MATCH THREAD v West Ham 2nd April 20-15 | Page 7 | Vital Football

MATCH THREAD v West Ham 2nd April 20-15

As expected, Spam packed the box out and waited for our low crosses. Zero aerial threat, as soon as Maddison came off we offered very little through the middle.

Fair result in the end, roll on next season after we've had a good window
 
This is us with one game a week. At most. Huffing and puffing like a pub team.

No Europe.
No cups.
Just fannying around on the training pitch practicing fcuk knows what.

When you have every commentator and pundit saying 'Spurs are too predictable and you know what they are going to do' its a worry IMHO.
 
U would also think with all this training time the bloody set piece attacking and defending would be better. Just looks like an unplanned mess
 
Dare I say, for me a point is ok tonight in hindsight.
Two good teams that like to play the same way and for that reason prob cancelled one another out.
The game shifted both ways but neither ever looked like dominating.
 
I thought it was a good, entertaining game. We had some sweet passages of play going forward but, once again, lacked the end product. We really need to spend more time on shooting in training. All of our players have sound technical ability so I have no idea why they are not more composed when they finally have a shot on goal. Maybe we need to spend less time farting about across the opposition box and take some earlier shots?

Jono did well to dig the ball out from his feet and put it in the net. His confidence must be growing and that will make him a better player for us in the future.

I cannot for the life of me understand why this game means so much the WHU fans. They mean no more than any other team to me, apart from Arsenal and Chelsea. But WHU? I don’t think so.

A draw is not a disaster, especially if City puts a hatful of goals past Villa tonight.
 
Completely forgettable. It was always going to be a difficult game and I wasn't expecting a win. I did however expect some decent football and some entertainment. Seventy percent of the possession and we barely created a chance. Some would say quite correctly that if Udogie had converted a real chance with pretty much the last kick, we would have won. It wouldn't have been deserved though, West Ham stuck to a game plan, created more chances than us from minimal possession, and would have won if they weren't over reliant on Bowen up front.
What were all our substitutions about, was there any method, design or tactics involved, or were we just throwing on bodies in the hope that somebody might produce something. All that was achieved was our becoming increasingly more disjointed as the game progressed. Our performance on the touchline was as mediocre as that on the pitch.
The manager reckons that we are a Work in Progress, and the inconsistency of our results over the last ten games or so bare that out. Some of the results and performances question how much progress is actually being made, but it's more than United, Newcastle and Chelsea, which is keeping us where we are.
My biggest concern though, is that after the entertainment and enjoyment of early season, we are actually starting to look quite boring again.
 
stupops said:
This is us with one game a week. At most. Huffing and puffing like a pub team.

No Europe.
No cups.
Just fannying around on the training pitch practicing fcuk knows what.

When you have every commentator and pundit saying 'Spurs are too predictable and you know what they are going to do' its a worry IMHO.
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This.
 
SmithAndJones said:
Completely forgettable. It was always going to be a difficult game and I wasn't expecting a win. I did however expect some decent football and some entertainment. Seventy percent of the possession and we barely created a chance. Some would say quite correctly that if Udogie had converted a real chance with pretty much the last kick, we would have won. It wouldn't have been deserved though, West Ham stuck to a game plan, created more chances than us from minimal possession, and would have won if they weren't over reliant on Bowen up front.
What were all our substitutions about, was there any method, design or tactics involved, or were we just throwing on bodies in the hope that somebody might produce something. All that was achieved was our becoming increasingly more disjointed as the game progressed. Our performance on the touchline was as mediocre as that on the pitch.
The manager reckons that we are a Work in Progress, and the inconsistency of our results over the last ten games or so bare that out. Some of the results and performances question how much progress is actually being made, but it's more than United, Newcastle and Chelsea, which is keeping us where we are.
My biggest concern though, is that after the entertainment and enjoyment of early season, we are actually starting to look quite boring again.
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That's a fair & honest assessment. When you factor in how predictable we are & how easy we are to contain, is it any wonder we are struggling at the moment.

I'm not happy with our defending & haven't been so all season long. If we're trying to build something here, we need a solid foundation on which to move forward. I'm seeing anything but.
 
I finished the game very frustrated. We had pretty much our best eleven on that pitch and were player for player better in every position. Well, on paper anyway. The problem is that the tactics aren't working, especially the inverted full-backs spending too much time inside. They should be alternating way more between the wide areas and the central areas to keep the opposition guessing. It also means that the wide players can't stretch the opposition full-backs as there is no overlap option. We are predictable.

As for the current role and application of our captain and number 9, it has become like playing with 10 men for huge parts of the game. He's pulling out of every physical encounter and he is not leading. How he was on the pitch beyond 60 mins is beyond me, let alone finishing the game as we made our 5 subs.

Our current game plan is for those 5 subs to win us games. We have the players to replace 5 out of our 6 midfield and forwards and not weaken it too much. What I'd now like to see is the starting eleven to be more effective as a unit. I'd like to see Ange get his head around some of his tactical deficiencies.
 
muttley said:
I finished the game very frustrated. We had pretty much our best eleven on that pitch and were player for player better in every position. Well, on paper anyway. The problem is that the tactics aren't working, especially the inverted full-backs spending too much time inside. They should be alternating way more between the wide areas and the central areas to keep the opposition guessing. It also means that the wide players can't stretch the opposition full-backs as there is no overlap option. We are predictable.

As for the current role and application of our captain and number 9, it has become like playing with 10 men for huge parts of the game. He's pulling out of every physical encounter and he is not leading. How he was on the pitch beyond 60 mins is beyond me, let alone finishing the game as we made our 5 subs.

Our current game plan is for those 5 subs to win us games. We have the players to replace 5 out of our 6 midfield and forwards and not weaken it too much. What I'd now like to see is the starting eleven to be more effective as a unit. I'd like to see Ange get his head around some of his tactical deficiencies.
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I love Sonny, i really do but i have to admit, he was a waste of space last night. It's becoming all too common nowadays.

You can't help but notice how narrow we play for the majority of the game & then we stretch them late on by using the full width of the pitch. It's not a bad tactic per se however people have cottoned on to it & just sit deep & counter allowing us the width knowing full well we have nobody in the middle who can hurt them.
 
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