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Football London
Football London
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Jonty Colman

West Ham player ratings: Declan Rice's penalty miss and VAR costly in Nottingham Forest defeat

West Ham United suffered a 1-0 defeat to newly-promoted Nottingham Forest in their first away game of the Premier League season.

In a hectic clash, Forest got their winning goal through Taiwo Awoniyi on the stroke of half-time just minutes after Said Benrahma had a goal disallowed by VAR.

VAR was in action twice more in the second half as Brennan Johnson had a chip disallowed by VAR for offside before the Hammers were awarded a penalty for handball, with Declan Rice's effort saved by Dean Henderson.

Here is how Football.London’s West Ham United writer Jonty Colman rated the Hammers’ players against the Tricky Trees.

READ MORE: David Moyes delivers West Ham transfer update amid PSG defender Thilo Kehrer rumours

Lukasz Fabianski (Star man)

Polish goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski was forced off a week ago in the first half of the defeat to Manchester City after colliding with Erling Haaland but was able to shrug that off to start against Forest. He picked up where he left off last week, producing a number of fine first half saves to keep out Neco Williams and Awoniyi. Absolutely nothing he could do about Awoniyi's first half opener. Got a lucky reprieve when Johnson's chip was ruled out for offisde, but remained crucial in goal. Kept West Ham in the game so often with consistency and reliability. 8

Vladimir Coufal

With his crossing and attacking intent, Vladimir Coufal was again good at getting forward and get balls into the box, although the Czech Republic international was unable to make them count. Often managed to get a grip on Forest's Johnson, although he was able to cause problems on ocassion. 6

Kurt Zouma

Kurt Zouma thought he snatched a late equaliser when heading brilliantly on the end of an Aaron Cresswell corner, only for Neco Williams to clear off the line. Defensively, he did okay, but goalscorer Awoniyi gave him and Ben Johnson quite the task of keeping him quiet, especially before the break. More controlled in the second half, with Forest sitting off as it progressed. 6

Ben Johnson

Injuries meant that Ben Johnson was once again used as a centre-back with Zouma, but instead, he and his French colleague switched sides. Less convincing than he was against City, with a number of his clearances and tackles not having enough on them, one of which led to Brennan Johnson's goal, that was later disallowed. 5

Aaron Cresswell

His performance was improved of that from the defeat to City. His crosses caused more influence and he was able to create more chances going forward. With Forest using wing-backs, Williams did get the odd moment of joy with his distribution in the first half, although his position was in between that of Cresswell and Benrahma. 6

Declan Rice

Against former Hammers loanee Jesse Lingard in the heart of midfielder, Hammers captain Rice found himself booked inside the first ten minutes for two early fouls, the second of which was on Lingard. Played a guilt-edge pass for Benrahma to open the scoring, only for it to be disallowed by a Michail Antonio foul. Had a golden chance to level the game from the spot on the hour mark, only to see his spot-kick saved by England hopeful Dean Henderson. 5

Tomas Soucek

Barring Benrahma's disallowed effort, the visitors' best chances of scoring in the first half came via Tomas Soucek. He almost bundled in a rebound off a chance from Benrahma before managing to steer a header on target from a Cresswell cross, only for his effort to be matched with a Dean Henderson save. In the second half, his chances to score only increased and he really should have opened his account for the season, first seeing a header from close range saved by Henderson after Fornals hit the bar, with a later shot then blocked by Scott McKenna's arm to give the Hammers a penalty, which Rice had denied. 6

Jarrod Bowen

A quiet first half showing for Jarrod Bowen in front of England manager Gareth Southgate at the City Ground. He ran with intent on the ball, but found himself either tackled or with his cross or pass blocked. A really quiet showing from Bowen on the whole again before he was replaced by debutant Maxwel Cornet, not close to getting near to recapturing his form from last season. 5

Pablo Fornals

Pablo Fornals played in the number ten role behind Antonio up front but was largely quiet in the first half. His pass to Benrahma at the end of a Forest corner started the counter attack that led to Benrahma's disallowed goal. After a largely quiet opening 45 minutes, a brilliant shot from distance crashed off the bar inside the opening 25 seconds of the second half. More influential when West Ham could counter in the second half before being taken off midway through it. 6

Said Benrahma

After playing most of the second half in the defeat to City in place of Manuel Lanzini, Said Benrahma started in place of Lanzini in Moyes' only change from the side that started a week ago. A saved first half chance led to Soucek's first of four big opportunities. After starting a counter running move at the end of the second half, he scored, only for it to be ruled out. He was comfortably West Ham's best creator but was selfish at times, although he was not alone in that. Saw a free-kick crash off the bar early in the second half and somehow did not score. 7

Michail Antonio

In the opening 30 minutes, West Ham were getting their most joy by using Antonio as a target man up front, he won knock downs with relative comfort and also managed to draw a number of fouls out of his opponents. Will be frustrated that his barge into Orel Managala was the reason the hammers did not find themselves 1-0 up on the stroke of half-time. Continued to be a handful, much improved on last week, but failed to find the target and was replaced by Scamacca. 7

Substitutes

Manuel Lanzini

Lanzini replaced Fornals, the man who took his spot in the starting side, with just over 20 minutes remaining. Played deeper at times to try and get crosses into the box, to little effect. 5

Gianluca Scamacca

A first away game for West Ham for Gianluca Scamacca as he replaced Antonio, who had not done too much wrong in the game, barring his involvement in getting Benrahma's goal disallowed. Battled hard and held the ball up well, but did not have much support. 5

Maxwel Cornet

Maxwel Cornet made his West Ham debut from the bench with less than ten minutes to go. Replacing Bowen, he played down the right, but did not see much of the ball. N/A

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