West Ham (A) - verdict

[Banjo]

I'd prefer it if you waited until my 5,000th post before commenting. It's too premature to judge me now

How drôle.

You're the one with the persecution complex mate.

 

[Jabbawolf]

Don’t see jota being relevant in that performance

Agreed - this is on the people who were there not those who weren’t.

 

[Lycan]

Don’t see jota being relevant in that performance

Agree. It wasn't about the personnel. Jota would've played a pretty similar game to Neto tonight with no support around him.

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[prawnking]

Nuno: "We defended very bad. We must find a solution in the squad we have, the solution is not in the transfer market"

HE'S TALKING ABOUT BUUR, GUYS!

 

[Banjo]

There were echoes today of the home game v Watford two seasons ago, when our central midfield pairing were totally overrun.

Neto didn't help them out as much as he did in the Sheff Utd game. I really think we missed Podence tonight. Our midfield to attack transition was so disjointed.

 

[The Bear]

Excellent point, and a bit worrying

It wasn't. That pairing has been working fine defensively for two seasons. The problem tonight was Neves was being asked to play a lot further forward instead of sitting and shielding the defence as he usually does. Combine that with Moutinho having a second poor game in a row and it's a recipe for no defensive cover and big gaps behind them.

 

[prawnking]

How drôle.

You're the one with the persecution complex mate.

You're the one with the superiority complex (and you're not alone)

Maybe tonight of all nights some of you should have tried to hide it better

 

[Paul]

Nuno: "We defended very bad. We must find a solution in the squad we have, the solution is not in the transfer market"

HE'S TALKING ABOUT BUUR, GUYS!

Did he say that ?

 

[prawnking]

I'm just trying to lighten the mood

 

[sycophantia]

Right, hard to find any positives....but I'll have a go. Thought Semedo played well, especially as ge's just come straight into the team, Hoever also looked decent ( hope Semedo's injury isn't too bad).
Neto was lively first half but struggled to get into the second half.
Felt a bit sorry for Fabio and Vitinha, but tbf they did what they could. Thats about it really.
Negatives, well too many to go on about. We know Coady's weakness is playing against strong, quick, direct forwards but we really didn't help him out.
Raul was living off scraps but wasn't at his best.
Traore was.....well Traore.
Don't think we can play just Neves and Moutinho in midfield any more.
I've stuck up for Vinagre lately but he just looks devoid of confidence.
Lot of work for the coaching team and the players, but I think Nuno has plenty in the bank and we should give them time to sort it out.
Its very early in the season, lets hope we can sirt it out sooner rather than later

 

[jd1981]

Nuno: "We defended very bad. We must find a solution in the squad we have, the solution is not in the transfer market"

HE'S TALKING ABOUT BUUR, GUYS!

No he’s not basically saying work on the training ground resolves the problem


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[Tredman]

No he’s not basically saying work on the training ground resolves the problem


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He’s right. We looked like a team which has had no preseason and is trying to implement a new style.

 

[Lycan]

Didn't actually think Vinagre was that bad at all. There were certainly far worse individual performances out there tonight.

Conor Coady running around like he had a full nappy being the main culprit.

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[prawnking]

He’s right. We looked like a team which has had no preseason and is trying to implement a new style.

I must have missed the full pre season West Ham have had

 

[Tredman]

I must have missed the full pre season West Ham have had

Yes, just liked I missed watching West Ham in Germany at the end of last season.

 

[Banjo]

You're the one with the superiority complex (and you're not alone)

Maybe tonight of all nights some of you should have tried to hide it better

Genuinely baffled by this.

I'm "superior" for saying Cyber shouldn't write off our whole season after three games?

 

[Jinky]

Didn't actually think Vinagre was that bad at all. There were certainly far worse individual performances out there tonight.

Conor Coady running around like he had a full nappy being the main culprit.

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Coady looked like he was running in treacle. I wonder if the amount of games he’s played over the last 2-3 years is finally catching up with him? He also has literally no one breathing down his neck for a start either, which isn’t great. We’ve seen him get bullied before but the worry for me is when it’s obviously happening we’ve got plan B to protect him or change the way the game is going.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I don't have any worries regarding that with Coads. He's had this kind of game before and he'll have it again, sometimes we mitigate it and sometimes we don't.

There was absolutely nothing wrong with how he played against Sheff Utd or Man City.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

It's rather embarrassing that three professional footballers can defend countless punts into the channels as badly as that, especially when there was only really one opponent chasing them down. It was like watching a Sunday League game where one team has a big fast youth up front and his team sit 10 men behind the ball smashing it up the park waiting for him to do something, unfortunately for Wolves that was all it took against them tonight, tragic. Regardless of anything that was going on with the rest of the team, that back three should be performing infinitely better against that sort of play, would've probably been irrelevant tonight either way as West Ham's midfield would've just picked up any second balls in acres of space but the defence have got to be able to stand up against a basic long ball.

Traore was essentially playing in a different shape to everyone else, it often doesn't matter what opponents put against him such as West Ham basically putting two left backs against him, he'll still get to the byline and put crosses in but was only ever Jimenez to aim for and even he wasn't there half the time, what's the point in persisting with that? Also means Semedo is forced to play narrow which probably seems pretty alien to him after spending the last few years with the whole flank to explore as Messi comes central, obviously early days but that partnership didn't feel very natural tonight. Traore has to start to play that role like the alternatives do, narrower!

Vitinha and Silva at least looked to change the dynamic when they came on, they both came towards the ball looking to provide an option, the latter looks a bit lightweight at the moment but little Portu-Grealish in midfield looks like he'll flit around all over the place looking to get on the ball again and again, opposed to Neves only wanting to receive square passes from the centre halves. The was a clearance from West Ham late in the game where the 6 players closest to Wolves' goal were all Wolves players, how do you expect to break down or even worry a very defensive team if you're only willing to commit 4 or 5 players into their half? The midfield have to trust the defence to launch attacks more often and then have to be brave enough to receive the ball in tight spaces with their backs to goal to try and shift the ball up the field, they can't always come really deep and look to play 40-50 yard passes to the attacking contingent.

 

[Wolvensam]

I think this proves we should let Neves stick to what he does best - protecting the back 3.