Lukasz Fabianski was back to his very best as the Hammers hung on to a major point at the London Stadium this afternoon (Sat).
The goalkeeper was responsible for incredibly important last ditch saves at the end as City piled intense pressure on the Hammer late on and but for hm and some superb defending by Angelo Ogbonna, Fabian Balbuena and Vladimir Coufal in particular we would have lost the game.
Given that he had so little to do in the first half he could have forgiven for being cold as City poured forward in the second period
But he saved the best for last when first he narrowed the angle and blocked Sterling’s shot with his body five minutes from time, then, in added time, stood firm at the near post as Mahrez tried to squeeze a shot between him and the upright.
This was ‘Fab’ back to his very best and there was no way he could be blamed for City’s goal which was an unstoppable effort and afterwards he assessed the team’s performance on a special day.
He said at https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2020/october/24-october/lukasz-fabianski-i-was-happy-i-could-help: “I think the first half we were a really good side and put them under a lot of pressure and our game plan worked perfectly . We knew we could expose them and that’s what we did in the first half.
“In the second half, with each minute they started to put a lot more pressure on us and we had to defend a lot more than we did in the first half but, in the end, we dug really deep and we got a point from this game.
“What was good in the second half was that we showed pride in defending. We really wanted to make sure we didn’t lose the game, so we put our bodies on the line and tried to protect our goal from any clear-cut chances and I think we did that for most of the game.
“Obviously against a team like City you’re always going to concede some chances but, at the end of the day, I was lucky and happy to help the team in that situation. That’s my part I have to do on the pitch and I was happy I could help today.”
“The first one, what helped me was that Raheem Sterling had a bit of a heavy touch so I could close him down. The second situation was a lot more difficult to be honest with you, because when Mahrez was going through on goal 1v1 against me from the angle, you always have in mind that there is maybe someone inside for the cut-back, so you have to wait until the end and just hope a little bit for him to make a bad decision or just to hit you.
“I tried to make myself as big as I could and in the end he just hit me and luckily for us the ball went out for a corner, so I was happy I could help.”
David Moynes has successfully applied the SIEGE approach for West Ham to obtain success in the premier league this season. First of all he sets up shop to close any opportunities for the enemy to invade his territory – to ensure serious defence of their target to prevent any meaningful invasive intrusion. Appoint a leader to control and direct the defence and instruct his attackers to seize any opportunity to counter attack. Then use the skilled and powerful marauders to attack the enemy’s depleted outstretched defences. Every opportunity to use set pieces to take advantage of the teams special attacking attributes is then used to win the battle!