IN DANGER of becoming the new ‘West Ham trend’, no sooner has Manager Espírito Santo addressed one issue than another raises its head. Football wac-a-mole. Worst still , this latest one appears to be self inflicted.
IN their last outing the Hammers surrendered points from a winning position. As they did against Bournemouth.
Fixing the weakness from set pieces and corners appears to have boosted the Irons’ resilience, but dropping points when ahead is Premier League suicide and it needs addressing.
Many believe Nuno’s substitutions are instrumental in allowing opponents free rein to attack and that the Hammers simply are not good enough to soak up relentless pressure for extended periods.
Removing attacking threat and going ultra defensive doesn’t work: The Hammers couldn’t hold out against Bournemouth after Nuno’s defensive substitutions and again for the Brighton game, bringing on the likes of Tomas Soucek as a left midfielder brought questions from many fans and readers of Claret and Hugh, as well as givemesport.com, who claimed:
“Tomas Soucek Sub Invited Pressure”
“In a way, bringing on Tomas Soucek made sense for West Ham. In the final minutes, Brighton were always going to be pumping balls into the box and were likely to have multiple set-piece opportunities, so having a player such as Soucek in the box for these situations would be beneficial.
For some reason, Nuno deployed Soucek as a makeshift left-sided midfielder. All this did was invite pressure on the Hammers as they sat back in a 5-4-1 formation, and they had no transitional threat as Soucek was never going to be bombing down the wing on the counter-attack”
Ending these games without a goal threat is costing West Ham dear and – even within the squad limitations, trying to play out ten or fifteen minutes by parking the bus has not worked for any of West Ham’s most recent quartet of managers.
Nuno’s defense – minded instincts need tempering if the Hammers are to finally get those three-point captures which will be the difference between Championship football and another season in the top tier next season.
The best form of defence is attack ,when you end up with the situation of everyone and their cat crammed into your penalty area invariably everyone gets into everyone’s way and the inevitable ping pong always results in conceding a goal , and why on earth didn’t that bubble and squeak not throw himself to the floor clutching his skull in agony, like paqueta would have done?
Never mind the negatives Cast your mind back a few weeks ago how bad we were Now move forward to today Then you appreciate what a different animal we are and how hes improved us COYI
I think he is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. If he had put instructions on field to attack more and Brighton had scored he would be crucified for being too cavalier.
Hopefully he will learn from these mishaps and try a different tactic
Teams are at their most vulnerable when chasing a game, it is not the time to reduce attacking threat. Take offensive players off and bring defensive ones on invites the pressure onto you. It’s the prime time to bring on a fresh attack minded player. We have dropped points due to taking offensive players off.
Hasn’t been questioned is why Wilson stayed on for 87 minutes against Man Utd. He’s not much good after 65 minutes,so make a change. This would have allowed him to start against Brighton if only for 45 minutes or even 60 minutes.Earthy and Marshy have to be trusted especially Earthy he would have taken the ball up the field,he’s being wasted at the moment. Can’t see the logic in many of Nuno’s tactics as we have forfeited points due to negative tactics not gained them, 2 wins from the drawn games is 6 points,we’ve only got 3.
Gonzo can’t see this,Leeds have just had 3 very hard games and got 4 points,we have got zero form 3 similar games
I’m sure Nuno would point o lack of Forwards to put on. I also don’t think the last game was anyone’s fault but the officials. Controlling the ball with your arm is handball even if it is by your side. Gained an advantage of making the ball drop where he could shoot, that says all you need to know. There will ofcourse be those who say should be down the other end of the pitch, although this don’t always work, does it?
Top class arricle
If you have world class defenders you might get away with it.we don’t have such players.parking the bus has never and never will work for west ham. If you are attacking and have the ball then the opposition have to cone to you.score one goal they have to score two it’s not brain science is it..concede 1 then you have to get 2.the manager needs to stop experimenting now.stuck with what the players strengths are what they do best.this isn’t some marketing campaign to see what works.if we don’t snap out of this soon it will be beyond saving.stop messing about with ports and our other two young dynamic midfielders.kerp Wilson in the team he’s a very clever player.why we go down the sides and get stuck in tight areas is beyond me.remember running through the middle with the ball attacking their defence.its all too predictable.
Nuno needs to take note we should have seen out both games the issue over Brightons goal is debatable but nuno has to accept some of the blame for it when we scored we should have looked to secure the game by scoring again or at least trying instead we hand the initiative to Brighton they were their for the taking just after Bowens goal sitting back and parking the bus never rarely works best form of defence in that situation is to attack and put it beyond the opposition
Totally agree. Attack is the best form of defence. It’s not just recently that we struggle to hold on to a lead, it’s a problem we have had over many many years. With 3 pts for a win and only 1pt for a draw sitting back should not be an option
Why on earth did he take fernandes off . He was the best player on the pitch . Very strange tactics again from No No