Description
The good season continues.
West Ham United thrashed Freiburg 5-0 in the second leg of their UEFA Europa League (UEL) round of 16 second leg tie of the 2023-24 season at London Stadium in England on Friday (June 15). The Hammers, who had lost the first leg 0-1, turned the tables completely and booked their place in the quarterfinals.
At the center of the victory was Jerrod Bowen. Bowen split Freiburg's goal with a stunning mid-range strike in the 32nd minute of the first leg to give West Ham a 1-0 lead. West Ham evened the score on aggregate with the goal. Bowen then assisted on Mohamed Koudouz's fifth goal in the 40th minute to finish the match with one goal and one assist.
Bowen is on pace for a career-high this season. His most prolific season in the first division came in 2021-22. Bowen scored 18 goals in that campaign. This season, he has 18 goals and seven assists in 36 appearances so far. With one more goal left in the season, he could make it his most prolific season yet.
Bowen joined West Ham in 2020 from Hull City. He has an excellent left-footed kick and a powerful shot. In addition, his strong physique allows him to physically engage with opponents. Since joining West Ham, he"s been their ace in the hole.
With this kind of performance, Bowen has recently found himself in a similar situation to Son Heung-min. Bowen is a versatile player who can play up front and 카지노 on the flanks, but his main position is on the flanks. To put this into perspective, Bowen made 54 appearances last season, 33 of which were as a flanker.
This season, however, he has been playing up front. Of the 36 games he's played this season, he's been a frontline striker in 21 of them. That's more than he's played on the flanks.
The reason Bowen has been playing up front so often lately is because of the struggles of his main striker, Michael Antonio. In 20 appearances this season, Antonio has just two goals and two assists. In this situation, Bowen has been the perfect foil to Antonio's lack of form as a frontline striker. It's a bit like Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min.
He's also been playing up front and on the flanks this season. After Harry Kane left the team at the start of the season, he stepped in as a frontline striker when Michy Batshuayi slumped. When his goalscoring form picked up, he moved back to the flank. And now, he's back up front again due to an injury.
In this way, Son Heung-min is in the right place at the right time when the team needs him. It's a very similar situation to Bowen's.