Andy Carroll declared himself delighted with the victory and clean sheet after returning to the team in style against Huddersfield.
The big man looked like a player who had never been away, lasted 82 minutes, and then said: “I feel fine although I expect I’ll be in pieces tomorrow!”
He declared: “It was a very important game – we have had a tough run and it was great to get the three points and keep a clean sheet. It was a fantastic atmosphere and the fans were great – they were behind us all the way.”
He said: ” We knew Huddersfield would play it slow and try to break us down but we had three up and three across the middle. The aim was to get the ball up to me and provide balls in behind them.”
He could not have been more complimentary about the team describing the squad as “great” and said he was delighted with the victory for the manager.
He said: “It’s a pleasure to play in this team and I’m over the moon for the boss – the lads are all behind him.”
And that sums the difference in many ways between Andy and Sakho.
AC makes such a difference when in the team.Him Antonio and Chico looked very good together.Excellent use of all three with Ant and Chico swapping the wider positions during the match.I thought Bilic got it bang on with the use of them together.Chico will play through the middle in the main but tonight as big Sam said him cutting in from a wider position was spot on no matter what the armchair managers say.
“great to get three points”
“the fans were great”
“great team”
Does that grate, Paul?
Keep AC fit, and with Chico and Antonio playing as wse know they can, this team can be Great!!!
Yes, it was enjoyable last night but let’s not get carried away – Huddersfield were particularly poor. I’d only seen them previously on Match of the Day in their wins over Crystal Palace and Newcastle, they looked fit and well organised. But last night they were hopeless, really lightweight and put our defence under hardly any pressure – I think the corner count was about 10-3 in West Ham’s favour and that doesn’t do West Ham justice – I can only remember Hart making one save and he was a virtual spectator.
A couple of things that confused me – why Cresswell was taking all the corners and free kicks which weren’t all that successful and why Chicarito was taken off – I saw a close up of him on the big screen and he did look a bit knackered but I thought he did ok – and didn’t follow that decision.
I liked the three at the back formation, we look at lot more solid and not so open but it was only Huddersfield, Fonte had so much time and space on the ball it was ridiculous.
Another thing that baffles me is what happens when Lanzini and Arnautovic are available, but I suppose that’s a nice problem to have – things are definitely looking a lot brighter this morning!
Slav said he took Chicharito off because he had been away playing internationals and yes looked tired.Ayew came on and scored so it all worked out well.
I cant remember what pundit said it last night but he said it wasnt that Hudd were useless but we were much better.Surely a football team is also made to look hopeless if the opposition are better.Why just say Hudd were hopeless.Nothing to do with us making them look poor then??
Fair enough!
Well said Macca..! The opposition is never better than what we allow them to be.
“Things are looking a lot brighter this morning”. Could have fooled me Michael. Hate to see you miserable. Could it be that we made them look ordinary?
Yes, true – but you can watch the team and still question the performance – it looked like the bad old days under BFS with the ball being launched up to Andy Carrol from deep – you have to play to his strengths of course, but Collins and Fonte launching the ball from our own half was overdoing it!
I saw the Huddersfield manager being interviewed on Sky Sports News when I got home last night – he was very down about his team, saying they lost out in every department and looked nervous. They were very lightweight but West Ham struggled to beat them and then it was a deflected shot and a scrambled goal. A good result and an improvement but you can still question things – surely!
But why persistently put a damper on everything. Why not just accept the win and take it for what it is? But hey ho keep smiling.
And don’t call me Shirley!
So we didnt make them look poor it was them was rubbish and we had nothing to do with it.We played some nice football in the first half particularly down the flanks.I dont know it seems impossible for some web users to be upbeat about anything.
Lets look for the negatives not anything positive.
You say we struggled to beat them, but beat them we did, unlike all the previous teams that have played them. Two goals scored ,no matter how, is two goals more than anyone else has scored against them so far. We were stone bottom of the league in case you’ve forgotten. We didn’t perform like a team stone bottom yet still people pick out and focus on the negatives. Just so depressing to keep seeing it. Glass half full mate.
Fair enough, you can’t argue with that – it was a good result, there was obviously a lot of pressure on Bilic and the team beforehand – so onward to West Brom with more confidence – a more solid shape and plenty of energy, good players yet to come in – all good!
I thought we mixed it up well lastnight.Yeah some long balls to Carrol but we used the flanks well with Antonio,Zabaleta,Cresswell.
I dont know what all this bfs **** is about today.
imho that was a decent result, a middling performance, against a very poor team, with a fair slice of luck and some pretty obvious flaws in our style of play. we will get ripped to shreds against a better team who wish to actually attack us.
Get ripped too shreds.Can some of you not just enjoy a victory without already looking towards the next defeat you predict.Wow its so depressing.