The team selection said it all. OK, Jarvis may not have been ready for a full 90 minutes, but why not start him and seek to seize the initiative, rather than try to steal a win with a late substitution? Then there was the delayed use of Yossi. The guy opens teams up. What's the point of giving him just 4 minutes, plus injury time, of action?
As I posted yesterday, this was a season defining game and, despite our chances, Allardyce blew it to a certain extent. Had he gone all out for victory, we may have lost, but I fancy we would have won by a comfortable margin. Hughton seems to agree with me because he said after the game, "it's a clean sheet against a strong powerful West Ham side who will trouble a
lot of teams this season."
Contrast that with Allardyce who accentuated the positives of a clean sheet, insisting, "From our point of view it is a well-earned point.
It is our first point away from home this season and another clean sheet is
very satisfying. That's three clean sheets from four since our return to the
Premier League and that is a basis to build from."
You can't argue with the logic that says you can't lose if you don't concede, but you can't win if you don't score either! 38 draws sees you safe, usually, but nothing more - and we are not going to draw at Old Trafford, the Etihad and Stamford Bridge, to name but three, so victories are essential. I repeat what I said yesterday, set this team up to attack and we will put two past most opponents and, along the way, win more games than we lose. 15 victories gives you 45 points, a much better return than aiming to eke out safety from 0-0 draws.
Fair enough, a dodgy looking defence on paper has looked pretty efficient, the Swansea game apart, but the big challenges lie ahead and whilst 7 points from four games is not to be sniffed at, a false picture has been created by a relatively easy start to the season. In fact 7 points is par for the course and nothing more, for a team narrowly avoiding relegation. Southampton have started like we did under Grant, but Southampton have been punching with the heavy weights who will soon be aiming at our glass jaw!
All that said, a substitute bench reading Tomkins, McCartney, Benayoun, Maiga, Jarvis, Henderson and Diarra does not scream out relegation fodder - especially with Carroll ruled out by injury!
15 comments:
Sorry fella you miss the point of today's game and that was our midfield had a really bad day - not one I believe could hold his head up today and say he had a good game. And your opinion that if our side attacked attacked we would win more games than lose is so far fetched, this is the premiership not Sunday league. People need to get real about our team we have started really well apart from the mistakes at Swansea and to have 7 points
I watched the game on a stream and I dont completely agree with you. After the Fulham game it was understandable to put out the lineup he did. Nobody deserved to be dropped. Starting Maiga over Cole might have been nice, and I suspect he will against Sunderland, but today it would have decimated whatever confidence Cole has left. Now that Maiga looked a bit more effective than Cole the change should happen.
I do agree about Benayoun. I think the worst part of our game was Vaz Te's service. His crosses were just awful, and Yossi should have come on earlier. But we threatened a couple of times early and were unlucky not to score, although the same could be said about Norwich.
I think the play was not as safe as you think, HF, but not as daring as you would have liked to see. For me, I dont give a rats ass about ANYTHING other than safety. If we beat Sunderland, and its a bif IF, we will have 25% of the points we will likely need for safety in our first five games. I can live with that.
My thoughts exactly. Especially about the very late entry of Benayoun. What is the point of having him in the game for less than 5 minutes! Also, you are likely to make the best use of Benayoun if Vaz Te is also in the team (rather than replacing him). But of course by that time Vaz Te was totally tired and perhaps he wouldn't have been much use anyway even if he stayed on.
Sam was too cautious and his team selection was obviously wrong today. Maiga also is sharp and quick and I don't see why he is not given more time to show what he can do. Also McCartney is a much better and safer option than O'Brien.
How do we get goals when VITAL set pieces are wasted by our set piece 'expert' and hero in EVERY game???
And did you see the two dangerous free-kicks the numpty gave away HF? One outside the box for a direct free-kick and one on the flank for a chance to cross. If that was Parker, there'd been at least a paragraph on it.
Didn't see it Stani, in Constanta, 84 degrees and wife demanding to be entertained. But your analysis was so predictable!
Just like Noble's crossing!
No bias at all in what Stani says about your hero HF. His crosses were awful and he conceded fouls at dangerous places from which we were lucky to escape. I thought you watched the match and that was the reason why you kept quiet about "how great Noble was" in your article.
The only thing that is really predictable is that Noble is not the real deal. I can't understand how this guy can keep Benayoun on the bench. It really defies logic...
Cue Tweedledee!
Constanta?! absolute hole, in fact the hole country is - I have eastern European friends who wouldn't be seen dead in Romania - so god knows what you're doing there. #pikey
By the way I love the way you comment on games these days without even watching, Vaz Te couldn't cross for toffee today - Nobel was rubbish and Collins is becoming a liability of massive proportions!
84 degress!? Luddite, but hardly surprising - bet you wear socks with your sandles #prat
It's Noble twat. Two course meal for two with beer on sea front, £11. Has its charms!
Sav, what I hated about the recent good fortune of hype (undeserved hype) that has come Noble's way is it will make it harder for Benayoun - a player of class and proven quality - to now get in the side ahead of him because the Noble PR machine will be up and running. Max Clifford ain't got a thing on our Nobes. In the game against Fulham where hardly anyone put a foot wrong, good old Nobes was able to hide amongst everyone. In some people's minds this automatically equated to a top class performance from him.
The hype will also make it harder for Diarra to get in the side too, of course, an international player who recently captained his national side.
You know it.
Spunkbubble blower
Totally agree with you Stani. That is exactly what I fear. It is such a great pity now that we have finally got competent and experienced midfielders in the team like Benayoun and Diarra to have them on the bench to allow the obsession with Noble to continue.
Noble is not and has never been a creative midfielder. It is not in his footballing DNA. Moreover, he is a liability in his defensive duties. On the other hand, as you say, both Diarra and Benayoun are exactly the players we have been missing badly. One through pass against a poor Norwich defence yesterday would have given us the 3 points. But no, Benayoun had to stay on the bench so that the "West Ham through and through kid" could have a game. It is ridiculous. It may become tragic if this continues.
I was very frustrated by the game. The midfield wasn't poor - it was completely bypassed by hoof after hoof from the back. Why we can't play out from the back rather than just lumping it up front to what it, at best a 50/50 change of retaining possession is beyond me. Noble and Nolan never got into the game because they weren't given the ball.
We looked lacklustre though, and that was disappointing coming off such a good win against Fulham. We just stopped playing in the second half and looked tired.
Agree about Benayoun - he should've been given at least 30 minutes. I called the Taylor and Cole substitutions, but they were obvious. I noted that Maiga doesn't seem to have really warmed to other players in the squad, going by subtleties, but maybe he has a game face...
We have the quality in the middle of the park, and upfront to hurt teams, but we HAVE to use them, and not just lump it up front all the time. Jarvis looked good, and I feel that will Jarvis right, Benayoun left, Noble, Nolan and Diame (who looked okay) in the middle and Carroll up front, we've got enough, but need to use the middle of the park.
Finally, I'm baffled as to why Big Sam continued the long ball tactic when we had only Maiga upfront. He's never going to beat two burly centre backs to the ball - it was then that he should've told the team to play it on the floor to make best use of his skills.
Just my amateur opinion of course.
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