Games don’t come a lot more entertaining than the one we saw at Vicarage Road this afternoon!
And as the Hammers quality finally shone through via those two great Seb Haller goals and some exciting pass and move football, a new generation of Irons fans started to learn what supporting this great old club is all about,
For make no mistake, the ‘West Ham Way’ is back courtesy of a 65 year old Chilean who only has one way of playing which in reality is the same model as that produced and ‘perfected’ by a certain John Lyall.
It’s a brand of football some of us haven’t seen in years whilst thousands of others will never have seen it at all given the arrival of managers such as Allardyce, Moyes and Grant at the club.
It seems extraordinary that Fat Sam and his mate Sir Al Ferguson should have commented a few years back that they had no idea what the West Ham Way was all about suggesting it was a myth.
Had they been at Vicarage Road this afternoon they would have been introduced to it for the first time although I reckon they were both dealing in porkies anyway.
I’m personally thrilled that just as I grew up at Upton Park on the back of the roller coaster stuff of the 60s and 70s, younger generations are now being introduced to it for the first time.
Yes, it’s gonna have it’s heart stopping moments when you really aren’t sure how it’s all gonna turn out but there’s more than enough quality in this squad to ensure the football is attractive and exciting as it gets and we’ll win more than we lose.
Ok, perhaps I am getting a little carried away but something special started to happen this afternoon which should excite all Hammers fans.
With Nobes back partnering Declan, three top schemers in front of them, the buccaneering Antonio doing his thing and Haller showing sparkling form, we have every reason to believe we are on the cusp of something special at West Ham.
Through the dark Allardyce days and earlier I never thought I’d see it again but the ‘West Ham Way’ is back.
Trust me, Greenwood, Lyall and Pellegrini are cut from the same cloth.
Enjoy and come on you Irons.
Produced by Ron Greenwood, and refined by John Lyall. Let’s never forget how far ahead of his time Greenwood was.
Spot on Hugh, we’re on our way back home!
usually agree with most of what you say and whilst i agree it is very exciting to see this way of playing quick attacking football, Watford played this way too and our defence was awful. so was theirs and we were lucky enough to put our chances away while they murdered a couple for themselves and came out on top of all the stats.
top 7 can only be achieved if we stop leaking. i wonder about Pellegrini’s defensive nous. at Citeh he had the cattle…we have a couple of lambs.
other than that, welcome aboard monsieur Haller, it was a cracking match and it did remind me of why i started following this club in 1976 at the age of 10. one trophy 😏⚒💪
Like Brighton last week, we profited from poor opposition finishing. If Hughes had not missed that sitter we would be talking about a different result. There are a lot of teams that will be more clinical in taking the chances they create. And let’s be honest, we are very generous in that respect.
Exciting football to watch? Absolutely. Like you say, it’s been a long time in coming. Are we going to score goals? Are we going to win more than we lose? Yes, hopefully, but the reality is that until we change defensively in personnel and/or tactically we will continue to ship goals.
The Norwich game has lots of goals written all over it. Let’s hope we have more of them than they do!
COYI
Well I lived through all the West Ham Way years but I find myself more in agreement with rollercoaster hammer than the other comments. Can we not leave the West Ham Way back in the past? In those days the gap between top & bottom was less. Different sides rose to the top then back down again. Spurs had a fabulous side in 1960-61 but they still lost games & were only top for one season. ManU won the European Cup, then a few years later went down. So you might lose to a side at the top if you went all out, but not usually (& not every season for 4 years) by 4-0, 5-0. And almost of the other clubs were meeting you halfway & not just sitting back waiting to counter attack.
It is great to see a game like yesterday but you can’t play like that week in week out if you want top ten football. You just get ripped apart by the top sides & picked off by the well organised counter attackers. At one stage just before their goal Noble was screaming at about 4 players to track back & help the defence out. We don’t have to go back to what some on here see as the dark days of Big Sam & Moyes, but imo we need to strike a balance. I watched Wolves the other night. They usually seem able to give the top sides a game without just putting ten in their own penalty box. But would they be seen as too negative by our fans? Probably.
So personally I would like to see a New West Ham Way rather than try to turn the clock back. Combine the flair with proper defending & hard work.
John Lyall had Bonds, Martin, Gale, Stewart, Ward alongside the Brookings and Devonshire. Proper defenders with steel and wide men putting in a shift .. V impressed with Haller .. Its easy to impress on the compulsory you tube video, but great to see someone doing just that and hitting the ground running .. Not many strikers get 9 assists in a season .. He can hold the ball, get his head up and pick out a runner and did that in the first minute… In addition, Shearer pointed out last season that when we got to the bye line, Arnautovic pulled back to the edge of the box where, even if he got the ball, he would have a lot to do.. Haller hits the 6 yard Bix and gets a tap in .. Onwards and upwards .. Goals Galore next week
Totally agree, but to move forward we need to become more likre Man City or Liverpool. Have good fensive capsbility, with flair at top.
