Irons 2 Atheltico Bilbao 2
Bilbao won 4-2 on pens
So in the end most found a stream and saw the Hammers lose out in a penalty shoot out 4-2 but not before they had come from two down and at times played some really decent football.
But these slow starts and sloppy defending have to end if we aren’t going to continually make life tough for ourselves although with the outstanding Seb Haller up front we are always going to score goals.
The Frenchman set up both goals after an own goal which I missed as I hunted for that available stream.
However, after that he showed himself such a strong and imposing individual, incredibly hard to shake off the ball and provided a great assist for a Fornals overhead kick to allow Lanzini’s third goal of pre-season.
Within a minute he had supplied another assist for Jack Wilshere – who had a fine game – to snatch an equaliser. On what I saw – having missed his clanger – Haller would have been my man of the match.
Bilbao provided ideal opposition ahead of the big kick off playing a brand of attacking football which provided a stern test at times.
But the Irons acquitted themselves well and Lanzini’s growing influence is a factor that is starting to count although the worries at the back go on and those early goals are becoming a bad habit.
With both teams committed to attack it was surprising that we saw no further goals after the break although the Spaniards were fortunate that their keeper was bang on the case to save at Chicharito’s feet midway through the second 45 minutes.
At the end of it all we are sure of one thing – there look to be loads of goals on the way at the London Stadium this season with still lots of work required at the back.
Why the hell are we still paying chickareto 130k a week when he clearly doesn’t want to be there…….his penalty miss was abysmal!! On that sort of money he should at least be able to score from 12 yds 🙄
Thought we were poor actually.
Took us 20 minutes to get going and only a good 5 minute spell brought us back into the game.
Poor crossing by Cresswell and Fredericks meant Haller didn’t have a decent effort until his overhead attempt in the 2nd half.
Fornals went missing by and large. Lanzini tried to create but Anderson was way below average.
Both Yarmelenko and Diangana created some good opportunities in the 2nd half. Yarmelenko especially looks lively and I would start him ahead of Anderson. Antonio proved to be a handful too and I would have him ahead of Fornals.
Rice had a good game and wanted to keep the ball moving. Wilshere seemed laboured at times, presume he was conserving himself for next week.
Masuaku offered more than Cresswell,looking sound and creative.
Roberto is not PL standard.
I hope Fabianski is fit for next Saturday.
Fabianski
Johnson
Diop
Balbuna
Masuaku
Yarmelenko
Wilshere
Lanzini
Antonio
Haller
A very entertaining first half but a dire second half. We do not need a CB, we need a midfielder with legs. We have no pace up top, Haller and Chica just don’t have that turn of pace. I thought our right wing was poor all game we need a winger cum forward who has power and pace. I think Pelle has big player appeal but I am not sure he sees where our weaknesses are. We could not get close to Bilbao in the second half at times and we had no creativity or pace up top. I blame the owners because they should have the common sense to see one season of spending is not enough to make that jump. I also blame Husillos whose job it is to unearth young potential talent. Not seem it and to me he is not doing his job. The plusses for me today were the CB’s looked alot more assured, Masa when he came on and Wilshere first half, yes Wilshere.
The only points I agree with are 1) Masuaka is better than Cresswell and 2) Roberto is not PL standard. I thought Fornals, Lanzini, Wilshere and Anderson were class. We do need Fabianski to be fit though!
(In response to Lanzini’s post)
It’s still the same as ‘last year letting sloppy early goals in and have to fight back each game ..sorry but I think we are going to concede to many goals as it hasn’t been addressed at all ..
Poor from Jeff earlier. Lack of class.
We let in early goals again ( one of which was an unfortunate deflection for an own goal ) .
But we didn’t concede more and came back to draw level at 2 each . I wouldn’t call that a disaster by any stretch and should leave us feeling optimistic . Need to more concentrated in the opening minutes and I’m sure that will come . Would be nice to have Cahill in there .
He’s available on a free and shouldn’t be hard to make the decision to go get him . Can’t agree with the opinion that we will finish below top ten , that is a pessimistic view point .
Anything below sixth ( as I have said in a recent post ) should be considered a failure .
Yes it’s tough but with a bit more consistency against the teams around us instead of not turning up should provide the points required . We had countless opportunities to climb to seventh and blew almost all of them . So this season let’s be more optimistic.
Forget what pundits say , we dumbfounded them several times last season and there’s no real reason we can’t do it again . Yes we need a few more positions filled but every club will have the same frustrating opinion .
COYHAMMERS