Look, there is no way of sugar-coating it. Earlier on this evening, Alexis Sanchez glided forward, looked up, and sent Darren Randolph out for the Herald.
Bearing down one-on-one, Alexis decided that slotting home a hat-trick was insufficient theatre for the nine West Ham fans still in the London Stadium. Instead, he decided to bag his third goal in fourteen minutes by putting Randolph on his arse before the ball left his foot.
Randolph fell for one of the most irresistible dummies of the season. Here it is, in agonizing frame-by-frame.
Alexis Sanchez Goal v West Ham
One-on-one with Randolph, he shapes to shoot...
...only to step over the ball instead
Randolph goes to ground...
...And is chipped moments later
Ouch. Outrageous craft by Alexis, but Randolph won't enjoy the replay of that. And while the Irish 'keeper ended up conceding five goals, he was one of West Ham's better players. In fact, he pulled off a string of top-class saves to keep the game at just 1-0 until the dam burst 14 minutes from the end.
Rio Ferdinand was impressed:
Rio Ferdinand on Randolph: "Without the keeper it's double figures. He's made 5 or 6 incredible saves. He was left on his own, isolated."
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) December 3, 2016
As were a number of fans online:
Have to feel bad for Darren Randolph boy, I rated his display against United last week, but he couldn't do a thing today.
— 3M (@IrieLionMitch) December 3, 2016
Winston Reid and Darren Randolph only ones who gave 100 per cent.
— Khaleem Azam ⚒🫧🏴 (@AzamWHUFC) December 3, 2016
Darren Randolph had a great game pulling out some great saves but conceded 5 goals. Defence was a shambles. #WHUvAFC
— Aidan Dulohery (@aidanous) December 3, 2016
Feel sorry for @RandzOfficial , Solid performance, never deserved 5 past him! All unstoppable finishes
— DJ Harrison Ball (@DJ_HarrisonBall) December 3, 2016
West Ham are an absolute rabble at the moment, and Slaven Bilic cut a broken man post-game, suggesting that many of his players are simply not working as hard as they did last season. The fact that Randolph has been promoted to No.1, however, would suggest that the Irishman is not one of them.
