Irons 2 Huddersfield 0
Antonio – another man of match performance
It wasn’t perfect but it was a million miles better as the Hammers jumped off the bottom of the table with their first win of the season.
Truth is the Hammers battered Huddersfield but it took the flukiest goal in the world to break the deadlock when Obiang’s shot took a huge deflection off Mathias Jorgensen. from outside the area.
That was in the 72nd minute and when Ayew added the second when he stabbed home Aaron Cresswell’s corner four minutes later.
Adopting a high pressing game, the Irons had seen a Carroll cross come shot go inches wide beating everybody on the way before Chicharito hit the crossbar, Collins saw a header held on the line and Kouyate completely miskicked from close in.
But in the end it all came right with the team finally getting everything they deserved on a night when the fans turned on the style big time.
Andy Carroll was a constant menace, Cresswell is coming back to his best, Reid was imperious at the back but the man of the match was Michail Antonio who was an awesome sight as he ran the Terriers ragged.
Town boss David Wagner admitted afterwards his team was second best “and not good enough” and looked like a nervous promotion team.
What he didn’t say was that the Hammers made them look poor and it was so good to see our lads playing a high pressing game rather than the counter productive counter attacking team.
The side looked entirely comfortable in the stadium and Slaven Bilic admitted: “It will never be Upton Park but more and more it feels like home.”
After the three defeats and all the pressure heaped on Bilic and the boys over the last couple of weeks this was a tremendous victory and will give everybody precisely the confidence shot they need.
Very good.I thought we were better all over the pitch.Wagner is class as he admitted we were far superior on the night.
The Bilic out fans are busy saying well its only Huddersfield.Well three other PL teams hadnt been able too beat them or score against them yet this season so take your lameness and stick it where the sun will never shine.
Much needed points, hopefully this will lift the team and starts breathing life in to the corpses of those players who have been lacking confidence.
Think that formation suited us today. Gives us options. Not sure it allows for Carroll and Chich in the same starting 11 tho as Lanzini would be better there and with Arny back next week the front line starts to look a little better doesn’t it?
I’ll prob get slated here but if I were Slav I’d be bold and leave Chich and Arnie on the bench in the favour of a front 3 of Lanzini, Carroll and Antonio. With Chich, Arnie and Ayew providing competition and coming off the bench.
Also I like Obiang and Kouyate but they need more playing time together. You can tell they’ve not had much time to gel together.
Davo some fans have spent so much time tearing into Bilic that they cant even enjoy a win…instead they need to finds ways to criticize the performance or managerial decisions.
But jeeeeeez, was it just me who noticed this but how long did it take for the ball to find its way back on to the pitch?
Whenever it did, Huddersfield were well and truly organised and ready so sometimes we struggled to keep the momentum going.
Never noticed this before tonight, has anyone else noticed this at any other matches?
It’s like Dave and Dave have only bought 1 football.
Yeah, I can see the 2 of them now, frantically trying to give it a good clean before putting it back in it’s bag and re-applying the price tag before trotting off to Sports Direct and asking for a refund😄
I cant say i have ever noticed actually.I know when we were winning Slav told Cresswell not to go for the ball but i can see why when leading.Now i will study it more Lol
Ha it’s probably an OCD thing.
Picked a side to turn over a previously unbeaten opponent and we did. Good win considering the pressure the players and manager were under. brave selection and brave performance. We are up and running. COYI!
Have to put my hands up and say my concerns about Zabaleta, on last nights performance was completely wrong. He was immense. I wouldn’t however use the word ‘crushed’. Terriers offered very little first half, but we still didn’t turn our territorial dominance into goals. If Alerdici had used the same tactics we used last night,we all would have said long ball merchant, we play it on the ground. Etc etc.
But, on this occasion Slav got it right and the ends justify the means. Interesting about Noble, didn’t see that one coming, allegedly injured ? COYI