‚ö? West Ham v Aston Villa - Official Match Thread

[charleyfarley]

. ........... V London Stadium 12th Mar 14:00 GMT VAR Tony Harrington Jarred Gillett: (14) - 64 2 Awaiting team news Awaiting team news West Ham 7/4: Draw 13/5: Aston Villa 13/10 .

[rumford]

Villa are a better side than us. the table doesn't lie. But it was a good game but we did look tired in the second half. However. to have to goals chalked off by VAR was a bit unlucky. 8 points in the 4 games. I would have fancied 9. so not too bad then.

[onsideman]

"Crazy I know, but maybe we should've replaced Fornals and Benrahma in January - even temporarily - so that we had more than one attacking option in the bench?"

[zico]

"Probably the difference was Villas subs changed the game, Emery had more options, where for us Johnson and Cresswell are less likely to. I felt even if knackered Antonio could have just stood up top keeping a defender with him and when the ball came forward he could probably hold it up a bit better as Bowen isn't that type of player. So in a nutshell Villa had a better bench than we did."

[aldgate]

Surely no-one thinks Antonio for Johnson was a sensible move? Everyone around me in the ground was baffled and it handed villa the advantage. They were awful playing out of the back and panicked every time we pressed. Until we stopped pressing

[Massive Attack]

"Cilla.. LOL Surprise, Surprise!"

[RootsRadical]

"I've only seen the 3rd disallowed goal, tbf it looked a definite handball, Soucek moved his arm to guide it in, little doubt from the video angle I saw on X which has now been removed. Also it looked like they should have had a penalty. However, it sounds like there were a few other very dubious decisions again today that have gone against us. The standard of refereeing in this country along with VAR is farcical and is ruining the game!"

[norwaytips]

"The whiners don’t stop, do they? It was a good game, between two good sides, who are both fighting for a European place. Moan all you will about VAR, but the commentators and reports, that I heard and read, seem to support the decisions. We had our chances, but so did they. Not overjoyed with one point, but we certainly never looked bad and to be honest, it could have gone either way."

[irisiris95]

"Sorry can't blame Moyes for that debacle. VAR screwed us not for the first time this season. I'll look forward the VAR payback vs Leverkusen & Spurs thank you very much. Antonio's 2-0 should have stood. Soucek's 2-1 I can understand more but judging by the ""laws"" of the game it should have stood & Antonio's chalked off. TBH VAR has ruined so much of the enjoyment of the game. As for the game & tactics we looked good first 60mins but their substitutions were effective & without Antonio leading the line we faded. We seriously have to sort out the forwards this summer. Villa looked pretty tame & without the officiating we would have punished them. Hugely frustrating."

[Massive Attack]

"God, the excusing moaning cunts are out today.. We played in Europe? Err, so did Cilla against Ajax. Injuries? Err, the likes of Paqueta for a 2nd time wanted to stay on and was clearly able to carry on, as was Antonio who needs the minutes back in his leg's, not taken off having given us the lead in the game. Brains of fucking Britain... SUBSTITUTION 66' IN B. Johnson West Ham ¬? Defender #2 OUT M. Antonio West Ham ¬? Striker #9 Moyes now makes a move that seems designed to protect his team's slender lead: Antonio is replaced by Johnson."

[Massive Attack]

"God, the excusing moaning cunts are out today.. We played in Europe? Err, so did Cilla against Ajax. Injuries? Err, the likes of Paqueta for a 2nd time wanted to stay on and was clearly able to carry on, as was Antonio who needs the minutes back in his leg's, not taken off having given us the lead in the game. Brains of fucking Britain... SUBSTITUTION 66' IN B. Johnson West Ham ¬? Defender #2 OUT M. Antonio West Ham ¬? Striker #9 Moyes now makes a move that seems designed to protect his team's slender lead: Antonio is replaced by Johnson."

