West Ham Utd 3-1 Southampton (29/02/20)

[Beavis Danzig]

We played right into your hands - very frustrating knowing that you would be physical and direct we had more possession but got completely bullied. Having said that and I don’t wish to be disrespectful but the style of play is not what something I would wish to see at St Mary’s- and certainly not a style we associate with West Ham. You are 100% not going down and have the makings of a decent team - if Moyes can make it a bit more easy on the eye you could be a force next season good luck

our favourite opponents are those who like to have an intricate build up in midfield but aren't that good at it.

[uptonparkhurst]

Am I the only one who thought we showed a lot of heart, determination and fight but rarely looked fluid?

Don’t want to put a downer on some really good individual performances but Southampton midfield had much more of the centre of the park imo and against better sides we’d be in trouble with that set-up I reckon. It may work with Soucek instead of Noble (who I thought had a battling game but did struggle) but I’m not convinced. we’re also massively relying on Antonio (and his hamstrings) to do a lot of things in that set-up.

100% agree with this.
A wonderful spectacle for the neutral,but not good for my blood pressure!
(tbf,the Saints were just as gung-ho as us)

[The Old Man of Storr]

We played right into your hands - very frustrating knowing that you would be physical and direct we had more possession but got completely bullied. Having said that and I don’t wish to be disrespectful but the style of play is not what something I would wish to see at St Mary’s- and certainly not a style we associate with West Ham. You are 100% not going down and have the makings of a decent team - if Moyes can make it a bit more easy on the eye you could be a force next season good luck

We're in a Relegation Battle - ' Easy On The Eye ' can take a back seat - not that those 3 goals and a few missed opportunities weren't easy on the eye - I've a lot of respect for what Ralph Hasenhuttl has achieved with Southampton - he stuck to his guns after what could have been a sackable result under some owners - the 0-9 loss to Leicester was as humiliating as they come but you re-grouped and have been playing some great football so well done - Redmond and Ings look revitalised .
Moyes is instilling a bit of steel and guile to the team , we're not far off being a very good side . We don't employ sneaky tactics that Liverpool and Manchester City use - we won't foul you as you try to build from the back or when you're bearing down on goal , we don't ask our players to ' take one for the team ' in an effort to break down moves in that underhand way - one yellow card each I think it was , hardly bullying tactics -

Welcome to the forum .

[nickkarkie]

This had me in tears :lol:

[prophet:marginal]

We played right into your hands - very frustrating knowing that you would be physical and direct we had more possession but got completely bullied. Having said that and I don’t wish to be disrespectful but the style of play is not what something I would wish to see at St Mary’s- and certainly not a style we associate with West Ham. You are 100% not going down and have the makings of a decent team - if Moyes can make it a bit more easy on the eye you could be a force next season good luck

Thing is, LT, I would say that Liverpool are the most direct team in the country, even if that sense of play comes down the flanks and is delivered with precise crossing.

Secondly, we are either direct, or we are a team that struggles to string together passes.

It's a more suitable style of play for a coach who has had to come in and try to get a tune out of a squad he didn't select.

It led to three goals, two of which were created through team effort, so none of us will have complained about it.

Welcome nonetheless to the site.

[S-H]

"Baguette Batistuta"

:lol:

[Up the Junction]

The opposition view: Southampton
https://www.kumb.com/story.php?id=134418

[Graza]

We played right into your hands - very frustrating knowing that you would be physical and direct we had more possession but got completely bullied. Having said that and I don’t wish to be disrespectful but the style of play is not what something I would wish to see at St Mary’s- and certainly not a style we associate with West Ham. You are 100% not going down and have the makings of a decent team - if Moyes can make it a bit more easy on the eye you could be a force next season good luck

I wouldn't be so certain that we aren't going down. Combined with our away performance against Liverpool it's been a decent few games but we fold after a sucker punch - see the Brighton game - and tend to concede in bunches. Classic West Ham though we could kick on or crumble but will certainly do both at least twice again before the end of the season :lol:

I'm as critical as anyone about style of play but I didn't see too much wrong. There was purpose in what we did with the ball, something you can't often say, and while a lot of that culminated in trying to go quickly up the pitch with pretty low completion - we were under 60% pass accuracy in the first half which is dreadful by any measure - we created the chances, 14 shots 7 on target, to win the game. By contrast we have earlier in the season had hundreds more passes and much more possession without creating meaningful chances. There is a balance to be struck but for this game we sat and broke instead of overplaying and it worked. Compared to the ineffective, side, side, back, forward, side, side, lose possession of earlier in the season it's an improvement.

