West Ham Utd 1-1 Sheffield Utd (26/10/19)

[Ben]

Game could have been sewn up if Anderson had rolled the ball to haller for a tap in (or not kicked it straight at the keeper)
So depressing to think a couple of winnable wins from our recent games could see us pretty high in the table

[hammerman11]

we were poor yet again. there is no pattern to our play. Anderson was swapping wings all the time to try and get into the game. on the few occasions that he ran at people he caused problems so why doesn't pelle get him to do more of it ?

only player whi was decent was rice bit yet again he was over run in midfield as noble was poor and couldn't get near anything.

why zabaleta started I have no idea but he at least had a go but got done for lack of pace a few times.

Snodgrass was the only player to really have a go as haller Anderson and co couldn't be arsed.

In the end a draw was a fair result as they had many chances to win it and bossed large parts of the game.

lanzini is so out of form and does not impact any game nowadays.

onto our next must win game. lose and I am beginning to doubt Pellegrini

atmosphere was poor and we got the usual " you`re not west ham anymore" I make them right. no passion no fight on or off the pitch.

we celebrated the goal in 131 at the front and the stewards trying to have a bloke thrown out for celebrating !

awful match and awful experience in the next level world class dust bowl !

[De Niro]

We're a bang average team putting in average performances and getting the results to match. Even our early wins were average performances.

[steps]

Game could have been sewn up if Anderson had rolled the ball to haller for a tap in (or not kicked it straight at the keeper)
So depressing to think a couple of winnable wins from our recent games could see us pretty high in the table

That was shockingly bad from Anderson.

You could see that he wanted to score it but his effort was so feeble it was painful to watch.

How we didn’t win that game I do not know.

[hammerman11]

we have had a very easy run of fixtures apart from city who crushed us. man utd are poor and most teams beat them.

after Newcastle our fixtures start to get harder:

burnley away
spurs home
Chelsea away
wolves away
arsenal home
southampton away
leicester home
bournemouth home
sheff utd away
leicester away

with the exception of perhaps southampton away I cant see many wins from that lot ! could start entering the bottom 3 soon IF we continue like this with so many slow and uncommitted performances.

[WebmasterFF]

Once again the game was snatched from up by some strange substitutions

1) Anderson was providing us with width and pace as well as tracking back Snoddy added a bit more fight in the middle. Replacing him with Lanzini and moving Snoddy out wide led to their goal - the ball broke from the middle down our left side with Cresswell on his own. Cross comes in and although headed away they score. Looked like a good finish however once they got that we didn't look like we had much going forward with Anderson off.

2) Fornals for Noble. Again I thought on the ball Noble was trying to push us forward as well as pressuring the other side however I can only think his fitness is shot with the amount he gets subbed. Fornals showed some good glimpses however still needs to prove his ability - I'm not sure a team with him and an out of form Lanzini will cause many problems

3) Yarmo for Adjeti. I thought that Yarmo looked shattered by that point so thought he was the best choice to be replaced. Was unlucky with his shot near the end however

On the plus side we looked fairly strong in the first half and deserved the goal (especially Snoddy who put in a shift.

More importantly it was a massive day for me. My Grandad died a week and a half ago (nearly 97, great innings) and I remember going to the games with him and my Dad. Today I took my 18 month old son to the game with his Grandad and he absolutely loved it - to see his face when bubbles was sung and when we scored made me proud as punch. As much as we complain and moan, being able to pass on the club to the next generation after one generation goes means more than the result

[hammerman11]

not sure its fair to pass on a lifetime of misery and despair to the youngster !

[The Old Mile End]

IMHO we are not entertaining to watch at all. Other than yesterday's goal, we are generally slow in the build up and simply do not get enough players into the box. We play one up front, but don't feed him. We can play some delightful one touch football, but it seems to get us nowhere.
It's like the players have lost the plot and either do not know the system they supposed to be playing, or do not want to play it.

We have no pace in our attacking line up other than Anderson - and we keep taking him off too early: Yesterday being a prime example. One of Andersons strengths for me is his ability to tear defenders to shreds in the final third of a game. But I've yet to see it this season. Taking him off after 65 minutes isn't going to test tiring full backs thats for sure.

We have no natural goal poacher, no one looking for the half chance. We rarely shoot from distance, and don't look much of a threat to any side that wants to press us hard.

A couple of wins and this can all change of course. A couple more losses and it can go down hill fast too. But to survive, this league, you need to average a point per game. We have that in our comfortable locker. Shame to be saying this early doors, but we're going nowhere fast at the moment.

[Graza]

I haven’t seen MOTD but I can confirm from going to the game that we really could have been 3 or 4 down before we scored.

We had loads of possession but created nothing. They had far the better chances.

They definitely created the better chances early doors but they weren't exactly gilt edged, everything we had was possession and position with a final ball lacking quality and being snuffed out. Just as with a foot either way they could have scored some of those chances a foot either way would have seen us with tap ins or one on ones with the keeper. It's not the first time MOTD have cut a game to suit the narrative they want to talk about.

[hammerman11]

wehich ever way motd cut it we were poor and didn't deserve the win.

[Graza]

we were poor yet again. there is no pattern to our play. Anderson was swapping wings all the time to try and get into the game. on the few occasions that he ran at people he caused problems so why doesn't pelle get him to do more of it ?

