West Ham United's run of successive victories in the Europa Conference League came to an end on Thursday as they drew 1-1 against Belgian side Gent at the Ghelamco Arena.
What happened in West Ham vs Gent?
Although the home side would dominate the ball and the chances in the opening 45, the Hammers looked as if they had taken the lead when goalkeeper Davy Roef spilt the ball into his own net, but it was ruled out for a handball by Nayef Aguerd.
However, David Moyes' side would take the lead just before half-time when Vladimir Coufal's quick throw-in found Jarrod Bowen, and he squared the ball for Danny Ings to score his first-ever European goal.
That was as good as it got for the east London outfit, as the in-form Hugo Cuypers deservedly drew the home side level in the second half, with Moyes' side perhaps fortunate to escape with a draw, which puts them in a good position ahead of next week's second leg at the London Stadium.
Who was West Ham's worst performer vs Gent?
While there were a number of underwhelming performances in Belgium on a disappointing night for the Hammers, there was perhaps frustration that Flynn Downes was not able to take his rare chance in midfield alongside Declan Rice.
There have been clamours for Tomas Soucek to be dropped from Moyes' first team after some poor recent displays and Downes was given the nod to start in Belgium, having started just four games in the Premier League so far this campaign.
As per Sofascore, the summer signing would earn a less-than-impressive 6.5/10 rating for his performance, which was the joint-worst of any outfield player to start the game from both sides.
During his time on the pitch, the 24-year-old was fairly consistent with his passing, completing 28/31 with a success rate of 90%, but as has been typical of his time at West Ham, very few of these could be considered progressive passes.
In a 3-4-2-1 formation alongside Rice, the young Englishman should surely be expected to push forward and contribute to the attack, but he managed no key passes, no shots and no successful dribbles in 74 minutes against Gent.
This is perhaps no surprise when you consider that across his 15 Premier League outings this campaign, he has averaged 0.2 shots and 0.1 key passes per game, as he continues to struggle since joining from Swansea.
Moyes was critical of the midfielder early in his time at the London Stadium, suggesting that he "needs to do better" and that still holds true as we near the end of the season.
Unless he can drastically improve, it seems unlikely that he will be replacing Soucek in the Premier League starting side any time soon.
