Winston Reid is expecting much better from the Irons at Southampton but admits that the team still has to learn from its mistakes.
It’s a mantra we have heard for so long so if it’s starting to wear a wee bit thin I hope the big fella at the back may understand .
That the Hammers were outclassed at the weekend isn’t in doubt but what got up the noses of most was the perception that they didn’t battle to the end.
Reid admitted to the official site: “We obviously didn’t do well on Sunday, so we have to move forward, learn from our mistakes and watch the video and make sure that, come next week, we put in a much better performance.”
I hope we are not merely talking about mistakes that led to goals because whilst that is very worrying I have an equally important concern – sloppy passing and surrendered possession.
We saw it time and again last season and once again it became an issue at Old Trafford. Giving the ball back to a team that is dominating you is a mistake that has many of us reaching for the blood pressure pills and wondering how the hell that can happen.
Time and again I found myself screaming at the sight of that and the long balls from the back which are 99 per cent guaranteed to hand possession back to the opposition.
If we are talking mistakes I reckon all of that should be addressed once and for all. Passing the ball is one of the first things we are taught after all.
Reid however continues with the expected spiel declaring: “It does help that the players we have signed have played in the Premier League before.
“I’m sure that, once we get things gelling and have had another week working hard on the training pitch, we’ll be a lot better. “The new players have fitted in perfectly and they’ll help us move forward.”
Gelling? Good word that but not when you have heard it a thousand times in relation to a side that continues to be heavily defeated on too many occasions.
He admits we were second best on Sunday and said: “They made us pay for every mistake. We have to be tough on ourselves, because some of those mistakes we caused ourselves.
“They were the far superior team and they outclassed us in every aspect of the game.”
It is a case of confidence. The passing game is a confidence game. A team going forward needs the confidence that if they do make a mistake and lose the ball, the defensive side of their team can deal with it efficiently. If they don’t have that then they will play with their nerves on show, as we are now.
I know I’m still banging the same old drum, but fix the defense and the rest will fall in place. We have very good attacking players even without Antonio and Lanzini, but if we give the ball on a plate to the opposition attackers the our team will never be confident or relaxed enough to play their football.
Of course we were not at full strength, and we were playing a very top team, but with hit and miss defending by the likes of Ogbonna and especially Masuaku, how can any of our team feel confident. Get them out and bring in Rice and Cressie, so even Reid can settle down and play.
Of course Carvalho will be a big help, and it doesn’t matter who makes way for him.
I tend to agree that he or a player like him is vital to help make an improvement. All I have seen for 18 months now is players attacking through our midfield with out lightweight players chasing their heels while a flat defence back peddles. If this is plugged maybe we can assess the defence itself better and bring that confidence back. That said its a little concerning if a lack of confidence is ripe in the first game of the season with new quality recruits and a relatively strong finish to last season. I hope we aren’t becoming an upmarket Sunderland where the same old mistakes keep getting repeated..
We have started a new season, despite the defeat to a team that was unrecognisable from last season where they were average there is not much point focusing on the mistakes it is more important to focus on defending as a team correctly and playing at an intensity that matches or exceeds your opponent. Tottenham under Pochetino are the masters of this, better than anyone in the league imho time and again when a team like Utd push them back they absorb all their hard work and when they release the pressure for a second they are ready to seize the initiative and turn the tables. In a sense it’s like momentum when you have it it’s not too difficult to maintain but if you are playing against it it’s difficult to withstand it takes 10 or 11 players well drilled to hold it back and it requires fitness and concentration. We showed for 30 minutes against Utd we could hold them off we need to do it better the next chance we have and find a way to transition defence to attack consistently I might be wrong but I think we have made progress from last season despite s poor opening result, I am looking forward to the next few games COYI !!!
we certainly have a better squad, so I’m looking forward to it too.
I see from saturdays performance things have not changed there is a big question over Slav & his backroom team over how they train the squad & what tactics should be used. Personally I think the players need to be a lot fitter, I remember a Nottingham forest player under Brian Cough saying the team looked forward to the Saturday game because it was a lot easier than the training they had to do in the week, Clough apparently expected his players to work very hard in training to able to outperform the opposition & it brought great success to the team. Slav needs to get his act together & make the players perform a lot better, it is one thing losing to a better team when you have tried your best but I think everyone would agree the players did not try hard enough & considering the money they are on & how little training they do they are taking us for mugs,
It is the same at Tottenham now Claret they say their training is much harder than their matches, last season for sure Slav was guilty of not training the players hard enough, it is the same at all big clubs where players take no prisoners and training is at least as intense as matches,the more you do it in training the easier it is in matches, all sports are the same the hardest work should be done on the training pitch, practise makes permanent. Talking of Cloughies teams who can forget the levels they reached to win two European Cup finals in 1979 and 1980 I used to love watching them play, you could say the same of the Liverpool team in the late 70’s. Nothing has really changed much, the teams that work the hardest tend to win more often and lose less.
