PL: West Ham h Ratings & Reactions

[will87]

It was a good away performance from West Ham. It's not the worst I've seen us play but we lack a really accomplished striker, someone like the JPA of 03/04, links up the play well and can get on the end of chances in the box.

[CMduck]

Carew wasn't active until Robert Green got the ball, he wasn't offside.

[DiegoD]

So after sleeping on it lets start with the positives:

We kept a clean sheet and Friedel was barely troubled. We kept possession, past it round the back and played most of the game in West Hams - defending with possession i'm a big fan... Thats about it.

Now the negatives:

Why were the same 10 outfield players used that played against Blackburn? L Young down the right seemed like such an obvious choice its not funny, and we had just played on thursday night and I assume MON will want those players playing on wednesday again so why not start one or two of them on the bench.

Our play in the final 3rd was poor. The crossing was below par which was really disappointing as we got into such strong crossing positions so often. Then when a good cross finally came in there was either no one making the run or poor finishing.

Gabby playing with his back to the goal. Now that hes become a bit stronger he seems more keen on battling the CB with his back to goal rather that making runs and testing the keeper. A few examples being when Carew stole the ball off Green and instead of trying to beat Green while he was out of position he held onto the ball and wanted someone else to test the keeper, another time he made a half break got behind the defensive line and really should have pulled the trigger.

Ashley Young hugging the sideline. If someone can explain to me why he does this i would appreciate it. I noticed (especially with him on the right wing) he is always right on the sideline when he calls for the ball, even when we switch the play he doesn't come in enough. He used to be so effective when he would run at defenders and u didn't know if he was going around them and crossing or if he was going to beat them on the inside.

MONs lack of subs. This isn't a new one and has already been talked about enough but can't help but feel he needed to take a gamble on delf this game.

[Ponky]

I was very disappointed with our corners today, what was it, 15?

I thought after the 5th or 6th we might change it up, try a short one, change the taker but we kept plugging away with the same routine.

Considering it's one of our strengths, we wasted our chances.

To be fair they did change it up in the 2nd half, between Downing and Young, so that they were outswinging rather than inswinging, but it didn't matter because they were generally so overhit they were dead easy for the keeper to take or the defenders to simply clear.

[alienvillan]

Excellent game! Magnificent!

Relaxed, Sunday morning drive through the countryside, no rush, easy on the eyes.

I bet there wasn't a single player on the pitch not thinking about playing at Wembley. This performance wasn't unexpected.

[villa_shere]

Defensivley sound attackingly poor.

15 corners and i think only one troubles the defence/goalie.

Even the corsses into the box during the game were hit with no venom or direction.

When Carew came on for the last 30min he hardly touched the ball, the service to him was poor. Insted of playing to his strengths and putting it in his feet with his back to goal the ball was knocked for him to chase.

Gabby should have took his chance in the 90th min, he lacks the strikers instinct which we desperatly need this season.

2points dropped me thinks

[Jon]

Ashley Young hugging the sideline. If someone can explain to me why he does this i would appreciate it.

It creates more room mate.

we play with 2 genuine wingers, who we like to keep out wide, to give them more space to run at their man, 1 on 1 if possible. It also creates more room all over the pitch.

when attacking, having your wingers hugging the touchline means there is more room for the strikers and attacking CM's to exploit, as the full backs have to mark their wingers.

If the wingers come infield, it adds to the congestion.

however, wingers hugging the touchline does ask a lot of the CM two, especially when we lose the ball.

[Rodders]

Carew wasn't active until Robert Green got the ball, he wasn't offside.

he was a clear yard offside even before then :?

[Jon]

good effort from all the players, although the last 30 minutes or so some of the were clearly out on their feet (Milly, Stan, Downing, Gabby).

inept display though from MON:

1. Why the feck did L Young not play right back?

2. Wht the feck did MON not rotate the side, after a draining CC cup semi on thursday. What does he even have a squad for?

3. When players are clearly out on their feet, why not sub them? Or why not sub them before they can no longer move due to fatigue. Why do you even have subs MON?

[Hanky]

Carew wasn't active until Robert Green got the ball, he wasn't offside.

