West Ham cruise into the fifth round of the FA Cup

 West Ham cruise into the fifth round of the FA Cup

It's hard to retain your neutrality when the FA Cup comes calling but for West Ham bias is perhaps understandable. And yet this season the FA Cup may prove to be an unnecessary distraction given that the club are languishing dangerously close to the bottom of the Premier League. Admittedly, the gloom was temporarily lifted after West Ham's critical 2-0 victory over Everton over a week ago. But for David Moyes, West Ham's beleaguered and under pressure manager, the vultures that may have been hovering over Moyes team have flown to different shores. For the time being, anyway.

Last night West Ham comfortably dismissed a Derby County who now ply their football in the third tier of English or League One. It almost seems like ancient history now but Derby County once discovered that they were the new League champions(the old First Division just over 50 years ago. Beside a leisurely Spanish hotel poolside, the players of Derby were joyously informed that they had won the race to win the League title. Brian Clough, Derby's legendary manager, could hardly control his boasting and gloating.

We were also regaled with tales of Derby's historic conquest of Europe, which almost culminated in European Cup Final victory. It was the night when those footballing princes Real Madrid came to Derby's old Baseball Ground and were soundly thrashed only to win the second leg of their semi final emphatically and categorically. Time flies though and Derby's modern day incarnation were once again beaten by Premier League West Ham, who have their own trials and tribulations at the moment.

Now it would be easy to simply overlook this FA Cup fourth round tie as a straightforward contest between a Premier League and League One side, just a mismatch since Derby have left behind the likes of Archie Gemmell, Francis Lee, Bruce Rioch, Kevin Hector and Roy Mcfarland far behind them. Derby are now just a pale imitation of their former selves, once a Premier League team fairly recently but now decaying ever so slightly in a lower League. But good times must surely be ahead for the Rams.

At Pride Park Derby were eventually outclassed, out passed, out thought and generally out manoeuvred by a confident, ambitious West Ham side who finally looked like something of their old selves. Having signed eight excellent signings last summer, the experts told us that West Ham were destined to qualify for the Champions League this season and, unthinkably, Premier League title winners. But that would have been pushing credibility.

Sadly though things have gone disastrously wrong for the team who play at the London Stadium and the Nostradamus crystal ball gazers have got their predictions in a complete muddle. Lucas Paqueta, one of the many golden boys of Brazilian football, probably thinks he must have been drinking the wrong coffee, Gianluca Scamacca, the Italian stallion and now a prominent member of the Italian national side, has yet to find his feet although he has scored sporadically and Emerson Palmieri, who did play last night, has certainly settled down but can hardly believe that he's in a struggling team.

But West Ham looked as though a heavy burden had been lifted from their shoulders and their superior passing skills, admirable collective ethic and team work made Derby look like a young and inexperienced team who were still trying to imagine how Brian Clough might have reacted to their performance yesterday. He'd have probably leapt out of his dug out, frantically pointed fingers at his players and then told Peter Taylor, his assistant, to get out the squash racket and prepare for battle on another court rather than the Clough one at the Baseball Ground.

Still what we had yesterday evening was a perfect demonstration of one team who would like to aspire to loftier achievements in the Premier League and another who just wish they could re-capture the greatness of another age. For a while Derby sparred and probed tentatively with West Ham but were then submerged under a barrage of neat and controlled attacking football from the visitors. West Ham, after a brief period of introspection, are much more socially comfortable and their victory was never in doubt.

With Angel Ogbanna, leading superbly from the back as skipper of the night, Nayef Aguerd, still on a high after a gloriously improbable World Cup journey in Qatar with Morocco, looks increasingly more assured on the ball and a World Cup semi final place has certainly lifted his profile. Ben Jonson rampaged along the flank like a good, old fashioned attacking full back, while Thilo Kehrer is at last responding to the encouragement of the London Stadium fans.

It was noticeable that Declan Rice was on the subs bench for West Ham but both Thomas Soucek and Flynn Downes floated easily around the back and into midfield with an easy going nonchalance and supreme authority. Further forward Jarrod Bowen continued his recent rich vein of form scampering furiously around the pitch, tussling and hustling for possession as if his depended on it. And of course Michail Antonio, West Ham's gutsy and physically persistent striker, just kept running, holding up the ball with intelligence and perseverance and then shrugging defenders off as if they didn't exit.

Half way through the first half  West Ham were rewarded for their ornate approach work, stringing together tight packages of passes that had Derby gasping for breath. A delightful exchange of quick passes saw Bowen and Soucek open up the Derby defence like a birthday present.The ball fell to Antonio who rolled his body athletically and slid the ball to Bowen. Jarrod Bowen lunged at the ball, connected with it perfectly and slipped the ball into the net for West Ham's opening goal.

The second half became a formality for West Ham with Derby not quite up to the required standard on the night. West Ham were occupying strategically important areas of the pitch and their second goal was conclusive and clinical. Breaking forward on the wing, Fornals scuttled gingerly into space, running directly at a now rapidly retreating Derby defence before Bowen picked up the ball promptly, crossing low and fiercely towards an onrushing Antonio who simply headed the ball into the net from close range.

So it is that West Ham now travel to Old Trafford for an FA Cup fifth round tie with Manchester United. These two have met in the FA Cup on innumerable occasions. 22 years ago Paolo De Canio nipped in behind an astonished Manchester United defence and Fabien Barthez shot up his arm rather like the kid answering a simple maths equation. United were dumped out of the FA Cup unceremoniously by West Ham. But more immediately West Ham visit St James Park over the weekend for what now has all the makings of a vital Premier League match with Newcastle United. Oh to be a member of the claret and blue club.