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Comments
On the positive. Rice must surely be the best player ever at the club, I know that is a big statement but if alongside each other today there would be no contest with Bobby Moore as we know that just fitness and strength developments alone would ensure Bobby couldn't match him' but if we look at influence upon a match within their time I don't think even Bobby had the repertoire of skills and ability to influence a game that Rice has. I actually feel you could put Rice anywhere on the pitch and he would perform to a very high standard, centre back, midfield or centre forward, he is just very good at so many things and just seems to still be getting better
I agree Antonio is off the pace and I have always felt his decision to to play for Jamaica would cost us.
I agree Lanzini has earned his place in the starting line up in place of Benrhama now, Benni is so talented but lacks a bit of brain at times which means he chooses the wrong thing when it matters. He can do things others can't and may be an effective sub, coming on for Lanzini or Bowen later in matches.
Masuaku is much the same, great talent but always worries me as probably the least disciplined player we have and will makes mistakes each match.
Bowen is great but some reason doesn't find the net when you think he should.
The striker situation has irked me for a long time. Antonio has done really well under Moyes but he's an all or nothing kind of player; when he's good, he's really good, but when he's bad, he's League 1 standard, IMO. We've needed cover/competition since Haller left but just haven't addressed it, which is poor. Bowen, as good as he is on the wing, isn't clinical enough to be a PL centre forward. His conversion rate this season is 14%, which is very low. Antonio, himself not known as the most clinical of strikers, is at 43% and Josh King - who a lot of fans turned their noses up at - is at 44%. Even Joelinton is at 16%.
I honestly think that any PL club, let alone one that starts the season in four competitions, needs at least two out-and-out strikers at the club. Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.
Last night's result wasn't purely down to Antonio, obviously, but the lack of options to change it up up front certainly had an impact, IMO. Antonio wasn't playing well but there was no-one to replace him, particularly against Duffy and Dunk. When Antonio can't out-muscle a centre back, he really struggles, and it would have been a big ask for Perkins to come and make an impression against two strong, experienced pros.
I think we also suffer at left back when Cresswell isn't playing. Johnson is an ok replacement, but how many times did he have the option to cross with his left last night, only to cut back onto his right? Masuaku is clearly not trusted there (rightly so, IMO) so again, lack of options impacted our performance.
Rice's performance was the only positive on the night, but even that is bitter-sweet. As much as he loves the club, he wants CL football and with the top three pulling away, I can't see us holding off Arsenal and Man U for 4th. Will he settle for another EL campaign (at best) with us if Man City are looking for Fernandinho's replacement?
We’re 4th in the league, last 16 of Europa and in the 1/4 finals of the league cup.Just let that sink in for a bit eh, before criticising a young full back for one bad cross, or a striker who had an off night.
This is West Ham we’re talking about not Chelsea. I think some need to get a a grip.
And there was no criticism of Johnson, by the way; just an opinion that he struggles at left back. If anything it was a criticism of Moyes for playing someone out of position.
We're fourth in the league on merit, absolutely, and the players and Moyes have received plenty of praise on here for it. And because we're fourth, there's nothing wrong, IMO at least, with being disappointed with a home draw against Brighton.
I also heavily dislike the fact that Brighton.... of all teams is completely dictating the game away from home.
On your point about Antonio having an 'off night', I think he's been struggling for a while now. His early season form got him plenty of (deserved) praise, so it's fair game for his drop in form to be commented on.
As with Johnson though, I'm not blaming the player necessary - all players will have a dip - my frustration is more with Moyes and the board who didn't, IMO, take the necessary action in the summer re the left back and striker positions.
Which is what we were doing last season; Lingard, Bowen and Antonio were brilliant on the break. We've done well in patches this season, but as stated earlier, Bowen's conversion rate is well down on last season, and when you compare Lingard's conversion rate from last season (41%) with Benrahma's this season (33%), you can see that we've not been as clinical in the final third so far this time round.
Overall a poor performance due in the main to Antonio and Benrahma being unable to keep any sort of possession and so allowing Brighton, who play some nice football, to have so much possession that they were likely to score. The bringing on of Masuaku made sense as we needed his pace to try and counter Lamptey but taking Fornals off was, imo, an error and it should have been Antonio who once again was pretty much a waste of space.
It's not the end of the world drawing with Brighton and losing to Wolves and City, when maintaining a foot in all three games, but our expectations have probably risen a bit too high. Two defeats and two draws in eleven games is not much of a blip imo so no reason to keep harking back to the lack of ST and LB situation. You either trust Moyes when he said he couldn't get the players he wanted, or you don't. I know who I trust.
Bring on the Chavs.
COYI
To an extent, yes. But only in as much as all teams rely on an element of luck.
For example, I think we've been lucky that Cresswell hasn't been injured so far, because when he's not in the team our performance on the left flank is compromised by having to play a right back there. Had Johnson been at LB all season, we may not be 4th right now.
But there's luck and then there's planning, and that's where I think the manager and the board have made a mistake. Not saying I'm right or wrong because I'm stating an opinion rather than a fact.
We all know it's a squad game nowadays, and bringing in Kral addressed one of the concerns (although I'm surprised he hasn't played more, to be honest), but I still think we're light in some areas and, as you say, that's shown over the last few games.
We demonstrated last season that we could compete with the big clubs without spending that amount of money.
I would have thought a better left back than Johnson and another striker would at least improve us and our chances of competing further.
We are not a big club, we have limited funds therefore we have to have a shrewd manager to get the most out of what’s available .
A poor performance here and there is always going to happen BECAUSE WE’RE WEST HAM!
I just don’t get the “well we’ve always needed x y & z” just because we’ve hit a slightly iffy patch
We did fantastically well last season and if we get anywhere near that again it will be a marvellous achievement.
My view is that we've needed them irrespective of how our form is. Even if we'd won last night I'd still think that we need cover for Antonio and Cresswell. It's not about recent form for me; it's about having a balanced squad that can accommodate injuries and players going off the boil.
This, at least, we can agree on
Still, it has been a very good start and better than I'd thought..
Pity that Antonio and Benrahama are very much out of form, and for quite a while now IMO
Benrahama can easily and IMO should have been replaced afew matches back by Lanzini, Antonio, sadly not so easy to fix....
COYI
You could spin that and say Two defeats and one draw in our last 3 matches though.
But it's one win, one draw and one defeat in our last three games.
It’s just because we are West Ham and therefore got the results the wrong way round it is so frustrating. You could argue that we are over achieving in some areas
Liverpool - expected loss ?- WIN
Wolves - expected draw? - LOSS
Brighton - expected win?- DRAW
4 points either way.