West Ham appeared to have learned nothing from the FA Cup defeat as City tore us apart ably assisted by Aaron Cresswell, Pedro Obiang and Jose Fonte.
The trio were responsible for three gift goals as the Irons collapsed before a brutally ruthless City side who terrorised us on the break.
And it wasn’t until Robert Snodgrass came on late in the piece that the Hammers carried any real threat and if you can talk in terms of a Hammers man of the match he would be it.
It would be easy to smash into the team, the manager and the board but those three massive errors cost us in a big way and we simply had no answers to a power packed City performance.
I’m not excusing the performance. It was shoddy and inept but let’s hear no nonsense calling for the board to quit or Bilic to be sacked. That City side was utterly on the case tonight and sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and give credit where it’s due.
We move on … we put it behind us and look to three games against Southampton, West Brom and Watford – all of which are winnable and could put us within touching distance of safety.
I can understand the feelings of the thousands who walked away. It was as hard to watch as any game we’ve witnessed this season but I for one won’t panic after seeing us win five of the last seven games.
However, what must be said is that Aaron Cresswell hasn’t looked the same player this term since his injury and is presenting us with as big a problem on the left side of defence as many believe we have at right back.
But we move on and the good news is that just four of the remaining 15 games involve us against seriously tricky opposition – Chelsea at home on March 6, Arsenal away on April 4, Spurs at home on May 6 and Liverpool at home on May 13.
It’s been a difficult campaign but it was always going to be. We have enough to finish in the top 10 and this is no time for over reaction.
3 points at The Saints Saturday,its in the bag.2-0 to The Irons im telling ya.They are there for the taking 😁
ok I will try not to overreact but… we are terrible. I’m really worried about being relegated because we are not out of it yet.
Lol there is no way in a fit we will be relegated E20.Bloody hell we had won 5 of our previous 7 games against other poor teams & if we can do that being poor we will pick up enough points easily.We will finish between 9th & 11th no problem 😋
I hope that you are correct Radai. My doubts are caused by many years of supporting and suffering West Ham.
Mate were 9 clear of the bottom three & it has taken them all 23 matches to get to 19,17,16 pts respectively.No chance of us getting pulled into it.We will only need another 3 wins in 15 games.They wont get to 37- 38 pts 😉
Let’s make no bones about it – tonight was a shambles. But it was a shambles the last time we played Manchester City, and then we scored six goals in our next two games. Sure, we’ve had a few too many results like that this season, but the mantra remains the same…
In Slav We Trust
In now way, do I advocate that Slav Bilic should be sacked..
That said, he was mainly responsible for our horrendous loss!
We played our last 2 games very well using a well-organized 4-4-2 formation.
Now he has some sort of ‘brain-snap’ by reverting to his favorite 4-2-3-1.
Surely it was evident from the early part of the season, that this formation is not suited to the current group of players.
Carroll needs to be paired up with an additional striker..
Noble and Obiang were simply over-run in front of the back four.
Both Lanzini and Feghouli spent far too much time in wide positions, essentially creating a great big gaping hole in the middle of the park!
Lanzini is our play-maker, and, accordingly, should play as a central attacking midfielder.
If we had started with a 4-4-2, with Antonio and AC up front, and Lanzini and Feghouli playing more centrally behind them, we may have been able to effectively fight for decent possession and control.
In his post-match, Slav states that ‘we started great’; great, we never started at all; it was a shambolic and impotent display, partially due to Slav’s propensity to make impulsive decisions.
Of course, Man City played well, but, we let them look very good.
If Slav continues to experiment around with formation, tactics, and strategies, we could be in for a very torrid time indeed. He has to take his share of the blame for this very poor performance.
As soon as I saw the 4-2-3-1 formation, I said to my friend; that’s it, 0-5; not wishing to ‘big note’, but Guardiola must have been smiling to himself when he saw what his team could do against such an open-door formation.
We are better than this, for sure, but its time for a little bit of reflection time where Slav is concerned!
