By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
Claret & Hugh readers will have to excuse me this morning.
I am more than a little bit grumpy following England’s exit from the World Cup at the hands of Argentina.
Of course, there is a certain amount of frustration at losing to a familiar enemy on the international stage, but it was more the manner of the defeat that rankled with me.
West Ham PTSD
I think what happened watching England try to park the bus and shoehorn as many central defenders onto the pitch as possible was that it triggered a sort of West Ham PTSD.
The tactic reminded me so much of last season in particular, although it probably goes back a lot further than that.
In many respects, it reminded me of the away game against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, where West Ham were comfortably in front when Nuno Espírito Santo decided to chuck on another central defender in Max Kilman, a tactical move which resulted in the Hammers losing the game 3-2.
It proved to be quite a pivotal point because Nuno’s assistant manager, Paco Jémez, remonstrated with Espírito Santo at the time and made it clear he did not agree with sitting back and soaking up the pressure.
In the end, he was proven right.
It was certainly one of the things which endeared Paco to West Ham fans.
Please Don’t Go Back There
I can only hope his departure from the club doesn’t see us revert back to being a low-block team.
Make no mistake about it, getting promotion from the Championship is all-important.
But I would imagine 45,000 season-ticket holders haven’t renewed just so they can watch West Ham park the bus.
To be fair to Nuno, when he won promotion from the Championship with Wolverhampton Wanderers, his team were the highest scorers in the division.
So he has previous for playing attacking football whilst getting promoted.
Hopefully, if we manage to retain Jarrod Bowen, keep Taty Castellanos and bring a few more players in through the transfer window, we should be on the front foot for most of the season.
Football Is Meant To Be Beautiful
But I couldn’t help watching England and thinking… is it really too much to ask for a bit of adventure, a bit of flair, or not to have to watch the team you support deploy tactics which display quite how terrified you are?
Football is called the beautiful game for a good reason.
It’s about flair, expression and scoring goals.
There is little doubt in my mind that England, and Thomas Tuchel in particular, turned from playing the beautiful game into ugly tactics which almost never work.
And I say that with the experience of being a West Ham fan who’s just been relegated.
I had the exact same thought as probably many did. It was like watching West Ham.
Other things needed to be addressed like taking players like Rice Saka James and Stones who were not fit. For that 25 minutes Tuchel has to go and I’m not usually that reactionary. We blew our biggest chance when we had it in the bag
Whu need to get more pacy players up front before it’s to late.
Plus at least one decent centre back no need to mention any names.
Tuchels biggest mistake was not taking Jarrod Bowen. We could have told him you don’t winning no world cups without a West Ham player or three in the team.
When you go ahead sitting back is not the right tactic as it seldom works. That was the time to bring an attacking threat on, Rashford, Toney or both at that point gives an outlet and threatens them when they need to come forward. Just like too many West Ham games in recent times.
Even moreso when it’s England as they have a quality bench to choose from.
Totally agree Gonzo, I froze as soon as we sat back and sadly I knew at that point we were out as it’s the same tactics I have watched for a good few years now at West Ham.
Couldn’t agree more Gonzo, our house was shouting put a couple of fast players on the halfway line and give the team an out let. You can’t play that tatic against the really good teams it doesn’t work!.
I thought the referee was as good as it gets so don’t think anyone can blame him, but I wonder will Fifa take any action against Argentina for the banner taken from the supporters the players held up at the end of the game that was clearly political. If not it shows how corrupt Fifa is.
Great minds think alike, after every England game in this world cup I ended watching the game thinking “it’s like watching west ham” unfortunately with the same result poor football and lucky results
Next season if we play with the same mindset 45000 fans protesting will make the sully out protest look like small beer
Gonzo
one of the main reasons why supporters of a certain vintage followed the Hammers, was they never resorted to playing not to lose, moreso always played to win by outscoring the opposition.
Goals win games.
Always be looking forward to seeing Hammers return to the mindset of, if you score, we’ll be trying to score more.