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Hammers slide to defeat ‘double’ on south coast

Bournemouth 2 Irons 0

The skipper did well in midfield despite a disappointing result

West Ham were never truly on the pace this afternoon with Marko Arnautovic’s absence clearly costing them as they failed to score against Bournemouth for the first time.

And this defeat means the Cherries completed a double over the Irons with Callum Wilson scoring his sixth goal against us for the first, with King adding the second in injury time.

Despite the Hammers having plenty of possession during a well fought second half we didn’t create enough genuine chances and Bournemouth were always intensely dangerous on the counter.

But for Fabianski getting a touch Wilson would have had  a second goal as the ball was instead diverted by our keeper onto the post.

But our real problem was the inability of Andy Carroll to do an Arnautovic by turning inside and getting onto the last pass…not his fault because it’s simply not his game. He’s a target man.

It meant however, that the tam’s attacking modus operandi was disturbed by the Austrian’s absence and maybe the hustle and bustle of Antonio would have been a better option with Hernandez – who looked lively when he arrived as a second half sub – a better bet.

Carroll was guilty of a terrible second half miss when from two yards out he managed to balloon the ball way over the bar whilst, beyond that, Fabianski had to make a couple of superb saves.

The Cherries were the most dangerous team on the break and one was left with the overall impression that if Arnautovic’s day is done we really do need to find a new way of playing up front.

At the back Zaba was magnificent along with Diop whilst in midfield Mark Noble provided some real srive, passing ability and strong tackling.

At the end of it all the defeat – deeply disappointing though it was – did us little damage in terms of league position with the team slipping into tenth place from ninth.

 

About Hugh5outhon1895

Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!" Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon

4 comments on “Hammers slide to defeat ‘double’ on south coast

  1. Well put article Hugh.Our attack looks stilted,antiquated and lacking that X factor without him.Time to find a replacement in 2 weeks or we will struggle to find goals.Thank God we are not in relegation trouble which gives Pelle time to get it sorted.

  2. Haven’t watched it but if you look at our stats pretty much for the last 5 seasons we do not hit the target enough. Hopefully we can sign the Polish kid and Maxi Rodrigues or Belotti because we do not score enough and without Arnie we don’t press hard enough high up the pitch. We need to start consistently getting results against teams like Bournemouth if we are to get European football this season. Lucky for us the other results were as kind as possible to us.

  3. What a sad day again on the coast! how much longer are we going to accept the performances of Carroll, to just hear Our Manager who I respect say that Carroll will get better, just shocks me, when? he is far too slow now, and simply does not fit into the way we now play, Give credit to Captain Mark Noble he puts in 100% and we all know he is not fast, but Carroll is a liability!

    We need to bring in two strikers! even if one is a cheaper young player, anyone would be better than Carroll on this performance.

  4. No 32- you say we need to be consistently getting results against sides like Bournemouth (e.g. Brighton?) Actually we have been very consistent. Just consistently poor. From memory we had two draws against Bournemouth last season, with two defeats this season. Brighton doubled us last year, with a win & a draw against us this season. So eight games against two modest sides without a win. Pretty shameful stats which can’t be discounted as fluke results. We are still very much a mid table side. With some tough games looming & striker problems I will be surprised if we are much better off at the end of Feb compared to last season.

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