West Ham Online

Match Centre:



Odds:
West Ham: 4/6
Draw: 16/5
Leicester City: 9/2


Pre-Match Press Conference:
Official Press Conference


Tactical Preview: 
Babbling Irons


Watch-along:
Hammers Chat


Streams:

SportHD 

(With all live streams be mindful they can carry viruses etc.  Don't click on any ads and use a VPN).
  

It's 3 points, however you view the performance. We have to just keep picking up points while the squad and format is in flux.

We were expected to beat Leicester, and most of us on here have long experience of what often happens when we 'expect' West Ham to do something... so it's a reason to be cheerful, as the man said. 

SurfaceAgentX2Zero wrote: ↑01 Mar 2025, 07:20 It's just that one or two, 'that was a bit boring's would be fair enough. Your negative reaction to an easy three points seems a tad excessive. Tea is good.

 

SurfaceAgentX2Zero wrote: ↑28 Feb 2025, 12:36 FMOB. We spend 85 minutes playing the patient 'ticca-tac' football so beloved of all the purists and literally demanded by the 'the football is terrible' brigade, and suddenly the chronic moaners are complaining it's boring.
 

It's just that one or two, 'that was a bit boring's would be fair enough. Your negative reaction to an easy three points seems a tad excessive. Tea is good.

SurfaceAgentX2Zero wrote: ↑28 Feb 2025, 20:54 Manuel,

Has your lady left you, mate? Only you have made about 50 shit attention-seeking posts in the last 24 hours and all of them make you look a bit of a cock.





 

Manuel,

Has your lady left you, mate? Only you have made about 50 shit attention-seeking posts in the last 24 hours and all of them make you look a bit of a cock.

You should sit down and have a nice cup of tea.

stubbo wrote: ↑28 Feb 2025, 15:55

Manuel wrote: ↑28 Feb 2025, 08:23

Ron Eff" wrote: ↑28 Feb 2025, 08:17

And we strolled past them 2-0 without having the get out of first gear and break sweat. What’s the problem?

Arsenal only beat them 2-0 with goals in the last 10 minutes if that’s the sort of comparison we’re making. Likewise Fulham and Palace only beat them 2-0. Spurs lost to them. 

I wouldn’t get too bogged down with how many we won by, rather reflect on how straightforward it was, and we were able to professionally play keep ball for large parts as the job was done. 

Hahaha, save all your drivel mate. You stated that you think people need to appreciate how difficult it is to play against a team who sit 9 players literally on and inside the 18 yard box, and I responded by saying they've just lost 4-0 twice, so clearly they ain't hard to break down. Stop talking shit.

They've conceded 61 goals this season.

From a Leicester news site, looks like they played differently last night to when they lost 4-0.

Leicester suffered a 4-0 thrashing against Brentford a week ago as the Foxes were carved open at will by the dangerous Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa.

In an attempt to tighten up their defence, Van Nistelrooy went more conservative against the Hammers, surrendering possession instead of pressing high.

Manuel wrote: ↑28 Feb 2025, 08:23

Ron Eff" wrote: ↑28 Feb 2025, 08:17

Manuel wrote: ↑28 Feb 2025, 07:26

They lost 4-0 to both Everton and Brentford this month.

And we strolled past them 2-0 without having the get out of first gear and break sweat. What’s the problem?

Arsenal only beat them 2-0 with goals in the last 10 minutes if that’s the sort of comparison we’re making. Likewise Fulham and Palace only beat them 2-0. Spurs lost to them. 

I wouldn’t get too bogged down with how many we won by, rather reflect on how straightforward it was, and we were able to professionally play keep ball for large parts as the job was done. 

Hahaha, save all your drivel mate. You stated that you think people need to appreciate how difficult it is to play against a team who sit 9 players literally on and inside the 18 yard box, and I responded by saying they've just lost 4-0 twice, so clearly they ain't hard to break down. Stop talking shit.

They've conceded 61 goals this season.

Leicester suffered a 4-0 thrashing against Brentford a week ago as the Foxes were carved open at will by the dangerous Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa.

In an attempt to tighten up their defence, Van Nistelrooy went more conservative against the Hammers, surrendering possession instead of pressing high.

 “It didn’t think my normal helicopter celebration was the right thing to do, because of what happened to the Leicester owner [after West Ham’s Premier League match at King Power Stadium on 27 October 2018].“I wanted to celebrate my goal with my team, but I also wanted to show respect to our opponents.”

