West Ham Utd 3-1 Swansea City (07/12/14)

[Tin Hat Matt]

Since DL recently tends to stray AWOL from his Match Thread Starting Duty we seem to be starting it in turns. WTH, let me try.

EPL, 15th round
Sunday, 7 December 2014,
Boleyn Ground,
K.O. 13:30
Live on: Sky Sports 1 & Talk Sport.

We sit pretty in 5th position with 24 points, Swansea are 6th with 22.

Last 6 games:
Us: WDDLWW
Them: WDWLDW

The game on Sunday will be the 56th time the two teams have met. We have a significant advantage with all time record of (P55) 25W-13D-17L and goals 103-71 in our favour.
At home we rulez: (P23) 17W-5D-1L, goals 61-20
In the last ten years (P4) 2W-1D-1L) goals 3-3.

The teams met for the first time in 1922 in the 1st round of the FA cup. Swansea home game ended in 0-0 draw. Replay at Upton Park resulted in 1-1. Second replay on neutral ground resulted in Swansea win 1-0.

The last time we've met at the Boleyn in February 2014 the match ended in comfortable 2-0 win for us (both goals by Nolan in the first half). Swansea didn't register a single shot on target. The game was marred by controversy as Andy Carroll was sent off by H. Webb for a “foul” on Flores. Nonetheless the win kicked off the memorable run of our 4 consecutive February victories, which eventually gained Sam his 5th (and 1st at WHU) Manager of the Month Award. Fortunes of then Swans manager Michael Laudrup were rather different: following this defeat he got sacked.

The referee appointed for Sunday match is Chris Foy (254 matches, 36 red and 689 yellow cards) with assistants: Beswick, Perry and Dean. We haven't got the best record with him. Last time Foy refereed our game (in August) we lost at home to Spurs. Since 2012 he has refereed 6 of our games (no wins, 3 draws, 3 defeats). Goals 4-10, Penalties 1-1, red cards 1-1, yellow 4-3. It's time to buck the trend.

Swansea's players to keep an eye on: Fabianski, Sigurdsson (8 assists), Williams, Sung-Yeung, Bartley, Rangel, Bony (6 goals).

They play 4-2-3-1, tend to attack on the right side, vast majority of goals score from open play through the middle. More than half of their shots come from out of the box. They play short passes. Don't do crosses. Generally don't dive. Swans defend poorly when attacked down the wings. They tend to foul in dangerous areas. Have yet to score from counter attack this season. Poor in the air. Their style should suit us.

Odds at the time of writing: WHU 29/20, Draw 5/2, Swans 11/5.

THM says 2-0

COYI

[mumbles87]

fancy a cheeky 3-1 win with Valencia Zarate and Carroll all on the sheet

Think we should try a team like this if all fit

--------------------Adrian

Jenks-------Reid-------Tomkins--- Sir Cresswell

---------------------Song
-------------Kouyate----Downing
---------------------Zarate

----------------Carroll----Valencia

[AndyCarrollsBarber]

Won't be the same without having Cheato Flores to constantly boo and laugh at.

3-1 victory to

[Geordie Hammer]

Won't be the same without having Cheato Flores to constantly boo and laugh at.

Shame…..still this was the moment I had renewed respect for BFS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6gvH8_ ... freload=10

[NW5hammer]

fancy a cheeky 3-1 win with Valencia Zarate and Carroll all on the sheet

Think we should try a team like this if all fit

--------------------Adrian

Jenks-------Reid-------Tomkins--- Sir Cresswell

---------------------Song
-------------Kouyate----Downing
---------------------Zarate

----------------Carroll----Valencia

Looks good to me. I am looking forward to this. Last year it was all to do with Andy Carroll and I think with better players around him like Valencia, Zarate and Downing we could have too much creativity for Swansea.

[window74]

I am thinking a very entertaining 3-2 victory for us against Swansea. I think Carroll will open his account for the season for as well.

[James P]

Swansea haven't won away from home since the opening day of the season and we're unbeaten at home in the last five. They won't be relishing their trip to East London.

We can't be complacent but shouldn't be fearful of Swansea. There's another potential three points on offer here.

[Paddy O'Hammer]

Shame…..still this was the moment I had renewed respect for BFS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6gvH8_ ... freload=10

I had a good laugh at that, then YouTube suggested I watch Sam's "I don't give a " interview after hearing about Moanrinho's 19th century football!

