Somethings haven’t changed. West Ham United began as they did so many times last year by going behind – in this instance after less than one minute in the ‘Stateside Cup’ tie against Crystal Palace, Tyrick Mitchell firing low past Fabianski after some lacklustre defending.
Our Polish keeper was called on to make a couple of good saves as Palace started well. However a mistake by Chris Richards gifted the ball to Antonio who ran through and fired past the keeper to equalise after 21 minutes: Mikey has not been ultra-reliable in those 1 on 1’s with goalkeepers of late so it was good to see him score with such confidence.
Jordan Ayew inexplicably missed from 8 yards out on the stroke of half time so the teams went in at 1-1. Notable in the first half was the growing stature of Max Kilman, with some timely tackling, and the continued evolution of Freddie Potts who seems to be taking these games in his stride.
Kudus sparkled and had a couple of runs on goal that would have been truly brilliant if he’d been on target with the final shot but he is looking a real handful- playing wide on the right in the absence of Jarrod Bowen. Half time and substitution meant Aguerd replaced Freddie Potts, playing three centre backs plus Coufal and Cress as wing backs.
Aguerd still looks shaky, conceding possession more than once as Palace exerted control over what had become, disappointingly, a deep, retreating back five. Ayew and Schlup with a cute back header combined to put Palace back in the lead, no more than they deserved. A third followed immediately after, Aguerd guilty of gifting possession and Kilman tackling ineffectively to allow Edouard through to score by nutmegging Fabianski.
Gone was the first half sparkle of Kudus, moved across to the left. Guilherme and Calum Marshall had entered just before Palace scored their second but after number three, the tone became deflated and the Hammers seemed to be counting down the minutes ( as was I by this stage, at 1.40 in the morning) rather than making a serious effort to get back in the game.
The Irons were consistently sloppy, Soucek and Aguerd gifting the ball back to the opposition . On the positive side, Guilherme looks stronger as the games come and go, George Earthy and Andy Irving got more minutes on the pitch. That was about it for upbeat comments. Oh and then Mavropanos gave the ball away to Schlup and a counter attack nearly led to a Palace fourth, Fabiabski again saving well.
Lopetegui has his work cut out from this showing, the Irons gifting the ball to their opponents far too frequently. It did strike me as much more of a ‘Moyes’ performance, proving if nothing else that the recruitment and integration of the new squad members cannot happen fast enough. I’m sure the recruitment of another central defender and right back will be absolute priority now. Palace won the trophy, presented to them in an almost empty stadium. Strange events, these friendlies.
I saw the game (it was on ESPN where I live). With all the changes from what you would consider the starting line up, and all the substitutions I think its difficult to take much from the game. Play that team in the PL and it won’t be good. It was said that there was a game earlier in the day, thirty minutes each way, where some of the better players who missed the full game played against a Palace 11. We won that three-nil, but how good the Palace line up was I don’t know. While it is true there isn’t much time to fix things and we have more incoming players, many teams are in the same position with the Euros and COPA America many teams are only now getting their better players back so everyone is pretty much on a back foot early on. Incidentally neither the weather or the pitch cooperated in making this a useful spectacle. No visible injuries and one wonders whether we really put that much effort into this. The state of the pitch in the second half could easily have caused an injury or two.
Thank you Tyler that was a more realistic and measured assessment of a no risk, still figuring out the squad, mean nothing game in a stadium where no one gives a rats ass. More players coming in. A couple weeks to decide on the 11…
As I wrote yesterday, the result of these pre-season games are irrelevant. They’re for conditioning, nothing more. Seventeen players got minutes under their belts, but only twelve from the current starting XI pool. Players like Areola, Alvarez, Paqueta, Bowen – not to mention the newest signings, plus those not yet signed, haven’t had a kick yet.
It’ll be very different for the Aston Villa game in two weeks.
Better to lose games preseason so you see the problems and the manager can make decisions on just who will be in the squad of 25 to be used during the season and those who he will be deeming surplus to requirements…… I think we all know who needs shifting out just a question as to if anyone wants them and the youth players now seeing and realising how much they have to raise there standards to even make the bench next year.
The Celta Vigo match will show you who will be starting against Villa the following week.
I think a blind man can see the players who are not up to premiership level for the last couple of seasons. There are players still at West Ham that should have been moved on but with Moyes he was happy to not take a chance and make do with negative football. Let’s hope the new manager will be more attacking but would have preferred other managers including the new palace manager.
Cresswell jwp soucek cannot leave this club too soon
Hopefully we won’t do this Florida thing ever again.
How many times have you seen teams win everything in pre season games only to get off to a poor start in the PL and visa versa.
It might take time for us to gel – like Bournemouth last season
Hopefully the fans will be a bit patient – I remember under Pellegrini we lost the first four PSL games on the spin before a very “Moyes like” win at Everton and a “BFS like” 0-0 with Chelsea
No Zouma, Ings or Cornet on the bench. Is this an indicator that they are on the way out?
Zouma Ings Soucek Mavropanos and even Aguerd are not good enough for premiership first team with Cresswell Coufal Antonio all too old for this league now. So many players to move on which is why we needed a buy out with owners willing to splash the cash where ness.
” we needed a buy out with owners willing to splash the cash where ness.”
It’s not about how much ££’s the owner plough in, it’s about PSR and how much spend Vs turnover/income you can spend.
We certainly need to sort that defence, & get the next transfers in, central defender, right back, Duran, central midfielder, manager then has to settle them in, so lots to do, no more dithering on transfers, get it sorted, time is running out.
That was nothing like the team that will start the first premier league game. It’s an exercise of getting players up to speed that you can’t take a lot more home from.
I remember 1986 when we never won a pre season match, turned out pretty well .
Looks like there’s enough people to score goals now but need a brick wall for defence.
Would prefer Joe Gomez at r/bk (funds permitting), another c/bk and l/bk to give Emerson cover/competition.
Front runners should not have to continually spend time bailing out a poor defence.
I was expecting a stronger 11 and bench for this one, especially given that the club were charging for it.
Result isn’t important, and no real surprises. For some of the squad, I think this US trip has been the last chance saloon. We’ll see a very different side lining up against Villa.
I live in the USA and would not pay good money to go and watch these games where many of the first-team players are absent. I doubt many would do so in the UK. Many years ago before it was common for prem teams to visit, I went to see the MLS All-Star team play Chelsea. The All-Stars had several US internationals so I was hopeful of a good game … Frankie Lampard came on after about 60 minutes to supplement the Chelsea B-team and try to make the game more competitive. If the good players are not on the pitch, shouldn’t they admit folks without charging them or at least at a very reduced price? I’ll save my money to go to a game in the UK when I visit each year.