‚ö? West Ham v Leverkusen - Official Match Thread

[charleyfarley]

"WEST HAM UNITED V LEVERKUSEN PREMIER LEAGUE KICK OFF THURS 18TH APRIL 20:00 LONDON STADIUM WEST HAM ‚öí Fabia?Ñski, Coufal, Zouma ¬©, Aguerd, Cresswell, ?Ålvarez, Ward-Prowse, Souƒçek, Kudus, Bowen, Antonio Subs: Anang (GK), Knightbridge (GK), Ogbonna, Ings, Johnson, Cornet, Mubama, Orford, Casey, Swyer LEVERKUSEN Kov?°?ô, Stani?°iƒá, Tah ¬©, Kossounou, Hincapi?©, Palacios, Xhaka, Tella, Wirtz, Grimaldo, Schick Subs: Hradecky (GK), Lomb (GK), Hofmann, Andrich, Tapsoba, Arthur, Adli, Boniface, Frimpong, Puerta, Izekor BETWAY ‚öÖ ‚Ä¢ West Ham : Draw : Leverkusen REFEREE ‚Ä¢ VAR ‚Ä¢ ?üì°"

[the coming of gary]

"Agree with JayeMPee -- great effort by the Eleven, but the subs bench wouldnt have looked out of place for Watford or Norwich. Much more squad strength obviously needed ."

[JayeMPee]

"Great performance in the first half deserved to be more than one ahead. The second half demonstrated clearly one of the main reasons moyes must go. Alonso made five substitutions each one strengthened the team, moyes did not have a single player on the bench who would have strengthened our side. Not only is he a useless ditherer in the transfer market but he is probably the only manager in the premiership who cannot call upon 2/3 youngsters. Our side were knackered that is why we lost and moyes is entirely to blame. The look on the face of Alvarez, possibly our best player, when he was substituted suggested he is another who will be looking to leave in the summer if moyes is still around. Finally we must have seen the worst referee ever for a match at that level, hopefully he will never be seen again."

[zico]

"Not one usually to defend Moyes but I could see his thinking in taking Alvarez off. Alvarez one weakness at the moment is his long passes. On two or thee occasions he tried long balls that either ended up in the keepers hands or into touch. I actually thought earlier he should have pushed Alvarez on and played JWP in the half back position to just ping balls over the top because their defence didn't like getting turned around but it never happened partly because they controlled possession second half and once Micky's legs had gone so had his pace. Moyes probably too Alvarez off to leave JWP, Cresswell on for their passing/crossing and Soucek for his goal scoring threat but it never materialised like that. That said it was a great effort but showed an ageing team when the legs went. Could have been three up but their manager made the brave changes and obviously made some brilliant changes at half time. Our bench just didn't have the game changers on there. Top effort though,. Bayer are on course for an all time unbeaten record so no shame. Just a pity as some players said they showed (or the manager did) too much respect at their place!"

[,]

It was a shame that Leverkusen equalised because beating them would have put a consolation feather in our cap. Anyway by getting an early goal it kept us fans in the stadium until virtually the final whistle hoping to get the game into at least extra time or penalties.

[teacoffeeteacoffee]

"What was good about last night was that we still had a lot of hope even with 10 mins left, couldn't have asked for much more really considering, at least it wasn't just a damp squid in a flat atmosphere which it could have been had they gone one up. Ultimately, they are better than us, just a pity about the first leg leaving ourselves with too much to do. Pity Bowen fluffed his lines with our only opportunity in the entirety of the second half."

[Pedro]

Just on the ref and sure many have said not sure I have seen an elite ref perform in such a way. Just pointing for free kicks and not showing what way they have gone. The one time he pointed for us he gave free kick to them. Waving his yellow card around and not writing down who he had booked. Was too chummy with Alonso which I was worried about when saw he was from Spain. The linesman in half defending second half was also terrible. Missing clear offside decisions. Getting all throws in wrong. Alll very very odd. It did impact game as we had no chance to get free kicks and move up the pitch. Plus half our team were on bookings it seemed.

[Iron Duke]

"The performance was everything I hoped it would be. The team made me proud and the fans were great. I don't like going out, I don't like that e didn't win the tie, and I still want Moyes out at the end of the season. But yesterday I couldn't have asked for much more. Moyes didn't make changes because he hardly had any options on the bench that would improve the team. When he finally did, it was odd that he took our best player off.. He could have taken Ward-Prouse or Soucek off, he could have taken Cresswell off and gone for it. He could have taken Antonio off who was knackered. But why Alvarez? The lack of options on the bench is Moyes's fault. Lastly, the referee and assistants. I've seen some bad officials at West Ham but tehse were possibly the worst. Not surprisingly, the referee has been caught up in a bribery scandal in Spain so why he is allowed to officiate is beyond me."

[Fauxstralian]

Agree with many that the superb first half on the front foot was all everyone has been asking for 3-0 at h/t wouldnt have flattered us but they changed at h/t and it was obvious at 60 mins that we were under the pump and needed to react The gutting of our bench options and Moyes dithering meant we couldnt respond. You could see by the reaction when they equalised that the crowd appreciated the effort Why not this effort every week? Time to regroup under a new manager for next season and go again. I see Villa scraped through in the Conference ... that competition that teams should supposedly win standing on their heads. Glad Liverpool are out .... hopefully we end their title challenge on Saturday week

[Percy Dalton]

That so called ref wouldn't have given it don't think I've ever seen such an inept performance from the officials. He allowed so much shenanigans to go on it sapped the life out of us in the second half. We must surely put in a protest to the governing body oh I forgot they're corrupt as well.

