West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen enjoyed the pressure of his winning penalty against Manchester United.
Despite not being a boyhood fan or coming through the academy, you’d struggle to find a player that gets what it means to be a West Ham player more than Jarrod Bowen. The influence of Mark Noble clearly lives on in him, and that’s why he’s been chosen to be the captain.
One of the biggest skills a skipper needs is to be able to step up in the big moments and lead by example, something Bowen did excellently against Manchester United.
After a lengthy period which included a VAR check and United protests, Bowen cooley slotted away a perfect penalty into the bottom right hand corner of the goal. While a lot of players would crumble under the pressure, the winger thrived.
“I knew it was probably going to be me taking the penalty, because Lucas [Paquetá] has been taking them and he had gone off, and I wanted to take it,” Bowen told the official site. “I enjoy that kind of pressure, knowing that it’s a chance to score a winning goal right at the end.”
“It took a long time with the decision and everything, but I didn’t think about missing – I just thought about sticking it in the back of the net. You just have to stick to what you know, and thankfully I managed to do that.”
“I think we’ve played better than we did today in other games and not come away with anything, but we stuck it out and we’re all really pleased with the result. Credit to the players and to the fans that stuck with us until the end – we needed that lift, and hopefully we can keep progressing going forward now.”
It’s been a tricky start to his captaincy, with some extremely poor form and performances, but he recognises it’s his job to rally the player to start building some momentum. “I spoke in the dressing room about having a successful squad and wanting to win, and that requires everyone – not just the eleven starters. It requires everyone, including those guys on the bench, and those who are injured or suspended.”
“We all want the same thing – we all want to win. Crysencio is one example – I’m sure he’s been frustrated at times with his playing time, but he trains well and he’s one of the nicest people I’ve met, and now he’s got his reward.”
“We need everyone, and now it’s up to us to build on this positive result. We’ve been in this position before and not backed it up, but we showed a really good mindset today and we need to do what we can to pick up positive results in the two games we’ve got left before the next international break.”