Hammers 1 Cherries 1
West Ham battled their way to another precious point against a very decent Bournemouth team and go into the FA Cup weekend still holding onto 11th position in the PL.
They fell behind in the 72nd minute to a Ryan Fraser goal before Chicharito – on for injured Manu Lanzini – grabbed a typical goal straight from the kick off to equalise.
Make no mistake, this is a very different West Ham team to the one the Scot inherited just a few weeks ago. He hasĀ produced an energetic team ready to battle and produce blood sweat and tears for the cause. The attitude couldn’t be further away from where we were under the last manager.
Beyond that, there are great signs that real passing quality is appearing with the Hammers looking a very decent outfit at times although they need to aim at maintaining that over 90 minutes.
The decision to team up Marko Arnautovich with Manu Lanzini looks something of a master stoke despite neither getting onto the score sheet today.
In fairness the visitors had done their homework on them and it was an irony that it should be Lanzini’s replacement who ensured we grabbed a point.
My overwhelming feeling throughout this 90 minutes was that if David Moyes can make such a difference to a sideĀ within such a short space of time how good will it become once he adds a few of his own.
The future is looking very decent.
COYI
It was a much inspired team today playing with purpose, thought and imagination. it’s good to see and should give everyone watching a much needed boost that Moye’s players are now actually looking up the table rather than over their shoulder. We’re not out of the mire completely yet and some of the frustrating faults are still lingering but the future is more in favour of what we could actually achieve this season after such a dire start?
One major criticism today, imho, Zabaletta was knackered after 60 minutes which started allowing Bournemouth to get more joy down their left side. I would’ve brought on Byram at that point and who knows, we may have nicked all 3 points.
COYI’s