West Ham Utd 0-5 Manchester City (10/08/19)

[Irrons]

I'm sorry, I don't care if it's Man City, losing 5 nil in the manner we did is simply unacceptable and the way we set up trying to play against them today was naive in the extreme. We also have some real passengers in our side who we need to jettison asap; like Cresswell. He's been a liability for years now has been mentalily shot ever since his injury. His weakness will be exploited by all of our opponents. And I don't understand why we paid nearly £11 million for Ajeti and he doesn't even make the squad. Seriously, what was the point of that?? We were crying out for a decent DM for exactly these sorts of games and have been for three years but nothing was done; so we stay with the same soft underbelly that is easily ticked with a bit of quick passing and movement

[Crouchend_Hammer]

It certainly sounded like it...

You need to re-read then. I didn't say people were blaming the ref *for not winning*. Merely 'blaming the ref and droning on about VAR' in general

Different things

[traxop]

For their first , Antonio went to Mahrez. It was Cresswell that got rinsed. He's slow for a PL full back and Walker is quick. A total mismatch.

Virtually identical goal to the one last week v Bilbao.

That screen cap you've posted was hardly representative of what happened was it now. The most galling aspect of the whole thing was that Antonio had a complete view as to what was to about to happen.

To drive home the point, we can see the dark and light patterned grass on the pitch, from that you can clearly see all through out that movement, Antonio never made the decisive move towards Mahrez to even put on a modicum of token pressure on him. He stayed in that dark patterned lane the whole time.

Mahrez must have thought this a training ground exercise given he had all the time in the world. For f*** sake, he's left footed and he's opening up his body to his defender to make that weighted through-ball. The ball was left exposed right in front of him. Any sort of pressure might have forced him to take action to shield the ball, or forced him to use his weaker right foot on that pass, or even be in the position to get a knick on it to divert the ball away.

[paulhs1]

Does anyone know why Masuaku was left out today.

Odd decision personally, we could have done with hes pace on the first goal.

[Gsbgsb]

We were crying out for a decent DM for exactly these sorts of games and have been for three years but nothing was done; so we stay with the same soft underbelly that is easily ticked with a bit of quick passing and movement

So now we advocate dropping Rice based on one poorish performance. We pay loads of money for a player to either replace our best young talent or only play in a couple of games a season? We have our DM, it is Rice and generally he is at least “decent”.

We got beat by a team where none of our players are good enough, even at their best, to make their squad let alone their bench or team. Is it fair, maybe not but it is the reality of playing Man City. Last season they put 6 on Chelsea with all the resources they have, City do this to teams. Yes we were poor second half but that fails to give any credit to just how good their movement and ball recovery press was.

Haller looks a good buy but to get the most out of him we need players who will go beyond him and threaten the box in the way Jovic and Rebic did last year at Frankfurt. I am not sure that is Lanzini. First half Anderson beat the left back from a Haller lay off in the middle of their half looked up and no-one was in the box, had that been Mahrez from Jesus then Stirling, De Bruyne or Silva would be getting there. They have a speed of mind and foot we simply do not have, it has little to do with fitness or desire, Mo Farah might be as fit with the same desire but he is never going to sprint as fast as Usain Bolt or react as fast to the gun.

For me the Fornals/Antonio change if for tactical not injury reasons was a negative step as it ceded more control to them whilst also nullifying part of the threat Haller offered as no-one was then looking to break beyond him. I suspect those left on the pitch were as guilty for not following the offensive orders as Antonio was lax with the defensive ones. As big however was the Wilshere knock, Snodgrass was his usual all effort self but Wilshere offers a measure of calm and control with the ball he does not. The Anderson swap was a return to a more attacking outlook by when the horse had bolted, yes Allardyce or Moyes would have introduced a more defensive player in an attempt to keep the score to 3, not the MP way,

[WestHamByTheSea]

Seen a few 5-0 drubbings in my 40 odd years of watching West Ham but that was an odd one yesterday.

Very decent 1st half, especially compared to the way we've approached Citeh games the past few years - that was the least intimidated I've seen us since Kiki Musampa was trotting around for them.

2nd half - got the feeling Pep got into them at HT as if they were 1-0 down rather than 1-0 up - they stepped up a gear and put the game to bed before we could think about what we were doing.