[onsideman]

"Quite right lowlife, the disciples are just a bit hard of thinking mate. A bit like Nutsin who's decided he rates Diaby and doubts they'd sell but you never know... that's the £52m Diaby who's Villa's most expensive ever signing... oh, and he also fancies the on-loan so not theirs to sell Zaniolo. What a fucking cretin"

[lowlife]

"I wasn't moaning about Antonio being taken off, good grief. He had a replacement on the bench in Ings, who was the obvious sub. Ings is not the same type of player as Antonio (who I must say was great today) but he is technically good at keeping the ball and playing others in. That would have allowed us to keep the same basic shape. Would be good to keep the debate civil rather than resort to calling fellow fans cunts."

[VirginiaHam]

"God, the moaning whinging cunts are out today. After 90 minutes against Freiburg we were never getting another 90 out of Antonio. Historically, he's been at half pace after a EL or ECL game 2.5 days later. Think Brighton and Brentford away. That also doesn't consider possible injuries. We had a bad patch in the second half, but VAR saved the game for Villa. Of course, pursue your agenda and moan about Moyes."

[lowlife]

"""Oh no let’s focus on the substitutions and rip Moyes a new one"" Well, making subs is his job. Reading the game is also his job. More than a match for Villa, we were looking good and unlucky to not be mot=re than one ahead. I can't think of any other top level manager who, in a home game and 1-0 up, would take off a centre forward and replace them with a defensive player with 30 minutes to go. Credit to Moyes for setting us up correctly, but he single handedly destroyed any rhythm and momentum we had with that quite frankly ridiculous sub."

[Massive Attack]

Grow a backbone? I thought Lizard was referring to our spineless manager..

[zico]

"Pretty much had enough with the corrupt officiating and VAR needs dumping. First goal never a foul on Martinez. Week in week out he throws himself to the floor with arms waving about, a total frigging pansy. Officials should note his previous, do they do any research, and act accordingly which is just ignore this jokers histrionics unless it's blatantly obvious. Second goal disallowed I can't see how that's clear and obvious. Third goal, you can't tell if that is 100% handball unless there is a camera angle directly behind. Falling forward may create the illusion that the arm is going forward which of course it will be because he is falling fucking forward! If you take 7 bloody minutes to make a decision then you aren't sure, if you aren't sure you can't give it. Then their player doesn't get a second yellow for exactly the same offence Mav got a yellow for. How is this absolute buffoon refereeing?! That said Moyes was done tactically in many ways by Emery second half and as too often we sat back. A real game of two halves. Emery's subs had an impact, whereas we bring on Johnson for our only real outlet. I love Jarrod but when you are defending deep his strength is not leading the line. On the plus side a draw against this season's Villa isn't a disaster but in some ways I think we let them off the hook and of course the dire officiating didn't help!"

[fraser]

"Surfinglizard is on a wind up right.. Moyes picked his strongest 11 so isn't to blame.. There's more to his job in picking a team, there's coaching them to be a cohesive unit and play with the fucking ball. Beat Ajax by 4 goals, Ajax are fucking shit and we cherry picked their best 2 players.. One of which was played out of position today. Moyes is a cowardly cսnt.. Who managed the game abysmally... Grow a backbone... Made me smile"

[Surfinglizard]

To “blame” the manager for this draw is ridiculous. To do so shows some of you are so blinded by the Moyes out narrative you can’t see the game for what it was. We could have won that today except for a late controversial decision. Villa are 4th and put 4 past Ajax on Thursday. The manager played the strongest 11 to start. Wtf do you actually want? Oh no let’s focus on the substitutions and rip Moyes a new one on that because we can’t point at anything else today. Ffs. Grow a backbone.

