Grey - I thought we deserved the win. But it could've finished 0-0 had it not been for that slice of luck. We did deserve the luck, but lucky it was. Just hope that won't be the default style with Carroll in the side. Thought it was very one-dimensional.
Shout out to Cress today. He was excellent after getting a lot of flack recently. Cracking corners.
4-4-2 with a midfield diamond? Might get all our best players to start?
tbh, I know we paid a lot for Arnie but I'm sort of thinking he's a luxury player (in this team, for us, at the mo - because he's not good enough defensively/out of possession). So really I'd just be looking for how to fit Lanzini back in to the starting line-up. We need him on free kicks. Amongst other things.
Carroll is capable of getting injured at any random moment due to the most innocuous thing. It's almost pointless trying to second guess when and for what reason he might get injured. So it's quite right IMO to just start him and take the plunge
4-4-2 with a midfield diamond? Might get all our best players to start?
tbh, I know we paid a lot for Arnie but I'm sort of thinking he's a luxury player (in this team, for us, at the mo - because he's not good enough defensively/out of possession). So really I'd just be looking for how to fit Lanzini back in to the starting line-up. We need him on free kicks. Amongst other things.
i did say a while ago we need to go back to the Allardyce Diamond formation ;whistle
What this performance showed is that the team are together, up for it and behind Slav, The attitude and fight from the first whistle was superb. We did lack some quality in using the ball and lacked a creative player such as Lanzini or Payet but we kept grafting and when you press and push forward to that degree something will always happen. I agree with those that say a back 3 is the way forward as each time we play that formation we look more threatening due to the wing backs showing forward facing aggression.
As for individuals, Antonio back to his best, Zab most certainly is not here to see out his career, looked like a man possessed at times and Carroll showed intent even if needing a couple of games to get up to speed. Kouyate also makes a difference as he looks so awkward to play against.
I think there is no starting place for Noble as couldn't see him adding to that team today, especially when you put Lanzini and Arto into the mix, for me should play a role from the bench when trying to see out matches now.
That was a start but we really now must take something from the weekend, even if only a point.
As for Huddersfield I was really impressed with the defence as were very well organised and I don't see them going down. The one shocker was for the first goal, a premier league defender turning his back on the ball is simply not on. Imagine Ginge doing that! He would stand facing a cannonball.
I assume we'll eventually switch to 4 at the back to fit in all our midfield and attacking players, unless Antonio goes back to right wing back.
Agree we play better with 3 at the back but I think a bigger deal was Kouyate's return and Obiang and Antonio playing well giving us more of a presence. We couldn't have played that kind of intense pressing game without them. AC also gave them something to think about, Reid cleared up well in defense and the full backs pushed a lot.
We always look worse without Kouyate in midfield.
There has to be a solution that doesn't stick Hernandez on the wing and fits Lanzini in.
All in all I wanted to see us up for it and play with both intensity and purpose, We certainly got that.
Huddersfield may lament the first goal but we totally deserved the win, whole team gave 100% and how many times can we truly say that, special shout out for Zab and Antonio.
Was puzzled at the substitution but it paid off so kudos.
That's the first time I got to see West Ham play this season (apart from the two minutes at the end of the Man Utd game, but that doesn't count for obvious reasons). The team looked fantastic, if a little clumsy at times on the ball -I'm thinking of Kouyate here especially, but a bit more practice and ball time should solve that. Antonio deserves an extra helping of ice cream for that performance. He is probably still running this morning. Carroll came back after 316 months' injury and played 81 minutes, and as usual played from the heart, acting as much as our first (and sometimes second of third) line of defence as well as getting almost everything that came from the air. And Tom Ince will not be at Huddersfield this time next year.
Decent performance that in difficult circumstances what with the poor start to the season and all the other shenanigans that had been going on
Back 3/5 is the way to go, not every game but much more often. We've missed Kouyate, always maintained that pound for pound he was the best signing of the last 4-5 years when you think how much we paid for him
Was really surprised that Hernandez came off and not Carroll considering his injury record. It may not always be pretty but we look a lot more dangerous when Andy is playing and the bloke can never ever be faulted for his work ethic / effort. I have no idea what goal / assist stats Ayew has but they must be decent.
Credit to the fans, they got behind the team and happy birthday to Slav, he deserved that and let's hope this is the start of all sacking talk being put to bed.
I will say though that I would have liked to have seen Hernandez played through the middle instead of out on the wing. It looked to me like he and Antonio should have swapped places.
We knocked it up to Carroll, but we also built from the back and tried to use the width well, and for the most part were successful with that.
I know they're all ifs, but if Kouyaté doesn't fluff his lines in the first half, if Hernandez shoots a fraction lower, of Kouyaté had got on the end of Carroll's cross shot, if Collins hadn't stuck his boot out and taken Cresswell's freekick off out of Carroll's path, we could have had 4-5 goals last night.
Yes, Ince hit the bar. But had the game gone differently we would have been out of sight by then anyway. We created a bunch of good chances, we didn't look troubled at all, we defended resolutely, and a few of our players gave their best performances in god know how long.
