West Ham Utd 2 Wigan Ath 1 (16/08/08)

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Re: West Ham Utd v Wigan Ath: match thread

Post by bubbles1966 »

Some of the comments on here about a lack of fitness and negativity amaze me :shock:

Are we supposed to dominate 90 minutes of every game with superhuman football where we pass it around like Brazil while the opposition stand still and applaud us? Are we supposed to have 11 Olympians playing for us who are all bigger, faster, stronger than everybody that ever plays against us?

Bruce clearly said to his team at half time - push up and press them every time the keeper rolls it out.

I can only imagine the comments on here had we carried on trying to play from the back (which incidently led to their goal) and conceded the inevitable goals as they overran our midfield 2.

Our problem 2nd half stemmed from one thing only. Their central midfield was faster and stronger than ours so they dominated possession and gained control of the game. Once Mullins came on to replace Parker this situation was brought back under a reasonable amount of control.
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Re: West Ham Utd v Wigan Ath: match thread

Post by SenzaPaura »

bubbles1966 wrote:Some of the comments on here about a lack of fitness and negativity amaze me :shock:

Are we supposed to dominate 90 minutes of every game with superhuman football where we pass it around like Brazil while the opposition stand still and applaud us? Are we supposed to have 11 Olympians playing for us who are all bigger, faster, stronger than everybody that ever plays against us?

Bruce clearly said to his team at half time - push up and press them every time the keeper rolls it out.

I can only imagine the comments on here had we carried on trying to play from the back (which incidently led to their goal) and conceded the inevitable goals as they overran our midfield 2.

Our problem 2nd half stemmed from one thing only. Their central midfield was faster and stronger than ours so they dominated possession and gained control of the game. Once Mullins came on to replace Parker this situation was brought back under a reasonable amount of control.
Well said sir.
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Re: West Ham Utd v Wigan Ath: match thread

Post by Burnley Hammer »

Personally, I'd' have given Reid a run out when Etherington disappeared in the second half. I'd have also been tempted to Drop to 4-5-1 as soon as we started loosing control of the game. Adding Bowyer to the midfield would have beefed it up and also, with his attacking tendencies, we'd have still had a decent chance of scoring another. Probably would have replaced Parker with Mullins too so he got that one right IMO
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Re: West Ham Utd v Wigan Ath: match thread

Post by Arch Dandy »

Greens distribution put us under a lot of pressure as well, even when the balls are on target and won we rarely won the second ball, bringing pressure right back onto us.
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Re: West Ham Utd v Wigan Ath: match thread

Post by Romford »

Burnley Hammer wrote:Personally, I'd' have given Reid a run out when Etherington disappeared in the second half. I'd have also been tempted to Drop to 4-5-1 as soon as we started loosing control of the game. Adding Bowyer to the midfield would have beefed it up and also, with his attacking tendencies, we'd have still had a decent chance of scoring another. Probably would have replaced Parker with Mullins too so he got that one right IMO
I think we did drop to a 451 mate...and that was our problem again. Mr Positive showing his true colours sadly

Hence poor crowd and empty seats

Hence aggro on here

Curbs negative tactics and the teams injury list will be the biggest problems again this season from yesterdays showing
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Re: West Ham Utd v Wigan Ath: match thread

Post by Fionn »

Romford wrote: I think we did drop to a 451 mate...and that was our problem again. Mr Positive showing his true colours sadly

Hence poor crowd and empty seats

Hence aggro on here

Curbs negative tactics and the teams injury list will be the biggest problems again this season from yesterdays showing
I'm not sure if he did switch to 451 mate, did he? Honestly can't seem to remember but if he did can you really blame him. We were holding onto a slender lead, we were being battered in the middle of the park and it was looking like Wigan were going to get a result.
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Re: West Ham Utd v Wigan Ath: match thread

Post by Rayleigh_Hammer »

IMO>> Wigan started to get on top on about 30 mins and an effective half-time pep talk from Bruce saw them completely dominate the 2nd half.Their poor finishing saved us in the end,but we were overdue some luck.Still, league positions dont lie and we are currently in a UEFA slot.
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Re: West Ham Utd v Wigan Ath: match thread

Post by Romford »

I thought we gave them the impetous again after a great start...their weakness was obviously at the back and to change tactics from where i looked was mad.

