West Ham Utd 1-2 Brentford (03/10/21)

[One Peter Butler]

Never nice to lose but it is a lot better these days knowing at least we go down fighting.

We have a management team and players that man for man actually give a toss. Over the years I have always been more disappointed with the manner of our defeats rather than the defeats themselves.

Somehow losing don’t feel as bad these days.

COYI

[Absolutely Hammered!]

That ref on Saturday was definitely Milk Monitor at school. He definitely had it in for us the ugly cretin.

[Morocco Mole]

I think "tired" is often used as a description when it should be "slow".

In the first 15 minutes they were very good - probably the best 15 anyone has played against us in six months - but from then til the 92nd minute it was 18 shots to 5.

They only had three meaningful attacking passages of play in that time , but they yielded two goals

The second half was like the Siege of Stratford.

We didn't play badly - we got mugged.

Exactly. It used to happen to us regularly back when we were fundamentally crap. We’ve got too used to being good.

[Puff Daddy]

What prevented us pressing them high up the pitch from the off ? It's what most other home teams would've done, so why did we allow them to dictate the early exchanges, which gave them confidence

[bubbles1966]

Undone by split seconds.

I mean...this has to be a goal, doesn't it? Straightforward slide it across.

[Aceface]

That's got nothing on Bowen's header. Absurd attempt.The xG on that thing must have been through the roof.

[Prob]

We was poor, unluckly with a few chances and a ref who lost the game and gave them everything. But we stayed with the game.

They set up to annoy us, slow the game to their pace and that is what they did.

[Puff Daddy]

Undone by split seconds.

I mean...this has to be a goal, doesn't it? Straightforward slide it across

Shame that wasn't Yarmi on the ball there. Just look at their keepers's starting position? Left foot curler, top left hand corner postage stamp

[bubbles1966]

[bubbles1966]

That's got nothing on Bowen's header. Absurd attempt.The xG on that thing must have been through the roof.

He's ahead of the near post trying to connect with a chipped cross.

[bubbles1966]

Shame that wasn't Yarmi on the ball there. Just look at their keepers's starting position? Left foot curler, top left hand corner postage stamp

It's almost an open goal on the near post as well. Coufal made a right pig's ear of it.

[bonzosbeard]

Never nice to lose but it is a lot better these days knowing at least we go down fighting.

We have a management team and players that man for man actually give a toss. Over the years I have always been more disappointed with the manner of our defeats rather than the defeats themselves.

Somehow losing don’t feel as bad these days.

COYI

[Aceface]

I owe Jarrod an apology: the position, distance, and number of defenders does not bear much resemblance to the image I had in my head. I did correctly remember what colour shirt he had on, so that’s something.

[Wilko1304]

He still should have done better and he doesn’t have the credit in the bank, although getting that goal has now helped. Coufal’s ball was a delight.

That being said, Fornals and Benrahma needed hooking, that was true both before and after the goal.

[sendô]

Undone by split seconds.

I mean...this has to be a goal, doesn't it? Straightforward slide it across.

Yup. I was screaming for a first time ball but Vlad took too many touches and the moment was gone.

Lets call it right - Brentford didnt have any real tactical genius, they're a newly promoted team in which everyone played at 110%, they went gung ho in attack and threw themselves at everything in defence. The sort of thing that works when you've just come up or desperately fighting relegation but cannot be carried through an entire season.

We had more than enough chances to win but failed to score when we should have, and they mugged us at the end.

The only worry for me is how leaky we are at the back at the moment. That's also two losses at the end of the game on a Sunday after a Thursday night game now. Coincidence?

[hammer1975]

Sadly you can be a couple of % off your best in each penalty box and that’s enough to swing a game from win to lose.

Attacking-wise, two things stick out to me. Obviously the amount of shots on target is a thing but I suspect that we micro-analyse each shot which isn’t on target when even the best attackers in the world don’t get every shot on target. The final ball is much more of a thing for us I think at the moment - and we squandered a lot of final third possession against Brentford through passing when we should have shot and vice versa. Also Soucek seems to appear a lot less in the opposition penalty box - this often had the effect of creating space for others which potentially helped the whole attacking unit last season.

Defensive-wise, perhaps Zouma not being chosen for France gives Moyes the chance to really bed him in. I don’t think he’s been poor but I’m a big believer in partnerships at the back and the combo of Zouma and Ogbonna isn’t feeling the rocket powered solution we all felt it would be from day one. Add to that Coufal not being at the level he was last season, Cresswell being Cresswell and Fab not hitting the levels of two seasons ago. Brentford was winnable with the chances we had but the longer game is getting that defence back to the meanest it was last season.

Fine tuning the attacking and defending hopefully puts us back into the form of last season because I’m struggling to see us replicate last season’s league position at present.

[mushy]

That being said, Fornals and Benrahma needed hooking, that was true both before and after the goal.

For who?

[Wilko1304]

For who?

Well there’s Lanzini, Kral, Masuaku, Noble, Vlasic, Yarmolenko.

We have a squad, a good squad, and certainly players capable of playing against Brentford. We can change shape, we can freshen legs, we can try different types of players when others aren’t working.

Fornals and Benrahma not playing well are not too good to take off.

Tired players will not be improved by just leaving them on.

Tired players are not going to reach their best consistently, so even if Masuaku is 70% of the player, he’s much better than a tired and underperforming one.

Equally, a bit of support for Rice and Soucek in the middle or a back five might help balance the workload and fatigue of those two crucial players.

I’d have considered Noble just for his experience, his ability to mix it up in a game we were cynically bullied and the likelihood he’d have been at the ref about their nonsense too.

We have options.

[GreenIron]

I mean...this has to be a goal, doesn't it? Straightforward slide it across.

Goal, yes. All day long. Slide it across? Not so much.

From there I’d have smashed it at the goal. I’m **** and always was but back in the day I scored plenty doing that. From there your odds are always better than the keeper’s. I can’t believe somebody as better at football than me as Coufal is couldn’t smash it in from that position.

[Wilko1304]

I do perversely enjoy that Coufal is a composed footballer for the most part, but always s***s it in the box. The more he should score, the more he seems to want to do anything but score.

Something very 90s right back about it. Potts, Dixon, Neville - players who could play right back but should not be allowed to score.