I think the front line looks good with a creative midfield to deal with any systems from our opponents. We have really good goal keeper, but out defensive line looks weak. Going backwards and giving space, rather than tackling and houding and runs into our area.
We seem to be getting better, but need that quality in defense.
I’d like to say a ‘big welcome back’ to Mark Noble.
I’d also like to say a ‘big hello’ to Zaba and Ben Johnson next week.
And thanks for the pics of the great John Lyall and MP. It’s obvious that MP goes to the same 1970’s ‘West Ham Way’ barbershop as JL (not Ron G, of course). Something for next weekend, sir? 2 full backs and 3 points please … COYI
It was great to get our first win of the season and not a moment too soon . Noble was the cement again as on many many occasions . Haller showed us what he can do and Anderson was sharp . Will we win more than we lose ? , who knows but if we don’t get our defense sorted our losing games will be by big margins . A better and more clinical team than Watford would have taken full advantage of our at times seemingly empty midfield because we were overly committed up top . Don’t get me wrong , that win was very nice and we played some great counter attacking football , but it was only Watford’s poor shooting accuracy that gave us the opportunity to play our way .
COYHAMMERS
One comment which seems common is the reference to the dark days of BFS and Moyes. I feel that this is a disservice to Moyes. I agree that BFS was mind-numbing but Moyes came in when we were in the relegation zone and guided us to safety – playing some good counter attacking football on the way – was he wrong to organise defensively to get his first win 1-0 vs Chelsea? I dont remember too many complaints at the time. Also he was largely responsible for converting Arnie into a potent striker (and I dont think that he should be blamed for ARnie’s later bad behaviour). His past game in charge was a 3-1 victory (ironically over a BFS managed Everton)
I do agree with some on here that it would be much more comfortable watching games if we were better organised defensively
With hindsight perhaps we should have bought Isaac Hayden rather than Fornals – anyway let us enjoy the Watford win for the moment
when mp took over it appeared to me that we have an older john lyall with all sir johns football philosophy. what is the west ham way? after 47yrs of following west ham i think i know,
its not just a a way of play its about a type of footballer. in sir rons day. you had to be comfortable on the ball be able to recieve a pass from any angle.always looking for space around you.the ball was to be moved about not a player flogging himself charging everywhere.you had to have skill.yes a strange word skill. for the west ham way look to trevor broooking.if you want to see the original west ham way
watch clips of west ham v eintract frankfurt at upton park 1976.one last thing, why would a born and bread scouser turn to the hammers in 1972? yes the west ham way.yes we got tonked every now and then but oh the skill/flair west ham had.it was enough for me.it had me purring.the ball was caressed not hoofed.it was a sheer joy. sadly it ended with john lyall.he had been educated in the university of the genious of ron greenwood.hammers be proud in our history and who we are. i agree generations havenot seen the west ham way. be patient.
I do feel you get over excited by one performance
Last week c and h were suggesting if MP was as good as we think !!! Lose next week to Norwich and will be all negative again.
Watching Norwich and us so far next week could end up 4-3 either way with both defences very suspect
Beauty of the game things change LJ but what ever I said last week doesn’t change what we saw yesterday and I happilly admit I can be as prome to mind change as all others
In full agreement but….. Allardyce brought us straight back up from the Championship which is something rare and very difficult to achieve. Who else could have done that? Not may I’d wager. At the time he was the right man for the job. The best example of the West Ham way? Look no further than 1973-74. We scored more goals than Liverpool who finished in second place while we scrapped it out near the bottom – if only we could defend! We beat Leeds Utd 3-1 (they won the league) beat Everton 4-3 after being 0-2 down with the press calling it “West Ham at their aristocratic best” came within a whisker of beating Shankley’s great Liverpool side in a thrilling 2-2 final match of the season (Liverpool equalising in the last minute) got dumped out of the FA Cup by Hereford Utd! All under the leadership of the great Billy Bonds who was simply inspirational in his first season as captain. Despite our lowly league position the football we played was attractive, attacking and full of goals (at both ends!)…. the West Ham way.
Yes agreed. Just pointing it out 👍bit like watching the ashes
England on Friday looking like a pub team .
Yesterday and so far today they been exellent
Great win but let’s not get to excited one of our big problems is consistency so we need to string a few results in a row but it was a good start..as others have said it could of been different if they put the chances away but you need a bit of luck..good to see noble back he does make a difference with his leadership..if we win another 2\3 games in a row I maY start getting excited but not yet ….well played coyi