An utterly bizarre first half with West Ham caught out of position so many times I lost count, mostly down the Hammers’ right hand side with Garnacho running on to balls over the top several times, Wan Bissaka absent, again pushed into the opponents half.
Wan – Bissaka high up the pitch again
Rodriguez’ misplaced pass allowed Hoyland to hit the bar, Dalot later splitting the defence, one on one with the keeper and inexplicably shooting over with the goal gaping – how he missed that I’ll never know. Alan Shearer suggested ‘one of the worst Premier League misses in the last 20 years!’
Disorganised chaos. Antonio at one stage popping up at right back, Wan Bissaka sometimes playing central midfield- what was going on? Paquetá of course a dumb yellow card for preventing a restart. Where is that man’s brain?
Alvarez almost headed into his own net and then a great Fabianski save kept the scores level at half time. 8-1 in favour of Manchester United for attempts at half time. Woeful half with sporadic booing as the whistle went: Surely Manchester United couldn’t waste so many chances in the second half. We were so bad-I just didn’t want to keep on watching.
But I did. Hoping for something to change at half time. How pleased was I to see Tomas Soucek walking down the tunnel along with Jean Clair Todibo and Crysencio Summerville. 60,000 plus Hammers fans yelled ‘we told you so’ at Lopetegui. Mavropanos was injured in the half but Paquetá-especially- and Soler were ineffective.
Finally we looked a team. Wan Bissaka and Bowen combining on the right and Antonio shooting wide. Summerville’s back heel laying on the shot. The crowd were singing bubbles a little less forlornly now. Suddenly Summerville was running, Wan Bissaka became a ball player and West Ham started creeping back into the match. A much better balance and coherency in defence suggested we’d get something out of this match now: 65 mins in and we had 65% possession now. Ings on for Antonio.
And then it happened, 73 minutes: A super through ball from Todibo on the right, Bowen centering, Ings fluffing and -Summerville slid in to put the ball into the net. London Stadium erupted. Summerville, shirt swinging à la Ryan Giggs, got a yellow for his celebrations but he didn’t care, The relief was huge. First man he ran to for a celebratory hug was Mohammed Kudus on the sidelines.
A United reply came after under ten minutes as West Ham got pushed deeper and deeper: Casemiro heading in to equalise. Now the tension was palpable. 88 minutes and VAR inexplicably awarded a penalty to West Ham after Danny Ings fell over De Light’s shin. Who would step up? Summerville had hold of the ball. Gave it to Bowen. 12 minutes announced whilst waiting for the penalty. Deep breath and – Bowen scored bottom right. 12 minutes of nerves to go! Rodriguez off, Cress on.
Brilliant added-on time defending from Wan Bissaka, Todibo and man of the match Summerville. 101 minutes and counting..tense..park the bus time. One last Fernandez shot went wide. 113 minutes. still it went on. Finally!!! You’d think we’d just won a semi final. I need a lie down. Never was ‘a game of two halves’ more apt.
Golden three points: what a welcome -and rather unexpected- surprise!
Skilled and fun to watch players: Summerville and Wan-Bissaka.
Team spirit: was present today. Never give up. Always go for that last little effort.
Seen before: a good performance by Fabianski, Alvarez again giving it his all.
Where are the player ratings Martin?
Gonzo’s been struck by tech gremlins, I think he’s writing something now
Fantastic game to be at. First half we should have been at least two down but Second half we played Man U off the park. Their goal was totally against the run of play. Second half the crowd was really up for it. Atmosphere was amazing.
Mastertroke from Loppy containing Man U first half then in the second half when Man U had tired European night legs he throws on the attacking lads and bingo bobs your uncle.
“Mastertroke from Loppy” – Sorry, was that sarcasm or are you a relative?