Our lack of athletes in centre mid will continue to hold us back in terms of our ability to move the ball at speed, stretch teams that sit deep in numbers and create space and chances. But we are better orgamised as the players now know what they are doing and this has already been a great help in  games even yesterday but esp in away games.

Potter has been lauded by players for his clear instructions. He will need recruitment in the summer to fix the squad in central midfield but already we now try to  play out from the back more before just going direct or longer ( diagonal ) But we will never be able to play thru a press with a team featuring a  central midfield 2 or 3 from Soucek, JWP, Paqueta, Soler and Irvine. But there is progress, under  Moyes and BFS we just launched it  aimlessly in a sort of panic mode straight back to the opposition every time.

Once we have legs and athleticism as an option in cente mid, we hopefully can play thru and around teams, creating  openings for the front men or getting AWB, and Scarles to overload down the side more and more without the worry of bring left wide open and unable to track a quick counter. Will be more entertaining, exciting or should be as we can counter very quickly thru the middle and play out of defence around the oppo press.  



 

pdcwhu wrote: ↑28 Feb 2025, 13:44 Tomas Soucek is a Class Person 

El Scorchio" wrote: ↑28 Feb 2025, 11:37

Ron Eff" wrote: ↑28 Feb 2025, 11:09

Manuel wrote: ↑28 Feb 2025, 08:23

Hahaha, save all your drivel mate. You stated that you think people need to appreciate how difficult it is to play against a team who sit 9 players literally on and inside the 18 yard box, and I responded by saying they've just lost 4-0 twice, so clearly they ain't hard to break down. Stop talking shit.

They've conceded 61 goals this season.

I don’t really understand what your issue is. Had Ferguson taken his chance, that’s 3-0. Would that make you much happier? Sometimes teams get breaks and win by 4, sometimes only 2. We breezed through 2-0 at a canter. What’s not to like?

And clearly keeping a clean sheet was very important for Potter and the team. If you go gung ho then that's probably not happening. Yes it wasn't a spectacle but I'm quite happy at this point for us to be suffocating teams and not letting them have a sniff while the players get used to having a tonne of possession and much crisper passing and moving as opposed to how it has been. It was far crisper and faster than under Lop.

I have to say Under Lop we may well have lost that game as well. We'd have been suckered right into their low block and hit on the break, with a Mav or Kilman exposed one on one with Vardy from 40 yards out. Todibo wouldn't have been playing for sure. His 'tactics' were a recipe for disaster against a team that plays like that. Under Moyes this would have been 'must win' so it would have been us also retreating to the edge of our box and probably letting Leicester have 60-65% possession and all the momentum to pass it around inside our half while we struggled to get a foot on the ball and then just tired to hit them on the break if and when we could. Sure last night may have been 'dull', but it was a much more preferable kind of dull to either of those types of dull. We're on an upward trajectory.

Tomas Soucek is a Class Person 

. The first goal came from a speculative shot that Kudus and Soucek reacted well to, and their defenders stood watching.

ray winstone" wrote: ↑28 Feb 2025, 10:19 What was with the Soucek muted celebration last night, it's not like he's played for opposition? 

Also, watching from the comfort of my living room, did I hear a few boos when Mavropanos came on? 

FMOB. We spend 85 minutes playing the patient 'ticca-tac' football so beloved of all the purists and literally demanded by the 'the football is terrible' brigade, and suddenly the chronic moaners are complaining it's boring.

Well, it is boring. And it is when better teams than ours do it as well. Still, the 'playing out from the back' always increases the chances of a comedy goal, which can never be a bad thing. Leicester nearly managed it a couple of times, but couldn't even be bothered to do that properly.

 

The performance reminded me of our 2-0 win v Sheffield United last season. I believe in that match we were also 2-0 up at half time, then put the hand break on for the second half. This was very much a Moyes performance. Nothing wrong with that given our league position and recent defensive problems. Just not something we want to make a habit of.

In the first half, Leicester had everyone behind the ball and were hard to break down. We found it difficult without a playmaker and without a fit centre forward. We struggled to create space and get in behind them. The first goal came from a speculative shot that Kudus and Soucek reacted well to, and their defenders stood watching. The second was again a nice bit of opportunism from Bowen, but not so good from them. Ferguson should have made it 3-0 - hopefully it’s all part of the plan to keep his transfer fee down.

