Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 West Ham Utd (04/12/19)

[S-H]

We weren't bad last night, but we weren't good either, and neither were Wolves, yet they won easily.

[Clacton-ammer]

Firstly. just need to say, Pentoville, you are a bit of a dinkle at times with things you say, but make you right about the game.

I'm amazed at the reaction on here, Pellers has set us up to be more defensive, to a point it's working as we are looking more solid. It is affecting us offensively for sure, we need to find a better balance. I saw players giving their all against I think a very decent Wolves outfit.

We all know Hallers movement is good from his purple patch early in the season, it's not that he doesn't care or rubbish, the poor fellas confidence is zero and it looks like he is running with concrete boots on.

Some digging Rice out??? Not for me, he had another good game, yes he gave the ball away a few times but overall he was very good. You have to give him slack for two things, still learning his game and he is doing the running of two players.

Thought Anderson in the middle looked good as well, nice to see more of Fornals, still some way to go, but there is a player in there.

We got beat by a better side last night, we put a shift in, I actually think after our run of poor games we are now on an upward curve.

[Adrianisournumber1]

Not sure Martin could have done much about the 1st personally. Not seen the second yet as fell asleep.

Have to say though by what I saw especially after the goal was encouraging. We just look **** at the back and we need to spend some good money there

[hammerman11]

I don't get this after bit we are still in our poor run of form. yes we beat Chelsea but we have lost to everyone else ! 2 points off bottom 3.

last night was dire ! the wolves players were warming up before the start of the second half and were fit. our lot stood and watched!
not as bad as some of the games but still very poor. fell sorry for the travelling fans who watched that pile of *****.

martin 7 did well and kept us in it.
fredericks 6 had his moments but sloppy in possession at times. tried though
ogbonna 7 good effort
Balbuena 6 getting back to form
cresswell 6 had to deal with traore but did ok.
noble 5 poor from the capt.
rice 6 again over run but did a few good and bad passes.
Snodgrass 4 poor by his recent standards
fornals 6 best performance in a hammers shirt. he is slowly getting used to it.
haller 3 stinker. doesnt run and seems uninterested. less mobile than donkey carroll. we have been robbed by the germans for him.
anderson 6 better in the centre. starting to come back to form hopefully

yarmolenko 3 waste of space
ajeti 5 didnt notice him
holland 6 a few nice touches

pellegrini looked confused at the end and maybe explains his comments that we played well and controlled it !
wolves should have got a few more goals.

onto a must win couple of games against arsenal and saints. I expect losses for both ! pellegrini out

[Rays Rock]

I also agree 95% with Pentonville. We weren’t terrible, we just didn’t use our possession well enough. Where i disagree is about Haller, yes he had a poor game, but not due to playing poorly, he simply has nothing to feed off (see Haller thread). My biggest gripe is that how often do we see us break away in attack then to see within 5 - 10 seconds the ball being played back to rice then Central defence. We haven’t lost possession yet we haven’t attacked either ! I’m not saying that everything should result in a chance or that the opposition isn’t able to snuff out the opportunity, but FF Sake at least attempt to use possession to attack.
I like that we overlap the fullbacks and get crosses in but if the overlap is made and feigned, for god sake don’t just turn the ball back inside to noble or rice. This is when the ball should be played up to Haller who can then use the advanced fullback who could tuck in a bit ?????? If you play the ball back to rice we then risk losing possession on the halfway line with one or maybe two fullbacks pushed up in attack. It’s not rocket science !
Wolves weren’t that much more impressive. Adama traore is their outlet but thought he was dealt with quite well. Otherwise they didn’t pose alarm bells that the score reflected.

[Dwight1970]

I actually find it more concerning that I thought we didn't perform that badly but were still comfortably beaten by a pretty average Wolves performance last night.

The reality is the Chelsea game was a bit of a fluke in meeting them on a very off day for them and as Norwich beating Man City earlier in the season these things happen.

We are a poor team now and most team will beat us in this league, we can all sit here and find the reasons for this but in the here and now only a repeat of Zola's year where three teams with remarkably low points go down will keep us up or something dramatic happens in January or before to us and with our board that is almost improbable.

[MadMart]

I saw no improvement other than the defence looked a bit more solid last night - maybe the goalkeeper helps!! We're in another relegation battle and will pay over the odds for journeyman footballers in January, AGAIN - Pellers OUT / BOARD OUT / PROTESTS IN

[ornchurch ammer]

?? just back from Wolverhampton, can't believe all the sofa warriors on this thread complaining about the team performance. That was one of the best performances of the season IMO, against a very skillful and confident Wolves team. Haller aside, everyone performed well, especially Anderson who really suits that mid forward central position, his cross pitch pass to Snoddy was inch perfect, hardly any need to control it, but he still fluffed it. If that had gone in, the game would have had a very different result. Fornals had his best game for the team, and the defence more than coped with the Wolves attack. Their first goal was a bit of a fluke, and the second was right at the death, well taken. I'm very optimistic about the team. we will roll over Arsenal no problems.