Lopetegui picks starting teams like a manager that has lost the plot. Paqueta is a busted flush and a liability that should be nowhere near the first eleven. I’m not sure what Soler is but he definitely isn’t a Moyes style defensive left midfielder. Thank god Lopetegui actually looked around the dressing room at half time and noticed that he had a quality left midfielder sat there ( Summerville ). Unfortunately it’s taken our best player being played out of position and losing his patience, which ended up with him attacking a couple of Spurs players to get here. So who does Lopetegui start with on the left wing next game. Probably Soler
100% this was why Summerville was given 45 minutes and therefore could play a high intensity half as United players would be tiring. Its rather like the other fan favorite at the moment, Duran, far more effective in a thirty minute game than a ninety minute one. The game has changed, its now a 16 man game, and changes will be part of the plan.
Great result, but what does it say about the team/tactics/manager?
Still don’t understand Lopetegui. Why did he drop Tobido, why didn’t he drop Pacqueta? It seems like his pick Soler that he hasn’t played much isn’t much good. Why didn’t he pick Summerville from the start.
How can they play so open as in the first half – what’s his thinking?
He is confusing, just don’t understand what he’s trying to achieve.
We were awful in the first half. In the second half we were unrecognisable after those 3 changes, especially Summerville. He’s got to start each game now after that performance!
I feel like I lost 5 years off my life watching that. Lopetegui got it so wrong from the start. He rectified that at half time and it clicked, but he needs to learn fast. Summerville was a revelation. He has to find a way to get him in the team when Kudus returns. I can see Summerville going on to be a fan favourite. It wasn’t perfect today, far from it, but 3 points against Utd is always a positive.
John get a life ⚒⚒⚒⚒
I have no idea how we won that. They could have been out of sight in the first half we were so poor. Far better second half why o why was Summerville not on from the start ? Then I would have been very aggrieved if that penalty had been given against us. We won but that wasn’t convincing for me.
In Lopeteguis favour the three subs at half time worked but how much better might they have worked from the start ?
Exactly, and everyone except Julen Lopetegui could see it! Eh! Señor Lopetegui..For God’s sake learn man.
Premier league have confirmed that the penalty was for contact on Ings, I was wondering if it was for something I hadn’t seen. Ex has said that Todibo was dropped due to sitting out a couple of training sessions hence not on from the start, I get that. But why not Summerville ? Every time he plays he impresses, I do not get that. Paqueta looks to have been subbed due to being on a card might well have worked in our favour. The first half was dire but somehow we got away with it.
The only bit I disagree with John is the subs. Who else was he going to bring on, Coufal, Irving and Guilherme? He was scraping the barrel later with Cresswell and Ings, the squad is a tad thin. Not a Lopetegui masterstroke, more OK, I will do what the rest of the world says I should.
I’m neither pro nor con J-Lo but he deserves the plaudits today…
He replaced his goalie which I confess would have been high on my to do list and it paid dividends.
Made proactive subs which pretty much all paid off. Paqueta and Soler offered little and were rightly hooked. Todibo is great on the ball, Summerville maybe should have started but either way a good goal and nice and direct. Ings involved in both goals, glad he was given a go…HE DOES HAVE SOMETHING TO OFFER!.
He replaced Areola, but then we all would have (read the posts).
Most of us would not have had Paqueta or Soler in there to start anyway, just as most WOULD have had Todibo and Summerville starting, (again, read the posts last few days).
As for Ings, I would rather have seen Guilherme get a run out but that’s just me.
Lopetegui’s performance is about everything, all nine games, training, handling players etc. so in case I have been unclear, he deserves the sack, no more no less.
You lot are never happy. Read the posts or not; decent performance second half got us 3 points. Enjoy the result and 2nd performance and stop moaning. Bet you’re on the bring back moyes brigade!
We may all have dropped Areola, but doesn’t mean the manager will do it – especially with a goalie they rarely get dropped.
It’s sad that you can’t give Ings credit for what he did today.
You lost your bet sunshine. Moyes had run his course, but that does not mean anyone will do. West Ham is a special club, and they deserve someone who can take them back to Europe and beyond. As for Ings, yes, I’m devastated.