West Ham v Bournemouth - New Years Day 2020 (ko 5:30) - Match thread

Bazshuayi

:biggrin:

chicagohammer

On paper we may have played the same players in the same formation as previously, but we played to a different drum - we pressed and closed down higher up the pitch, were more direct in clearing our lines and played with more energy and purpose.

I agree that Bournemouth were poor but that should not take anything away from our overall improved performance.

My prediction is that Moyes will make us a difficult team to beat and will steer us clear of relegation, however the style of football may be a bit medieval and I would not be surprised if the old arguments come out of the woodwork regarding playing the west ham way etc.

Lukerz

I thought the only difference is the back five were under instruction to get it forward quickly, whereas the midfield & forwards got the ball down & played some nice stuff. Balbuena & Ogbonna were aggressive, attacking everything, & taking no chances when they had the ball in their own half. Fabianski tended to go long rather than roll the ball out or take a short goal kick, whilst Fredericks & Cresswell did their fair share of sending the ball down the line, & were relentless in getting up & down the pitch.

I think that is the difference with Moyes. He very much wants that back four & keeper to be solid & do what defenders do, defend. He doesn’t want them playing triangles outside our own area. He should get the best out of Haller, like he did Arnie & Tim Cahill, & despite all Pellegrini’s talk about what he wants us to do as a team, Moyes put all that Pelle said into action. I have not seen us press like that first half in years. Bournemouth were completely suffocated.

Very promising start & I hope we build on it. Clearly there are some very talented players there. Just needs to be tweaked & given that bit of confidence. If that back four starts defending like a proper unit, the midfield press & Noble/Rice understand their positioning, then we will start to shoot up that table.

SuzanneClaret

I see that you have all spoken about the many reasons why we won this game.

However, non of you have attributed it to the person who opened this thread.




You are welcome btw.

Bazshuayi

Suz, I think I speak for us all when I say that mere words cannot adequately do justice to the extent of your powers. I will humbly try though.

Moyes may be our new leader but the truth is that the heavy burden falls on your shoulders to guide us through the dark and frightening times. To build ours and the teams confidence. To get us on the right path to success and happiness. To achieve the impossible dreams and to pick us all up along the way when those little hurdles stop us mere mortals.

Your humility, selflessness, wit, charm and pure superwoman hammer powers will no doubt be called upon again. Perhaps even as soon as this weekend!

We all have total faith in you and thank you for todays biggest win in a decade :biggrin: :bowdown: :clap:

grey_til_I_dye

My thruppence halfpenny on yesterday's game.

Undoubtedly, Bournemouth were very poor and offered very little, but two observations:

Firstly, we stopped them playing by having a clear game plan which all the players followed. Kudos to Moyes for working out the plan, and to the players for following it.
I think it was on Squawka, but the suggestion was we overloaded the right side to put Rico under pressure, and certainly most of our good work was done down their right.

Secondly, I think if Pelle had sent out a team against that Bournemouth side we probably wouldn't have beaten them, and certainly not 4-0.

Paradoxically, what I liked about our performance yesterday, throughout the side, was not that we were brilliant, we weren't, but that everyone produced a 'benchmark' performance. We know that they can all play better (some more than others) but there is no reason to expect, or accept, that they will play worse.

We aren't going to win every game 4-0, obvs, but if the players keep to that benchmark, we are going to give everyone a game.

That performance has given opposition managers more to think about. Previously, I expect the plan against us was: 'stay in the game, and wait for them to self-destruct.'

If that performance is what Moyes can get from the players after just a couple of days, I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do after a couple of months.

:coyi: :scarf:

SuzanneClaret

Oh Baz

Hamstew

Quick mention regarding Fornals. Looks like he has really settled in now. I'd say one of the first names on the team sheet at the moment.

Expat_Hammer

Hamstew said:

Quick mention regarding Fornals. Looks like he has really settled in now. I'd say one of the first names on the team sheet at the moment.

I think he will get even better as time goes on.

I've even put him into my FF cheap team I'm that impressed :biggrin:

Lukerz

That was an amazing cameo by Arthur, too.

Almost like Moyes had wound him up & let him loose. Seemed to play in every position that wasn’t defence, & at times looked like he was playing in CM. Imagine having that sort of wildcard up your sleeve.

Great to see that Moyes isn’t even contemplating him as a LB, although he would probably do ok there with Fornals sitting in front of him.

Hamstew

I'd like us to get another left back and use Arthur as a more attack minded player. He's not afraid to take people on or have a shot from distance.

Bazshuayi

SuzanneClaret said:

Oh Baz

:hug:

alderz

Lukerz said:

That was an amazing cameo by Arthur, too.

Almost like Moyes had wound him up & let him loose. Seemed to play in every position that wasn’t defence, & at times looked like he was playing in CM. Imagine having that sort of wildcard up your sleeve.

Great to see that Moyes isn’t even contemplating him as a LB, although he would probably do ok there with Fornals sitting in front of him.

I agree with a lot of this, but one game doesn’t necessarily mean he isn’t contemplating him as a fullback. I hope he doesn’t, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see him as a left back again at some point.

McHammer

I loved Creswells tackle. Wasnt even a booking in my eyes.

Anderson could nutmeg a mermaid.

heathrowhammer

Well, well, well
More energy
More pace
More enthusiastic
Well done Moyes his coaching staff and players.
Bournemouth not great yesterday, but I think our tactics were spot on. Didn't let them settle.
COYI
Regarding fans leaving early. Unfortunately it happens every home game, a slow trickle from about the 80 minute mark.
Maybe some drums or something might enthuse the fans a bit more.
I think "ribman" whacks his false leg into a metal plate to generate noise.
But yes I think our fans could be more vocal in their support.

