Well that was much better than I expected. A makeshift team with two young full backs / wing backs, against a reasonably strong Manchester United, and we gave them a game. Okay, we didn't really look like scoring, but apart from Fatty Dowd giving an absurd penalty, after denying us a better shout, Giggs, Hernandez and Rooney didn't get many chances either.
The formation worked defensively. Diarra made one awful mistake which nearly cost us, so did Potts, and Tomkins was possibly at fault for Manchester United's goal, but those glitches apart, we defended as a unit, and defended well. Spence was a revelation. He was pacey, mobile, confident - makes you wonder why he hasn't been given more of a chance until now. The threat was supposedly down the flanks, but our right hand side was close to watertight!
Of course, this formation won't win us many games, but had we played like that against Sunderland we would not have been tonked 3-0. Other pluses were the return of Diame and the appearance from the bench of young Lee. And hopefully we didn't pick up any injuries.
Out of the Cup but we exit with our pride intact and the confidence probably boosted!
Player ratings: Jussi 6, Spence 7, Tomkins 6, Diarra 6, Reid 7, Potts 5; O'Neil 5, Taylor 6, Diame 7; Vaz Te 5, Cole 5 Subs Nolan 5, Collison 6, Lee 5
17 comments:
Armchair hammers player ratings are sponsored by SCS the sofa specialists.
Cmon HF bit harsh on Potts don't you think. Drop O'neil and Taylor and replace them with Noble and Cole we might start scoring some goals.
Honourable performance. Ref was a joke and Diarra did much better in defence than in midfield, which is reassuring. Think you could have marked him higher, HF.
Diame started off slow but got into it slowly. His class is obvious. We must keep this guy.
Spence looks the real deal.
O'Niel's delivery was very good all game.
Matt Taylor has somewhere lost his intelligence. Thick as shiz, as is Tomkins. Some of their decision making is just beyond belief.
Played well :) fair play, thought we deserved a goal but hey! We have positives, let's just hope we smash them when they come to our home ground in the prem :) COYI
well.nice to hear big Sam mention his laptop as proof of a decision . ....... reminds me of a shit comment you made about a certain Leeds manager only yesterday !
Proud of West Ham. The pundits bang on about a manure b team but ignore the fact the Hammers had to field a b team as-well. Our youngsters did well and if we weren't playing against 12 men, we might have stood a chance.
Think some of your ratings were slightly off to be honest, but agree with a lot of the rest. We gave them a gave, even if we didn't create much, it was a makeshift team. A little peeved that Spence has not played more though, especially last season.
Changes to ratings for me would be
Jussi 4 not 6. (shocking handling and kicking often)
tomkins 4 not 6 (at fault for goal)
Diarra 7 (made loads of really timely tackles and interceptions)
Diame 5 (was he on the pitch?)
Cole 4 (big fan of cole but he didnt have much service, but in general his service was shocking.)
In regards to Cole, he played like someone who has been told he will be 3rd choice as soon as Chamakh gets match fit and Lazy arse Carroll get fit.
Does anyone who actually went to the game agree with the "armchair gobshite" or do you have a more accurate marking of performances due to witnessing the game first hand? Let me know the facts. Can't wait.
We handed the game to them on a plate. No Noble, J. Cole, Jarvis and Nolan on the bench, there was no one to provide any decent crosses. What is happening with Noble ? He was missing against Sunderland as well, and I have not heard of any injury.
You are much too generous with Nolan and Va Te...
Vaz te lost all his duels. All of them. Unable to dribble past a standing tree. Deserves a 3, just for showing up. And what about Nolan ? Besides getting a yellow for using his big mouth, nothing. Oh, I forgot, he missed the unmissable in counter attack after a pass from Vaz Te. Just had to shoot, but since he was either napping or having a senile moment, he gave the defenders the chance to recover and snatch the ball away from him. Simply does not deserve to be on the pitch against QPR.
Dunlopilo.
Poor Sad Hammers bow out. This one had an air of predictability about it as soon as United nicked the draw in the game at Sad Hammer Park.
Still , as the Author points out, heads can be held high, especially now the Sad's can focus on their only ambition for the season, namely to avoid the drop.
So what do you think Hammersfan? Will this brave loss spur them on to achieving this ambition, or will they now go powering down the league table faster than an East End Hooker's drawers?
At least Hammersfan can keep cheering on the other Team he supports (Leeds United)in the F A Cup ! They're still in it.
Shouldn't you be doing another tour of the building compound with your alsation dog 0603. Too much time spent looking in that magazine will make you go blind!
Kevin in Manchester ..
I was the guest of a big time sponsor at OT last night had best seat in the house and it was fun listeneing to all the Manu fans saying what a shit game it was when really what happened is that we didn't let them play and steam-roller us.
Have to say if we'd had a half mobile striker we may have won but Cole was truly awful in my view. It is no good saying he's good at holding the ball up- that's not what he is paid to do and anyway holding the ball up is only any use if you have someone to lay it off to and last night we didn't.
His anticipation is rubbish ; he doesn't move into space until the ball is kicked in his direction, the trouble is the defender marking him sees it and gets there first.
Also Vaz Te was giving Spence a hard time moaning at him for not giving ball to feet; in point of fact on at least three occasions he popped it into space behind Vaz Te but the lazy so and so could not be arsed to move.
WE were transformed when Nolan came on for Cole- it was like the headmaster walking into a rowdy room, everyone seemed to up their game and concentrate that bit more.
Agree with others here that Potts looked the real deal and more confident and comfortable than Spence.
Not too bothered by the result it was effectively a high intensity training session for both sides let's hope we take the form into the match with QPR.
06:03 here Hammersfan... but that Magazine came from your club's owners so really I'm supporting the Sad's by reading it, in a roundabout way.
It's always obvious when you get pissed off by the way. My comments hit home again , and all you can do is retort with an insult...again.
I love pulling the strings!
Decent performance last night.
However, Ferguson, once again exploited the weakness we have by fielding Tomkins with an accelaration from 0-10 miles per hour of about 1 minute by pairing him with one of his Formula 1 cars (Hernandez). The mismatch was similar as the one that gave MU the chance to score against us in the last minute at Upton Park.
As much as I like James Tomkins overall game (especially in the air) his total lack of pace gives the team a vulnerability which I think it is best to eradicate from the team. This is why we should sell him to Pardew and get good money for him. We can then use that money to buy defensive players with pace.
What if anything Nolan coming on had the oppsosite effect all our players performance levels seemed to drop.
10.58. Well done mate and keep it up. I've been having a right hoot pulling his strings and making him dance.
Post a Comment