West Ham (A) Post Match Thread

[BuryBlue1977]

Walton says it never touched his arm. Daft twat

 

[vmsuhail]

Frustrating as well mate, soon as I saw that lineup today my enthusiasm/excitement for the match just disappeared

That's the only issue I have with Pep, not starting the best XI and not substituting/benching players like Mahrez & Sterling when they have a bad game. If Aguero wasn't injured, we might not have seen Foden until 20-25 minutes later.

 

[blue by birth]

Pep can't be blamed for how wasteful Mahrez & Sterling were on the afternoon. Ilkay starting against a Moyes side, there is a logic there but clear Foden brought needed incisive passing/dribbling into the final third that simply wasn't there earlier. Shame about Kun, injured?

Not bringing Torres on, seems a bit of a head scratcher but the subs Guardiola did make, made an impact. I would be most disappointed in Sterling personally

Get your manager to buy Mahrez.. He's a waste of fucking space at City.. He's got so much skill but fuck all workrate and he's a shit house at tackling.. He passes backwards more times than ever passes forward.

 

[Withnail]

Guardiola far too stubborn for his own good playing the same 11 from Wednesday. Foden and Torres should have started as Mahrez offers very little at present. Sterling's first touch cost him today and I knew he was going to miss.

Certainly not Gundogan's biggest fan but he played well today, but along with Rodri there is no pace in that area until Foden comes on.

Very frustrating watch us at present.

 

[simon23]

He really didn’t. He didn’t hit his man numerous times. Did you not see that?

He didn’t play like the world class player he is. He’s not fit.

Agreed - Kev, like sergio hasnt, doesnt look anywhere near fit

 

[avoidconfusion]

This team is not going to mount a title challenge this year

 

[5 Hit Gibbon]

View attachment 4353Walton says it never touched his arm. Daft twat

If you freeze the frame a second before, it doesn't touch his had though! That's good enough for me.

 

[simon23]

Its the Mahrez effect. Greedy, ineffectual, lazy and adds no pace and power. The regression began when he became a regular starter. He has started every game, let that sink in.

The lack of movement when we have the ball slows us down and allows us to be out coached as teams sit deep. Saw when Phil came on a little added pace and drive forward made us look better - I don't understand why Mahrez is seemingly the first name on the team sheet - he gave the worst 90mins I've seen from an individual since the days under Pearce ( during the 18 goals a season team). Pep needs to sit down and rethink playing this fraud.

fully agree

 

[bluemoon32]

Pep's lost his magic powers, hopefully it's temporary

 

[Wilmslow Road]

I've come to the conclusion that we should sack Pep right now because it is clear we have half a dozen candidates at least on here who can do the job better. I'm not sure how the first team talk would go when the tell the squad that they've blown the title in the first five games because most of them are slow, old and/or useless and the game at WHU showed this. What an interesting management style that would be: insult all the players and tell them to do one.

I thought WHU played well and are certainly a different nut to the one we've shattered regularly over the last 5 years. Moyes seems to be doing a good job. Their goal was an excellent finish and I don't see how we can blame it on ourselves. As the match wore on we took a control which amounted to dominance. We should have got the win. Some of our wise men on here will tell us that we didn't because other teams "have worked us out" and know how to deal with City. Yes, of course, but keep taking the tablets if you believe that. Nor did we fail to win because our players suffer from the ineradicable stain of uselessness. We failed to win because we are not in top form and WHU were a resolute and determined opponent. This is a season different from all others and at the moment those teams which didn't play too many matches last season and haven't been involved overmuch in international breaks and haven't been ravaged by injuries have made the better starts to the season. But there are still 33 league games left...

To day our defence looked solid and this was without Laporte, and it got good protection from midfield. The problem was further forward and there are several reasons for this. Sergio is a pale shadow but I doubt he would be expected to play 3 matches in a week if Gabriel were not injured. The two of them are vital to the team. Sterling wasn't at his best certainly but that was hardly a deliberate attempt to infuriate the Bluemoon moaners. There is no doubt that the absence of both Phil and KdB also makes it harder for our front players but we are playing 3 matches every seven days until the new year at least and KdB has to be eased back in and Phil cannot be played in every game. None of the players are machines and even the best player in the world is quite ordinary whel playing at 98% of his best.

So today's result was a disappointment but we'll only now how significant the point won or the two points dropped are at the end of the seaso