No disgrace…no humiliation and no collapse!
The scoreline says one thing but the performance told us another against a team that quite frankly arrives from a different footballing planet.
And but for the inept Arthur Masuaku, the scoreline would probably been 2-0 despite an offensive performance from the Irons which better finishing could have meant we enjoyed a much better result.
Masuaku saw the ball for the first go through his legs for the first and was totally out of position for the third, the result being that Pellegrini hooked him in the second half for Cresswell who was a far better option.
Simple fact of life – Arfur can’t defend!
That the Hammers managed 10 shots to 15 demonstrated there was no lack of attacking intent from the lads. Sadly only one was on target and it’s that cutting edge which continues to frustrate.
That we held our own and attacked the champions with enormous gusto at times in the second period was a tribute to the boys and Antonio really should have got one back when one on one with the City keeper before firing wide.
Aranutovic was his all action self and those of us hoping for a glimpse of Andy Carroll were to be disappointed when first Chicharito and then Lucas were thrown on.
At the end of it you have to admire the high pressing game the team adopted which allowed us some genuine glimpses of decent attacking football.
And with City behind us we can now look forward to a string of matches from which we can expect such an approach to bring a harvest of points hopefully.
In the meantime no harm done to our league position as we remain in 13th.
I genuinely feel sorry for Masuaku. He’s not a defender. I doubt he considers himself a defender, rather a left winger. I hope our collective troubles at LB are eased in the window with the arrival of a genuine LB to compete with Cresswell, who I thought did okay when he came on.
Perez was an utter waste of space and needs to go.
Despite the result, I think there were a few decent performances. Rice was superb, again, and Obiang had a decent game too. I thought Antonio showed endeavour too.
City are just so quick with their passing and moving – it’s noticeable how many fewer touches they take when they’re controlling and passing. They were very good, but by no means were we totally outclassed today. Leave it and move on, I think.
We were lively and at least menacing up front and in midfield. We gave a performance all over the pitch, except LB. I can only suppose that Pellegrini was not happy to risk Cresswell or Noble before the run of winnable games coming up.
We rarely fulfill what we threaten against lower teams, even though we should beat them, but I have a feeling that with our strongest team possible at the moment, we will get enough points from December to have a happy Christmas.
The performances have been good but what matters is points on the board and 12 points from 13 games points to a relegation battle
It is important that we now start to put some points on the board and move up the table