West Ham United’s victory at home was all the more enjoyable in view of recent shortcomings, coach and player criticism – and let’s face it as fans we are all desperate to see ‘Lopetegui’s style’ coming through. There were signs of this today which I’ll cover later in the weekend. But there was a time, even at three – one up , when Ipswich had a couple of half chances and Areola made a ‘worldie’ save to keep Ipswich out.
Immediately, Lopetegui called on Edson Alvarez and Carlos Soler from the bench to snuff out the possible Tractor Boys revival, highlighting two big differences from previous seasons. The obvious summer spend means our substitutes’ bench is strong – being able to bring on a couple of internationals in midfield to shut down Ipswich is a major strength which West Ham have now, compared to previous years.
Still later, Summerville and Guilherme got onto the pitch which must have been daunting as an Ipswich defender, facing the last ten or fifteen minutes being run ragged by the youngsters with a point to prove.
Apart from the obvious absence of a replacement striker under 30, our strength in-depth looks, compared with previous seasons at least, ‘quality’.
The second difference – a Lopetegui characteristic – is that at last we have a coach who doesn’t flog his players to death until making a change at the 89th minute. Our Spanish head coach has a good sense of when his forwards are flagging, for example, and does the sensible thing which was seriously lacking last year – and pulls off a clearly blown Antonio at 70 minutes.
Simple things, with big ramifications. Kudus, Bowen, Paqueta and Emerson all substituted: Every substitute who came on seemed to be playing to impress.
Old warhorse Cresswell snapped into a tackle where his own player Summerville got most of the venom, but the message was clear. Here was someone else who’d got a point to prove. Competition for places seems evident again, as does a determination to tackle, press and impress. Good to see again. Finishing strongly and almost grabbing a fifth was a statement of where the mindset is.
Tougher challenges lie ahead after the break but it is clear that everybody – starters, subs on the bench too – ‘buys in to the project’. Little by little, we see greater energy and it feels that West Ham took just one step towards a new style. Finally.
Thrilled about it all today. The selection was positive, the play was front foot, the defence is starting to look sound, and the subs really enhanced the team at the right time. Everything I wanted that Moyes would not do. Now I want to watch West Ham, not dread to watch West Ham.
The fact that Antonio cannot last beyond 60 minutes is well known to anyone over 9 with a passing interest in football, so substituting him at 70 minutes and 4-1 up was hardly a stroke of genius. The only other one substituted at the 70 minute mark was Rodriguez who should not have been on in preference to a fit Alvarez. The rest came on in the last few minutes so exactly what was the big difference. I see West Ham as being in the same ability bracket as their next 2 opponents and better than the 2 after that, all of whom will be a sterner test than Ipswich, so let’s not get too carried away yet with our new coaching mastermind. A minimum 19 points after the Arsenal game might make me a believer. The team was good today, the coach, I am still trying to understand.
Some excellent performances today but my overwhelming thought leaving the ground was how poor Ipswich were. It was a great day for confidence building and I’ve said from the start that the manager needs 10 games before we start to judge him. A big performance away at Spurs will really win over the doubters.
Am I strange for thinking this? Only it is so nice to look at match statistics and see our possession regularly competing with; and today – far higher than the opposition. It just feels good! It makes me purr with happiness. Yes, many will say possession is irrelevant, and it’s all passing around the Back Four, but you can see that our two centre-backs are refreshingly skillful. You can actually watch them opening up the spaces to run through with the ball; and that would never have happened under our previous manager … never!
Well said …
Was worth waking up for!
Don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I kinda wished for this 😉⚽️⚒️⚒️⚒️
COYI
Well, well, well, I have to say the boss earned his paycheck today! Brilliant formation and tactics. Excellent execution by the lads! Now, let us stack up these types of performances by all and I dare say, Lopetegui MUST STAY!!!😁