Weirdly I can't imagine being less concerned about the rest of the season after a 0-5. Obviously it was horrid in the 2nd half, but I think there were enough good signs in the 1st half to suggest some promise.

Watched the game in a Bournemouth pub and the worst thing that happened was me and my mate both getting Sheffield Utd stickers slapped on our back by their lovely away support. Good bunch of lads who I hope are still reeling from the backwards taxi to Dean Court advice I gave them. Cutlery-producing twats.

There are plenty of teams this season we can give a right battering, Citeh just aren't one of them.

We'll be fine, no panic required. Especially once Nobes is back.

[Ironing Board]

Some minor issues aside, I think the team showed enough to suggest this could be a good season. If anything we will be able to build momentum now we have this fixture out of the way.

[hammerman11]

the lack of a strong mobile CM cost us but against non top 6 teams we will be ok. my point is that the wolves leicesters will give city a harder game because their players are fitter and will deploy proper DM .

masuaka in for cresswell
noble in for wilshere

no panic just horrible to see we are so far away from them.

[Tenbury]

For the first time in living memory we agree about something!
First half was decent(ish), and 3-0 can very easily become 5-0 when you're being outclassed.You can point to various players, and criticise the manager ( :lol: ) until your trousers become sticky, but that side , when in the mood,have the players to destroy just about any team.

[-DL-]

I've read umpteen times on this thread that we'll re-group and rip Brighton a new one next week. We lack so much bite and aggression, we'd struggle to rip wet toilet paper.

On the face of it, we've got a good team, but losing 0-5 at home, no matter how good the opposition are is totally unacceptable.

I take no positives from that performance, it's shameful. All very well saying we were good for 35 minutes, but that matters not when games are 90. It's all very well saying 'oh but it's City' - that matters not either. We shouldn't be shipping 5 goals at home with none scored. 1999 was the last time it happened, and we finished the game with 8 men on the pitch. The fact we still had 11 on the pitch throughout, was absolutely disgusting.

As has been pointed out already, we don't seem to have a style, we don't seem to have a shape and we don't seem to have a plan either - and that's worrying. Not just based on this games, but based on what was seen last season too. Aside from a couple of different personnel, this is the same team that last season looked pretty clueless in a lot of games.

But to concede 5 at home to nil, even if it was against City? That's not on. ****ing shocking.

[Jayhammer]

After sleeping on it hear is my view on yesterday
1. You should never lose 0-5 at home to anybody. So the manager has to take the blame.
2 I don’t understand taking off Antonio? Apart from the 1st goal he pushed Walker back but once we took him off we where too lightweight down that side.
3. Lanzini wants to be the playmaker but yesterday he was not good enough, he should have been the one to come off at halftime.
4. Too many mistakes in the final 3rd. City are ruthless but you can’t be making that many mistakes inside your own half. I know he saved us many times already but the goalkeeper made 2 mistakes yesterday, not sure what he was doing for the last one?!
5. I have said it all pre season we are ok with the ball but we are awful without it, and it showed in the 2nd half.
6. The manager lives and dies by his decisions yesterday he got it terrible wrong in the 2nd half.
7. Players need to learn quick that you aren’t going to get away with anything with VAR, so the players need to wise up and quick.
7. VAR done what everybody asked for, got the calls right when asked for.
8. How do they get away with some many breakup fouls without getting booked is beyond me.
9. Positive from the game, not many Haller held the ball up well in the first half but we didn’t get enough of the ball in the 2nd. We done alright in 1st half so I think we need to focus on that and learn quickly not what to do in the 2nd, also read that City have scored 22% of the goals we have conceded at the London Stadium!
10. Move on to the next game.

[PlaistowIron]

Jayhammer - point 8 is a good one. They are very good at ‘tactical’ fouling. Any hint of a counter, they take the man down. I can’t understand why no one was booked though.

For the second goal, one of our men needs to take down De Bruyne and take a yellow for the team. We’re way too naive in such situations.

[pezza20]

I would say that people need to look at he stats.

The reason City won was they were absolutely clinical. Fab had just one save to make aside from picking the ball out of the net 5 times, and each time City got into scoring positions they did just that - this is why they are Champions.

