Areola:6 No chance with City’s opener after 1 min. Decent save from Doku on 15 mins and then another from the same player straight after. Good save from Haaland on 30 mins. Possibly could have done better for City’s 3rd.
Coufal:6 Decent cross in the first half. Considering he had Doku on his side for most of the game he did okay.
Zouma:5 Massively under pressure almost all game. Lucky Haaland missed so many chances.
Mavropanos:6 Didn’t close down Doku quickly enough for City’s second but it was more to do with the wing-back formation not working. Made a good tackle to deny Doku.
Cresswell:5 Created the pass for West Ham’s first shot in the opening 45 mins.
Emerson:5 Produced an excellent dribble in the 12th minute but didn’t really know who to mark as Man City’s players interchanged positions at will.
Soucek:4 I felt sorry for him. His poor first touch and passing were exposed.
Ward Prowse:5 Played some decent long passes. Could have done better for City’s second but ultimately outclassed in midfield.
Paqueta:4 Bit of trickery on the edge of the area backfired as Foden put City ahead early. Not really involved in the game and wouldn’t have impressed Guardiola.
Kudus:8 Had a shot which made the statistics look less horrendous then followed it up with an incredible goal from a bicycle kick. West Ham’s best player by some distance.
Antonio:2 At one point in the first half Antonio looked over to the West Ham bench and asked what he should do which summed everything up quite nicely.
Substitutes
Alvarez: Off the naughty step in the 70th to replace Emerson. Harshly booked.
Earthy: 80th min sub for Antonio
Ings: 85th min replacement for Paqueta
Thom’s perfect response to Gonzo , I really hope that the claretandhugh bunch take serious note of it , unlikely though !
God! What a relief the Moyes era is finally over! Am I being ungrateful? Oh no! Five years of my life I will never get back spent in truly awful Anti-football mediocrity. Soucek and JWP in midfield against Man City, was Moyes insane, or just giving the game? Did the dour, slow brained Scot ever think of alternatives to shore up a Swiss Cheese defence. How about playing Soucek as a skilless slow Centre Back (which is what he is). How about playing Aguerd in midfield, because he can pass a ball. Why was Cornet never tried as an attacking left back? Why did Coufal play every single game and no options? The stupid decision to loan Downes cost us a precious back-up to Alvarez, when he inevitably got booked against the specialist diving cheats. Time and time again Moyes had no strategy and made woefully poor decisions or no decisions that cost us vital games. Was there ever one team sheet where we didn’t groan.
These days to succeed at the top level Football Managers have to have high IQs. They have to be strategic chess players. They have to have foresight, be leaders, inspirational, imaginative, charming man managers, flexible – they have to be magicians that can seize the moment. That is what Pepe Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp are. David Moyes was none of these. Like the Owner of our club Sullivan he is the type of dead dinosaur non management we used to see in the 1970s with British Leyland. And yes our cars were awful too.
On the money could not have agreed more
Thom, you have spoken well. Could not have said it better myself! Thank you.
Weeny, weedy, weaky
I think Antonio, Zouma, Oggy, and maybe Soucek unless our new manager can sort out his problems will be gone. I’d love to know why Cornet never really figured in Moyes’ plans at least to throw something offensive into the game. I hope we get better replacements for all of those and better team strength in depth. I just hope we also get back to a stingier defense as this year has been particularly awful in what has typically been a strength of Moyes.
Alvarez being left on the bench and letting souchek and the inept JWP start was a disgraceful decision by Moyes. At least he has invented a new formation not 433 or 352 no, it’s 10 at the back 😒
Moyes tells each player their position for an upcoming match.
Player: Where am I playing, boss?”
Moyes: “You’re on the bus.”
Player: “Where’s the bus, boss?”
Moyes: “Parked in front of our goal!”
… the end of an era? 🤞
Thank goodness the Moyes era is over, all this saturation defence and allowing the opposition to keep pounding. No more. Let’s hope the next era will be so much better.
I get that Man City are where they are, because they on the day, can rip anyone apart, BUT we are still a pl team and today all of them apart from kudos, looked like they were thinking about where to go on holiday. We need major changes.
Nothing changes been crap all season