That selection made by Graham Potter achieved very little except hopefully showing the West Ham manager that it is not the be-all and end-all.
A more aggressive midfield, especially, needs putting in place to create chances. Quite how the Hammers intended to score- with just about two chances created in a game – I don’t know. That kind of set up may be acceptable away at The emirates but at home to a below par Newcastle?
The fact that Newcastle’s midfield ran the show, with the Hammers just collapsing back into a line across their own 18 yard line, spoke volumes as to the lack for ambition or gameplan.
Potter needs to turn up the ambition, because at the moment it feels like he’s parking the bus and hoping an individual flash of brilliance from Bowen or Kudus will provide the odd goal or two.
Fortunately there’s another game lurking before the International break because the thought of no football a=for two week after that kind of performance would be a little depressing.
The Hammers need to rediscover some fire in the belly to take to Goodison Park at the weekend or they’ll be overwhelmed by Everton who are on a roll.
A decent creative midfield set up wouldn’t help either. More ambition, more creativity and a plan to attack the opponent please. None of which were in evidence last night. I’m still in a bad mood after that poor showing.
Nailed it mate. We had moments. Denied a penalty and let in a soft goal but we cant complain. We are not creating enough chances. The gaffer needs to shake some things up. Not enough shots for one and yes, you are right, not agressive enough midfield.
As ever critics have to criticise. On the stats the game was very even; had West Ham scored in the first minute which they could easily have done then a very different situation.
They do at least now have solidity at the back which is the first building block for a team to do well. Potter sees the players in training every day & it is clear that Ferguson is not yet up to speed, so he picks the best team from those available.
I agree Peter whu, our midfield is so poor and totally devoid of creativity. We all love Tomas for his commitment and courage but technically he’s very average and so many moves break down on him. Alvarez has been largely disappointing, there have been promising signs but he hasn’t delivered, when he’s advancing with the ball at his feet you just know that nothing outstanding is about to happen, he also loses the ball far too often. JWP is a tidy passer with a decent first touch but has no pace whatsoever and rarely plays a decisive ball (even from his famed set-pieces), he’s looked better since his return simply because others around him are poor. Those blessed with hindsight are saying what a mistake it was to let him go, I disagree, he had a blinder against Leverkusen otherwise he’s been massively disappointing. There are numerous midfielders in the Championship who can be neat and tidy and never take risks or show real Premier league quality.
I’m really hopeful that Potter will give the whole squad a massive shake-up and somehow pick up a couple of quality midfielders, Gibbs-White from Forest would be a good start, that should be straightforward 😉
We shouldn’t blame everything on the players and Graham Potter as, once again, our home support was abysmal. Too many empty seats and people who don’t join in the what was pretty limited singing and chanting. Many of us agree that the stadium is a soulless bowl, but we have to do our bit for the players. I would suggest it must be like playing away for them, but our away support is probably the best in the league. COME ON HOME FANS – START MAKING SOME NOISE – COYI
Sorry Trev the team and Potter need to up their game massively and give us something to shout about! Monday night TV game was never going to be full but I’ve never seen so many empty seats. Couldn’t even sell mine on Ticket Exchange as just couldn’t face getting home at past midnight then back on the road few hours later to watch that crap. 2 bloody shots on target in 96 minutes at home and bringing on Ings then Potter said the team are committed and gave it everything. Our best managers would have ripped them apart after that performance back in the day. All the empty seats just show what fans are thinking £100, 000 a week wages and half of them didn’t even show up. That was classic Moyes set up and try nab a goal on the break, bored to tears and glad I never bothered. ST will not be renewed unless there is a massive improvement but when Potter said they gave everything then he was obviously watching a different game to the rest of us.
Certainly not saying they are without blame, the performance was disappointing at best. Not sure if you saw Tomas Soucek’s comments earlier this week, but he alluded to the place being difficult for the players. It is a soulless bowl but if the home fans could make just a fraction of the noise we do at away matches, it would help the team I’m sure.
Dull, lifeless and boring. Back five meant we were overrun in midfield. Alvarez can’t stop giving the ball away and JWP and Soucek have zero mobility. We are easy to play against. Potter has made us harder to score against but at what cost? Ferguson must be wondering if he made the right choice given his lack of game time. Potter needs to show more imagination given we are pretty much safe now. So cold and bored last night!
Yes totally agree. Isn’t going to happen with Soucek, Alvarez and JWP. A slower less creative midfield three probably doesn’t exist in the premiership. JWP is not what people are making out still only really adds dead ball deliveries.
The Soler not much better, Pacqueta nowhere near the player he was. Kudus inconsistent and again not what he was. Summerville was the one bright spark sometimes one player really doing it on the ball can raise the others
Guess, need to be patient let GP do his job. Team is fighting and we’ve all heard about the transformation in mentality in training and around the club, after the team seemed to be surviving on life support. Going to have a hole in my head from all this head scratching though.
So, so disappointing to watch. How many back passes to Areola in that first half? When Areola just passed the ball to the nearest defender it seemed to take an age for the defender to decide what to do with it. Midfield was also slow and undecided as to what to do…..clueless! Suggest Potter has extra training sessions to improve the passing game……so many times we simply just gave the ball away. Also agree with the comment regarding throw-ins. afraid there was nothing in this game for me to try and be positive.
We were playing a team who probably had one eye on the weekend yet we set up defensively while Newcastle played a more attacking line up.
That slow sideway passing and then passing it back to Areola does my head in.
Let’s hope Potter can get some good transfers done in the summer otherwise it’s going to be another struggle next season.
I like the idea of starting from a solid foundation, but without subtracting from the individual players the combination of Soucek, Alvarez and JWP does not work for me, even on paper. Not enough mobility, surging forward, quick 1-2s, a low count of through passes in a match,… Orford, Paqueta, Irving? Would have been nice to see the introduction of another academy player appearing regularly without overloading the team with inexperience, Bit of a damp squib. Anyhow, this has been a weird WHU season one way or the other. COYI
Lucky me I gave it a miss