It came as no surprise to hear Manuel Pellegrini say last night that the best thing about the Hammers win over AFC Wimbledon was the team’s “calmness.”
Patience and a “play your football” approach has been the hallmark of Pellegrini sides and I can recall Hammers teams who would have been charging forward in a panic having passed the hour mark behind in such a game.
Instead, this time the team continued to play the ball around without ever resorting to a direct get it forward quickly approach.
And for me that was significant because it showed very clearly that the Pellegrini mentality on how we will play really is penetrating the players’ minds.
Pellegrini commented: “I was sure that if we continued playing [in that way] we would score the goal. That was the best thing about the performance tonight, that we kept calm.
“We didn’t score the goal [until the 63rd minute], but we kept calm, we kept moving, we tried to create space and eventually we scored the goals that we needed to win the game.”
It was never easy and the AFC defence was outstanding but we also need to remember I guess that it’s not easy playing a team that’s a man down and determined to present two banks of four.
I would like to have seen us a yard quicker and stepping things up a tad around their box but by and large we did the job in the end efficiently and it’s clear (to me anyway) that West Ham are on the cusp of a new and exciting tactical approach.
Wolves will be very different of course as we return to the PL but the signs are decent with patience – a quality attached to all top clubs – the key.
There were a few negatives and positives from last nights performance;
Negatives- Our inability to win any headers in the heart of defence,both centre backs were either out jumped or didn’t try to win the ball but instead tried to ease their man away from it which I found quite strange for two big lads.
Obiang was very poor and very petulant, he was booked for dissent and didn’t appear to take this on board I believe he was subbed partly for this reason. Pedro if you’re staying knuckle down and show what you’re capable of.
Perez looked poor also, hopefully he’s still finding his feet and better things will come, there were signs but not enough for me yet.
Positives- Speaking of knuckling down, Declan Rice had a fine game always showing for the ball and making some good runs hopefully he’ll now let his feet do the talking.
I liked the professionalism and determination. Sure we were playing 10 men from a lower league but we kept at our game and our heads never dropped which over the years they may well have done.
They showed pride and hunger,final balls and finishes weren’t always perfect but no one shirked their responsibility and they all kept at it. In particular I thought Snoddy, Yarmolenko, Andersen and the two full backs had good games.
Finally a word for our opposition. Wimbledon despite going a man down were a credit to their fans and manager. They defended very well and made it very tough for us to break them down. Our defence could learn a lot from them in the games to come.
Wolves look like a real handful, will be interesting to see if he play Diop and Balbuena against them, they have a fair bit of pace in the team, will probably look to exploit Masuaku if he starts as every other team has done so far and we need the legs around midfield hopefully will play a 4 5 1 with Anderson playing more centrally, Antonio and Snodgrass on the wings Sanchez and Wilshere in central midfield and stick with a winning goalkeeper please, Adrian to start.
Cant agree with the goal keeper. Fabakansi has been brilliant! he has made 3 or 4 class saves each game, and cant be blamed for any of the goals.
I was actually very surprised to see any suggest another keeper.
IMO Adrian should of saved the goal last night.
He should have had the first against Bournemouth. That said he’s been very good in general. Two decent GK now at the club.
I wouldn’t play masuaku if everyone is fit. I would carry on with Fabianski as apart from first goal v Bournemouth he hasn’t done anything wrong. I’m not so keen on balbuena and would play rice with Diop at the back. I like ogbonna but would put in them two. I haven’t seen wilshere really do much so think he needs to have a good game saturday. As always the key is marko arnautovic.
I agree completely ; but it is now a Must Win game ., No if’s or buts . Mentality is now the key . And a big stadium like the LS should suit us more than it should Wolves . Losing this game would be disappointing and maybe disastrous .
I think Palace fans kept saying they were must win games last season when they went six or seven with no goals under Roy. Didn’t work out too bad in the end
Point taken , Hugh . But I am thinking only of West Ham . It was a bit of an eye opener to see Man Utd concede six goals recently so it does to some degree help to calm oneself down . Don’t want to see us do a Palace ; Thier season could , as could have ours , gone very south . I don’t care about the others one little jot . My worries are all West Ham orientated . The LS Stadium is in my opinion being used far too often as an excuse . Teams that visit us have proven that . It’s not as if we performed any better at the Boleyn in all honesty if you look back over the years . We need to push on and upwards , something we have never done since the sixties . Hopefully the improvement we are seeing under Pelligrini , albeit slow , will bear fruit soon .
Just a concerned fan having a chat . : Kevin .
COYHAMMERS
It’s interesting that Pellegrini talked about the importance of calmness in his team. Pellegrini is the personification of calmness. I thought that in the first few games with a lot of new players bedding in they have been a bit shaky at times, nervous, over eager to get forward at all costs, over eager to impress maybe. It’s important that Pellegrini has recognised this. His natural calmness will eventually start to have its effect on the players but first they need confidence in themselves. The Wimbledon game was very important to win but more important not to lose because it stops a lot of the media and fan negativity going into the wolves game. Now it’s important to get our first points in the league. Wolves will be tough though as they are a very good team. After that we have Man U Chelsea and Tottenham coming up, the only respite is Brighton away which won’t be easy either. Realistically if we dont get any points from wolves or Brighton we could be looking at nil points after the first eight games. No points out of a possible 24. Even if that’s the case I’m not going to panic because I’m sure we can start beating all the teams in the bottom half of the premier league and quickly climb the table. Im convinced if Players like Anderson, Arnoutavic, Antonio, and Yarmolenko all start firing on all cylinders it’s going to be exciting times. Its not a question of if that will happen but more when that will happen and how often that will happen. Then next year Imagine a fully fit Lanzini Reid and Carroll returning to full form and fitness. Not sure if we will ever see that again but here’s hoping.