West Ham Online

Match Centre:


Odds:
West Ham: 5/6
Draw: 14/5
Ipswich: 16/5 

​​​​​​​Pre-Match Press Conference:
 Tactical Preview: 



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Massive Attack" wrote: ↑06 Oct 2024, 17:21

Manuel wrote: ↑06 Oct 2024, 03:04
Still very unsure about Rodriguez, he looks a little bewildered with it all?

Not convinced either. Game seems too quick for him here. Some nice uncomplicated touches to keep the tempo flowing but the food and drink of Premier League intensity getting stuck in physically and covering the ground concern me and why he keeps getting taken off early. As a Squad player I like him being around but starting, I'm not so sure. 

Here it is. Hit his bollocks and then kicked it in for the goal

Monsieur merde de cheval" wrote: ↑08 Oct 2024, 23:01

Iron Duke" wrote: ↑06 Oct 2024, 10:39 Interesting fact. This was the first time we beat Ipswich at home since the play off semi final when Dailly scored off his bollocks.

You sure ?
I thought is was off his perm.
What a night that was by the way.

Lee Trundle" wrote: ↑07 Oct 2024, 10:56 I really like the look of Todibo.

I reckon they'll be load accusing him of being lazy over the course of the season, but I think he plays with a level of calmness.

Iron Duke" wrote: ↑06 Oct 2024, 10:39 Interesting fact. This was the first time we beat Ipswich at home since the play off semi final when Dailly scored off his bollocks.

Full on analytical breakdown of our performance and if it was REALLY that good:

Todibo's run forward was a bit of a spark in the first half as well when we were looking particularly clueless.

Agree, Todibo was good and I like the look of him, but one mistake and people will moan about his apparent languid style! Like a centre half Kanoute!

I also see value in Rodriguez. Getting up to speed with the pace, but the foundations are there. His diagonal passing ability is seemingly going under the radar and is a play we use quite frequently. 

 

I really like the look of Todibo.

I reckon they'll be load accusing him of being lazy over the course of the season, but I think he plays with a level of calmness.

Miles better, first half wasn't pretty at times but they barely laid a glove on us 2nd half. It's clear we are a lot better at retaining possession this season and things finally clicked up top. Paqueta has been so poor for ages, not sure how much longer we can go putting him in there waiting for him to turn up. It summed up what public opinion of him is like when he went down feigning injury and everyone in the stadium was telling him to get up. Atmosphere was incredibly flat again despite the goals, also such a pain to get away from there as usual. The stadium is virtually empty by the time the final whistle goes even for a 3pm Saturday game. Must be gutting as a player after a good win to see that. Fingers crossed we can get something from the Spurs game and kick on 

Positives for me:
Kudus, Bowen and Antonio all looked alot better
Soucek is becoming undroppable. Solid in tackle and looks like he can actually play a bit
Todibo looked assured and solid
Team looked much more balanced and efficient
Rodriguez best game and he looked assured and lively
Really good team performance
Second half we looked miles better than them in all areas

Negatives for me:
Areola's kicking / distribution was very poor
For 20 mins after they scored we played with fear (hot potato)
Got ourselves into trouble by playing silly buggers at the back (first half)
Switched off and should absolutely have been 1-2 down from their header (may have been different game)
Wan Bissaka (first half) was way too tight to CB's and gave them acres out wide
Paqueta in first half looked lost

The real test comes against long nose. If we play well and / or get a result then we could be moving in the right direction. If we get beat and play shite then we may be back to square one. 

Sat was a good win and a better performance but still feels like we have another few gears to go through to be at our best. 

Antonio Bowen and Kudus were much better, Bowen in particular had his best game in a while maybe the England swerve has fired a rocket up him. 

Thought Todibo was impressive, his positioning and ability on the ball were miles above what we've seen from Dino this season. 

The glaring issue and main thing to work on for us is the midfield. We pass the ball out neatly enough but then it ends up being pressed and we just pump it long and lose possession. We don't play through midfield once we have gone round the back. We don't invite pressure then beat the press and we're away. 

For me the main reason why is due to the gaps between the 3 in the middle. Many teams now play that  'double pivot' but Soucek and Rodriguez most the time are miles apart on the pitch. This is due to Rodriguez being the one that sits and dropping deeper and Soucek having the tendency to go occupy centre halves when we are on the ball. I dont mind Rodriguez, he seems tidy enough on the ball and plays that sitting role ok....especially at home. But we need someone alongside him to partner him, to play between each other and to both look to get the ball from the defence to set up our attacks. Soucek hiding up front as he is too scared to get on the ball isn't good enough for how we want to play.....especially when we are at home and looking to dominate. 

