West Ham United’s 3-1 victory over Ipswich Town on the final day of the 2024/25 Premier League season was, in truth, far less convincing than the scoreline may suggest.
In those post-match ratings, Hammers News deemed that only Jarrod Bowen, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Lukasz Fabianski were worthy of receiving over a 6/10 amongst Graham Potter’s eleven starters at Portman Road.
The ‘XG’ statistics, meanwhile, had West Ham United winning by 1.08 to Ipswich Town’s 0.74.
And, after a typically inspirational Jarrod Bowen doubled West Ham’s lead with a ferocious left-footed drive from outside the box, the visitors needed substitute Mohammed Kudus to curl home a stunning finish of his own to finally see off their long-since relegated hosts.
Kieran McKenna raves about Jarrod Bowen after West Ham beat Ipswich
On an afternoon in which England boss Thomas Tuchel suffered the wrath of the West Ham supporters – his decision to omit Bowen from the Three Lions’ June internationals feels bizarre, to say the least – the Hammers skipper issued a brutal reminder of his qualities with a rasping finish.
One which came just 12 minutes after he had assisted James Ward-Prowse’s opener in East Anglia.
Home boss Kieran McKenna felt that, Bowen-aside, there was very little to separate the two teams.
But with West Ham’s talisman in such devastating form, the Ipswich backline had no answer to his formidable combination of power and precision.
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“I thought it was an even, well-balanced game,” McKenna said following a result which secured West Ham a 14th place finish above both Man United and Tottenham Hotspur.
“We did a lot of good things to compete with West Ham and, at times, be the better team, if I’m honest. I thought we had more chances in the game than them.
“We’ve spoken lots this year about the different categories of games. I think today’s probably reflective of the challenges and the level we haven’t quite been able to hit.
“Against most of the teams in most of the games, we’ve been able to compete in terms of our principles, organisation and football between both boxes. We are able to get to good positions and good areas.
“But the execution of the top end players in this division, with the experience and the calibre that they have, means they execute more often than ours.
“You can see that in the first two West Ham goals with Jarrod Bowen’s execution on both.”
Bowen among ‘the best in the world’ after another stellar West Ham season
At the end of a tight first-half, Ipswich midfielder Sam Morsy gave up possession with an ill-advised backpass. Jarrod Bowen nipped in, alert as ever, before bamboozling the home defence with a superb pull-back into Ward-Prowse’s path.
Then, early in the second half, Bowen skipped inside and gave Christian Walton no chance with a blink-and-you’d-miss-it thunderbolt.
Former England striker Darren Bent feels Jarrod Bowen is a Champions League-quality player these days. This was undoubtedly a Champions League-quality goal.
“I know the first comes from a mistake from Samy (Morsy), but we’re still around covering. The defender can still block it, the goalkeeper can still save it. And he produces a reverse pass that leaves his team-mate with basically an empty net,” McKenna sighs, putting Bowen up there with ‘the best players in the world’
“That is top-level play.
“Then we get back to 1-1 and he picks it up on the touchline, beats a player and smacks it in the net. That’s the difference. You’re playing against the best players in the world every weekend and the best and wealthiest teams in the world.
“The physicality of the league is really important. We lose a duel for the third goal and very often if you lose a physical challenge in this league then it ends up with a chance.
“I think today you can see some of the things we’ve done this year to compete well – the spirit was good, the organisation was good, players worked really hard and played some good football, got to good positions – but a West Ham team executed better than us in both boxes and they take the points.”
In a statement which should have the London Stadium supporters sleeping a little easier through the summer months, Jarrod Bowen admits he has no plans to leave West Ham any time soon.
Given that the gap between the Hammers and the bottom three has been far too close for comfort this term, this will be music to the ears of a fanbase hoping for happier times.