There's lots of valid criticism of the team and players in here but I'm not sure about the wing swapping. What tended to happen was that when we had a corner (and first half we had loads without threatening) Snods would take and Yarmalenko would go near post so Anderson would go far post. When play broke down they would stay on those wings until a goal kick or other complete stop that allowed them to slowly trott back to their usual wing.

I noticed it and it annoyed me. Haller kept getting pushed out wide too to cover for one or the other leaving Snods on his Todd in the middle too. A bit more pace and energy would have seen them all moving back onto position quicker.

Also I remember seeing reports of out 3 behind Haller floating into any position during pre season and thinking what a ball ache it would be to defend of Lanzini, Yarma and Anderson could get it going as all can do a job on either wing or down the middle and the defenders would be constantly having to reassess who was coming at them, what foot they use etc.

[YorksHammer]

That midfield is trash. We're going to get wrecked. A midfield three of Noble, Snodgrass, and Rice will fail miserably to create anything for the front three, nobody will pick up Haller's knock-downs because they won't press up close enough to him to get them so he'll have another fruitless day.

Anderson and Yarmolenko will have to track the overlapping centre backs because that three will prove incapable of doing it, so we're basically going to be playing 4-5-1 all game.

Hoping we can keep them at arm's length and scrape a 0-0.

Annoyingly, this is exactly what happened for me - the one time we got a runner from deep up with and beyond Haller it was when Snodgrass scored. Otherwise we were really flat, keeping the ball but doing nothing with it, absolutely no creativity from deep or elsewhere, and Yarmo/Anderson struggling to get a foothold in their attacking roles as they were doing defensive duty.

We are absolutely desperate for on of our central creative players - Lanzini or Fornals - to find form and get the ball through the defences we come up against letting Anderson and Yarmolenko get beyond their man a couple of times per game. Yarmolenko was the only player we could count on to look forward for a key pass at times, think there were three times plus the assist he actually made a key pass yesterday to create something. Snodgrass had a couple of moments and, despite my above quote, played well but he's not a patch on an in form Lanzini in that central role.

We created a lot more clear cut chances in the second half once Anderson had gone off for Lanzini, and Fornals looked good after coming on for Noble I thought - still a little slow in possession but very clearly getting used to the league pace now.

Only disappointment in my opinion is that their goals was really soft to concede - but I would say the same the other way around, because ours was similarly soft in the way they gave up possession.

Scoreline felt about right at the end of the game.

[Graza]

wehich ever way motd cut it we were poor and didn't deserve the win.

I think that's a bit strong. We controlled the game better than we have virtually all season (apart from against Norwich they were dreadful) and created more clear cut chances than in most games this season. We didn't take the chances we made. So we didn't deserve it no. But we're we poor? Better than last week (not saying much) and but for the width of a post could have squeeked a win with a Snods double.

It feels like we lost though.

[The Old Man of Storr]

As long as we're creating chances I remain hopeful - had Anderson's shot dipped by a few inches it would have been lauded as Goal of the Season and he was unlucky with a close range effort which Henderson did well to save , Cresswell , Snodgrass and Yarmolenko might have scored the winner but hey they didn't - What I wasn't aware of was that Sheffield Utd have the best defensive record after Liverpool in the Premier League so they're difficult to break down , having done just that on at least 4 occasions I think we'll do ok and aren't as bad as some make us out to be .

Good to see MOTM Robert Snodgrass back again .

[Graza]

Only disappointment in my opinion is that their goals was really soft to concede - but I would say the same the other way around, because ours was similarly soft in the way they gave up possession.

I think theirs was softer TBH. Ours was the result of us actually applying pressure to their defense and making them cough up the ball on a break after they had committed forward for about the first time all game. The finish was also very cool from Snods, doubly so given his position in our squad at the moment.

Theirs was a botched defensive header from Diop who was under little to no pressure at the time, Noble was bypassed due to his height and the finish was lucky to say the very very least, on the spin, scuffed, bobbly and just in the corner. If that's what he meant then I'm archduke of the moon. They all count of course but it was a **** goal to concede.

[bubbles1966]

During the game, I kept thinking we were making a lot of poorly weighted passes - passes that were often getting to the required place but slightly too slowly and which were breaking players runs. I am wondering how much the wet pitch surface played a part.

[docarnie]

Having been at the game yersterday, have just watched the highlights -

yes we weren't great, but if Snod's late chance goes in off the post, we're celebrating 3 points, the vibes on here would be a lot different - and Fornals ball would be being praised to the heavens as the turning point for him.

Margins...

[thejackhammer]

Let's take the name away for a second.

This is the team with the second best defensive record in the league, they beat Arsenal, drew to Chelsea and were unlucky to lose to Liverpool.

They're 7th in the table.

Considering our poor form this was a solid result to build some confidence and go into our next game looking for a win.

[Heysel76]

During the game, I kept thinking we were making a lot of poorly weighted passes - passes that were often getting to the required place but slightly too slowly and which were breaking players runs. I am wondering how much the wet pitch surface played a part.

Good point, a lot seemed to arrive behind running players

[hammer1975]

I was more disappointed with the performance than the result tbh

Slow, possession for possession sake, lack of movement, little urgency. Some of that is likely due to confidence, I think at least some of it is the system. Equally Sheff Utd has a number of clear chances that they failed to take.

A win would have papered over the cracks.