West Ham vs Lyon (H) Thusday 20:00 KO

Fortuneseeker

Good result under the circumstances. Tete we
were believed to have wanted but we couldn’t sign him due the EPL restrictions so it was just our luck he then ends up playing against us.

claretandbluesky

Good result considering.

I think we can get a result at Lyon, we will be slight underdogs being away but I think the teams are closely matched and with the tactical considerations of a two leg tie removed now I think we may be a little better next week.

Dawson was superb, Fornals was good but few others stood out.

The Ref was terrible. I go on about Premiership refereeing but that was as bad as I have seen in a while, and I feel that even without that one big decision. I was disappointed to see players shaking his hand afterwards, and Dembele for that matter. I don't know if it's just a habit to them but that Ref could have made so much hard work go to waste in this competition, what do you want to shake his hand for?

I really felt Lingard was the player who would have made the difference this evening, creativity behind Antonio and direct running. I thought we would give their defence more trouble than we did in the first half.

All to play for!

Dodger58

I love the enthusiasm the Cole twins show when covering West Ham matches.

alderz

Dodger58 said:

I love the enthusiasm the Cole twins show when covering West Ham matches.

OldCastleSwift

thornburyiron

It was a battling performance but we must play a lot better next week. They had 72% possession and 23 shots to our 5 and they were the away team.

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

OCS - that is horrifying.

OutcastLondoner

I’m still furious at that pitch invader. Can’t believe he was touching the badge as he was dragged off.

Dawson was so good towards the end.

claretandbluesky

An absolute Idiot, hopefully will never be allowed in the ground again.

Dawson was great, it's hard to believe he cost so little. I would love to see him playing at Barcelona should both teams manage to get through. I hope he gets a decent wage as I know he was brought in as 4th choice centre back and expected to bench warm originally, yet he is as central to our success in so many matches as players with a much bigger profile.

Kuchinghammer

We needed a real team performance with Rice shackled by having a yellow. And then down to 10 men. And the lads delivered. They're awesome 👏

steve

Having settled down a bit plus half a bottle of red .Feel okay about the result would have taken that at half time .Dawson was massive in fact the whole team was .Hope we do them nex week also hope we get a ref who wont fall for them falling over .Now have to finish that red off

Expat_Hammer

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes said:

OCS - that is horrifying.

Just wait and see if Hamstew does a version

Pearces_Left_Foot

Got back late from match last night thought we did n't really perform that well Rice had his worse game for awhile gave the ball away several times will sloppy play Benrahma overplayed and gave the ball away cheaply when a simple pass was on the defence played well having to soak up some much pressure but we failed to keep the ball even before the red card. The ref allowed Lyon to control the pace of the match with all their fake injuries and time wasting in the first half and the match had no real flow which suited Lyon. A decent response in the 2nd half and Bowen's goal could prove crucial in the 2nd leg. Maybe after the heroics of Sevilla I was expecting a bit more think we needed to be a little bit more savvy with Lyon and their theatrics and their experience in europe showed. Hope we get a better ref in the 2nd leg some people were saving Herr Bung was doing the 2nd match aswell I hope not .

Slacker

steve said:

Having settled down a bit plus half a bottle of red .Feel okay about the result would have taken that at half time .Dawson was massive in fact the whole team was .Hope we do them nex week also hope we get a ref who wont fall for them falling over .Now have to finish that red off

I think Dawson has been really good all season really( bar the odd mistake ), if Virgil Van Dyke had hit that 60 yard pass to Benrhama in the first half we wouldn’t hear the last of it.
Getting close to being my HOTY.

alderz

I’ve watched it again in the cold light of day, and I regret to inform you all that it still wasn’t a red card.

