West Ham V Arsenal (H) Sun 21st March

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Comments

  • Dodger58Dodger58
    I think Diop has been very good. He looks awkward sometimes, but makes some good interceptions and looks reasonably composed on the ball. Dawson was unfortunate with both own goals, but couldn’t sort his feet out for today’s.

    Agree Antonio looked spent, but he had an excellent first hour. I’d have left Benrahma on and taken him off with that substitution.
  • IronHerbIronHerb
    OldCastleSwift said:

    alderz said:

    When you’ve been three nil up and you don’t win a game, then it is absolutely 2 points dropped. Arsenal deserved to win on the balance of the game, but to throw away a three goal lead is just not good enough at any level.

    We crucified Spurs for it. We can expect the same and it'll be deserved.
    But Arsenal played really well.
  • OutcastLondonerOutcastLondoner
    Dodger I think Diop’s done some good things but also made mistakes. The partnership with Dawson just isn’t as solid as when we had Ogbonna. They often seem to be looking at each other when they get away with things.
  • ScotHammerScotHammer
    Pengeman said:

    Shame to drop two points but Arsenal had a strong bench. We had no game changers, only spent players like Noble or plodders like Fredericks. We need a better squad and it will take a while to build it. Fornals' energy was sorely missed today. I

    Agree we missed Fornals today to keep Chambers quiet.
  • HamstewHamstew
    Dodger58 said:

    I think Diop has been very good. He looks awkward sometimes, but makes some good interceptions and looks reasonably composed on the ball. Dawson was unfortunate with both own goals, but couldn’t sort his feet out for today’s.

    Agree Antonio looked spent, but he had an excellent first hour. I’d have left Benrahma on and taken him off with that substitution.

    He was fine yes but we just have no one to bring on for him. Can't really do anything about it now but it needs to be addressed. Can you imagine playing with this squad in Europe?
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    Hamstew said:

    Just comes down to squad depth. Our first 12 or 13 players are burning out. Antonio looks spent.

    Mate, this has been such a frustration for me. We've done so well, but imagine where we could be if we had a third option in CM and an actual striker.

    Arsenal's bench had some very good options, and a couple of potential game-changers. Ours didn't, and hasn't all season, really.

    This season is such a good opportunity to get into Europe, and I'm worried that our lack of depth will cost us those places. Honestly don't think Liverpool, Wolves, Spurs and Arsenal will be as bad as they have been this time round, so if we don't get 5th or 6th then it could be a while before we get the chance again.
  • thornburyironthornburyiron
    Jesse is very disappointed with that result and says we didn’t have the confidence to push on when we were 3-0 up and should have put it to bed and also we should have started the second half better.
  • baracks_a_hammerbaracks_a_hammer
    Antonio has missed loads of very presentable chances in 2021
  • HamstewHamstew
    edited March 2021
    4 points from Spurs, Man U and Arsenal isn't too bad. But 6 would have been sweet.
  • Dodger58Dodger58
    Hamstew said:



    Can you imagine playing with this squad in Europe?

    We clearly cannot cope with Europe with the current squad. Champions League would likely be embarrassing, so I hope we don’t qualify for that! Need to add significantly in the areas we are all aware, but not just add bodies, which is where Slav went wrong. We must focus on adding quality that can play first team football and continue to invest in the Academy and ‘prospects’.
  • HamstewHamstew
    Hopefully Fornals and Arthur back after the break.
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    Hamstew said:

    Hopefully Fornals and Arthur back after the break.

    And Ogbonna. Those three in for the run in and we have a chance of maintaining top 6.
  • baracks_a_hammerbaracks_a_hammer
    Considering we are a club which is rarely in the mix for winning anything at all, there is no way I would wish for us not to qualify for the CL, regardless of the depth of our squad!!
  • IronHerbIronHerb
    edited March 2021
    Like jay I'm over it. We played well for 35 minutes and Arsenal for 55. Always disappointing to lose from the position we were in but we had two golden chances to kill it off but Antonio couldn't finish. The Noble substitution was sheer nonsense, he could and should have brought Lanzini on to fill the midfield.
    Still another point against a dangerous opponent. Upwards and onwards.

    COYI

    Oh yeah -
    claretandbluesky said:

    Defence was poor for the first time in a long while. Credit to Arsenal however as once the first goal came back they showed such tenacity and belief.

