West Ham (Away) Saturday March 30th

[pete0]

2 hours ago, hafnia said:

So.... all the noise I heard was west ham were poor and no credit to us.  Was at wedding all day so missed it. 

There's been too many Everton games the past two seasons were we've been that poor and not many of us credited the opposition for beating us whilst our heads were down, *points* at Newcastle thread. So I'd say it's fair to flip it round on this occasion although it was nice to see the shoe on the other foot. 

They were without Anderson who was injured on international duty and for some reason only their manager will know they brought in Perez for him and changed to a new system that was hugely flawed considering our strengths and that disjointed I struggle to even say what formation they were playing. On paper 442 but looked more like a 343 with the wingbacks so far forward and Rice and Perez falling back. I assume the plan was to use one formation on the ball and the other off it. From the commentary they said they've never used this system before, and it showed. 

They played with their wingers so high Zabaleta and Cresswell had no protection and given them two were also pushing forward it left huge gaps that were easily exposed with Richarlison, Coleman and Bernard all getting behind them time and time again.

This was helped by the midfield being redundant as we had the extra man although Perez did fall back to try and help but the pairing of Rice and Obiang looked very similar to the Schneiderlin Gana situation with Rice being too deep (almost playing as a centre back but not quite, so was in no man's land and doubled up on). Given the gaps it felt like we doubled up on all their players. In short they were all over the shop and gifted us space far too easily. Tactically it was very poor and the manager should be taking responsibility. 

It was far too easy to be completely satisfied with our performance. First half was like a training match with some lovely plays taking advantage of the gaps and second we did what we had too kept it professional and compact taking little risk. Hard to think when the last time we played a team on form yet overcome them through being the better side. 

 

[Hafnia]

1 hour ago, Newty82 said:

We made them poor. That's a key point to make.

We went at them from the go. We could have been 4 up in 15 minutes. Their keeper kept them in it. We beat them to every ball. We doubled up on their men. We pressed them. And we attacked with a pace I haven't seen from us since about October time. I mean, literally, they would be building up an attack and within a couple of passes we'd be up the other end. If we were more clinical, they'd be dead and buried within 15 minutes. We made them shit. We smashed their confidence to pieces and made them feel like little boys.

This isn'ttt aimed at you Haf, well it could be depending on what you believe, but we can't keep downgrading our wins as the opposition being pure shite. It's perfectly possible that we play in a way that allows the opposition to do nothing...find no momentum, no rhythm, overthrow their game plan etc etc.

No. Totally get it... I am the first to criticise if the players a d manager Dont deliver so when a west ham manager moans that it was nothing to do with us being good them it pisses me off.

Silva and players deserve credit for the uplift.... quite optimistic. 

[Finn balor]

I really enjoyed watching us yesterday and there are signs that there is a team there ready to compete. Like somebody said previously they are definitely playing for Marco and believe him in. We have had good spells in games where if our finishing was better we could have gone on to win the games like arsenal away, Liverpool away that spring to mind. It seems the defence is settled now and I think that ma four clean sheets out of the last five games. If we can look good against arsenal and united at home then it looks bright for next season. I was calling for Marco to be gone but I’ve changed my mind. I’m optimistic after what I’ve seen recently 

[Shukes]

23 hours ago, nogs said:

Oh ffs we don't agree on something do we?! 

You can only play what's in front of you, we bossed them at their place, enjoy it you miserable sod. 

Exactly. Teams always play badly when we win with some people. Unless Gana doesn’t play, then it’s down to our midfield bossing them.

We played very well and made them look bad. That’s credit to the team and manager for the way we set up and played.

[Palfy]

22 minutes ago, Shukes said:

Exactly. Teams always play badly when we win with some people. Unless Gana doesn’t play, then it’s down to our midfield bossing them.

We played very well and made them look bad. That’s credit to the team and manager for the way we set up and played.

We dominated and Gana played his part in a good team performance, I have no problem with that it’s good to see I’m very infused with our midfield at the moment. 

[nogs]

On 30/03/2019 at 21:00, Bailey said:

Today it would have been the 3rd, 4th or 5th but next week it could be the difference between picking up all 3 points, a point or nothing at all. That matters to me. 

Do you disagree with what I said then or do you just disagree with the timing? 

Fwiw its also a little ironic that you then single out Siggy yourself.

I disagree DCLs finishing was terrible yes. I don't remember him missing any really clear cut opportunities. If anything I'd agree it's his decision making let's him down, he doesn't quite have that intelligence yet to get into the golden opportunity situations. I think that's mainly a maturity and experience thing. 

But yes my biggest beef is the timing. We've scored 6 goals in 3 games. He's now established himself as our first choice CF, he provides a very effective focal point that is allowing others to play around him. Do you think we are somehow carrying him, and scoring goals despite him? Imo he is getting picked on merit and it's working. 

And yeah I take your point about me not thinking Sigurdsson was all that effective. But I didn't describe him as terrible and he is a £45m senior pro who I don't see contributing that much when he's not scoring.