West Ham 3-2 Fulham
Fabianski:6 Rushed out to meet the ball ahead of Wilson and got clattered by Emerson. Brave keeping. Miscommunication between Mavropanos and Fabianski allowed Fulham back into the game. To be fair to the keeper, he was probably expecting the striker to get a touch on the ball. Excellent save from Jimenez stopped it being 3-3.
Wan-Bissaka:7 Switched off when marking Iwobi, allowing Fulham to hit the bar within 5 minutes. Set up Soucek for West Ham’s second after 32 minutes. Excellent assist. My signing of the summer so far.
Mavropanos:6 Under immediate pressure as a slow West Ham team had no “out ball.” Regained his confidence as the game went on and grew in influence.
Kilman:6 Blocked a goal-bound shot on 16 minutes. Scored a goal disallowed for offside after a free kick from deep. Got lucky when Jimenez lost him and hit the bar.
Emerson:6 Won an important header against Smith Rowe at the back post. Tried to get forward and one dribble in the 68th minute was particularly good.
Alvarez:6 Blocked an attack with a header just before half time. High energy again and won an important header against Anderson at the back post. Great turn & pass in the second half. Backed off too much for Fulham’s second.
Rodriguez:6 Tough gig for Rodriguez. The team lacked balance with too many similar players doing similar things and no runners. Lost Wilson which seemed to confuse Fabianski for the Cottagers second,
Soucek:7 Not entirely sure what Soucek’s role was initiallyāneither was he, by the looks of it. But West Ham eventually began to grind Fulham down, and the big fella scored high into the roof of the net for their second. He might not be the best passer, but Big Sou has an amazing poacherās instinct.
Soler:8 Capitalised on a suicidal pass from Fulham with a calm long-range curled finish. Played his part as West Ham went 2-0 up following a nice switch of play. Graham Potter will have appreciated his technical ability.
Paqueta:7 Took 14 minutes for the play-acting to start, but to be fair, he spearheaded an incredibly slow West Ham team that struggled to pass the ball early on. Jekyll & Hyde performance from Paqueta who drifted from influential to ridiculous. Scored the Hammers third as he capitalised on yet more dodgy keeping.
Kudus:6 Lost the ball repeatedly, but he wasnāt alone. At times, he had three Fulham players around him. Really had to battle hard and was targeted by the opposition.
Substitutions
Ings:6 Brought on for Kudus in the 62nd minute just as the Ghanaian was getting the measure of his opposite number. Presumably Kudus had a knock. Immediate impact as Ings forced Leno into an error allowing Paqueta to sweep the ball into an empty net.
Irving:5 71st min sub for the impressive Soler and moved the ball really well initially but one error almost cost a goal.
Scarles:NA 80th min sub for Rodriguez. Stopped a Traore cross and made a scrambled clearance then put in a good cross for Paqueta.
Cresswell:NA Double change for Emerson. Put in a dangerous freekick.
Hey, West Ham got a much needed win after the appointment of a new head coach with very different ideas. It was very much makeshift starting XI with no recognised strikers and Paqueta trying his best to be Antonio. Frankly, I’ll take the same again against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
West Ham will most likely sign a loan deal with a striker or two very soon, which will see them through to the end of the season. Graham Potter will get enough from the squad to move the team further up the table. I’d like to see him select one young player from the likes of Casey, Potts, Orford or Scarles in every game now. No real need for a major signing between now and 3rd February unless a superb player becomes available. The summer transfer window will see many changes, I’m predicting.
Iām still moving in the positive here, they had 5 shots on goal, we had 3, and we won the football match 3-2. Donāt know about you but Iām happy with todayās result
I thought Irvine made a real difference when he came on. I would play him over Rodriguez every time.
I think big Tommy Soucheks passing is underrated actually. His passing was as good as anyone elseās in that game i thought.