Wigan played very well although a lot of that was down to our non-existance in central midfield

IMHO of course
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Re: West Ham Utd v Wigan Ath: match thread

Post by derek zoolander »

that was one stressful second half to watch! At least we won though.

I worry that because Noble and Parker are both quite small midfielders they might tend to get bossed around a bit this season which is pretty much what happened yesterday. That left our defense completely open to attack a lot of the time.

Deano looked sharper yesterday as well, chasing a lot of lost balls etc and the man is so dangerous in front of goal. I think Faubert and Behrami showed signs that they could link up well this year, still getting to know each other but it reminded me a bit more of how we used to play with them running down the right wing at times. We genuinly looked dangerous on the attack which is an improvment on last year already i think.

Neill is too slow to play left back, was exposed a fair few times and exactly the same thing can be said of him at right back last year as well. However, he did show the experience and confidence on the ball that i think means he would be still be a good captain and a decent enough cb for us.

Everything else was pretty standard. Cole worked his arse off for us again.
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Re: West Ham Utd v Wigan Ath: match thread

Post by Burnley Hammer »

Well if he did play 4-5-1, he certainly should have brought Bowyer on. You need someone who's going to make surging forward runs to support the lone striker. Personally I'd have started with Bowyer... I'm not saying he's better than Noble, but he's certainly more experienced and definately more consistent. Even when he has a bad game he usually manages to create a good goalscoring opportunity for himself. We will no doubt get some blinding performances from Noble this year, but I think they'll be far outnumbered by his anonymous ones. Would also be interesting to see how Behrami plays as a central midfielder. I seem to recall the player saying that was his favourite position in a recent interview. And seeing as I can't really see Curbs dropping Neill, maybe thats where we'll end up seeing him when McCartney comes back.
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Re: West Ham Utd v Wigan Ath: match thread

Post by cockney farmer »

I wonder if the honest analysis that is sure to follow our display yesterday will prise open the purse strings as we enter the final phase of the transfer window. The rumour around Cambell from United is interesting although the consensus indicates our more urgent need is in central midfield.
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Re: West Ham Utd v Wigan Ath: match thread

Post by Arch Dandy »

Romford wrote:I thought we gave them the impetous again after a great start...their weakness was obviously at the back and to change tactics from where i looked was mad.

Wigan played very well although a lot of that was down to our non-existance in central midfield

IMHO of course
I don't think we did change shape, even at the end Cole and Sears were up front.

The only change was Mullins coming on and sitting deeper, which seemed to have some positive effect.
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Re: West Ham Utd v Wigan Ath: match thread

Post by Romford »

Burnley Hammer wrote:Well if he did play 4-5-1, he certainly should have brought Bowyer on. You need someone who's going to make surging forward runs to support the lone striker. Personally I'd have started with Bowyer... I'm not saying he's better than Noble, but he's certainly more experienced and definately more consistent. Even when he has a bad game he usually manages to create a good goalscoring opportunity for himself. We will no doubt get some blinding performances from Noble this year, but I think they'll be far outnumbered by his anonymous ones. Would also be interesting to see how Behrami plays as a central midfielder. I seem to recall the player saying that was his favourite position in a recent interview. And seeing as I can't really see Curbs dropping Neill, maybe thats where we'll end up seeing him when McCartney comes back.
We need some size in the centre of the park...that has to be at the top of the list

Behrami's best position is midfield but on the wing supposedly but only time and injures will tell where we put him.

I actually thought Bowyer had a fair season last term
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Re: West Ham Utd v Wigan Ath: match thread

Post by Scaloni Is The Messiah »

crawfish wrote: Second half...who really changed strategy Curbs or Wigan?.
I think it was more that conceding 90 seconds after half-time is a really bad time. We should be able to cope, but I think that had far more to do with our confidence falling a bit than Curbs's team talk or strategy or whatever. Had it gone in just before half-time, I'm sure Curbs would have been telling them to galvanise and work hard to protect their lead. He couldn't tell them to expect to concede at 2-0.
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Re: West Ham Utd v Wigan Ath: match thread

Post by Romford »

Arch Dandy wrote: I don't think we did change shape, even at the end Cole and Sears were up front.