The last 2 games have been great, I think, all things considered.

I never felt at any point as if we were going to lose them.  Both teams never laid a glove on us.

It's a million times better than what we've had to put up with in the last 12 months.

Russ of the BML" wrote: ↑28 Feb 2025, 11:58 Shameful from Leicester. I was expecting to come looking for a fight. I thought it was going to be scrappy and physical and they were going to get in our faces and make it hard. They are five points from Wolves so all to play for. 

What I saw was a team that had already accepted their fate and had no care for the fans, the badge and the coach. 

West Ham have taken a little bit of stick about its own apathetic performance. But we got the job done with as little effort as possible. I mean, if you get two boxers in a ring and one wants to fight and one doesn't - At some point the won who wants to fight stops chasing his opponent round the ring and wins on points. 

Shameful from Leicester. I was expecting to come looking for a fight. I thought it was going to be scrappy and physical and they were going to get in our faces and make it hard. They are five points from Wolves so all to play for. 

What I saw was a team that had already accepted their fate and had no care for the fans, the badge and the coach. 

West Ham have taken a little bit of stick about its own apathetic performance. But we got the job done with as little effort as possible. I mean, if you get two boxers in a ring and one wants to fight and one doesn't - At some point the won who wants to fight stops chasing his opponent round the ring and wins on points. 

Ron Eff" wrote: ↑28 Feb 2025, 11:09

Manuel wrote: ↑28 Feb 2025, 08:23

Ron Eff" wrote: ↑28 Feb 2025, 08:17

And we strolled past them 2-0 without having the get out of first gear and break sweat. What’s the problem?

Arsenal only beat them 2-0 with goals in the last 10 minutes if that’s the sort of comparison we’re making. Likewise Fulham and Palace only beat them 2-0. Spurs lost to them. 

I wouldn’t get too bogged down with how many we won by, rather reflect on how straightforward it was, and we were able to professionally play keep ball for large parts as the job was done. 

Hahaha, save all your drivel mate. You stated that you think people need to appreciate how difficult it is to play against a team who sit 9 players literally on and inside the 18 yard box, and I responded by saying they've just lost 4-0 twice, so clearly they ain't hard to break down. Stop talking shit.

They've conceded 61 goals this season.

I don’t really understand what your issue is. Had Ferguson taken his chance, that’s 3-0. Would that make you much happier? Sometimes teams get breaks and win by 4, sometimes only 2. We breezed through 2-0 at a canter. What’s not to like?

A touch of CLASS from Soucek.

Manuel wrote: ↑28 Feb 2025, 08:23

Ron Eff" wrote: ↑28 Feb 2025, 08:17

Manuel wrote: ↑28 Feb 2025, 07:26

They lost 4-0 to both Everton and Brentford this month.

And we strolled past them 2-0 without having the get out of first gear and break sweat. What’s the problem?

Arsenal only beat them 2-0 with goals in the last 10 minutes if that’s the sort of comparison we’re making. Likewise Fulham and Palace only beat them 2-0. Spurs lost to them. 

I wouldn’t get too bogged down with how many we won by, rather reflect on how straightforward it was, and we were able to professionally play keep ball for large parts as the job was done. 

Hahaha, save all your drivel mate. You stated that you think people need to appreciate how difficult it is to play against a team who sit 9 players literally on and inside the 18 yard box, and I responded by saying they've just lost 4-0 twice, so clearly they ain't hard to break down. Stop talking shit.

They've conceded 61 goals this season.

Yeah there were definitely some murmuers when Mav came on. Light boos, I thought at the time. bit harsh. I mean the guy is a bit of a liability at times but he at least tries his best.

Could have been disappointment that Todibo (who I thought was excellent again) went off. Clearly his minutes are being very closely managed as he recovers and that was a very sensible call given there's no way we were conceding last night.

(And yes fair play if Soucek was asked and actually remembered not to celebrate like that. Good bloke. Probably didnt help that because the replay took so long to come up that they played the helicopter video of him on the big screens about five times...)

Their owner died in a helicopter crash straight after a game between us and them. I don't think Soucek had joined us at that stage (maybe he had). Credit to whoever pointed this out to him at the club if he didn't know himself. Details like that are important.