Forget the result. The manner of that defeat last night is important to emphasise. Lopetegui’s era was full of four -and- five goal capitulations, so that newly discovered team spirit could have evaporated if Aston Villa had banged four or five goals in.
Importantly, West Ham did not cave in, instead they still pressed forward and might easily have equalised. Full marks. No capitulation.
Bad luck for the Hammers compounded the loss- Fullkrug won’t be appearing for months, to add to the Bowen and Antonio injuries.
Summerville was the brightest light and the biggest loss having to leave at half time: Lee Dixon stated he’d have won the man of the match award if he’d stayed on for the second half.
And the Kudus / Summerville combination on the RIGHT ( Please note, Señor Lopetegui, Kudus on the right) took Villa by surprise and would have won the game if it had continued into the second half.
A ‘man of the match’ award for Ollie Scarles on debut was well deserved. Take the positives. West Ham have a spine again. Shortcomings in midfield with leggy Alvarez and falling-down Paquetá remain and need Potter’s attention.
But I’m quietly content. West Ham looked competitive, instead of leaking like a colander. Just keep hoping that Crysencio Summerville is ready to go again for Fulham, and West Ham will score goals. Stopping them at the other end may be a bit more problematic.
Great to see so many positive comments here .. which I agree with …. We were unlucky to lose due to some dodgy refereeing…. But great to see Scarles getting MOTM …👏👏👏
I read that Potts will start using more academy players players in full training.. ( well done Nobes)
So I’m feeling better since Lopy left ⚒️⚒️
Fair reflection Martin,
Like many of the posters here, I saw many positives from the game, players looking engaged, a formation that was mainly solid and both Fulkrug and Summerville looking dangerous (Albeit against a pretty absent Villa team in first half).
The injuries seem to impact the balance, and on 68th minute, Villa had their first attempt on target as they turned up the tempo and intensity, you could see it, and West Ham were slow to adapt.
Onana is a beast, and not signing him a few years ago, looks a real missed opportunity now.
A couple of quick goals and all Villa had to do was see out the game.
Disappointed to lose, but heartened by the performance.
We desperately need a striker and probably a centre back, just hope to hell they don’t make the same mistake and sign some 30+ year old who can’t run.. Fullkrug looked decent until he started running and got injured instantly, I seriously think Ings should never play for us again, he’s stealing a living, would rather pretty much anyone over him, surely someone in one of our youth teams is better or at least not worse.. Macropanos was poor again, Kilman needs someone better next to him to get his best performances, was very impressed with Scarles though, thought the lad was excellent
Definite improvement, even though Potter has only had a day.
But patience is vital. Especially now we’re without Fullkrug, Antonio, and Bowen. Our front line is decimated. I’d like to see Josh Ajala given some minutes.
Sorry looked like the same old rubbish to me , started off fine then it disintegrated as usual, they gradually got the better of us, we lost when we should have won?
I’m confused by your statement.
In first sentence “Same old rubbish” then “We should have won”.
???
Plenty of positives for sure, but bang on from Darkhorse
Pretty fair summing up there, Martin. There was plenty to reassure us in that performance – especially Scarles. Looked a seasoned veteran & little, if any, mistakes from him. VERY WELL played young man ! But, West Ham will get nowhere without sorting the defence out. They, generally, played very well last night, but the feeling that they will make a stupid mistake, & capitulate, is never very far below the surface. This was encapsulated in Mavroponos’s performance – generally sound, but then the errors. At least two, possibly three, capable defenders – without the West Ham propensity to panic ! – are needed.
And also, well played Summerville. Must be a fixture in the team from now on.
It’s often easy to see how goal kicks get given as corners, it’s frequently not at all easy to tell.
But last night a Villa player kicked a ball that went nowhere near to any of our players yet it was given as a corner.
What did the ref think that he saw ?
It beggars all belief that could be given as a corner it could hardly more obviously not be.
Now it’s the chance to play kudus as number 9 and Summerville and Guilherme on the side fed by Carlos soler or paqueta , until we find a striker. As I said and say it again there is Ali Al Hamadi plays at Ipswich town , he could be taken for 1-2 mill
Some definite positives. Scarles was excellent and almost like a new signing hopefully a few of the other academy players will be blooded by Potter and a brave decision not to go with Cress. Summerville excellent kudus not bad. I thought Alvarez played the best he has for some time Paqueta was great for 20 minutes then back to his old ways. Killman after a promising start at West Ham now seems really shakey and ings was a disgrace.
Overall much better than what has gone before
Hold on the TV clearly showed that Aston Villa should not have had the corner they scored their first from. We were robbed.
We didn’t win, but personally I saw lots to be happy with. It would be madness to judge on just one game, but the players just looked happier.
The plus side to that is they played better, and they played for each other.
You could see right the way through the game the defence and DM’s knew their role, and played it nearly to perfection.
After losing Füllkrug and Somerville to injury Villa found more freedom to attack.
That says a lot about how Potter set up the team to defend, transition and attack.
Füllkrug’s injury didn’t look too good, which is a shame as he looked ok up until then. Fingers crossed for a quick recovery.
Anyone know what the situation is on some of our players out on loan? Love to see a few recalled, I think they could thrive under Potter.
Were you watching Loppy and Gollom Ballbag….. Summerville showed from the off what a short sighted mean little man you were….Scarles was immense and that should help swell the transfer kitty coffers with Emerson wanting to go to Juventus…. the whole team played as a team last night and though we did not get it over the line i/we did not come away from that defeat down and disheartened because the tiniest of green shoots were there to see…much work to be done but at last there is a small glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel
I thought we actually looked organised & motivated especially in the first half. Gotta feel for Potter though he had a decent plan but with Faulty Faulk going off & Sommerville aswell he had to make do with the limited bench. Great to see young scarles have a good game if there’s other young lads like him raring to go and knocking on the first team door I thinks it’s time to feed them in.
So the excited to see Ollie Scarles had been selected and hopefully, with so many injuries more academy hopefuls can have the chance to show what they do, given the opportunity. Great that we looked like a football team again and working for each and senior pros trusting and encouraging a debutante. More of the same against Fulham. Moving swiftly on to centre forwards, surely we need one that has a degree of individual skill to be able to beat a defender one on one, Salah, Diaz, Isac, Watkins, Gakpo would skin you every time.Seriously, I’d even fancy my chances against Ings, Fullkrub and and the Brighton lad and I haven’t played for 40 year’s!
An improved performance but highlighted how poor our substitute bench is. To bring on Ings and Cresswell highlights that we urgently require 3 or 4 new recruits
We do need some fresh (and less injury prone) additions to the team but I feel quite positive after that game. Yes, we lost but I don’t feel embarrassed about losing, and the picking of Ollie Scarles shows straight away that GP isn’t afraid to use academy players. Hoping for good games and better results for Fulham & Wolves. COYI
Well we did capitulate as we conceded 2 goals in a few minutes, but there are definitely signs that going forward we should be OK with a manager who knows what he is doing..but we need some players in ,even̈ before Tuesday
Come on. The first was only scored by the disgraceful ref giving a corner when no West Ham player was within yard’s of the ball. The Villa supporters knew wasn’t a corner too! I was there sitting in that very corner. It was so obvious at half time the second goal was always the key, and thanks to the incompetence of the ref Villa got it. So not a capitulation just bad refereeing and where was the Lino?