Paqueta was also at times miles away from the action, in the first half from where I sit (block 132) you can see the huge void in the middle at times when Todibo or Kilman get their heads up. When he does get it he is always looking for a killer ball but this calendar year he tries clips through and little dinks which look like they are about 10-20% on. Most the time he just gifts the ball to their keeper. I know he has this betting shit hanging over him but the manager really needs to start finding a tune out of him again. 

But overall a good win, hopefully it gives us some confidence.....could of done with Spurs away this week after their latest bottlejob effort yesterday 
 

Correction - My minds playing tricks with me as we played 4231 against Man City in that game, which at least shows he does adapt depending on who we come up against. 

Fair play to Shearer calling out the gormless McKenna’s nonsense about ‘direct football’ by us
Might want to explain why he has wasted his budget on K Phillips instead of some competent defenders

El Scorchio" wrote: ↑06 Oct 2024, 09:28  It’s such a fucking odd formation. Just seems to make our midfield look non existent and open up holes all over the place in the middle and outside when the opposition has the ball. 

As for Phillips, it probably would have been typical for him to score against us. We’ve seen it happen countless times with shithouse ex players or players who have been well under the cosh. But he was far too shit for that. Laughably so in fact. 

Massive Attack" wrote: ↑06 Oct 2024, 17:21

Not convinced either. Game seems too quick for him here. Some nice uncomplicated touches to keep the tempo flowing but the food and drink of Premier League intensity getting stuck in physically and covering the ground concern me and why he keeps getting taken off early. As a Squad player I like him being around but starting, I'm not so sure. 

Manuel wrote: ↑06 Oct 2024, 03:04
Still very unsure about Rodriguez, he looks a little bewildered with it all?

He put his own defenders under pressure a couple of times but not sure their keeper had much chance with any of our goals
Most of their problems stemmed from being incapable of handling Bowen whenever he got the ball
Phillips work for Bowens goal where after letting him run him into the area he allowed him to cut back onto his left
Abysmal from most players let alone one that played half a season with Bowen.

Hammer and Pickle" wrote: ↑06 Oct 2024, 10:47

El Scorchio" wrote: ↑06 Oct 2024, 10:38

Hammer and Pickle" wrote: ↑06 Oct 2024, 09:50 Yes that save was top-notch. Then he put us right back under pressure by passing it straight back to them, hence the concern about his distribution/communication.

It wasn’t great yesterday. It’s been better. Don’t feel he really has anything to aim at up the pitch. And there’s never any quick movement for him to react to. He’s better than Fabianski though.  His distribution was appalling at times. 

Good point - when it comes to distribution, it takes two to tango. Would like to see Paquetá showing up more in this respect.

I’m pleased with the win and the amount we scored, but fuck me, their keeper??? It’s almost like he should be waiting on match fixing charges. We were improved but can’t judge how much realistically until after the next game.

El Scorchio" wrote: ↑06 Oct 2024, 10:38

Hammer and Pickle" wrote: ↑06 Oct 2024, 09:50 Yes that save was top-notch. Then he put us right back under pressure by passing it straight back to them, hence the concern about his distribution/communication.

It wasn’t great yesterday. It’s been better. Don’t feel he really has anything to aim at up the pitch. And there’s never any quick movement for him to react to. He’s better than Fabianski though.  His distribution was appalling at times. 

Interesting fact. This was the first time we beat Ipswich at home since the play off semi final when Dailly scored off his bollocks.

Hammer and Pickle" wrote: ↑06 Oct 2024, 09:50 Yes that save was top-notch. Then he put us right back under pressure by passing it straight back to them, hence the concern about his distribution/communication.

Sir Alf" wrote: ↑06 Oct 2024, 09:51 Agree with Jaan, Onside, NYChammer, that Ipswich trying to press us and playing a high line at our gaff really suits the way we play and allowed those long diagonals and counter attacks to the front players to be effective.

Villa, Chelsea were more compact and sat deeper and  thats where we struggle because it means having to play thru and around them rather than a counter. Thats when we lose it and they cut thru a non existent midfield etc on the counter. 

For me, the recruitment for central midfield came up short. As I’m repeating ad nauseum ( apologies) we don’t have an engine or players with the pace to press effectively.  That said, Paqueta is the source of most turn overs.  

Lets see how we fare at Spurs who attack in numbers with pace and movement and can counter like Chelsea again at speed.  Lets see if JLo / Loppy works out that the same midfield with Rodruiguez, Soucek and Paqueta may be cruelly exposed at Spurs?   In my opinion it will? 

 

Just read his hearing is likely to be in March, so we are going to having these same conversations for another five months?? Turn it in ffs.