Whilst the score flattered the per se they were much better than us second half and I suspect Pep went ballistic at half time because in truth they should have been behind, Lanzini penalty appeal was solid and I was amazed VAR didn't review it.

Cresswell is shot though - offers nothing going forward and can ot defend for toffee. Diop was awful and should have come across to cover Cresswell when it was clear what was unfolding. A few of our players were off form and that it when you are going to get done by better teams, all this continues talk about had we had a DCM in there.... it probably would have led to the same result.

Anyway on to next week and hopefully better things.

[hammerman11]

agree fully. time to move on. we lacked any leader aggression or bite yesterday. the one player causing them problems was Antonio and once he was gone walker zipped past cresswell ! total embarrassment for cresswell. we still have too many slow or unfit players in the team.

pelle must learn from this but he will not panic. the next game is huge for us. lose and we will be in trouble !

its an away game so I would like to see us a bit more defensive . noble in alongside rice will help and Arthur in for cresswell will improve us. if he is not fit then play Johnson as he is better than cresswell.

was cresswell only picked so he could be our captain ? what a weak gutless performance from a west ham captain !

[PlaistowIron]

Bring back Matt Upson :lol:

[bubbles1966]

Lovely screen shot of Cresswell with how many yards start on Walker ?

That's 5 more goals conceded to add to the 11 in 6 friendlies.

Can't go on like that. I just hope we don't waste the first 4-6 games coming to terms with it like we've done in the last three years.

[The Old Mile End]

Absolutely taken apart by last seasons best. Hopefully the players won't get too disheartened by the size of the defeat.

As usual, we look unfit from the start of the season. We have done this for many years now. Be prepared to wait four or five games like last year before we find our feet.

The stadium definitely works against us. Big teams like Man City are used to playing in such a place. It offers us no advantage whatsoever. Wide open spaces, lack of intimidating atmosphere, crowd totally nullified. No home advantage at all really when playing against opponents like Man City.

But we didn't look too bad in parts. We do have some good quality players, it will just be a matter of finding the right blend. The test will come with the attitude of the five or six who don't get enough playing time as the season progresses.

Despite all the optimism on here for a team that hadn't yet kicked a ball in anger, we are a mile behind sides like Citeh. This should not be the case fitness wise . But yesterday it was.

Stuff the VAR. Maybe the decisions were correct, but I'd rather watch a game of human errors than one where a man if offisde by his shoulder. And yet, despite all this, no one booked that Rodrigo fella for continous fouling especially when they lost the ball through the middle. They don't need to play that way, but some just can't help themselves.

[Stepney]

Well that was enjoyable, wasn't it?! I'm not going to get too worried as it was Man City (although I didn't think they were anything special) and the game will be remembered for VAR and nothing else. What did concern me was the lack of movement off the ball and lack of ideas in the final 3rd. As we all know it's going to take time for the new players to settle in but I fear we will be using that excuse for way too long as it's clearly going to be another slow start to the campaign (although let's hope we don't lose the first four in a row this time). It will click eventually but not for a good few games methinks.

As a spectacle that game was diabolical and not entertaining at all. Hopefully Brighton next week will be better...

[HammerPDC]

I think the game almost reflected the window we just had we will be affective going forward this season I know we didn’t score but you can see there will be some good play up top and attacking midfield

And our defensive play will limit any achievements we make.

I’m a big Pellegrini fan but I’m not sure how between him Husillos and the clowns that own us they couldn’t figure out we desperately needed a left back and a defensive midfielder

You can almost guarantee we’ll concede 55 minimum again this season

[Crouchend_Hammer]

For me, what is equally disappointing as our awful defending was our complete lack of anything resembling a cutting edge going forward.
We supposedly have an armoury of attacking talent but did not create a chance of note until the Hernandez one in the 70th minute. This despite Man City having a back four that, with the exception of Laporte, are hardly renowned for their defensive abilities. They also did thir best to help us out in the first half making quite a few errors that gave us the ball in dangerous areas. Why were we so blunt attacking wise all game? Last season we at least had some chances.
Even in the first half when we played reasonably well we created nothing.
I appreciate Manchester City are extremely organised when they defend but we didn't even win a corner until mid way through second half!
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