Great win and everything feels so much better already. One thing though how bad is Guilherme not to get a sniff of a appearance with so many injuries? The Ā£24m for someone who appears too bad to play is a real disaster. I remember Tim Vickery seeming shocked we were paying so much for someone that was fast and had scored one spectacular goal. Crazy.
About right on the ratings, although IMHO either Soucek or Paqueta MotM.
Fulham dominated much of the game, but apart from 2 fortunate goals (Crosses that went in) did they really threaten Fabs goal?
Fulham pretty much in suicide mode. We still conceded two.
Oh my lord, celebrate a much needed win over a team thatās just had an 8 game run of being unbeaten! Yes, they did score two- both pretty spectacular goals as well to be fair. Thing is though; we scored 3 and took 3 much needed points against a decent team well above us on the table. One of those empty seats towards the end wasnāt yours was it? Side note: everyone who left early should turn their season pass in, absolute embarrassment.
My comment was accurate. Fulham were in suicide mode tonight, makes no difference at all where a team are in the table if they have aberrations like that. We would have been aghast to have given those two goals away is the fact of the matter.
And we conceded two which is the thing that needs to stop. We cannot keep leaking at the rate we are that’s 41 conceded in 21 now.
Yeah but John they were pretty sublime finishes and not much Fab could do as he had eyes on the man in front and from memory both from distance. You see Fulham in suicide mode, I see our lads pressing them and giving their all to force errors.
Thereās many ways to analyse it, conceding two is not great but I see this win against a team who; weāve not beaten since 08/04/2023, battered us 5-0 just over a year ago, got a win and clean sheet against us the next time and in September 24 we were lucky to scrape a draw due to Ingsy scoring in injury time.
I respect the fact everyoneās entitled to an opinion, Iām just trying to encourage a bit of optimism, life as a Hammer is improving by the day!
Fair play Tyso, š¤we keep moving in the positive, 3pts and the confidence grows
Thanks Frank Reed, exactly my sentiments mate. Graham said in his first presser he wants the entire club including us as supporters pulling in the same direction as thatās where success will come from. Unfortunately we have an element of our supporter base who will just never be happy and seem to thrive in the doom and gloom. Up the āammers!!
Great balls into the box from Iwobi, but he shouldnāt have been allowed the time he had to make the crosses not once but twice. But I assume potter will address this. Can definitely see in the players that they have more fight and togetherness with a coach clapping and encouraging from the touchline which helped to grind out the result, especially with the injuries we have. Fulham helped us with two goals from errors, albeit from forced errors from closing down by Alvarez and Ings. Overall the potter effect is kicking in but itās going to take some time and patience to reap the rewards.
Wow we got 3 much needed points taking us to 12th above Man Utd and Spurs. Fulham were certainly not at their best and gifted us 2 goals but still had 21 attempts and hit the bar twice.
Yes it was dissapointing to concede 2 goals in that fashion as Alex Iwobi put in 2 good crosses which went straight past Fab and both were preventable. We still scored 3 from only 3 attempts. Lot of work to be done but considering numbers of injuries we have, a much needed win and a decent performance. Even Ings made a difference by nicking the ball to.set up Paqueta. I just wish Paqueta would cut out the play acting and carry out his defensive duties as both goals came from the right leaving Wan Bissaka with little support.
Hats off to Forest, Bournemouth and Brentford tonight too, in the most open Premiership since 2013.
Was over there tonight.
First 15 minutes we were all over the place with Fulham coming close and hitting the bar.
Then suddenly out of nowhere we are 2 goals up.
I don’t why but we always switch off beginning of the second half and once again we conceded.
Got back to a 2 goal lead when Ings pressured Leno who lost it and Paqueta swept it home.
Still we made it difficult for us again when fulham scored their second and to be honest I thought Fabianski could have done better.
It was then a case of squeaky bum time as we held on to a hard fought 3 points.
Although we had a lot of players missing I could sense the players were playing for the manager something which didn’t happen under Lopetegui.
Lastly I wish we could have snapped up Alex Iwobi when he was available.Terrific player