How did this ex-West Ham midfielder fare on Czech home debut?

By Alessandro Schiavone at epet Arena, Prague

Andy Irving should have walked into his new stadium as if he owned the place.

With Premier League experience under his belt, the man West Ham thought could be no useful in their relegation dogfight should have taken to the Chance Liga like a duck to water.

Instead Irving looked like a Czech top-flight player finding his feet in England's top-tier. And not the other way round.

Slow, sloppy, predictable and inefficient in both transitions. With better opposition facing Sparta Prague yesterday instead of lowly Hradec Kralove, his jitters may have spread throughout the whole team and affected the result.

And that despite a promising start to life in the Czech Republic where he helped his new side to back-to-back away 3-0 wins over Dukla Prague and Zlin. And even registered an assist.

Motivation also couldn't come in higher supply after swapping a relegation battle at London Stadium for a title tilt here.

But the ex-Hammers středový hráč, who was tasked with linking midfield and attack, was a liability from the word go until he was hooked two minutes shy of the hour-mark by Brian Priske.

Despite regularly demanding the ball between the lines and in the pockets, his new teammates opted differently. They almost treated him like air. As if he was still in Rush Green.

A misplaced pass here and a late tackle there were made it an awful home debut. That was further stained by a missed opportunity when he sent a low drive just inches off the post for what would have been his first goal in his new clarets colours.

A lack of quality on the ball was also exacerbated by half-hearted press off it.

His nightmare evening took another dampener when he was booked for tripping an opponent near the halfway line after the restart. Once again he was late to a rare pass he received.

As home debuts go, this is hardly one that goes down in Sparta Prague folklore. And the fans will not be easily impressed either having had ringside seats at the spectacle superstars such as Nedved, Koller, Rosicky and Poborsky produced here in the past.

Despite Irving's lull, the Czech record champions saw off Hradec Kralove thanks to a sublime brace from Lukas Haraslin.

Yet it's worth remembering that all the negative feedback comes without the consideration of one glaring truth: adapting to a new country, whatever the level and your personal background, is never easy.

And it shouldn't be forgotten that he was axed on 15 occasions by West Ham in the first part of the season because deemed not up to scratch by Graham Potter and Nuno Espirito Santo.

There was always gonna be a hangover from that.

But if Irving recaptures the form that marked him out as one of the Austrian league's standout performers a couple of seasons ago, anything is possible for second-place Sparta who sit five points behind pacesetters arch-rivals Slavia and with plenty of football still to be played.