andym

looked the calmest person in the ground taking the penalty i think hes got the mental toughness lacking in too many of our other players

his general all round play has been much improved recently, but hes missed some great chances in the last few games. Not a natural goalscorer at all.

but we had just spent the previous 25 minutes showing great urgency and 'going for it'. Its not a surprise we couldn't keep it going, few teams can for prolonged periods. We had enough chances to win it , some poor finishing let us down today

Regarding this supposed lack of guts, it does seem that the particular point Adama gets subbed on has become the defining factor in whether Garde has taken a negative approach. Adama only got 7 minutes today, but doesn't complaining about that ignore the fact that for most of the 2nd half we were actually 'going for it' and doing well - what we had was actually working, and its totally understandable that it wasn't changed. Midfield was pressing, fullbacks were getting forward, we were getting balls into the box and shots on goal. Gestede missed an absolute sitter (and given how people have been going over past results picking out opposition misses as a reason we have been lucky and didn't deserve any points, shouldn't we do the opposite here?). Ignore the team put out on paper, ignore whether the subs were the ones we all think should have been made, and look at what actually happened. I didn't see a negative approach today, i didn't see a lack of guts. And ironically it fizzled out a bit once Adama came on - we had pushed West Ham back all half, but this actually nullified Adamas main threat.

i dont think we purposely set out to mostly attack down his side - we look to go down the left as well. The difference is with bacuna on the left he looks to cut back inside quite often, and we end up bringing the ball back round and trying to work a different opening. Hutton gets the ball and just runs blindly down the wing, before floating a cross straight to the keeper. Can't fault the effort, but he doesn't think the game well enough - you see this defensively far too often. The goal today was again down to his poor positioning and then standing off basically inviting the shot

but we did push, both last week and today. unfortunately we haven't got enough goalscorers in the team to take advantage of the chances we do create

I thought we dominated the game today, played some decent football and created more chances (and good ones at that) that we have in recent times. I also thought we generally kept it tight at the back, and at no point were West Ham really all over us. To me, that suggests the team selection and set up was right. Gestede had two prime chances that he has to take, and although i thought he generally played ok, those misses have cost us today

agree, its not like Hutton is getting done 2 on 1 all the time, which would suggest a tactical weakness. Its simply that Hutton is incapable of simply holding a position, and sticking close enough to his guy - if Hutton does his job we are not losing

Hutton tries hard but is woeful positionally. Hes been playing everywhere but right back this game, constantly gives opposition players 20 yards to receive the ball in and then just backs off inviting a shot. And then going forward he ruins every good attack with a shit floaty cross.

Gestede probably deserves to start, but that will probably just play into West Hams hands as they have Collins who likes to play against a physical but immobile forward

Has some good physical attributes but has absolutely zero awareness of what is going on around him.

They are working for him aren't they? They are there to assist the manager - they may have suggestions and input into recruitment, but just like with Sherwood, Garde has final say. This whole transfer committee thing is really a nothing story that has grown due to media coverage (possibly with the flames fanned by a certain ex manager). Most teams have transfer committees, technical/sporting directors, heads of recruitment etc. For example Stoke have Mark Cartwright, Chelsea have Michael Emenalo, Spurs have Paul Mitchell (who was previously at Southampton). The days of everything being handled by the manager are gone, and in theory that's no bad thing. It means when a manager leaves you don't end up having to replace a whole squad, change the whole structure of the club etc. There is more continuity, and this is being shown to good effect by Southampton for example. However, the effectiveness of any recruitment structure depends on having people who know what they are doing. And in the summer we definitely did not.

Teams miss great chances all the time, its not unique to teams playing us. People have been going on about how Newcastle, Bournemouth, Sunderland and Norwich have been showing the bottle we haven't. Well yes they have showed some fight, but they've all had some huge slices of luck as well. For example, Newcastle against Liverpool - Benteke missed an open goal from 4 yards out, Newcastle first goal was a huge deflection on a shot that was going wide, and Liverpool were denied a perfect legitimate goal. Norwich at Man U yesterday, Smalling missed a great chance late on to equalise. Bournemouth against the baggies- benefited from a sending off, got the winner from a penalty that should have been a free kick outside the box, and West Brom had a couple of great chances as well. Sunderland - look at their game at Palace, they were shit all game, palace had loads of chances, and then sunderland were gifted a winner. You could say we have been lucky in our 3 draws, but then could you not argue we were unlucky against Watford? (we missed some great chances and all three goals against were deflections and an own goal that you could say do not usually happen). We are a poor team, we are pretty much nailed on to go down, but i don't think its fair to denigrate the few hardworking points we actually have managed to get by such overly critical analysis. If you apply it to villas results, do the same for other teams around us - and you will find a similar outcome imo.

just seeing the goal again on sky, he was basically moving away from goal when he hit it. Some effort to wrap his foot around it, and it was hit with some pace

runs himself down dead ends too often

yep, and unfortunately that is something we have been saying far too many times over the last 2 years. I think he is part of the reason the defence is so jittery, he inspires no confidence. A few minutes in and him and Bacuna were putting us on the back foot with that ridiculous throw in situation

good athelete and generally a good defender, but needs to improve his reading of the game. He loses opposition strikers too easily from crosses - pretty much all of newcastles good chances were when he let his man get a yard of space as he was ball watching.

i thought he was actually decent apart from one mistake. Unfortunately that mistake was a huge one and cost us the goal.

didnt think he was as bad as some people are suggesting. He had some very poor moments (usually when him and sanchez were passing to each other), but he at least showed an ability to carry the ball from midfield, and he looked more engaged off the ball than he has in other recent games.

has obvious quality on the ball, but also has the workrate and desire to go with it

he was good until the last 5 or 10 where he got sloppy as he was done, did a lot of running today on a heavy pitch

to be fair we messed up some equally good chances saying that very disappointed we were happy to settle for a draw, we need wins

Ayew best player by a mile, Gestede did ok when he came on but he has no goalscorers instinct I'm convinced our defence is so jittery because of guzan. He inspires no confidence and yet again let in an entirely saveable shot

you stupid prick sanchez, chance to get it in the box and you do that. complete waste

lucky again, sanchez fails to track his man