Carew was a mile offside when the ball was kicked which is what counts in situations like that.

[villa89]

1. Why the feck did L Young not play right back?

2. Wht the feck did MON not rotate the side, after a draining CC cup semi on thursday. What does he even have a squad for?

3. When players are clearly out on their feet, why not sub them? Or why not sub them before they can no longer move due to fatigue. Why do you even have subs MON?

I was asking those same questions especially the first one (I assume L.young is carrying an knock). I don't think I'll ever understand MON's hatred of using substitutions. One thing we did learn though is that if a team sets out to pack the midfield and get a 0-0 against us chances are they'll get it because we have no way to break teams down. We are counter attack or bust, there's no plan B and until we find one we won't ever finish top 4. (IMO).

[Richard]

Extremely disappointing and , without wishing to sound repetitive, I said last week that the lack of a decent striker would cost us this year

1 goal in 4 league games

[Jon]

Extremely disappointing and , without wishing to sound repetitive, I said last week that the lack of a decent striker would cost us this year

1 goal in 4 league games

which begs the question, "will MON be looking at bringing in a quality striker in the next 2 weeks?"

and if not, why not. I would assume it would not be a lack of finances, which would then beg the question as to why we can't get anyone in.

does MOn think what we have up front is good enough for top 4?

Or can he not get the players(s) he wants (a familiar tale)

[markeefc]

One thing that has really got my goat about the ref on Sunday and some may say it was good 'man management', but can it be right that he gives a team the chance to substitute a player before he has to send him off. Kovac was clearly given a last warning, rather than the ref doing his job, giving West Ham the chance to take him off. I know it may not add up to much but I found it frustrating and clearly favoured the offending team. Hey ho, moan over

[Richard]

I would assume it would not be a lack of finances

Again, and maybe a point for another thread, but why do you assume that? Big assumption for me is that.

[villa89]

which begs the question, "will MON be looking at bringing in a quality striker in the next 2 weeks?"

No.

and if not, why not. I would assume it would not be a lack of finances, which would then beg the question as to why we can't get anyone in. does MON think what we have up front is good enough for top 4? Or can he not get the players(s) he wants (a familiar tale)

I think its down to the fact that now we are challenging for top 4 the amount of (available) players that can improve us decreases dramatically. IMO there's very little chance of bringing in the top quality striker we need in January. Everyone is saying we need a goalscorer but so does every team and they don't grow on trees. Hopefully we can get a top class striker in the summer but I'd be shocked if we sign anyone in this window.

[Rob182]

Downing had a good game, I'm enjoying his return to action and I'd assume he's fully fit (or almost!)

I can't decide whether I prefer him on the right or the left though..

On the right he tends to cut inside and likes to run with the ball (he is good at it too! He took on 2 or 3 players each time he did it) but on the left we would have a natural, left footed player.. Which I think can only improve our performances..

There were a few occasions yesterday where Ash tried to make a left-footed pass down the line but just scuffed it and gave away a throw..

I like the way our players can switch, but I think MON should tell Ash to stick on the right and cross from deep (instead of running into the corner to do a bit of trickery and force a corner which is, more-often-than-not, dealt with)..

[Richard]

its down to the fact that now we are challenging for top 4 the amount of (available) players that can improve us decreases dramatically.

Is that the same for every team in or around the top 4 ? If so how do they manage to attract them then?

[STRAKER]

We played the usual one dimensional football and were too predictable. The need for a quality creative midfielder and striker is even more apparent now.

We won't get it though and O'Neill will preside over another collaspe this season.

[paddy]

Downing MOTM for me. Not a great performance (and by that I don't mean it as Phil McNumpty does) but better than the rest.

We really need a player who can win a game on their own, we lost to Arsenal purely because of Fabregas, the only reason we lost to Liverpool was Torres. They're the only difference between out team and theirs.

I asked the General about whether we'd learnt lessons about previous seasons and not investing in January on his thread and his answer was basically that MON has the full backing of Randy and Randy has never turned down a request from MON for money for a particular player. Which leads me to think that MON must think we've got enough. Because if the money wasn't there, I'm sure he'd at least strongly hint that that was why he wasn't spending.