Thanks for that, alderz. I'd just assumed, reading the dismissal of our performance by pundits and meejah types, that it was just me and my unsophisticated football palate that thoroughly enjoyed watching us.
It was a much better performance than of late but leaves plenty of room for improvement. Our lack of ball retention across the piece is a concern as it allows our opponent to come straight back at us. A stat from the Beeb - "Andy Carroll won 13 aerial duels in the game, the most of any player in a Premier League game this season." Not bad for a first appearance of the season. Antonio was unplayable in the first half but, I thought, went missing a bit in the second. Playing the three at the back allowed Zab to defend in the opposition half, which he did really well.
Encouraging improvement that needs to be maintained to get anything at West Brom.
I don't agree that Antonio "went missing", but he did fade in second half. Which was understandable as he hasn't had many minutes since injury, and he ran himself into the ground in the first hour.
Comments
Shout out to Cress today. He was excellent after getting a lot of flack recently. Cracking corners.
4-4-2 with a midfield diamond? Might get all our best players to start?
tbh, I know we paid a lot for Arnie but I'm sort of thinking he's a luxury player (in this team, for us, at the mo - because he's not good enough defensively/out of possession). So really I'd just be looking for how to fit Lanzini back in to the starting line-up. We need him on free kicks. Amongst other things.
Hope Bilic haters will over the web will keep things quiet. He could really do a great job and if so we want him to stay with us.
Well played West Ham. A lot of positives! Never seen us press with so much desire and so high up the pitch.
As for individuals, Antonio back to his best, Zab most certainly is not here to see out his career, looked like a man possessed at times and Carroll showed intent even if needing a couple of games to get up to speed. Kouyate also makes a difference as he looks so awkward to play against.
I think there is no starting place for Noble as couldn't see him adding to that team today, especially when you put Lanzini and Arto into the mix, for me should play a role from the bench when trying to see out matches now.
That was a start but we really now must take something from the weekend, even if only a point.
As for Huddersfield I was really impressed with the defence as were very well organised and I don't see them going down. The one shocker was for the first goal, a premier league defender turning his back on the ball is simply not on. Imagine Ginge doing that! He would stand facing a cannonball.
Agree we play better with 3 at the back but I think a bigger deal was Kouyate's return and Obiang and Antonio playing well giving us more of a presence. We couldn't have played that kind of intense pressing game without them. AC also gave them something to think about, Reid cleared up well in defense and the full backs pushed a lot.
We always look worse without Kouyate in midfield.
There has to be a solution that doesn't stick Hernandez on the wing and fits Lanzini in.
Huddersfield may lament the first goal but we totally deserved the win, whole team gave 100% and how many times can we truly say that, special shout out for Zab and Antonio.
Was puzzled at the substitution but it paid off so kudos.
COYI
;lol
The team looked fantastic, if a little clumsy at times on the ball -I'm thinking of Kouyate here especially, but a bit more practice and ball time should solve that.
Antonio deserves an extra helping of ice cream for that performance. He is probably still running this morning.
Carroll came back after 316 months' injury and played 81 minutes, and as usual played from the heart, acting as much as our first (and sometimes second of third) line of defence as well as getting almost everything that came from the air.
And Tom Ince will not be at Huddersfield this time next year.
Back 3/5 is the way to go, not every game but much more often. We've missed Kouyate, always maintained that pound for pound he was the best signing of the last 4-5 years when you think how much we paid for him
Was really surprised that Hernandez came off and not Carroll considering his injury record. It may not always be pretty but we look a lot more dangerous when Andy is playing and the bloke can never ever be faulted for his work ethic / effort. I have no idea what goal / assist stats Ayew has but they must be decent.
Credit to the fans, they got behind the team and happy birthday to Slav, he deserved that and let's hope this is the start of all sacking talk being put to bed.
coyi
Not even 316 days ;doh
When you need a win, you can live with it. But hopefully we'll vary up our style as and when we move up the table.
We knocked it up to Carroll, but we also built from the back and tried to use the width well, and for the most part were successful with that.
I know they're all ifs, but if Kouyaté doesn't fluff his lines in the first half, if Hernandez shoots a fraction lower, of Kouyaté had got on the end of Carroll's cross shot, if Collins hadn't stuck his boot out and taken Cresswell's freekick off out of Carroll's path, we could have had 4-5 goals last night.
Yes, Ince hit the bar. But had the game gone differently we would have been out of sight by then anyway. We created a bunch of good chances, we didn't look troubled at all, we defended resolutely, and a few of our players gave their best performances in god know how long.
#thinendofthewedge
A stat from the Beeb - "Andy Carroll won 13 aerial duels in the game, the most of any player in a Premier League game this season." Not bad for a first appearance of the season.
Antonio was unplayable in the first half but, I thought, went missing a bit in the second.
Playing the three at the back allowed Zab to defend in the opposition half, which he did really well.
Encouraging improvement that needs to be maintained to get anything at West Brom.
COYI
I don't agree that Antonio "went missing", but he did fade in second half. Which was understandable as he hasn't had many minutes since injury, and he ran himself into the ground in the first hour.
;run