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

Yeoldhammer

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

baracks_a_hammer

"It's a heavy defeat but after every one of them we bounce back"

Yeh, right on there, Slav ;lol

Well we must be bouncing more than Zebedee because this season the next capitulation is only around the corner.

TheMadcapLaughs

Vorselaarhammer said:

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.

This stems from a point I made on identifying a system and having the courage to stick with it. If you play the same system week in week out and train accordingly you should instinctively know who is around you and where they are likely to be. My one criticism of Bilic is he doesn`t seem to have settled on a system. Some of this is down to lack of decent available players (right back!!!) but not all of it. The first team, reserves, youth teams should play a system so that players from each team should be able to move seamlessly between teams without too much bother. It does help also if the players RUN AROUND A BIT. ;angry

Pearces_Left_Foot

The fullbacks well left exposed all game when we had the ball two or three players were straight on us, we were out worked , out played

Vorselaarhammer

Madcap - Certainly consistent tactics etc are important no doubt.

But Cresswell could also have booted it out, he was on the touchline, so if you feel so pressured that you will lose the ball, just kick it out.

Choosing to pass it into the middle of the pitch, what's that about...

It just bugs me that goal.

Adam

Stoke, Bournemouth, West Brom, Hull and us (once). I was counting Crystal Palace but that was in the cup.

billybondsbeard

For me, it really showed Byram's shortcomings.
He basically shows a lack of pace from a standing start. If you are a pacy winger, all you have to do is get fairly close and push it past him and you will succeed every time, or he will pull your shirt or obstruct you. He rarely wins a 50 50. Its like watching an ageing sunday league full back.
Champo standard at best
And Cresswell has gone backwards as well.
Its alarming the ease at which our flanks get attacked.
looks like we are playing Zonally at the back last night.
Every time City's wide players received the ball they were in acres of space.

Hammerex

alderz said:

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

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink it.

alderz

True, but, again, there are managers that see a lot less of these silly mistakes with "lesser" players. How many mistakes have West Brom given away that lead to goals? I'm not suggesting that I would rather we played like West Brom, but it is clear, IMO, that we wouldn't see as many silly errors with a more defensively driven side, so to suggest the manager has no control is wrong, IMO.

Lukerz

It's what comes from a more expressive style.

Cress could've lumped it down the line. But instead thought he'd find a player. Why there wasn't a player in the zone Cresswell passed to was the bigger issue? The shape was all wrong.

IronHerb

Sorry Luke but you don't pass into a zone expecting someone to be there do you?
Cressie has a history of these passes.

Vorselaarhammer

Luke - If there is nobody there then it isn't a pass....

Lukerz

I agree completely. It was 100% Cresserz fault.

But we had two deep midfielders sitting, yet neither anywhere near the centre of the pitch?

NEoldiron

Luke, you mean we had some midfielders on the pitch last night?
Who were they, or better yet, where were they? ;hmm

baracks_a_hammer

I think it was pat nevin who said our set up was perfect for Man City but if they tried that same approach against other teams they'd be badly exposed.. ;hmm

IronHerb

Pat Nevin. Nuff said.

Vorselaarhammer

Hopefully King Kouyate is back for the next game, will help sort out the MF.

NEoldiron

Baracks, did Nevin mean perfect for Man City to steamroller us?

baracks_a_hammer

Luke, an "expansive" style of play implies there would be a number of chances for us too-where were they? Or did I blink and miss them?? ;hmm

baracks_a_hammer

IronHerb said:

Pat Nevin. Nuff said.

Well it turns out he was right on this occasion

baracks_a_hammer

NEoldiron said:

Baracks, did Nevin mean perfect for Man City to steamroller us?

Yes I believe that was the context

Lukerz

Think it's time for Randy to be replaced by Adrian now.

Pearces_Left_Foot

Sometimes you just have to admit the other team were vastly better than us and last night was one of those nights. Their bench was worth more than our entire team they brought on Fernandinho and Aguero to our Fernandes and Fletcher just shows the gulf between the teams.

Slaven_Cups_His_Beard

Well that's the end of that!!!

;weep

Expat_Hammer

Don't look at me, I've done two of these thread, grand total of two games ;weep

Slaven_Cups_His_Beard

Slaven_A_Laugh_Lukerz said:

Think it's time for Randy to be replaced by Adrian now.

Not sure what he did wrong?

Completely exposed for the first 3 goals and almost got to a well struck penalty

Apart from that barely had to make a save

He would not be the area I'd be looking at for players to be replaced right now

OldCastleSwift

Yeah, Randy was the least culpable player on the pitch.

We basically had no full backs last night, and that was the biggest issue for me.

Huttonhammer

In their last 5 away league games Man City have

Beat us 4-0/lost to Everton 4-0/lost to Liverpool 1 nil/ beat hull 3-0 and lost to Leicester 4-2.

Why do people keep going on about how good Man city are ? They have lost 3 of their last five away league games.

The difference is our players do not compete at the level required and make very stupid mistakes it is not because Man city are a great side.

We get thrashed too often because we start games in the wrong mind set and make errors young kids make but well paid professionals should not make time after time.
There are far too many excuses being made by everyone at the club and not enough money being spent on better quality players.

alderz

Don't think Randy can be blamed for any of the goals Luke?

The changes I would like to see for the next game are Snodgrass and Kouyaté coming in, with Feghouli & either of Noble or Obiang coming out.

Swissiron

Hammerwombat said:

Which is the best biscuit to have with Stilton? Cream cracker, Cornish wafer, water biscuit or Bath Oliver?

water biscuit