I also didn't see much physical play from either side, Haller challenging the keeper was about it...

[S-H]

The opposition view: Southampton
https://www.kumb.com/story.php?id=134418

Some unusually fair assessments there.

They are still easy to dislike though.

Cheers for another six points, dears.

[Burnley Hammer]

A good performance all round.

Fabianski 6 - Didn't have an awful lot to do really - something he'll have been glad of after the Liverpool game.
Jerry 6 - Decent enough performance given his age and experience. A couple of naive moments but that's to be expected.
Cresswell 6 - Average performance really. I'd like to see him get a few more balls into the box.
Ogbonna 8 - I thought he was MOTM yesterday. A fantastic performance.
Diop 7 - Much better than what we were seeing earlier in the season.
Fornals 7 - A bit hit and miss I thought. His assists were great but I felt he was a bit wasteful on a few other occasions. Works hard for the team though and never stops running.
Noble 6 - Worked hard but looking a bit jaded these days.
Rice 7 - His usual consistent performance
Bowen 7.5 - Worked tirelessly, and got his goal. Bit greedy on a couple of occasions but I don't mind that so much. It's nice to have a player that really wants to score. Great last ditch tackle back in defence too.
Antonio 7.5 - A pain in the arse to deal with and caused their defence problems all afternoon
Haller 7.5 - This was more like it - a great performance, holding the ball up superbly, showing great strength, and linking up well with Antonio

[Le Tiss]

Fair comments back in relation to my earlier post about style of play- We struggle in possession because we don’t have the quality to unlock a well organised defence. I think both our clubs share a history of producing quality young players- I think the difference though is that you have always had a more steely edge to your game- whereas traditionally we have always been easy pickings and something of a soft touch. West Ham are famed for playing fast attacking football ( I remember Devonshire epitomised that swashbuckling style) - Moyes to his credit has shown a bit more bravery and the very impressive performance at Liverpool shows that perhaps you have turned a corner. We took a hammering of Leicester and lost our way- to Ralph’s credit we have got our identity back and interestingly we very rarely draw now and it’s far more entertaining to watch- Moyes is a decent bloke I hope he turns it round for you

[smuts]

If Antonio stays fit and Haller stays interested, we'll stay up. They were a proper handful yesterday and a partnership is starting to get.

No more one or the other on their own please.

[Graza]

Fair comments back in relation to my earlier post about style of play- We struggle in possession because we don’t have the quality to unlock a well organised defence. I think both our clubs share a history of producing quality young players- I think the difference though is that you have always had a more steely edge to your game- whereas traditionally we have always been easy pickings and something of a soft touch. West Ham are famed for playing fast attacking football ( I remember Devonshire epitomised that swashbuckling style) - Moyes to his credit has shown a bit more bravery and the very impressive performance at Liverpool shows that perhaps you have turned a corner. We took a hammering of Leicester and lost our way- to Ralph’s credit we have got our identity back and interestingly we very rarely draw now and it’s far more entertaining to watch- Moyes is a decent bloke I hope he turns it round for you

I think it's something that is always reacted to badly because it was a fair accusation while the Dudley Dinosaur (Fat Sam) was in charge, but we haven't played that way in years. We have been, particularly in the middle, very powder puff over the last 18 months and completely unable to play ourselves when we get roughed up.

A lot of clubs have been getting caught out playing out from the back this year, we have, Brighton, Bournemouth and yourselves are all prime examples, our first goal was a simply a bit of pressure on players taking too much time to do something they didn't need to and it has very much been a feature this season especially with the changes to goal kicks. Every fan wants to see their team play like Barcelona, but unless you have the money and thus the players you do so at your own peril. We've played the game you played yesterday and had the same result you had, we haven't won a game where we've had more possession all season precisely due to the same problem you had yesterday, not being able to unlock a stubborn defence.

To paraphrase my previous reply possession is great but purpose is better. I doubt Leicester minded not having possession stats on their side the season they won the prem! We need to get back to 9/10 slogging their guts out to let the 1/2 flair players do their thing, the ratio has been out in previous seasons and that has really sucked.

