Irons 3 Bolton Wanderers 0
Marko Arnautovic was the star of the show as the Irons cruised to another clean sheet and into the next round of the Carabao Cup.
The club’s record signing set up Angelo Ogbonna’s fourth minute header with a fine free kick before providing the pass for Diafra Sakho to stroke home.
But the moment of the night came when Arthur Masuaku scored a thunderous goal late on, striking high into the top corner from around 25 yards.
The Hammers were in peerless against a very poor Bolton side but with three games without defeat behind them confidence is clearly on the rise.
Arnie had a great chance to get on the score sheet himself but his fierce drive was pushed away by the Bolton keeper and he also failed with a chipped effort.
Sead Haksabanavich was handed his first team debut and in no way disgraced himself whilst Declan Rice while never really tested turned in a really composed and mature performance.
Adrian; Byram, Rice, Ogbonna, Masuaku; Noble (Quina 78’), Kouyate, Haksabanovic (Holland 62’), Ayew, Arnautovic; Sakho (Chicharito 71’)
What a shame you chose to ignore Sakho’s contributions tonight, chaps. He was involved with everything good we did – him, Ayew and Arnie played wonderful triangles at times. The real issue is actually how much better we played with a striker who can stretch defences, run the channels and play it on the floor. Carroll could never play like that and even Hernandez when he came on couldn’t match his quality and what he brought to the team performance. It was such a shame to see him go off – I only hope it’s because Slav is gonna start him on sat against the spuds. I did notice he went straight down the tunnel – but after scoring and being as good as any other player on the pitch (and arguably better than most) I’d be annoyed too. Really is disgraceful how the club treat him at times. He does bring a lot of bs, but it’s because the club give him no respect when he has demonstrated once again he is the focal point of the team we need.
I agree he and Chico should start v the spuds.
Arnie did plenty of good stuff but over elaborated , as in the attempted chip, when simpler options should have provided more goals.The players who play Saturday needed more challenging opposition as Bolton left us tons of time on the ball.
Djsteves ; we all know how good Sakho can be , that’s why we are stunned at his attitude .
When we first signed him we all thought ” that boy ” will win us a cup . But , he let us down after his desire to move . He’s tried it twice now , so don’t expect the fans to be slobbering all over him . Will he still want to stay the LS when the January window opens ?. Your guess is as good as mine . Hopefully somebody or someone has had a word his ear . After his behavior he more or less owes us some good performances . You can’t compare him with Carroll as they are totally different types of players …. luckily we have the options of strikers.
Just be grateful we won tonight and kept a clean sheet . It was a bottom of the Championship side but , cup games can be hammer blows sometimes .
Let’s peel them Spuds on Saturday and hope that Sakho , Carroll , Chicerito , Antonio & Co get amongst the goals . It’s a squad / team game , my friend .
Hard to be surprised by Anautovic . He’s a good player that just needed switching on .
It was lesser opposition tonight but , it’s obvious how good he could be . Best to play it down a bit because as soon as we get Leary we cock it up .
Agree with Steve. Sakho was running the channels brilliantly.
” Really is disgraceful how the club treat him at times.”
You have all the inside track on Sakho and the club then djsteves??
There really is some **** written on forums sometimes..
I think you’ve missed the point of this site, Gary. I don’t need to know the inside track because Hugh and Sean do. And Sean is pretty spot on when it comes to the numbers.
Sakho had a great first season before injury, was excellent in the second (he was a big part of the massive away wins at city, Arsenal and Liverpool and generally helped make us tough to beat), he might not have scored 20 a season but it was his play that opened up the space for Payet and lanzini to do their thing. For some reason though, the club didn’t acknowledge this with a new contract despite Payet getting one after 5 mins (and a loyalty payment!). He then lost his place to Carroll as soon as he was fit and low and behold we started shipping goals for fun at the end of that season. He then had to watch a load of utter dross come in on much higher wages – Tore, Feghouli, Nordveit etc. whilst still being mugged off by Sullivan and co.
He is one of three strikers who are equally important to the club yet he is ‘only’ on 27k while Carroll takes home 80k and hernandez gets up to 140k. Carroll is a lame duck – Bilic himself said he can’t do 90 mins 3x a week and that’s because Carroll is too unprofessional to look after himself properly (this year when obiang and ogbonna reported back early to get fit after ending last season on the treatment table, Carroll was still sat on his backside on a beach somewhere – all reported by this site!).
Sakho spent the summer getting fit and strong, and now his back is sorted, looks back to his best. Even in the handful of games he played last season he made a difference (1-1 at old Trafford, 2-3 loss at white hart lane which we should have won). The club fall over themselves to praise Carrol every time he farts and burps yet Sakho is a permanent villain. The craziest thing is if last night was the performance of a man who wants out and is desperate to go, imagine how good he would be if he had a decent contract and a bit of respect? As I say, I know he’s brought far more than his fair share of bs to the club but it’s not just because he woke up one day and thought he’d start being a dhead. It’s another stunning example of mismanagement from Sullivan and the rest.
I see Zaza scored a hatrick in 8 minutes last night.
Shame that after a good first half Arnautovic was lazy as **** in the second. Wouldn’t run for anything and clearly considered that he’d done his bit. The game’s 90+ minutes Arnie.
Very impressed with Masuaku again, marauded up & down his flank like a young Billy Bonds.
I thought Arnie was excellent in the first half and wasnt surprised at all he and the team dropped down through the gears in the second half.
It was sensible with a big match Saturday lunchtime.
I would also like to see Sakho given a chance against Spurs but i dont see it happening.