[Rossal]

"goose 12:15 Fri Apr 19 100% spot on! Least we went out giving it a right ol go, first half we were excellent and unlucky not to have scored more than one. We needed to claw back the deficit before 60 mins as you could see our legs will go. Moyes should of made changes to react and to try salvage the tie, as usual he left it to late. But was a good performance, we are left thinking what could have been last week but the european trips have been a terrific ride. Hopefully it isn't too long until the next one"

[dealcanvey]

Also the chance that Bowen created second half. I think he had the chance to go down there. if he does it is a penalty. We are too honest in them situations.

[dealcanvey]

Last night showed how depleted our squad really is. Moyes didnt want to bring anyone on. Completely our fault but the fatigue showed. Fair play to the players. i thought they all had good games. We just didnt have enough in the tank. Thought they deserved to give Leverkusen their first defeat of the season. They just had the players to bring on. How they have gone all season unbeaten is surprising. On another day we would have scored 3 goals.

[goose]

A tale of two managers. one saw his team were getting outplayed so he made proactive changes that affected the game. the other could see his team were out on their feet after 60mins and did nothing.

[goose]

A tale of two managers. one saw his team were getting outplayed so he made proactive changes that affected the game. the other could see his team were out on their feet after 60mins and did nothing.

[Surfinglizard]

"I think Moyes surely has to have the players playing front-foot attacking football for the remaining 5 games. There isn't anything left to 'defend' for in terms of hedging one game against another. It's all about how many of the 15 points we can gain. No reason at all not to go out hard and fast against all the teams no matter what quality. At the very least we can then see what the team really looks like when the breaks are taken off. Play against City, Liverpool etc with no fear whatsoever. And that will happen.....right?"

[PostmanPissed]

"Great first half performance Leverkusen didn't know how to handle the high press and defensively were all over the place. Second half Leverkusen controlled the ball better and we ran out of steam after sixty minutes. If's and but's - 1st half Bowen attacks the ball with his head instead of going with the side foot shot into the keeper. 2nd half Bowen shows a bit more composure in rolling the ball across the box instead of snatching at a shot after robbing their defender. Also, feel we should have tested the keeper a bit more first half he was bricking it big time! Certainly a little disappointed but proud the players gave it a go and showed pride and passion and the support created a cracking atmosphere."

[Huffers]

"The performances at home in the last 2 European games were good but other than that, the quality of football has been dreadful. Lucky to get anything out of 2 games against Backa Topola!"

[ludo21]

"European football undoubtedly impacts league form, especially when there is a refusal to use / build a squad. Assuming we don’t qualify for Europe next season we need to learn those lessons, use the ‘season off’ to build, concentrate on the domestic cups and give them a real go as arguably they are the easiest way to get back into Europe again. Most importantly we need to get the next managerial appointment correct to show the players and potential acquisitions that we are moving in the right direction. Hopefully the players ignore any Moyes bullshit in the remaining matches this season and play on the front foot regardless of what the manager tells them to do."

[GreenStreetPlayer]

"Like the first leg, the tie was lost by not only having a weaker bench to theirs, but Moyes later changes. Our boys looked shot a long way from the end and subs should have been on earlier. Moyes should take a leaf out of Alonso’s book."

[Dick Shaftsbury]

"That first half was the most I've been entertained in a long, long while. The crowd was so up for it and behind the team, and they were clapped off at the end despite going out - how can Moyes not see that this is what football should be and what the fans want win or lose?"

[GBHammer63]

"Alvarez for me was MOTM, a proper Billy Bonds type performance and should be the captain. The way Moyes shot off down the tunnel at HT it was like he’d forgotten to cut the oranges up. I think Moyes actually does enjoy it when we play like that first half, but fuck me he looked uncomfortable every time the camera panned onto him."

[GBHammer63]

"Excellent effort first half , the tie could have been over in 45 minutes had we taken our chances, as for Germanys unbeaten best team they were really rattled. Unsustainable tempo second half and nothing on the bench. The game wasn’t lost last night, it’s been gradually lost over the last two years, can’t fault the players efforts at all. Moyes will never see that it’s all down to him and his management."

[Mex Martillo]

"Good first half, shame we didn't get a couple of those chances. Second half knackered and bench not great, would have liked to see Ings go on."

[chim chim cha boo]

...although the European tour was fun whilst it lasted. Let's hope that we see another one in our lifetime.

[chim chim cha boo]

"It's hard to feel sorry for Moyes, the ONE half when we take the shackles off Lo! We are a team that can play a bit. Who would have thought it? But this was a game lost in the winter window. Imagine being able to bring on Fornals or Benrahma as fresh legs after 70 minutes last night instead of an eighteen million player in Cornet who he's managed to destroy with his policy to run the same old players into the ground? There are no managers that last year after year any more in the .modern game. They have a sell by date and I'm pretty sure Moyes has reached his. A dishonorable mention goes to the poundland Russian dwarf too."