Last night began with an emotional and fitting tribute to West Ham legend Luděk Mikloško. Seeing fellow supporters unite to honour one of the club’s greatest servants was a powerful moment and a reminder of what makes West Ham special. Unfortunately, while we the fans played our part, the performance that followed gave us very little to cheer about.
Before kick-off, I joked about which version of West Ham would turn up. I even suggested it would be typical if we went a long spell without registering a shot on target. Unfortunately, that prediction wasn’t far off the mark. By half-time, West Ham had failed to record a single shot on target. That statistic alone tells its own story.
Looking at the game itself, it was never a penalty. Soucek endured a difficult first half and looked short of match sharpness, while the amount of sideways passing from many of the team became increasingly frustrating as the game wore on. There was plenty of possession but very little purpose.
To be fair to QPR, they weren’t exactly a joy to watch either, but they were exceptionally well organised. It is easy to see why they boast one of the best defensive records in the league and remain unbeaten away from home. They defended with discipline and made life difficult for West Ham throughout.
After the match, Nuno, who ultimately carries responsibility for his team’s performance, admitted:
“There was no precision in our passing and our pressing was not the way we want it.”
The bigger concern for Nuno is that West Ham are drawing far too many matches. If automatic promotion is to be achieved, turning one point into three on a regular basis is essential.
Perhaps I am being slightly harsh. Had Bowen converted his penalty, West Ham would have collected two additional points. Likewise, if Taty had converted against Charlton in similar circumstances, another point would have been rescued. Small moments can make a huge difference, and in that scenario West Ham would still be unbeaten all season.
But football doesn’t deal in “what ifs”.
As the great Jimmy Greaves famously said:
“Football is a funny old game.”
Last night was yet another reminder of exactly that.
When things are not going right, Nuno needs to get off his backside and sort it out. It was clear something had to change after 30 mins, but no , Nuno just sits there wailing for half time. He did that against Millwall and look what happened we went 2-0 down
Bellamy is unproven in league football, why risk ?
The main weakness yesterday was on the right. Walker-Peters, he is caught in midfield, he is rounded in defence and he is dispossessed so easily. We are always vulnerable whilst he is on the pitch. Nuno for goodness sake learn.
If Nuno was that unhappy with his players tactics surely he could have got the message across to them from pitchside. Not just sat back and wait for halftime.
Score last nights’ penalty and we would have been top of the league. What these Nuno haters are on about is anyone’s guess. You can’t blame him for penalty misses. The players are just as responsible for not being able to pass the ball to a teammate as he is for where those players’ positions should be.
This chopping and changing of manager’s has really helped us over the last several years, hasn’t it…?!
He picks terrible teams and cagey tactics. He’s been sacked from multiple jobs.
He relegated us after managing most of last season. He’s a poor manager and an utter uninspiring loser.
Clearly, we have a lot of fans who’ll lap-up any old codswallop though.
They’d probably welcome back the greedy clueless idiotic duo of Sullivan and Baroness Botox with open arms.
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
So because people disagree with you, you admonish them? Smart…
He wasn’t sacked from Forest due to a lack of ability, he criticised the DoF’s transfer dealings, after getting them into the Europa League. He left Wolves by mutual consent after getting them promoted and into Europe before finishing 12th.
I’m not his biggest fan but facts are important, unless you believe in the Trumpian world of utter BS of course…
Well said Saul – in any case we are unlikely to change managers anytime soon while there is still uncertainty in the boardroom
I hate international breaks. We’re always sluggish for the first game back from one.
This manager’s an absolute loser, the ex-reserve ‘keeper multiple-sacked clueless cagey coward.
How can any professional player be inspired by him?
It was an atrocious decision to keep him on after relegation. If there’s somehow an opportunity of attracting Howe or McKenna, we need to take it.
Being in the Championship doesn’t help, but having one of the best-supported most loyal and dedicated fanbases in Europe, let alone England, should be a major attraction over dull nothing clubs like Fulham and Palace (despite their recent massive overachievement).
Agreed. Nuno makes the same tactical mistakes, over and over again and clearly is unable to motivate or inspire the players. The lack of energy from the outset had nothing to do with the International break as has been a regular feature of our game this season. The football is painfully slow, predictable and ultimately tedious. There is no movement off the ball, the first thought seems to be to pass it sideways and then back to the keeper (whose distribution is woeful). There seems to be no leadership on the pitch, embarrassingly inaccurate passing and a lack of urgency that borders on arrogance. If I could cash in my seasion ticket now I would because after last night I don’t feel like going again.
My old mate used to say, “If my auntie had balls, she’d have been mu uncle”. There’s always going to be “ifs” as long as the manager is in situ. Does he even know his best team after all this time. Gat a proper manager in. Bellamy.