Shrewsbury Town 0 Irons 0
Third Round FA Cup Tie
It seems a bit tasteless to describe the Irons as toothless on an afternoon like this…sorry Josh Cullen (right).
But poor as they were we are against the Shrews – and they were very poor – we will surely never play that badly again and get away with it.
I’ve got to hold my hands up and admit that the game – through various circumstances – didn’t get my full attention but stats showing that the Division One Club had over 60 per cent of the play tell their own story.
And that their old boy, Hammers keeper and skipper for the day Joe Hart, was forced into to or three great saves tells its own story.
Declan Rice was again the big bright spot with some great runs down the left ad his defensive abilities is making him a Hammers untouchable – the boy is fabulous.
Josh Cullen may have had his front teeth knocked out via a high boot but he can feel relatively content with his display as can Reece Burke.
But once again Javier Hernandez was about as poor as it gets and there was little else to excite although Angelo Ogbonna grows and grows at the back.
These games are always tough with the lower division teams playing well above themselves but that was no ecuse for the dysfunctional performance generated by the Hammers.
Passes going astray and lost possession on a regular basis are inexcusable at this level but at the end of it all we remain in the hat for the fourth round draw and small mercies are sweet after that sort of display.
Probably can’t draw too many lessons from it tbh. Some of those guys had already played two tough games this week. But I think it does show again the lack of depth in the squad- especially in midfield. Also the difficulties involved in ‘giving the kids a go’. This was against a third tier side after all, not a PL side. One good thing I suppose is we are still in the cup & if we can progress then players like Burke, Oxford etc could be given a bit more game time. All in all a bit depressing after a good week….
Think we might hear that one a few times Hugh.Agreed Rice,Burke and Cullen were the only bright spot and at least there was not the massacre that we suffered at Forest when Allardyce trusted to youth.Can call Rice a first teamer now anyhow and he only gets better even showing the front men as he came forward down the left in the 2nd half(pure class).The core of the team looked shattered after 3 games in 5 days so cannot really blame Ayew and Hernandez as we created so little.Unfortunately we cannot rotate our best players as we do not have adequate cover and it showed today.Will settle for being in the hat tomorrow knowing we got away with a terrible performance and our luck is on the up.Look at Stoke.When you are on a downer the Gods really know how to kick you in the nuts.On the bright side we were missing about 7 1st team players and the creative ones at that.Owners must see we need to strengthen this month.COYI.
I am looking forward to the replay hopefully Cullen and Burke will get another shot, Lanzini must play in the next game, the fact that we cannot put more than three passes together in midfield tells it’s own story, Moyes and the team have to establish some patterns to our build up play, the players are lacking composure and thought in general when on the ball, it is embarrassing to watch, when passing wherever possible you should pass to the player that has options for a pass on, as a receiver of a pass you should already have your options at the forefront of your mind and be aware of who is around you, it is not rocket science, if there is no pass on from the player you make yourself the option with a give and go… drives me mad watching brain dead short passes from our midfield or defence.
A dysfunctional performance, Hugh. Yes, but.
The question is why are so many of our performances so dysfunctional and for so long? Today’s game was as bad as the worst during Slaven’s tenure. Why did the team play so woefully against League 1 opponents today? Match fatigue is the answer…is it?
And why imagine the team was composed of so-called ‘youngsters’? This is not the case. Declan Rice is young and utterly different class. He’s ałso an established PL squad player. Cullen and Burke have solid lower league experience – physically full on stuff! – at Bolton and Bradford. They both did well today and looked as good if not better than what Shrewsbury had to offer. In fact, we had 11 league experienced players on show at the kick off. But they didn’t turn up in terms of quality. The coaching strategy from the get go was a repeat of the approach against Spurs. Defend deep, no press, no link between midfield and the strikers, and no penetration. Result? An additional game with crucial league games coming up. But this was Shrewsbury, not Spurs.
To be fair: Hernandez is a clever six/eighteen yard box striker but he can’t run at or past defenders any more than I can! He doesn’t lead the line; that’s not his game. But today neither he or Ayew could hold the ball, turn or run. No movement and no technical class shown.
All this talk of lack of fight, steel and so on all sounds so terribly ‘Donald’…kicking up dust to hide the real issues. Forget the lack of steel and fight bowlocks that Mr Moyes is spouting and instead turn the spotlight onto the lack of a sensible game plan today. Add to this unintelligent play and the absence of individual technical competence from passing, give and go, movement off the ball, and what you have is closer to the truth. Forget the lack of fight/steel argument because its sheer Trump-tweet, designed to take your eye off the ball.
Look instead at the lack of coaching strategy, lack of a game plan and the lack of technical quality. And that is where our problems reside. Mr Moyes needs to address those shortcomings.
Any and any fan knew this was a massive potential banana skin of a match . Personally I’m just happy to be still in the competition . But what I didn’t expect was the teams seemingly total disrespect for supporters with the show they put on . They deserve a right good dressing down for Thier lack of commitment . We should have been out of the Cup today .
Shrewsbury played out of Thier skins , as was to be expected but there is no real excuse for our dismal performance . Can only think the Problem is the Premiership and not wanting to get injured .