[onsideman]

"After Thursday Moyes had to start with that formation and Emerson for Cresswell was an obvious change. He doesn't like it though, Moyes, and reverted to type as soon as he could. Seriously though, Johnson for fucking Antonio?! Initiative handed over right then and never regained The game provided evidence (if needed) that Villa have a deeper bench/squad than us and that should raise eyebrows amongst the Moyes disciples given oir spend... but it won't, nor will the fact that their manager's in-game work was on a different level. As far as the late disallowed goal is concerned, it hit his arm so can't really complain. The less said about the fact that he missed the ball completely and did an air-shot when he should have buried it, rhe better"

[onsideman]

"After Thursday Moyes had to start with that formation and Emerson for Cresswell was an obvious change. He doesn't like it though, Moyes, and reverted to type as soon as he could. Seriously though, Johnson for fucking Antonio?! Initiative handed over right then and never regained The game provided evidence (if needed) that Villa have a deeper bench/squad than us and that should raise eyebrows amongst the Moyes disciples given oir spend... but it won't, nor will the fact that their manager's in-game work was on a different level. As far as the late disallowed goal is concerned, it hit his arm so can't really complain. The less said about the fact that he missed the ball completely and did an air-shot when he should have buried it, rhe better"

[Massive Attack]

"That game was just about the perfect, predictable snapshot of how 2 completely different managers approach the game, in particular the 2nd half. After Villa starting well we managed to score against the run of play taking 1-0 lead into the break. What then happens is Emery isn't satisfied at all at Half Time and boldly makes 2 changes, Diaby and Cash for the hapless Lenglet struggling to deal with Antonio. As the 2nd half unfolds we sit deeper and deeper, even taking off our goalscorer Antonio 1-0 up on the hour mark. This allows Villa more and more of the ball as and who combines to score their goal soon after? Subs Diaby and Zaniolo. And what does Moyes do to rectify the situation after conceding? Takes off (again) in-form attacking midfielder Paqueta for a central midfielder out of form. The final act (not involving VAR - it was a double handball) then comes to Ward-Prowse who fluffs his shot and is blocked by an impressive block from Villa Sub, Cash. His in-game management and over defensive mindset is shocking and we'd be so much better had we managed to get someone in like Emery instead and that's why they look Champions League bound and we don't."

[Nutsin]

"It’s getting weird now the number of hand ball decisions that VAR is involved in with West Ham, seems to be happening every week. I can’t recall ever seeing any team have 3 goals chalked off in a game before. Thought we gave a good account of ourselves today, we ran out of gas in the second half, Kudus had a good opportunity to replicate his wonder goal he scored on Thursday but he simply ran out of gas, on another day he would have rounded the last defender and at least got a shot off. Frustrating to give up 2 points, overall we played some nice football today and can feel we deserved more. Some tough games coming up but we’re still in a shout for a European spot although I’m sure those in charge will do all they can to ensure it’s Manu Utd that gets it. Onwards and Upwards. No complaints about the performance of the team or manager today, we played a good Villa team and more than matched them. Diaby #19 for them and the blonde kid who came on for them the one who scored are a couple of players. Doubt they’d sell but they’d be great additions. Gotta add the Bubble consistently fluffs it in front of goal. He should have scored at the end instead he scuffed it when he was 6 yards out, he connects to that cleanly we win the game. Every game he gets on the end of the ball from a corner or set piece and somehow manages to miss from yards out."

[Ron Eff]

"I borderline praised Moyes for (finally) realising the higher press leads to mistakes. Then he goes and reverts to type and makes that nonsense substitution of Antonio for Johnson. I give up. What must Ings think of this wanker? Comes one, causes loads of problems and could have had a hat-trick vs Burnley. Next week he is left on the bench to send on an average right back to right wing and move Bowen from his best position. That aside, I’ll never understand how a decision that takes six and half minutes to reach can be deemed conclusive, or a clear and obvious on field mistake, or how one player kicking a ball away is a yellow and another doing it is not. Gillet is abject."

[Takashi Miike]

"""What you’ve all been calling for is to fire Moyes. Without any consideration that we had several key players missing. Now we are back to full strength we are all seeing better performances and results"" no, it's what happens when you put your best player in his proper position and not stuck out wide left, a proper winger on the left and a genuine forward through the middle. something 'us all' have been calling for for months, but well done to the jock genius for working it out in march"

[Keep dreaming]

"First 45 was very good. On the front foot and pressing them high. Ref was appalling, but both goals denied were hands, so nothing to disc6really. So, last 45.... Revert to Moyesball, foolish and late subs, flogging players etc etc etc. Nothing will change with him in charge."