14 Comments

How we rated the Irons v Wolves

Hugh hands out the marks

Fabianski: So little to do he had time for a couple of melodramatic camera saves when Wolves did manage a couple of half shots. Always off his line when required 6

Fredericks: Left the action at half time but got forward well although there was the occasional loose ball. Johnson clearly stronger defensively when he arrived 5

Balbuena: Did well although we were rarely threatened at the back 6

Ogbonna: Really commanding Hammers figure these days. Fine performance 7+

Cresswell: Much happier playing this system – did very well 7

Masuaku: Really came into the game in the second half and really gave Wolves a run around. Superb cross for Haller’s fourth goal. Let’s be controversial – are we really missing Diang?  7

Rice: Outstanding all evening – the odd loose pass but forgoven given general performance – broke so much up when Wolves moved forward 8

Soucek: top performance from one of the best signings we’ve made in several years and as far as I’m concerned that was his goal 8

Fornals: Worked his heart out, missed a sitter, hit the post for Bowen to score from the rebound – quite a night 6+

Bowen: I love this boy – two well taken goals – the first courtesy of ref Martin Atkinson’s well played advantage rule and a second smacked home with no fuss, plus ceaseless tracking back – the boy’s a star 8

Antonio: The usual non stop work rate – couple of chances but no luck in front of goal. Twists and turns his way past defenders. Great stuff 7

Subs:

Johnson: On for the second half and defended really well , Well done young man 7

Noble: On for the last few mins No rating

Haller: Nice headed goal  from fabulous Arthur cross after arriving with Noble. That took his tally to three for the week No rating

 

 

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

14 comments on “How we rated the Irons v Wolves

  1. I thought the whole team except Fab who had little to do were 8’s and 9’s even Fab a 7 he went in for some brave saves. That was a throwback performance to when we used to get about teams in the middle of the park, not seen since Harry Redknapp was managing us.

    If we play like that every week we will be in the top half of the table.

  2. 🤣 love the diang comment. Can’t say im Moyes biggest fan but he really knows how to get best of certain players (Arnie, Antonio playing up top) and I think you can say the same for masuaku and cresswell too. Enjoyed their performances tonight plus rice and soucek. It’s been a wretched month for the club but the players/moyes deserve a bit of credit, they are seemingly all playing for their places and most seem up for that challenge and are doing a better job than we’ve seen in a while.

    • Let’s give credit where credit is due, the last 2 performances have been top class, we “batted.” Arsenal but didn’t get what we deserved… We completely outplayed Wolves, more of these performances please… This system with 3 at the back suits us perfectly, Masuaka has never been a defender, but has incredibly quick feet… A huge plus at the moment….hiw do we fit in Haller remains to be seen but I have never been keen tob”fix something “when it ain’t broken.. Just a word of caution on Johnson… Let’s not build him up too much to early… His first few touches were not that good last night but he grew into the game.. All in all a fantastic result FOR all COYI..

    • Deserving Credit? Yes indeed, Moyes/players but what about Alan Irvine?
      2 games in charge – 2 wins – nine goals scored and one conceded…….

      And that’s without players like Diop, and Sunday Anderson, Yarmalenko, Lanzini and even the ‘missing Diang…. what is missing is the £20mil.!

      I appreciate C&H, good grown up site/forum (Better than some of the barely legible juvenile tosh that seems to around… no defamation of character here, you decide), so C&H; credit deserving

    • A great and unexpected performance no doubt. But FFS the Diang comment is ludicrous.Masuaku has a couple of good games and people think he’s a world beater but don’t forget his abundance of poor games.Let’s see how we go over the next few games and teams playing the higher press.Having Diang around the squad would only make us better.
      Good to seee Bowen amongst the goals he needed that. Now we need Fornals to find his shooting boots.
      9 goals in the absence of Moyes,something to be send about that,maybe the players can undrstand Irvine and the rest better.

      • “9 goals in the absence of Moyes,something to be send about that,maybe the players can understand Irvine and the rest better.”

        I don’t think there’s anything to be said about that. This is completely Moyes team, formation and line up. He only left the ground an hour before the 5-1 cup win!

  3. Ok its only 1 game so I’m not gonna get too excited, but that was a marked improvement in both defence and attack. 3 observations.

    1. Three at the back is definitely working for us at the moment, but we need extra cover. Rugani would be a good option.

    2. It took 3/4 seasons but finally playing Masuaku in his natural position (winger -he made this clear in his first ever interview for whufc) could be the difference to our season and finally push Anderson to work harder.

    4. Haller has to start. We spent £45m on a striker who lost his confidence. He’s score 4 goals in 8 days and finally got his confidence back and we give him 4 mins at the end which must have knocked him straight back down. He then scores a very calm header to prove he is now ready. Keep pushing that confidence and he may turn out to be the 15-20 goal striker we hoped he could be.

    COYI ⚒⚒⚒

    • Well said about Haller – I think you’re spot on. The guy has something.

    • Moyes seems to have a real knack of moving players into positions where they are best suited. Masuaku from left back to left wing, or wing back. Wingers into strikers, arnoutavic, Antonio. I’d heard it said that moyes always finds a way of improving the players he’s got to work with but I’m not sure I fully believed it. I do now.

    • Who do you want to drop to put Haller in after the team performances against Arsenal and Wolves?? You want to change the formation? You want to move Antonio out wide after he has been totally unplayable against Wolves and scored goals for fun over the last 9-10 Premier League games?

  4. Excellent all-round team performance which built on last week at Arsenal. Wolves may have disappointed Nuno, but maybe we should credit our players. No real surprise that the formation suits the personnel we have but we do need defensive reinforcements. Balbuena and Cresswell played well alongside the rock that Ogbonna has become. I have been unconvinced by Cresswell of late, but he was solid. Antonio, Soucek and Rice are priceless for us at the moment – fingers crossed, they stay injury-free all season. Everton will be interesting, as will Leicester. A great end to a pretty s**t week! COYI.

  5. This is how we were playing at the end of Moyes first season, wing backs using Masuaku to feed Arnie.
    Well played boys, and lets keep it going

  6. I thought Masuaku was superb. As a standard full back he’s often found wanting defensively. But as an attacking wing back in a back 5, he gives us something different. His crossing ability is outstanding.

  7. Exactly what Moyes did the first time he managed us, he put Cresswell in a back three, pushed Masuaku forward to the wing and moved Arnoutavic from the wing into being the striker. It worked back then too.

Comments are closed.