The only change was Mullins coming on and sitting deeper, which seemed to have some positive effect.
I think we changed back at the end of the match to utilise Sears...were a few light ales downed though. The after match chat went that way aswell
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Re: West Ham Utd v Wigan Ath: match thread

Post by DannyboyDJL »

I'm a Curbs supporter but I thought he got it wrong yesterday and got away with it. We were under the cosh and defending well and he chose to put LBM at left back and push Behrami up, that was a strange one for me. Regarding Bowyer, I think he works well in a midfield 3 but he vacates midfield too easily to play in a 2 for me. All in all a great result against a team we usually struggle against, and what will be one of the most physical teams in the league. Heskey, Zaki, Palacios, Cattermole, Kapo all very powerful players.

I've got a sneaky feeling Curbs might be gone by the end of the month. We have Man City away and Blackburn at home. We then have a 2 week break. We then face WBA, Newcastle, Fulham, Bolton, Hull. Would be a nice bedding in period for a new manager. If we get turned over by City and Newcastle I think Curbs is in big trouble. I don't agree with it but what with all the noises coming out of the club and the apparant holding back of funds has all the hall marks of a sacking. I wonder if the money saved on Ljungberg roughly equates to the amount needed to sack a manager?
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Re: West Ham Utd v Wigan Ath: match thread

Post by Larry »

Its great to start the season with 3pts but my only concern would be after going 2-0 up within the first 10 minutes we failed to kill the game off and allowed Wigan back into it.
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Re: West Ham Utd v Wigan Ath: match thread

Post by Scaloni Is The Messiah »

Dannyboylister wrote:We were under the cosh and defending well and he chose to put LBM at left back and push Behrami up, that was a strange one for me.
The problem was Faubert was finished. He's still not completed 90 minutes for us and we're still not seeing him at full fitness (not surprising given the problems he's had). So when he came off, we had a natural right-midfielder sat behind him, a natural right-back on the left to come across and play there and then it was a case of covering left-back, which I thought Boa did OK.

Personally, I might have just brought Bowyer on for Faubert to avoid changing three positions, but I'm guessing Curbs wanted to keep the quality in the final third you get with Behrami but not Bowyer. In fact, it was a pretty positive move. And he still gets ****ed off for being negative.
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Re: West Ham Utd v Wigan Ath: match thread

Post by prophet:marginal »

Dannyboylister wrote:got a sneaky feeling Curbs might be gone by the end of the month. We have Man City away and Blackburn at home. We then have a 2 week break. We then face WBA, Newcastle, Fulham, Bolton, Hull. Would be a nice bedding in period for a new manager. If we get turned over by City and Newcastle I think Curbs is in big trouble. I don't agree with it but what with all the noises coming out of the club and the apparant holding back of funds has all the hall marks of a sacking. I wonder if the money saved on Ljungberg roughly equates to the amount needed to sack a manager?
Man City and Blackburn are both quite interesting fixtures. I can see us sharing the points in both matches and would be pretty surprised if they both beat us, tbh.

City will be struggling without both Benjani and Vassell, basically hoping a pairing of two other players will do the damage.

From what I saw of Blackburn from MOTD, there's always going to be a shakiness to a team with Robinson in its back five.

What we 'save' from sacking Curbs surely gets swallowed up in the signing on costs of a new manager. And if they were so sure that this was an option a month ago, why wait to see what the results threw up?

If we lost our next two league games and went out to Macclesfield, maybe. Otherwise, I struggle to agree that they could, let alone will, adequately replace him.
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Re: West Ham Utd v Wigan Ath: match thread

Post by DannyboyDJL »

Scaloni Is The Messiah wrote: The problem was Faubert was finished. He's still not completed 90 minutes for us and we're still not seeing him at full fitness (not surprising given the problems he's had). So when he came off, we had a natural right-midfielder sat behind him, a natural right-back on the left to come across and play there and then it was a case of covering left-back, which I thought Boa did OK.

Personally, I might have just brought Bowyer on for Faubert to avoid changing three positions, but I'm guessing Curbs wanted to keep the quality in the final third you get with Behrami but not Bowyer. In fact, it was a pretty positive move. And he still gets ****ed off for being negative.
I personally would have left the defence as it was and just put LBM or Bowyer on the right. I'm no manager but I do know if we had conceeded late on he would have been slated so much for that decision.
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