West Ham UNITED vs City's Stars - Wed 1st Feb KO 19:45 London Stadium Fortress

Hammerwombat

Well that was a bit poor. ;doh

brookingsirons

Move on at least we can't play that bad again can we , I blame dimi ;lol

Hamstew

I hate that Noble isn't good enough

jay_in_cpt

We at least don't have to play Man City every week, is that a positive ;hmm
And perhaps Cheikh back for Southampton game...

OldCastleSwift

Actually thought Reid had a good game again. Fonte was decent. Carroll ran around a bit. The rest were woeful.

Byram got roasted tonight but as he is our only right back he has to play every game from here on in. Crazy situation to find ourselves in

Moore_than_a_nick

OldCastleSwift said:

Actually thought Reid had a good game again. Fonte was decent. Carroll ran around a bit. The rest were woeful.

Byram got roasted tonight but as he is our only right back he has to play every game from here on in. Crazy situation to find ourselves in

Yes, Reid had some great moments, as he did last time we got thrashed. I hope he'll be OK on the left of the central defence now - it didn't occur to me when we signed Fonte that our best defender would have to shift positions.

I thought Antonio deserves some praise - he made some amazing runs down the wing, even if they didn't come to much, partly due to lack of options. He certainly put in a shift.

Lanzini played rather like I was saying I thought he had against Boro - getting on the ball, few good dribbles into brick walls or giving the ball away.

Snoddy looked bright. Shame he couldn't have started, as he might have made more of the ball in the brief instants we had it than Lanzini and Feghouli did.

I'd like Antonio and Snodgrass as our wide attacking players from next game. Lanzini behind Carroll. Then when Ayew's back, bring him on for Lanzini if he's not having any joy.

Hard to say what to do to put some harrying and some bite into the midfield: seems like the players out there tonight can play like this when they want to. I find it hard to believe that Bilic told them not to put pressure on the opposition. Actually, not hard to say at all. I said it before: Kouyate must start in midfield when available.

NEoldiron

The thing you notice about Citeh is how quickly they move the ball, not so much by running with the ball or trying to dribble, but movement off the ball into space to receive a pass.
Plus, the whole team moves en masse up and down the pitch so that space is restricted within the lines.
We didn't help by not pressing the ball, you'd've thought that we would've studied Everton's win against them and taken that on board, or is match preparation restricted only to the training ground. ;hmm

thornburyiron

I'd have thought they'd have learnt a lesson from the cup tie. Watching again tonight it was so so easy for them as they could just pass through us because we weren't within 5 metres of them for most of the time.

Moore_than_a_nick

We've made more errors leading to goals than any other PL team this season. Nuff said.

Yeoldhammer

and keep making the same errors. No brains.

Bazshuayi

I never get too up or down after a game. Fact is, Citeh are scary up front and we cant cope with them. We dont have to play them anymore this season and no other attack from any other team has such an unhealthy affect on our defence ;wahoo Snoddy and Kouyate will come in and all will be fine (til the next time we play them) ;yercoat

alderz

On Reid's position, he has always played on the left of the pair for us when partnered with Collins, Tomkins and Faye, it's only when he's paired with Ogbonna that he moves to the right. IMO, the move back will help him ;ok

Adam

Just on my way home. Shame about the score line obviously but I didn't expect anything. They were so fluid in their attacks.

We basically just gave them the goals. I genuinely believe if we didn't gift them the first goal things could have been different. But once that first goal goes in, we collapse all too often.

On the bright side, the atmosphere towards the end wasn't toxic as it has been in previous thrashings we've had at the LS. On to Southampton game then. ;scarf

thornburyiron

Everyone knows that man for man City are superior to us but that doesn't excuse the fact that we make so many schoolboy errors time and time again and not just against them.
What gets to me most is that from the beginning of the season we have made error after error in midfield and defence but seem incapable of finding a solution. Given that Bilic was a central defender he doesn't seem to have passed on any kind of tactical knowhow whatsoever.
Apart from players I think a priority in the summer should be to find a decent coaching team. Since Dicks was taken on our defence has been a shambles for the most part and Dan anybody name the rest of our backroom staff and what they're supposed to be doing.

Hammerex

Perhaps this was the real reason Payet wanted to leave. ;hmm

Adam

Thorn

Bilic can't make the players not make any mistakes. It's the players' fault that they are making mistakes.

chicagohammer

Proud of the fans in the second half, heard bubbles ringing out,

We know and have to accept that man city are man for man better than us, but in the first half especially, it was men against boys.

Antonio, Carroll and Reid can hold their heads up and Snodgrass looked sharp enough but as for the rest of them..........

baracks_a_hammer

Adam said:

Thorn

Bilic can't make the players not make any mistakes. It's the players' fault that they are making mistakes.

Don't agree - for one and two thirds seasons we have had different personnel and different systems and yet we still consistently concede poor goals. Bilic is 100% accountable

NEoldiron

Thorn said:
"Apart from players I think a priority in the summer should be to find a decent coaching team. Since Dicks was taken on our defence has been a shambles"

Rio offered his services a few weeks ago didn't he. I wonder if his offer still stands ;hmm

baracks_a_hammer

We had these problems last season - count the number of times we conceded 2 plus goals in a game. Cracks were papered over by payet's feats at the other end. Example being Everton away last season where although we won we were all over the shop at the back v 10 men

We have been properly shellacked, especially at home time after time this season. Only our barely deserved 1-0 wins separate us from where palace and Swansea currently are. If our previous manager had been presiding over this shambles the servers over in Greece would have gone up in smoke by now, such would have been the vitriol..

Adam

baracks_a_hammer said:

Adam said:

Thorn

Bilic can't make the players not make any mistakes. It's the players' fault that they are making mistakes.

Don't agree - for one and two thirds seasons we have had different personnel and different systems and yet we still consistently concede poor goals. Bilic is 100% accountable

Poor defending/positioning and wayward passing are two different things. Do you really blame Bilic for Cresswell's pass which gifted De Bruyne the ball with acres of space for the first goal?

baracks_a_hammer

Adam

Yes I believe he is ultimately accountable for what happens on the pitch. That is his job for which he is paid handsomely.

Whatever he is doing in training isn't working. One and two thirds seasons now!

alderz

It's a lack of concentration from certain players that we didn't really see under BFS. I think that suggests that our defensive coaching isn't working as well as Slav would like

baracks_a_hammer

Alderz ;ok

He's had a very long time to get things right in that department IMO

SuzanneClaret

Well that went well ;doh

Yeoldhammer

City are a better team but i dont think you will find many teams who will get rolled over by them. Especially the mid table teams.

Vorselaarhammer

To me the players looked nervous from the start I think the 5-0 was on their mind.

The goals last night were some of the worst school errors we've made all season.

For the first goal, Cresswell passed blind into the middle of the pitch when there was not one of out players within 20yards, that is just shocking.

Even Sunday league know not to do that. Really Really Really Poor.

Adam

Can't say I agree. Bad defending is one thing but individual mistakes and lack of concentration is another thing.

Should Bilic try mind control tactics and keep them concentrated? These players are being paid tens of thousands of pounds a week. They shouldn't be making these many mistakes and imo, it's their fault.

Adam

Yeoldhammer said:

City are a better team but i dont think you will find many teams who will get rolled over by them. Especially the mid table teams.

I count 6 games this season where Man City have beaten teams by 3 goals or more. That's 42% of their wins. They're a pretty good side.

Yeoldhammer

2 of those belong to us. Who are the other 4?