BubblesNeverDies

The thing that stood out for me was how often Noble was in their penalty area and creating chances. His best performance for a very long time.

McHammer:
"Anderson could nutmeg a mermaid."

OldCastleSwift

Lukerz said:

Seemed to play in every position that wasn’t defence, & at times looked like he was playing in CM.

I thought that too. Definitely looked to be playing LCM. Which I guess shouldn't be too suprising; his ball retention is pretty good and he can certainly carry it forward.
Not a long term solution, obvs, but now that I think about it he could probably play that 'see out the last 10 minutes' role pretty well.

baracks_a_hammer

Not sure if anyone else notices but when Anderson finds himself one on one v the keeper, he has a tendency to shoot close to the keeper. So when he scores it will likely have gone through/underneath the keeper? Happened a few times last season too?

Slacker

Every time Bournemouth played out from the back we pressed them into giving up possession.Two things there, it’s a long time since I’ve seen us do that, and why did they keep doing it?If I could see it surely Eddie Howe could see it.
It only seemed to change in the second half when the game was effectively won.

Lukerz

And thirdly, why did we never do this under Pelle, when he went on record more than once about that being what he wanted his teams to do?

Pearces_Left_Foot

A few things about leaving early first about 20% of our tickets are now Kids tickets and its an evening game so alot of parents leave early to avoid the crowds second there were engineering works between Southend and Shenfield so it was bus replacement . I stayed to the end but did n't get in till 9pm and I only live in Wickford . Best games we have played in ages Haller was getting support , we pressed well and we had a bit of luck aswell. I think Moyes will turn some of those games from 2-1 defeats to draws and a few draws into wins. We will still lose games but teams will have to work a lot harder to beat us. I hope the confidence returns to the team they certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves.

ianbishoplegend

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years said:

Brilliant start helped by an awful Bournemouth

Anderson still leaves a bit to be desired (slowed the game when he had chances to attack) but hes got some of the swagger back and looked very good

I think most players would dream of the nutmeg that started one of the goals. Thought he did a great job dropping back defending and also in pressing higher. A brilliant goal getting behind the defense, I wouldn't ask for more personally!

Hammerwombat

This is all very well, but Declan’s pass to Anderson from the halfway line was pure Bobby.

Lukerz

McHammer said:

I loved Creswells tackle. Wasnt even a booking in my eyes.

Anderson could nutmeg a mermaid.

To be fair, my first reaction seeing it live was "he's in trouble here".

I am very surprised VAR rescinded it, given the ref had given the red & I don't think you could say it was a clear error. Cresswell won the ball but was hard, out of control & slightly high.

Don't get me wrong, the sort of tackle I wish was allowed, but in the modern game, I am surprised he was allowed to remain on the pitch.

welovethehammers

Hamstew said:

Quick mention regarding Fornals. Looks like he has really settled in now. I'd say one of the first names on the team sheet at the moment.

And he always has a smile on his face. I don't know what happens behind the scenes but I can imagine he's a likeable guy and not a diva like a lot of players are these days.

claretandbluesky

That tackle was a text book tackle a few years back timed perfectly and took the ball completely cleanly. The only reason Cresswell needs to be careful is that if he had have mistimed that even a fraction he was definitely getting sent off. However no VAR could have sent him off for a tackle at that height which 100% cleanly gets the ball. To have sent him off would have outlawed the perfect tackle.

yoyo

To be fair, alas in this day and age, its a tackle he shouldnt have made, 40 yards out and 4-0 up. Could cost the the team dear in another match being down to 10 men, being reckless

claretandbluesky

I agree YoYo, he shouldn't have made it because the margin for error is so small and at 4-0 up it's unnecessary, my point is that as it was it was the perfect tackle. The reason for not making it is the current game has no margin for error for such a committed tackle.

He had to get the ball perfectly cleanly or he was off, luckily he did.

The mistake was the yellow in my view as he is either off if he misses the ball or its a perfect tackle. They chose the middle ground in my view as they like to referee the players reaction or injury.

jay_in_cpt

Luckily we had a rubbish ref as VAR being the one & only Lee Mason, I'm convinced he'd had a few Sauvignon Blanc's in to make that ruling..but I'm for 1 not complaining..
Most, if not all pundit's / ex refs that Iv'e seen discussing it are surprised that the original decision was overruled ..here's to you Lee Mason, the best decision youv'e ever made :bowdown:

mike

horshamhammer said:

MrsGrey said:

horshamhammer said:

MrsGrey said:

So disappointing to see West Ham fans leaving early. Could ya not just stay and clap the players and the new manager. Just once. I'm sure it would mean a lot.

Probably the neutrals and tourists.

I know we'll disagree on the this, but that sounds to me like a cop out.

TBF I wasn't there today so have no idea, but in my experience non West Ham fans make up a large amount of our match day attendance these days so I wouldn't be surprised.

I know this an old discussion but i had to go back to it.
This was a story that has been banded around since we have had the new staduim.People saying that non west ham supporters were buying season tickets just so that they could watch premiership football.
I have sat in the billy bonds stand for the last four seasons and can categorically say that the majority of people around me are mostly all west ham fans and any "tourists" are very much in the minority.
To say that non west ham fans make up a large amount of our attendances is imo frankly tosh.