Two good laughs from Sam this morning - STICK for that reason alone !!

[Georgee Paris]

I reckon this is going to be a belter 5-4 or 4-4...Bony smashing us to bits and us knackered but refusing to be beaten...

[bubbles1966]

Interesting selection dilemma for Allardyce.

Nolan was excellent last night and scored two against this mob last season. Carroll looks well out of sorts, is struggling to influence games and provide an effective platform for us to play from, but he has mullered this lot in the last two home games.

Meanwhile, Sakho, Song and Valencia are all fit and available for selection, and I imagine that Noble might make it too.

Plan A or Plan B?

Swansea

Probable line up



Three of their starting back 4 could be out - Fernandez (CB, injured), Rangel (RB, injured), Taylor (LB, banned)

A good front 6 with Dyer, Gomis and Britton on the bench.

[Aceface]

Screw Plan A. Plan B whenever it's available please.

Despite some good results we've actually looked pretty blunt for the last 5 games - if the early season team is available then we should use it. Swansea are doing almost as well as us this season so we'll need to be better than against Villa or West Brom.

(And if it doesn't work then Plan A can come on for 15 mins at the end)

[psychoscoredthelot]

we wont win at all if we don't have a Plan C

[Kendal Iron]

we wont win at all if we don't have a Plan C

Plan C's are all well & good, but they're not worth a **** if you havn't got a decent Plan D in your back pocket

[fjthegrey]

If we give them the ball as much as we gave it to West Brom last night then they will crush us. A much more potent attacking unit.

[Georgee Paris]

-------------Carroll-----------
Valencia----Zarate-----Sakho
--------------Downing-------------
--------Song---------Koyate
Cresswell-----Reid-----Tomkins
---------------Adrian-------------

[bubbles1966]

They look vulnerable to the high ball, so...



Get Zarate and Nolan very close to Carroll - one on each shoulder like a pair of parrots, as Carroll does a Long John Silver impression...

West Ham 10 Swansea 0 (Collins 10 assists)

[Pulls up Trees]

Or we could just play the Everton style, and have Carroll goal hanging, and just make sure every forward pass to him takes a deflection off an opposition player...

[Hambrosia Stu]

Screw Plan A. Plan B whenever it's available please.

Despite some good results we've actually looked pretty blunt for the last 5 games - if the early season team is available then we should use it. Swansea are doing almost as well as us this season so we'll need to be better than against Villa or West Brom.

(And if it doesn't work then Plan A can come on for 15 mins at the end)

My thoughts exactly

[The Old Man of Storr]

Our last six results match Swansea's exactly with both teams winning three times , drawing twice and losing only once , both teams' form is equally as impressive with Swansea beating Arsenal and us beating Man City though maybe we get a little more kudos by beating the club that lies in 2nd place while Arsenal are a lowly 7th at the moment , Swansea leapfrogging them last night .
Bony is in cracking form but he has only scored as many goals as Diafra Sakho despite our striker playing in less games than the Swansea striker , so level on form , level in the goal scorers stakes .

They're a good team , Swansea , they've been playing good football since the Martinez days , Rodgers and now Monk carrying on what the Spaniard built up , but we are also a good team this season , we've been transformed into a Top 6 Club with the players we've signed and loaned , and if our Senegalese Striker is back we could win this .
There was a chance of him coming back in the Newcastle game , Sam didn't want to risk him last night against West Brom not even as a sub , so we can only hope that he's being saved for Swansea , if so and if he's almost fully fit , then I think we'll be too strong for the Welsh Club .
With a strike force of Valencia , Sakho , Carroll , Cole and Zarate , I think the score will be.....

West Ham United 3 Swansea City 1

COYI

[Aztec Hammer]

This game is screaming for a Carroll header from a cross.

I don't like bringing up bad stats but I make it 1 goal from open play in 44 appearances now. I appreciate he brings a contribution in other ways, just that first goal last night was down to him. But any striker in the world, no matter their style needs to be scoring more than one goal from open play in all those matches.

Newcastle and to a lesser extent West Brom worried me before the games because I couldn't see where the goals were coming from in the lineup. Thankfully we managed to grind them out.

All the above being said however, I definitely want Carroll in there on Sunday at some point, if not from the start. Swansea are a finesse side and the exact type that seems to sh*t their pants at the sight of him. They're also likely much more used to dealing with quick forwards like Enner seeing as they have Dyer, Routledge and the like.