To be fair that's pretty much how I saw it from my sofa as well.
I thought there was more chance of us equalising than them getting a second.

[sendô]

The whole game last night could be summed up in the 4 corners that led up to their first goal.

Two corners for us, in which Snodgrass failed to clear the first defender both times. Two corners to them, the first leads to Martin having to tip one over the bar, the second leads to a goal after Fredericks let's Dendoncker get a run on him.

We weren't terrible last night, we just lacked quality in key areas, our final ball was often poor or else the wrong choice, and once again far too much of our passing was side to side in front of their defence.

Many of the same complaints we've had all season.

Meh. Still, it was entertaining watching Matthew Upson highlighting basic defensive errors.

[Sloop John B]

We weren't bad last night, but we weren't good either, and neither were Wolves, yet they won easily.

Yup... They won at a canter really... Our attacking play is just far too slow and predictable, we really miss Antonio's directness. Anderson cut a frustrated figure once again...he's not beating players and he's not playing that final pass.

The number of times we go out wide and then check back is soooo frustrating.

Fornals had a decent game, as did Ogbonna and Balbuena.

Subs were weird, I would have have swapped Yarmo for Haller and played him as a striker.

Holland needs to bulk up a bit.

[steps]

Wolves got a plucky goal from a badly defended corner on our behalf (how many times have we conceded from corners in the last couple of seasons?)

After that, they just sat and invited us to attack. When our attack inevitably broke down they swiftly countered. They play like this at home all the time, they rarely drop points from winning positions. Also they are unbeaten in 10 now ( believe.)

Saying this, I think we could of got something from the game. Snodgrass had a really good chance and Fornals had a brilliant effort tipped over the bar,

I was generally frustrated by our build up play though, and have been for a majority of the season so far. We need to be quicker and more decisive / less hesitant in front of goal.

[ornchurch ammer]

A simple man on the near post would have stopped their first goal.

I don't really understand the defending of corners now though. What's wrong with a man on each post and leaving a couple up front forcing them to keep at least 3 back?

[Knighter10WHU]

?? just back from Wolverhampton, can't believe all the sofa warriors on this thread complaining about the team performance. That was one of the best performances of the season IMO, against a very skillful and confident Wolves team. Haller aside, everyone performed well, especially Anderson who really suits that mid forward central position, his cross pitch pass to Snoddy was inch perfect, hardly any need to control it, but he still fluffed it. If that had gone in, the game would have had a very different result. Fornals had his best game for the team, and the defence more than coped with the Wolves attack. Their first goal was a bit of a fluke, and the second was right at the death, well taken. I'm very optimistic about the team. we will roll over Arsenal no problems.

Sofa warrior :lol: No I didn't go yesterday and I'm glad I didn't after I went last season in the sleet and snow in the midweek and we were totally outplayed and uninterested as we were again last night.

Everyone played well aside from Haller... I'm sorry I'm not having that. Noble was shocking, the game completely bypassed him. I can't even count the number of times their centre midfielders got in behind him in the first half. Cresswell was ripped apart by Traore all game. Snodgrass worked hard as usual but his final ball or finish was dire. Yarmolenko couldn't even pass the ball to a team mate when he came on. Fredericks lost his man at the corner.

Had Snodgrass scored it would have been a different game but he didn't and that's half the problem.

[ornchurch ammer]

Cresswell was ripped apart by Traore all game.

Not having that. No way. He played Traore well and had a solid game.
Traore is fast, and would outsprint 99% of left backs, but what did he really create?

[LincolnshireHammer]

Pellers OUT / BOARD OUT / PROTESTS IN

WE MARCH! :lol:

[Al Fisti]

Typical West Ham. Same procedure as every year, James!

[Paddy O'Hammer]

Oh FFS.............is it time to give up after 52 years a Hammer. I'm well worn out.

[James P]

Real case of Christian Dailly Syndrome being exhibited here. When a player or team is consistently woeful for an extended period of time, mediocre performances will receive praise far greater than they truly merit.

Anderson, Fornals, the team in general didn’t play wemll at all imo. There was some nice passages of possession in the middle third but our defending for the goals was shocking, we barely landed a glove on them from an attacking point of view and justly ran out losing by two goals.

Maybe it was better than some other performances of late but it was not objectively a good performance. Play at that level and with that effectiveness most weeks and we’ll lose most weeks.

[jacko]

I don't think we were that bad. But we just look so exposed at the back at times. We always give teams lots of chances.

[Crouchend_Hammer]

I thought we defended ok. Playing away to a decent side you are always going to give up chances, especially after going behind

It is going forward that worries me much more. We had three shots on target...one a tame header from a corner, one a decent long shot, and was the Snodgrass one on one the other?

We must have one of the lowest expected goals totals [or whatveer that new stat is], in the league. We create very minimal clear-cut chances, especially away from home. When was the last time we created loads of chances, peppered the opposition goal, hit the woodwork, forced the opposition goalie into loads of saves, missed sitters etc etc

We create next to nothing in open play, and that is the problemo