    No team should lose after being three up.

    Disappointing I know but we managed a draw. 😂

  • baracks_a_hammerbaracks_a_hammer
    IronHerb said:

    The Noble substitution was sheer nonsense

    When is it anything other than that these days?? 😂
  • IronHerbIronHerb
    baracks_a_hammer said:

    Considering we are a club which is rarely in the mix for winning anything at all, there is no way I would wish for us not to qualify for the CL, regardless of the depth of our squad!!

    I mean, we could all sing: -

    🎼Champions League, we're having a laugh....
  • yoyoyoyo
    We may never get this close again to champions league and I would grab the chance if it comes our way. If we're not striving for that as a club then what's the point? I don't think we'll be there at the end of the season though. I can see us dropping 2 or 3 places
  • IronHerbIronHerb
    I think we're striving, don't you?
  • Dodger58Dodger58
    edited March 2021
    Baracks, my reasoning on Champions League is that I just don’t believe we will get in a good enough squad for next season to do ourselves justice in both the Champions and Premier Leagues. However we should be capable of performing far better than the recent past in the lower European league (whatever it is called next season).

    If I am right, then I think poor performance in the Champions League with reduced performance in Premier League would lead to more friction between supporters and GSB, further reduction in investment and longer term would actually have a negative effect on our progress.

    I may well be being overly negative here, but I would prefer steadier improvement. I would be disappointed if we don’t qualify for the lower European League as I do think we deserve to.
  • EXETERHAMMEREXETERHAMMER
    To be fair, Moyes is working miracles considering our lack of squad depth. He should be rewarded with a chunk of money for transfers no matter where we finish.
  • OutcastLondonerOutcastLondoner
    We need a versatile CM. Someone with energy who can do the defensive role of one our central two are injured but also play a different role alongside Soucek and Rice when we want to play a different way. It would’ve been useful to have an dynamic CM pressing them in midfield when we needed to tighten up.
  • baracks_a_hammerbaracks_a_hammer
    Might not be a popular opinion but on deadline day, when it was clear no-one else was coming in, I wish we had agreed to cancel Anderson’s loan. He’s barely playing with Porto. He might not be Moyes’ cup of tea, however IMO there would surely have been some circumstances where he would have been a good option for us to have?
  • yoyoyoyo
    I do think we're striving and have had a great season to be proud of. I hope the owners somehow back it up and we can strengthen and continue to strive or our striving would have been striven....... is that even a word?
  • Dodger58Dodger58
    Much has been said about how Arsenal attacked down the flanks and the problems it caused, but I thought they really took us apart through the middle. It was far too easy for them to go through the middle to attack us from the “D”, Odegaard was heavily involved in this. Rather than bringing on Noble, Johnson slipping back into left wing back and moving to a back 5 would have been more effective IMO.
  • thornburyironthornburyiron
    Bowen as well has said that they should have put the game to bed but dropped and dropped and invited pressure and started the second half poorly and got punished. You can’t defend for 45 minutes and expect to get away with it he said.
    Begs the question why we did it as we tend to do it a lot.
  • IronHerbIronHerb
    edited March 2021
    I thought we were forced back, which against a team like Arsenal when they turn it on, wasn't a surprise.

    PS
    I thought Bowen showed some of his old form today.
  • baracks_a_hammerbaracks_a_hammer
    Dodger

    Fair points (on CL qual). From my point of view though I think it is very difficult to define and implement a “rate of progress” especially in today’s game. Leicester’s “leap” arrived suddenly and barring a couple of blips they remain in the mix a lot for European places. Then a case like Bournemouth. Each year, they are seemingly inching forward as a PL side, then suddenly pop!! I just think that if some “prize” is within our grasp sooner than we might have thought, I would still be desperately hoping we make it. Even in spite of us having dubious owners.
  • LukerzLukerz
    I think Rice failed to have a real influence on the game
  • IronHerbIronHerb
    6th and 7th can get into the Europa League and Europa Conference League, depending on the League and FA Cup winners league position. I think our realistic target is 5th and will take any position that qualifies for a European spot.
  • IronHerbIronHerb
    What I think I mean is that I want City to do the quadruple. 😂
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