West Ham V Arsenal (H) Sun 21st March

OutcastLondoner

I’m frustrated by the loss because I know we can do better. We have made it hard for so many teams to score against us. To let the weakest Arsenal team in a really long time to have so much freedom, when we were in control early on, is disappointing. It’s a reality check and I think we’ll learn from it but it’s a shame.

Mike2

EXETERHAMMER said:

I am feeling disappointed and frustrated 5 hours after the game. No analysis needed. We should have put the game to bed.

Me too @EXETERHAMMER
I don't care what team you are playing, when you blow a three goal lead it's just not good enough.

BubblesNeverDies

alderz said:

When Noble came on the commentators said it would be to sit in the space that Odegaard was occupying and close him out. If that was his job then it’s one of the worst performances he’s had in a West Ham shirt.

Lukerz said:

alderz said:

When Noble came on the commentators said it would be to sit in the space that Odegaard was occupying and close him out. If that was his job then it’s one of the worst performances he’s had in a West Ham shirt.

He is finished as a player here

IronHerb said:

thornburyiron said:

Nobes coming on so we are going even more defensive.

Noble on is not a defensive move. It just gives the opposition one player less to worry about.

Posted this last week. Just saying

BubblesNeverDies said:

Outcast, the big difference is there's a collective groan when Noble comes on, if comments on here and other forums are any indication. Sadly, Noble's days are over as a PL player.

OutcastLondoner

I still don't have a problem with him taking the captain's armband when he does come on.

Pearces_Left_Foot

We usually lose to Arsenal so I suppose a point is an improvement frustrating to score two own goals and hit the post . I think the lack of depth in midfield was exposed Noble did nothing when he came on we really missed Fornals energy in midfield. I thought Odegaard was excellent for Arsenal caused all kinds of problems. Was a bit frustated Bowen and Antonio did n't keep the ball better too busy trying to win cheap free kicks . I thought the ref turned against us after not playing the advantage and Moyes giving him an earful.

BubblesNeverDies

OutcastLondoner said:

I still don't have a problem with him taking the captain's armband when he does come on.

In the part of my comment that I re-posted above, I'm unable to see any reference to captain's armband.

IronHerb

So?

Hamstew

9 games to go. And we should really be winning at least 6 of them.

BubblesNeverDies

IronHerb said:

So?

So? ??

Mike2

@Pearces_Left_Foot "We usually lose to Arsenal so I suppose a point is an improvement".

Sorry i have to disagree with you.When you are three nil up,whoever you are playing you should see the game out.
The bottom line is we dropped two points yesterday and i still feel annoyed about it.

BubblesNeverDies

Watching MOTD and can't understand why Moss's stopping of play with Lingard clear through wasn't shown as that definitely was a major talking point.

Pearces_Left_Foot

@ Mike 2 I meant the result was an improvement not the performance yes we should have won at 3-0 up a few years ago we would have lost that game from 3-0 up and the fact we are disappointed we did n't win show some progress

jay_in_cpt

BubblesNeverDies said:

Watching MOTD and can't understand why Moss's stopping of play with Lingard clear through wasn't shown as that definitely was a major talking point.

Re this incident, did we get a free kick? Or did Moss drop the ball when play resumed? Can’t remember, if he did drop the ball I can only think he thought there was a head injury and it was our advantage? Not sure, either way seemed odd and in general there were quite a few times especially in the 2nd half he seemed unsure, about to blow his whistle then decided not to, I can remember 2 or 3 times seeing this which IMO is poor officiating...

IronHerb

It was a drop ball jay as he thought there was a head injury, but the player appeared to be getting to his feet when he blew the whistle.

jay_in_cpt

Thought so... pity we didn’t have top ref Mr Dean 🏃🤣👍🏻

thornburyiron

It’s over 20 years since we last let a 3-0 lead slip so I wouldn’t have expected this side to do that.
Having said that it’s not very often we get a 3 goal lead.
I found Lingard’s interview really telling as he was obviously disappointed and gutted but he had an air about him that was suggesting he thought it strange that right from the start of the second half the attitude was let’s defend this lead and he seemed a bit surprised.

OutcastLondoner

BubblesNeverDies said:

OutcastLondoner said:

I still don't have a problem with him taking the captain's armband when he does come on.

In the part of my comment that I re-posted above, I'm unable to see any reference to captain's armband.

You said he shouldn't give the captain's armband. I said I don't see the problem, comparing it to Milner getting given it when he came on. What you quoted above is your response to me. It was about the captain's armband, not whether he should come on.

OldCastleSwift

thornburyiron said:

It’s over 20 years since we last let a 3-0 lead slip so I wouldn’t have expected this side to do that.
Having said that it’s not very often we get a 3 goal lead.
I found Lingard’s interview really telling as he was obviously disappointed and gutted but he had an air about him that was suggesting he thought it strange that right from the start of the second half the attitude was let’s defend this lead and he seemed a bit surprised.