Fortuneseeker

One of the problems with the Red card is the perception of it not being a “clear & obvious error” as on any day of the week it is. ☹️

Pearces_Left_Foot

UEFA in ensure fair play in the 2nd leg have appointed Michel Dine to ref the 2nd leg. Michel who lives in Lyon, used to play for Lyon, has a Lyon season ticket holder and a Lyon tattoo is said to be looking forward to the game :-)

yoyo

Winner tales all 90minutes coming up. I reckon that's as good as Lyon get and couldn't beat 10 men. Moyes has sussed their game plan. 0-2 away win ( a tad of bravado but it's do-able )

Fortuneseeker

P_L_F, I have just goggled Michel Dine. It states he is the Director of Football @ Olympique Lyonnais?

buffybegood

Fortuneseeker said:

P_L_F, I have just goggled Michel Dine. It states he is the Director of Football @ Olympique Lyonnais?

That'll be right then.

alderz

Fortuneseeker said:

One of the problems with the Red card is the perception of it not being a “clear & obvious error” as on any day of the week it is. ☹️

I think VAR is a really great tool that has been completely set up to fail by decision makers. 'Clear and obvious' is really problematic wording, as it means something different to every person interpreting it in each situation. There absolutely must be better ways to operate it than what we have now.

My personal preference is to have maybe 3 officials watching in VAR, and for every incident they currently look at they vote on what the decision should be. If they all disagree with the on field call, then it gets overruled, if it's 2-1 against the referee, they go to the monitor, and anything else you just carry on.

Bazshuayi

chicagohammer said:

Not here but did anyone see Payets goal for Marsaille in the Europa conference? Extraordinary strike

I miss loving him and still hope in time I can watch all of his goals and smile without any tinge of anything else

jay_in_cpt

PLF -
The people saying it will be the same ref for 2nd leg are thankfully wrong, this I’m confident to say won’t happen 👍🏻⚒️

IronHerb

Lukerz said:

Shocking ref, Cresswell should know better

Our inexperience showed there

From our most experienced player. 😂

IronHerb

OldCastleSwift said:

I like Fornals.

But he's done nothing in the game.

Unlike Benrahma who gave the ball away at every opportunity.

IronHerb

OldCastleSwift said:

Fredericks with the assist

He was in a position to clear but Aureola deflected the ball. Nothing much Fredericks could do about that.

welovethehammers

It was a really frustrating night even before the red card. We just couldn’t get on the ball and get our passing going. The game was too stop-start, lacked flow and we couldn’t find time and space to dictate the pace. I thought Rice was one of our worst players which is extremely rare to say; had he been at his best, I think we would’ve dictated the tempo of the match much better and it would’ve felt less flat (instead it was N’Dombele making the driving runs). Antonio and Dawson were our 2 best players imo. Wouldn’t mind seeing a bit more interchange between Bowen and Antonio in the 2nd leg, eg Bowen taking up central positions and occasionally Antonio moving to the right wing (a bit of change up can confuse their defence). I think if we just went for it, their defence looked a bit lack lustre and fumbles under pressure. We saw plenty of panicky clearances from their defence and goalkeeper when pressed and rushed.

Also, according to Twitter (unreliable source of course), the second pitch invader was a Chelsea fan who knew a West Ham fan who couldn’t go to the match so was using his mate’s ticket and wore the friends’ West Ham colours.

Slacker

OldCastleSwift said:

I like Fornals.

But he's done nothing in the game.

Is that the same Fornals who made our goal, that Fornals?

IronHerb

Lyon caused us problems that we dealt with pretty well. Going down to 10 men probably helped with that but there was nothing I saw that made me feel we can't get a result next week.

Now Moyes has seen them up close I think he will suss them out. This maybe wishful thinking as I'm going to Lyon next week but will travel with some confidence.

I thought the Cresswell foul was a red card. Someone posted about that it's a contact sport, which it is, but that doesn't cover grabbing someones arm. Stupid thing to do with the way the ref was 'managing' the game.

How long did it take for Bowens shot take to go into the net? I had enough time to look around to see if any defenders were going to clear it.

Dawson was magnificent. The archetypal 'run through a brick wall' defender with the Beckham passing ability. Just brilliant.

COYI

Pengeman

The pitch invaders were absolute cretins and no fans of WHU or football anywhere. They stopped a crucial attack which could have led to something. I hope WHU take them to court and ban them for life from all soccer grounds.