Moyes may or may not be a decent bloke, or a decent manager but we will not get anywhere with the current owners at the helm. Money won't be spent, choices will be bizarre and nonsensical and ultimately succeeding here properly simply isn't on the cards.

[steveyrockstar]

We played right into your hands - very frustrating knowing that you would be physical and direct we had more possession but got completely bullied. Having said that and I don’t wish to be disrespectful but the style of play is not what something I would wish to see at St Mary’s- and certainly not a style we associate with West Ham. You are 100% not going down and have the makings of a decent team - if Moyes can make it a bit more easy on the eye you could be a force next season good luck

Honest question, but what was the issue with our style of play yesterday? I've been watching us for 30 years. Yesterday, I thought I saw a very entertaining game with some excellent attacking play - great use of flanks, precision through balls, some genuine skill, and great finishing. Leicester City won the title by playing low-possession football and I don't recall them being especially unattractive. Anti-football to me is long ball, being overly defensive, and trying to grind out a result through bullying and set-pieces. I wasn't conscious of seeing any of that yesterday.

Not riled by your comment, or being confontational, I'm genuinely curious!

[Rocketron]

Fair comments back in relation to my earlier post about style of play- We struggle in possession because we don’t have the quality to unlock a well organised defence. I think both our clubs share a history of producing quality young players- I think the difference though is that you have always had a more steely edge to your game- whereas traditionally we have always been easy pickings and something of a soft touch. West Ham are famed for playing fast attacking football ( I remember Devonshire epitomised that swashbuckling style) - Moyes to his credit has shown a bit more bravery and the very impressive performance at Liverpool shows that perhaps you have turned a corner. We took a hammering of Leicester and lost our way- to Ralph’s credit we have got our identity back and interestingly we very rarely draw now and it’s far more entertaining to watch- Moyes is a decent bloke I hope he turns it round for you

If some of our younger members are contemplating "mind-altering" drugs, take heed.

[Le Tiss]

An honest reply is: having watched us numerous times over the years against you - I would suggest you were a better footballing side - yes it was an entertaining match and you 100% deserved to win. I think there are some valid points about possession- Unless you are a Man City it’s seemingly more difficult to win games when you have more of the ball- Palace are a classic example of this - very effective away from home but barely leave their own half without the ball.
You associate certain clubs with a certain style- West Ham are generally perceived as a good footballing team but have on ocasiones the ability to self destruct- I think yesterday Moyes looked at us and said to his players- get in amongst them, get the ball forward quickly and turn their defence - it was not long aimless balls but clever incisive football- against better opposition than us (your strikers were to physically strong for our defence to deal with) Moyes will have to adapt and play with a bit of guile.
To be honest Moyes outsmarted Ralph yesterday and perhaps showed that he still has something to offer- he did a great boj at Everton and was Fergie’s choice as his replacement at Man Utd!

[Mikloskosglovebag]

Haven’t really been a good footballing side since Pardew. (Bar the Payet season) Loved watching Le Tiss play - Last game of the real Boleyn he was incredible. We used to have creative flair midfielders through the 90’s and early 2000’s (Bishop-Moncur-Berkovic-Benayoun). We haven’t had that type of player consistently for many a year.

[Tenbury]

he did a great boj at Everton

Bit unfair, his record wasn't that bad there...

[hammerman11]

That's two in a row where we have looked dangerous in attack. is the titantic turning around under capt Moyes ?
keep this up and we may just save the ship !

a good day on Saturday. good protest and a good performance.

fabianski - 6 no chance with their goal
ngakia - 6 a few mistakes but good overall
diop 7 getting back his form, good to see.
ogbonna 8 MOTM for me. been consistently good for most of the season
cresswell 5 not great and we really do need to get a decent LB in
noble 5 off the pace and struggling. needs to sit on the bench when soucek returns
rice 8 usual good performance.should be captain next season
fornals 7 non stop effort and a few classy balls through
Antonio 8 the Beast is back. just stay fit !
haller 8 different class, looks a good player, has the penny dropped !
bowen 7 quick hungry player. took his goal well and missed the keepers head this time !

good atmosphere in the dust bowl, shows you what a bit of effort from the players produces on and off the field.

keep this up west ham !

[Clacton-ammer]

Boooooom! We were entertained and the boys put a proper shift in, that will do nicely

Agreed we were not always fluid, but even with that we kept creating and the movement off the ball was better. Massive step forward in my eyes