West Ham UNITED away to Boro - Sat 21st Jan - 3pm Kick off

SuzanneClaret

You did us proud IH.

Hamstew

Fortuneseeker said:

Hamstew said:

Great win. Calleri is hopeless. That Traore fella is good

Hamstew,

IMHO - True, False, True.

Strikers thrive on confidence. Calleri may well leave this window but at least he managed to score for us, he hasn't had much of a run in the team and has actually scored more for us than a certain Italian international we recently released. Some people had no time for Feghouli or Obiang look how they have turned out. Any players of quality leave South America and go to China or Europe so the level of football there has dropped and it is easier to look better than you may actually be. Good luck to him if he goes this month, he will probably do someone a good turn given a chance.

;ok

That's fine I still think he's hopeless. Yes he scored and I'm happy that he did but he looks clueless to me. That goal was jam on toast.
Fletcher who actually does look half decent in his few opportunities has also scored more than the terrible Zaza.

McHammer

What a diff a few weeks mate. Now il be dissapointed not to finish 8th. 7th is doable too!!

IronHerb

;biggrin

MrsGrey

AC:

"I didn’t train all week and had a couple of days off, so I didn’t want to risk anything."I'm all good, looking forward to the next game. "

SuzanneClaret

;wahoo

Lukerz

;wahoo

Pengeman

Ogbonna is out for the rest of the season. Needs knee surgery for an injury that he ahs been carrying for a while. That explains the acquisition of Fonte. Good team performance against the Boro. We had good team balance and now need to avenge that defeat against MANC.

http://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2017/january/21-january/bilic-reveals-ogbonna-injury

IronHerb

Oh! I though Atkinson had a good game. He let players tackle and compete. Could have dished out a few more yellows but didn't.

MrsGrey

I thought he was inconsistent.

Let a challenge go, but blew for it the other way, etc.

(Not saying one side was advantaged more than another, just thought he missed/misjudged)

claretandbluesky

That was a great performance, it wasn't the play that was necessarily great but the desire, cohesion and resilience was first class. The Boro manager has said he is proud of their performance and has no criticism of his team which tells you they played well, yet we limited them to few real chances and took our own. I feel earlier in the season they would have put three past us with Triore in the team.

Reid once again masterful, reads the game so well. Obiang not foot perfect but maintained intensity throughout which we need as Kouyate is away, whilst Carroll is quite simply the difference between the beginning of the season and now. Disappointed in fegouli once again however.

Great three points which coupled with the three from Palace must now dispel any fears for now and allow the team to play with confidence.

I also agree that the ref had a good game, the difference being he was not looking to make a big decision just because he could have where as recently we have had big calls made for marginal stuff, for me the big calls need a ref to be certain.

Fortuneseeker

That's fine I still think he's hopeless. Yes he scored and I'm happy that he did but he looks clueless to me. That goal was jam on toast.

That's the type of player we have crying out for. ;whistle

Hantshammer

Last but one game on match of the day tonight

SuzanneClaret

Really ;doh

IronHerb

Aargh! Mid table obscurity

claretandbluesky

I actually think he would have missed the goal as the keeper looked to have it covered until the deflection, like Zsa Zsa he tries however.

Now Andy Carroll, there's a striker. ;bowdown

IronHerb

Thing is he got the shot away while being closed down. That's half the battle.

FlorinRaduclious

c&bsky - You surprise me with your opinion on Feghouli. I thought he had a good game, some decent runs down the right, and his passing was generally good. He put in a lovely ball over the defense putting Antonio through (where he should have at least got a shot on target if not scored, however was let down by a bad touch). Also he was covering for Byram well when we were under the cosh and put in some nice one touch passes when we were trying to break. He wasn't perfect by any means, some passes went astray and a couple of tackles missed but his overall contribution I felt was overwhelmingly positive. In my opinion the last two games he has really got up to speed with both the league and his team mates, and hopefully can continue, being that 'name' player I expected when we first signed him.

claretandbluesky

I would agree he has improved a little and got up to speed but I just find he doesn't really penetrate in the way you would hope and the way someone like Antonio does. I also feel his basic stuff such as first touch lets him down more than it should a Premiership player. I would keep him in the hope he comes good unless offered a sum which is hard to turn down as some of the figures rumoured were.

What I have found is that sfter watching a match I never find myself think Fergouli played well, at best I say he was better than he has been. He may come good Florin but I don't think he is likely to really get a long enough run in the side to do so once the African players are back.

FlorinRaduclious

Fair enough c&b, just a slight differing of opinion then (I still feel he was decent today). I fully agree that I hope there is further progress to come from him though, especially once he is more on wavelengths with our usual first teamers ;ok .

I do think though that unless we bring in a new top end winger or there is some miraculous u-turn in the Payet situation, even when the African boys return, Feghouli will still very much be in contention for starting.

Fortuneseeker

It will be interesting which team Slav puts out once the ANC finishes, we might be in for a surprise or two. There are some people who are of the opinion that certain players cannot be dropped (Noble ;whistle). Starter for Ten -

Randy
Sam Jose Reidy Aaron
Feg Cheik Pedro Manu Mikhail
Andy C

TwistandShout

I love this guy:

SuzanneClaret

Fortune

Bilic has dropped Noble.

OldCastleSwift

Biblical ;lol

Good manager, him ;wink

SuzanneClaret

I don't know what you mean ;whistle

jay_in_cpt

Just watched the goals again, our 2nd goal was pretty unreal, did anyone notice how many touches our players had in the build up to it, apart from Valdes save, there was loads of passes ;footie ;scarf

Lukerz

Thought some of our passing was very good all game, jay. ;ok

Some incisive, quick, accurate passing to open up space and get in behind.

It was a great result. Boro are one of the best defensive units in the league and we could've had 5 goals.

I felt the third goal slightly flattered us as Boro played well, but we were worth the 3 points.

ASLEFshrugged

Fortuneseeker said:

There are some people who are of the opinion that certain players cannot be dropped (Noble ;whistle).

We drop Noble, we don't win (unless its Accrington or FC Lusitanos). He's our lucky charm, illogical but true.

Adam

ASLEF

I'm not sure where you get your stats from but if you look at our record without Payet before our last two games, I'm pretty sure you could say the same thing. I don't think we had won without Payet (5-10 games I think).

Noble is our captain and does give us leadership (I'm guessing Reid would be captain if Noble doesn't play) but having Obiang and Kouyate in the middle would be mouth-watering.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Think we won't really know untill he is dropped

The only 2 games this season if I recall from the list someone posted was Tottenham away and United at home, neither games we expected to win

Also worth mentioning for 88 mins it was one of our best games against Spurs and likewise against United we started on fire and we're it not for the red card the game would've been so much different

I like what Noble brings in his tenacity and leadership skills but in purely football terms Obiang and Kouyate are superior central midfielders

Imo Obiang and Kouyate is our strongest pairing and it I'll only be after they've had time to play together we will can see if Noble is THAT important

Randy
Byram - Reid - Fonte- Cressy
Feghouli- Obiang - Kouyate - Lanzini
- Carroll- Antonio-

Imo that's our best team come February....and I doesnt exactly lack leaders...Reid, Fonte, Kouyate, Carroll