West Ham Utd 1-1 Manchester Utd (08/02/15)

[giantsteps]

Teams know how to play Carroll now, they just stick two defenders on him when the ball goes up in the air and it's pretty much job done.

I'm no Carroll hater but can anyone give an example where he's been effective against the top teams? For us anyway.

Sakho & Valencia's pace is frigthening. And it's slightly ironic (for me I suppose) that posters are digging out Valencia on yesterday's performance when I actually thought he played better than Sakho. The bloke who stands next to me gets on Valencia's back a lot and he was actually heaping praise on him yesterday.

Play Enner alongside Sakho regularly and he'll be back in the goals not before long. I'd put a stack on it.

[Hockley Hammer]

The point I'm making is that I think Carroll's got better end-product than Valencia, but we play better with Valencia.

I'm with you on this one TTS. Nothing against Valencia, I like what he brings to the team with regards to pace and movement, but I haven't seen one what I would consider genuine outstanding performance yet. I've seen a couple from Carroll.

[Beavis Danzig]

carroll definitely has a place in the squad, the problem is we were having all these conversations back in october. everyone had a different idea of how to work carroll into what was the best west ham side we've seen in donkey's years.

what actually happened was our worst nightmare, carroll became a nailed on starter, our performances took a nose dive and it took carroll being injured for s+v to get a look in.

understandably, those of us who rate s+v and what they do for our club as a partnership are feeling a little paranoid. sam needs to take this opportunity to put right what he got wrong the first time round and bring carroll in strictly as an option.

[Turns to Stone]

I may be wrong, but I don't actually think we've seen Carroll and Sakho in the team with our first-choice midfield.

I don't actually recall the last time that we had Kouyate, Song and Noble all available at the same time. It would be great to see exactly what the manager goes for (and how they do, when all of his options are actually available).

[Billydinho]

You can rotate the three of them, they all offer something decent and different to the other. Certain teams have certain weaknesses and I'm confident we can exploit everyone with our front three. Just look at our goal tally this season, how many teams have we failed to score against - particularly at home? Can't think of too many.

As for the Kevin Nolan praise, I'm pleased he proved his worth yesterday. It's about time.

I do wonder if he actually was that good or if it's the usual over-reaction and exaggeration on here?

[Turns to Stone]

You can rotate the three of them, they all offer something decent and different to the other. Certain teams have certain weaknesses and I'm confident we can exploit everyone with our front three. Just look at our goal tally this season, how many teams have we failed to score against - particularly at home? Can't think of too many.

Couldn't agree more, Bill. Especially considering that Valencia is still a little bit raw.

As for the Kevin Nolan praise, I'm pleased he proved his worth yesterday. It's about time.

I do wonder if he actually was that good or if it's the usual over-reaction and exaggeration on here?

Pretty unnecessary this one though. He was excellent yesterday, helped build a platform to allow Song and Noble to play. Would be good if the match thread (for once) didn't descend into a Nolan: C*nt or legend? thread.

[Beavis Danzig]

You can rotate the three of them, they all offer something decent and different to the other. Certain teams have certain weaknesses and I'm confident we can exploit everyone with our front three. Just look at our goal tally this season, how many teams have we failed to score against - particularly at home? Can't think of too many.

As for the Kevin Nolan praise, I'm pleased he proved his worth yesterday. It's about time.

I do wonder if he actually was that good or if it's the usual over-reaction and exaggeration on here?

nah, he was good. didn't just put in a shift either, had a bit of guile and craft about him. a lot of which was to do with the options s+v carved out for him.

[Crouchend_Hammer]

I do wonder if he actually was that good or if it's the usual over-reaction and exaggeration on here?

He played OK IMHO. Fairly solid, good organisation, but I still felt the game passed him by at times, and often just off the pace of the game. Some nice touches, but should have been replaced by Amalfitano with about 20 minutes to go, IMHO
We need a midfielder who has the old-skool Nolan nack of scoring, but who offers more overall. Cant think of one off the top of my head - maybe Kevin Nolan of 8 years ago

[Billydinho]

Pretty unnecessary this one though. He was excellent yesterday, helped build a platform to allow Song and Noble to play. Would be good if the match thread (for once) didn't descend into a Nolan: C*nt or legend? thread.

