The first surprise of this afternoon was Nuno Espirito Santo’s chosen line up, recalling Edson Álvarez and adding Lewis Orford to his new shape midfield in the absence of new signings to bolster the centre of the park, following the sale of last season’s ever-present Mateus Fernandes.
James Ward Prowse, an ever-present in pre season was back to his bench warming specialist position.
Just as it seemed West Ham had weathered the storm of early corners and Pompey pressure, Portsmouth scored from.. a corner. The original kick was headed out by Kilman but with nobody chasing out to close down Segecic, the deflected shot nestled in the corner and West Ham were behind in a familiar scenario. The replay showed midfielders merely strolling out. Not good enough.
Just one effort – an Alvarez header straight at the keeper – from the Irons in the first ’45 would have been concerning as West Ham looked second best in terms of aggression, desire and pace. Then moments of quality followed as Scarles and Kanté combined with the midfielder’s turn and cross truly top tier- for Taty to side foot home and equalise just before half time.
Seconds later and Bowen’s deflected shot nestled in the corner and the reversal was complete, 2 – 1 and all seemed well with the world.
The excellent Kanté en route to an assist for West Ham’s first
If anything, West Ham seemed to wake up in that last three minutes of the half, as if they’d suddenly just realised they’d have to scrap and snap into tackles with no VAR to dissect everything, after being bullied for much of the half: They competed on equal terms for that last couple of moments of the first half looking alive and combative.
The more aggressive mood persisted and West Ham took control with Walker Peters and Bowen combining for the skipper to cross right on to Taty’s head- the Argentine striker heading down and burying the chance. 3 – 1 and West Ham show their class.
Two for Taty Castellanos and you’d feel he could be lethal this season. Two chances, two goals. Class. In this division anyway.
Edson Alvarez would likely have been red-carded in the Premier League after one awful challenge – welcome to the VAR-free Championship. Not even a yellow. Could be a case of horses for (VAR-free) courses this year.
Mohamadou Kante’s excellent match finished thanks to cramp on ’75 with Ward Prowse’s introduction. Pitch-time for Diouf and a debut for Veltman late on. All in all, a good run out, the Irons’ two players of quality separating the sides and an education for several of the scrap that lies ahead.
Not impressed, no aggression in midfield, no pace. Pablo tried but would struggle to get in my grandsons team.
Nuno must understand that we don’t have to sit back in the championship because for all the above faults when we played with a bit of purpose we were obviously more skilful than them. If we attack teams in the championship their defence’s will make mistakes. If we can add the pace and aggression we should be OK, without these we will and sitting back we could well struggle.
Is Netenyahu now an editor at C&H, no comments allowed on any article featuring our new winger?
No, Toby, I am. And I don’t have time to monitor mindless abusive or illegal inflammatory posts. Commenting on C and H is a privilege, not a right to be abused by ‘people’ feeling the world needs to hear their own extreme political opinions-of any persuasion. The few seem determined to ruin it for the many who stay decent and respectful. Such is life.
The first half was extremely worrying, we made the look like the home side, trying to counter with almost no pace. Of course the quality we have in Taty and Bowen changed the complexion of the game.
Their younger players looked confident while ours looked to have been coached by KWP (sideways and backwards)
To cap it all off Nuno brings on Veltman for Taty and Diouf for Alvarez going 6 at the back. Better teams will be licking their lips. (Hopefully there aren’t too many in this division)
Diouf needs to be our left winger until we get someone in, Ajala definitely should have been given more time on the pitch, Pablo has found his level, Earthy needs to be given a chance and Kilman headed the ball!!! (Although it did lead to their goal) He should not be on the pitch imho.
COYI
What’s your source on Earthy and how well he’s doing in training recently IH?
Nuno doesn’t seem to be afraid to blood young talent. Could it be that Earthy isn’t showing enough to warrant a chance?
This game has already highlighted the need for a midfielder, for me Alverz just don’t do it for me, maybe he can’t play in Nunos system, but for me he was poor today and could have been sent off.
We dont need alvarez making rash challenges, lucky with a yellow then had to be subbed. Thought he’d have learned by now .
Thanks for sharing Martin. Really pleased to hear that Kante played well. I hope he stays in the team and has a great season
Walk the league more like crawl first half was awful.
Portsmouth finished 18th last year and had a number of injuries today.
Their No 38 (Adams) was working his way through whu players with incidents.
What was the point of bringing Ajala on with one minute of extra time left.
Should have come on earlier and Pablo subbed off.
Need to get these pacy signings sorted out no more ‘We tried’.
Did result give true story probably not but their goal did take wicked deflection.
Like a bad penny Sullivan was there….
Irrelevant John. No need to detract from our joy of seeing our team perform and win.
Enjoy the day without looking for dark clouds. COYI
Ignore the troll, he probably thinks being labelled a sexual predator is a badge of honour.
Btw David, I hear Cardiff calling.
Please check these posts. AI writing or bad grammar.
Paul, in the nicest possible way, wind your neck in. Watching a game, typing at the same time and hitting a deadline two minutes after the game for thousands to read is a challenge that sometimes falls foul of autocorrect or fat fingers.. You didn’t pay a penny to access our site and read it.Enjoy it and accept that because it is NOT AI it is not perfect. Touched a nerve? Oh yes.
It’s astonishing that you produce as many articles as you do Martin. It’s not easy especially not reporting on something live to a deadline. You deserve praise not criticism.
Thank you. Appreciated.
A comfortable scoreline but not an impressive performance. Bowen continues from where he left off last season, giving the ball away far too often, Scarles looking like a young cart horse but without the pace and Pablo absolutely useless. I am wondering what Nuno has them working on during training and if they remember any of it, because nothing seems to change.
There was some stuff at the start of the second half is where we need to be to be achieving. The start was poor. But the level we need was there albeit not for long.
Taty didn’t get off quick enough when being substituted. One of the new rules we all have to get used to.
Another couple of differences going forward in the league will be the lack of VAR (instant decisions) and a whole bunch of referees and officials with no West Ham history.
We need to take advantage of this new environment.
If the Carabao Cup is anything to go by, so far – so good.
First win. Good for morale, but there is plenty of room for improvement.