”.
The clear irony, however of Jean-Clair Todibo acting as a big-time peacemaker, repeatedly calming and walking away with an arm around Mario Lemina to try and diffuse the player’s fury – was not lost on me after the alleged fisticuffs with his own head coach that resulted in him being banished to train with the U21s!
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Is this a sign that Todibo is trying to exhibit a maturity to get himself re-integrated in the squad’s good books, or just an instinctive reaction of a professional? Whichever, It was good to see a bit of ‘leadership’ amongst the meleé.
Hopefully, both Bowen and Lemina will ‘escape’ with the yellow cards that were shown on the night. I’m not sure whether West Ham will be advised if the referee submits a ‘special incident report” – we will have to ask the club and see if, and what, they hear from the FA.