I was asking mate as I sold my ticket and didn't see the game.

But agree, probably not needed.

[chalks]

I do wonder if he actually was that good or if it's the usual over-reaction and exaggeration on here?

Problem is he gets so much stick that you feel as though you have to over exaggerate any praise, although in saying that, I really did think he was excellent yesterday

[Whufc06]

Nolan was good for the majority of the game and excellent for the last 20 minutes. He now justifies his place for the next game which is all anyone really wants.

[Billydinho]

Fair enough Chalks. As I said, pleased he's put in a decent performance.

I've just had a look at our results and, following a quick tally up, I only count four matches in all competitions where we've failed to score.

Compare that to last season and the transition is very impressive. Allardyce deserves credit for that.

[Monkeybubbles]

Quiet afternoon at work, just worked out the respective values of the starting XI's according to TransferMarkt.

Irons £57M
ManUre £270M

Or to put it another way, our starting line up equals about one Di Maria.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ah hahahahahahahahaha ha HA!

[Whufc06]

Quiet afternoon at work, just worked out the respective values of the starting XI's according to TransferMarkt.

Irons £57M
ManUre £270M

Or to put it another way, our starting line up equals about one Di Maria.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ah hahahahahahahahaha ha HA!

Also ours only actually cost under £40m

[ironsonthebrain]

I'm channelling my inner Romford here, and opening myself up to a coating, but I've still woken up this morning with the same feeling I had that it was a game we could have won if our manager had more cajones.

We were well on top so to pull back and start parking the bus against Manchester United with 40 minutes left, especially after a week bemoaning a patched-up defence, seems like such a poor and reflexive decision based more on learned behaviours than what's actually going on in front of you.

I make you right mate, that was as poor a United performance as I 've seen against us in a while and they were there for the taking. Trouble with them is they play for the full 90 plus whatever ( remember a late van Persie equaliser in the Cup a few seasons back?) - sitting back and letting them come at us meant only one thing. Still can't complain too much as I had a bet on that the game would be drawn....

[The Old Man of Storr]

Watching the slow motion replay of our goal , Wayne Rooney gives quite a hard shove on Kouyate' back only for the ball to then bounce back off Rooney's head straight back to Kouyate who then turns , controls the ball , one , two , three - back of the net .
If Rooney hadn't shoved Cheikou , the ball would most probably have been cleared by a Man Utd defender as Valencia the only other West Ham player was surrounded by two defenders .
Thanks , Wayne .

[Estuary]

Watching the slow motion replay of our goal , Wayne Rooney gives quite a hard shove on Kouyate' back only for the ball to then bounce back off Rooney's head straight back to Kouyate who then turns , controls the ball , one , two , three - back of the net .
If Rooney hadn't shoved Cheikou , the ball would most probably have been cleared by a Man Utd defender as Valencia the only other West Ham player was surrounded by two defenders .
Thanks , Wayne .

Yep, he fouls Cheikou, and in the process gives us the advantage. Nice one Wayne.

[Romford]

Opinions eh....I thought Nolan ,although better, was still our least productive midfielder and struggled to keep up with the game.

How some have made out he was MOTM leaves me wondering where they sit....or what he did.

[prophet:marginal]

That would be a delicious irony, until you realise that they scored their leveller due perhaps to push in the back for Jenkinson.

Long-ball needlers, eh? Stoke City in disguise.

[Whufc06]

Opinions eh....I thought Nolan ,although better, was still our least productive midfielder and struggled to keep up with the game.

How some have made out he was MOTM leaves me wondering where they sit....or what he did.

I don't think Nolan will stand out next to the other 2 as they consistently seek the ball, whereas Nolan generally just deals with it when it comes his way. That's probably a reason aswell why others have felt that Song and Noble have been more deserving of criticism lately, they are more noticeable when they actually play poorly as they put themselves up to be shot at so to speak. As for yesterday I thought that Nolan did well. It's probably being talked up a bit because of the performances he's put in over the past year though.