I’m looking at the positives. We were thrashed 5-0 in the Cup at home To Man City, Now tonight In the league at home, we only lost 4-0. Improvement, like it. 😉
Not over reacting …. Do me a favour …. 31 days to sort out a right back and a half decent striker and we got nothing . Noble is still there . Again he was awful . I am sick and tired of the same old dross . Sullivan and his bratt are scum . They are classless as well as clueless .
I’m not known for knocking our manager whoever he is, and I happen to like Bilic, but I won’t be having his babies, so I can criticise him, when I need to.
Having seen us batten down the hatches in the cup game against City, I thought we could have been a bit more pressing and adventurous in this game considering we were on a roll.
When Lanzini got the ball in the first half hour he was looking in vain for some support. Carroll would make a run for one over the top, which made some space but nobody was coming close enough to give Lanzini a target to pass to.
I suppose the full backs were told to sit and defend and the midfield were told to sit and hold, but it would have been nice to see us attempt a bit more against a defence which is far from the best.
On top of that more individual mistakes by Cressy Obiang and Fonte, didn’t help.
Lets hope it gets put right for Saturday. It’s a game we should win with Snodgrass starting, and I think we will win.
You are correct Hugh. And you Radai. Well done for your positivity. I put my views on the manager on here a couple of times back in Nov/Dec & now isn’t the right time for a change. But long term questions have got to be answered. Up to now dreadful performances have been followed by just enough to paper over big cracks.
OK Fonte is new & has had a break (isn’t that supposed to help?). But the defence has been a shambles all season. I. Can understand why you may just not have the players to improve a bad defence, but I don’t get how you turn an ok defence into a shambles.
My other grumble is too many short term decisions. Byram comes back & has a decent game. Oh that’s RB sorted out then- no backup/ replacement needed. We let in 4/5 at home several times, but a couple of clean sheets against weak sides so we don’t need to ask questions about who is organising the defence. Obviously need striker back up, but hey AC is back scoring, so let’s put that off for a while. This is not the way to ‘make the step up’ but ok if we are going to settle for a relegation worry every season.
Moan over. Now we have to make the best of what we have, which should be enough & try to get behind the team. I still believe the squad has enough quality for solid mid table.
I must admit I was dissappointed not to get a striker and a RB in Jan. I know they tried for a decent RB, and it’s no use to get just any RB. The Jan window is notorious.
I would though be much happier with Hogan on the bench instead of Caleri, while Fletcher would have been much better of at Leeds for the remainder of the season. I know everyone is dreaming of the return of Sahko, but until he comes back we ain’t got him.
I think that Fonte will be the organiser at the back that we want and need, so like you Hammer I am more positive than some.
Lol 64 i aint feeling positive this morning,im at work with a banging hangover 😱😂
I just cant be arsed to rant on the internet anymore,i spent too long doing it when Hippo Head was gaffer,it achieves f*ck all.Im looking forward to The Saints match on Saturday.Its what we do as fans isnt it,sulk for a day & then get back up ready for the next game 😁
Anyway if our team & Bilic are so sh*t it doesnt say much for all the other teams & managers below us 😂
Agree with you Hugh it’s no shame to lose to City. They can do that when they click into form. I can see changes v Southampton Snodgrass will start and Kouyatte is back. Wonder if Collins will start to. We will beat Southampton.
You sure it’s a hangover Radai. Not just the effect of that game & now all the Saints fans crowing about Fonte- West Ham a joke blah. And the pundits stating the b******* obvious- West Ham were poor defensively, they made too many mistakes. You don’t say. I have got a headache now & didn’t touch a drop.
Not going to over react, have been told not to by Hugh…and it’s no shame of course to lose to Citeh, but 0-9 over two home games…c’mon…I’m still a Slav fan but these capitulations against the big teams cannot be allowed to continue.
Im not sure you can tell football fans or a percentage of them not to overreact Hughie,its what they thrive on.What fun can they have if we are doing well.I hope for their sakes we never become successful,they wont know what to do with themselves..