Their first goal killed the game for us, IMO. I think the old mindset crept back in and we started to panic. I actually felt quite flat at half-time, and I wonder of the players did too. The second half was a really desperate performance, which is odd from a team being two goals up, but I think the plan was to revert to type (i.e. concede possession, be resolute at the back and play on the break). We had a couple of chances to make that work and, as others have said, if Antonio puts his chance away it's 4-2 and probably game over.

baracks_a_hammer

This had shades of Spurs at home IMO. We also “panicked” a bit then when opening up a lead of more than one goal. Only difference is that the woodwork and other last gasp defending saved us on that day.

Even at home to Leeds, having opened up a lead we were not terribly convincing thereafter.

BubblesNeverDies

OutcastLondoner said:

BubblesNeverDies said:

OutcastLondoner said:

I still don't have a problem with him taking the captain's armband when he does come on.

In the part of my comment that I re-posted above, I'm unable to see any reference to captain's armband.

You said he shouldn't give the captain's armband. I said I don't see the problem, comparing it to Milner getting given it when he came on. What you quoted above is your response to me. It was about the captain's armband, not whether he should come on.

No, I posted only the part of my previous comment which dealt with Nobles days as a PL player being over, in line with the other comments I quoted.

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

OCS and Baracks,

To be fair, I would say we are in pretty uncharted territory as a club. So it's no real surprise that we don't quite know how to see out games we are comfortably winning against the likes of Arsenal and Spurs.

Nobody in our squad is used to smashing Arsenal 3-0 at home, or chasing 4th spot. We have a lot to learn if we want to do it regularly, but hopefully games like yesterday will help us learn.

ASLEFshrugged

As Carlton said on MotD Arsenal realised Rice/Soucek made it almost impossible to go through the middle so they had to go around the sides. They decided our left was the easiest, switched Saka back to his natural right side and pushed Chambers forward.

I don't agree about players being "flat" after half time, we had three good chances to make it 4-2 and another to make it 4-3, that isn't a team that gave up. It just wasn't our day.

Odegaard is class, why Real Madrid let him go on loan is beyond me

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

I don't usually think referees are biased, but it really did feel to me that we got nothing yesterday after Moss messed up with the advantage and Moyes gave him stick.

The ball moving for the quick free-kick was so poor and Moss can't have been far away.

Slacker

Hamstew said:

Lukerz said:

I think Rice failed to have a real influence on the game

Rice looks cream crackered

Apart from that box to box run and an on target shot in the second half you mean?

IronHerb

I don't think we intentionally sat back in the second half. Arsenal came out with their brand of football which is quick passing, quick feet and quick movement, on and off the ball. We couldn't get out as we couldn't get the ball. When we did we looked likely to score so although it is disappointing to blow a three goal lead we still played pretty well, when we were allowed to.
Take that performance into the Wolves game and we win as far as I see.

Fortuneseeker

We have got to get rid of this mindset about being inferior to the so called Top Six, the we usually lose to them so a point is a good result or we only lost by a goal. How are we ever going to progress if we only target the matches against the other so called "mid table" teams? Someone should have got hold of the team and managed the situation far better yesterday. DM was saying how many options Arsenal had so that goes back to our lack of transfer activity, yes that old chestnut! Attack is the best form of defence & I suppose giving up possession to the opposition and expecting the defence would hold out was going to eventually going go wrong. Cresswell found wanting or was it he simply didn't get any help? As you can see I am still feeling sore today but have tried to not give full vent to my disappointment that hopefully won't be needed come the end of the season.

jay_in_cpt

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes said:

OCS and Baracks,

Nobody in our squad is used to smashing Arsenal 3-0 at home, or chasing 4th spot. We have a lot to learn if we want to do it regularly, but hopefully games like yesterday will help us learn.

Apart from Lingard you mean......

thornburyiron

Ironherb lingers seemed to think that’s what we did and he seemed really frustrated that we didn’t give it a better go from the start of the second half.
Yes Arsenal having got the late goal before half time would have felt better and would be determined to come out with a good second half but we conceded all the momentum to them and relied on breakaways.

Yeoldhammer

Lukerz said:

I don’t think we blew the lead.

We got ourselves into a position to win the game, with still 2 thirds of the game remaining. Souček was very unlucky with his deflection to get them back in it. Arsenal played very well second half & we couldn’t hold out (Dawson was maybe a bit unfortunate too).

Despite all that, we had 2/3 chances to get a 4th before they got their 3rd. It was annoying but one of those things. Far more annoyed with the Utd game than that.

We did blow the lead though we were 3 up and drew 3-3. I'm sorry other than Man City and a select few teams abroad you really should not be folding a 3-0 like that.

MrsGrey

I'm disappointed we didn't get all 3 points. But I had no expectation of a win. Even at 3-0 up there was a lot of game to go and Arsenal are a quality side, who if they play to their best would be expected to beat us. So I'm not devastated.

When we drew with Spurs I credited it to good play, mentality and determination. I didn't dismiss the draw as only achieved because Spurs 'folded' - I gave 100% of the credit to West Ham for the result.

I can't not do that now. So, you know..

I can't agree with a lot of the reaction expressed by other posters.