Absolutely right, we were at least a yard slower all over the pitch until Rice came on. Zaba and Reid looked very slow, Arnoutovic looked sluggish, considering he was on debut I expected him to chase everything down. Ogbanna has no pace anyway. Everyone keeps saying we have had a great transfer window, really …. we brought in a goalie that’s no better than either of the two we had. A RB nearly drawing his pension, and a winger that even his old team mates say he doesn’t work hard especially when tracking back. Hernandez apart no improvement on what we already had.
Sadly it was what I was expecting, I’ve seen nothing pre season to make me think we had sorted the defense out. I agree with other posts that point out it’s been going on since the latter stages of the season before last, masked by the overall great season that was. What has changed? we have gone from winning away at Everton and Liverpool etc confident of facing anyone (didn’t it feel great), to rolling over in front of every decent team we face, after a while, I don’t care how passionate you are, attending a match, especially an away fixture when you expect to get mullered gets a bit dull.
Payet pop ? That’s the difference with lanzini and chiek !
Alderveight ? Denbele. Wanyama, Erikson,Ali, right through the middle of the park 32 and 2 wing backs !
We got, noble , Fernandez , obiang , ayew , zabba , and masuaku ??
Hopefully. We will be carvelho obiang. , chieck, lanzini, antonio, arnie ,we have rice but no alderweld, we need to play a 3 at the back because of the depth of players we have, we will do well with them but an injury to lanzini knackers us , spuds have a midfield with ball players ?? We have 1 ? No injury’s and we win a cup this year 😉 and top 7/8 , 😁
Just surprised that he didn’t mention that we miss the Poppodom as well 😆😆 Same old pony just a different season would have been easier just to say we played **** and it’s up to us to sort it 😆😆
Get Carvalho signed then get him sitting in front of the defense & it will make a big difference.Not a cure all but will make a difference.
Aint worried about the critisism of Zabaleta he looked quality pre season & many players will get ripped a new one by the likes of Rashford this season.
Still going to finish top 8 you wait & see gloomies 😂
Only got to wait till September for the demi god to return to single handily save us from the abyss Rads 😆😆😆 But got to get a win soon or the Slugettes will be putting there keys into the ignition and jumping on board the Hippo express to tell us all how things were so much better back in the day 😆😆
Lol dont matter who we have as manager GW no one can replace their god Hippo Head.The one man trophy winning juggernaut that he is 😁😁
They’ll emerge from the shadows soon Rads 😆 Hippo’s autobiography tucked under the arm of there hippo onesie’s , pork pie in hand and a quick kiss for there Nolan poster on the wall before heading into battle and shouting out there ” Bring back Sam” battle cry 😆😆
We will be safe,Che Kahn & his guerilla army will man the barricades 😁
Make believe pies GW the hampers never turned up 😂😂
I think its shocking mocking England’s most successful manager , shocking ,
Jabba doesn’t deserve it , scandalous , ninja slugs will be staking out the next parish cooking class, you have been warned 😂😂😂
Are you two guys guilty of fighting yesterday’s war? I didn’t see any mention of SA in these comments- apart from yours lol.
The bloke has (probably ) retired from club management & anyway would be as likely to come back to us as I would be to win the London Marathon. Time to move on chaps! A less tactful person than me might suggest you have an unhealthy fixation.
👂what’s that 64 😂😂😂
Lol 64,nah just being light-hearted thats all.I have never seen a result change from being miserable so the 4-0 loss aint going to change by sulking for a week 😂😂
True enough. Seem to remember Man C lost to somebody 4-0 or 4-1 start of last season. Hey we even beat Germany 5-1 once. It can happen to anybody. Laz it’s no good speaking to me in those little fellas. I can just about work out 😀 And ☹️. After that I am up **** creek mate. Although not as far up it as anybody with a Big Sam fixation. How bad would that be 😩. Ah hang on, the ear! Think I get it- nice one!
You still talking about Big Sam 64.That conversation finished hours ago.Let it go,its done & dusted 😁
Ha ha. Just thought I would keep him in your mind. Mark my words, you will dream about him tonight. But not one of those dreams I hope!😝😝😝
Youre a bad man 64.Its like groundhog day on here.Heard exactly the same thing about a Antonio & Obiang when we signed them.Apparently they were shyt & wasnt any better than what we already had.Now after 1 match the summer signings this year are shyt.Yeah ok 😁