West Ham Utd 1-2 Leicester City (15/08/15)

[rciron]

It's a shame Amalfitano is in the dog house. He is great to bring on late on when you need a goal.

Where is Collins by the way? Not even on the bench?

Saw ginge as I left the Boleyn, in his Range Rover, give it an Oi Ginge, and shook his hand, a really lovely bloke,ginger and Welsh ,but lovely

[m-h]

The thing is, if you're playing a tightly compressed midfield with no real wide option like yesterday you need the full backs playing as wingers and surging forward otherwise, as we saw, it's all too narrow.

Slav got it wrong in the first half yesterday.

People are saying we're crying out for a new wide player / Downing needs replacing etc but we had most of our joy last season when BFS moved him central and acted the playmaker. Payet is our new Downing.

Of Downing's 6 league goals last season iirc 1 was from a free kick and the others from shots around the edge of the area using either foot. Ok not so much 2nd half of the season but Downing could play on the wings and supply a decent cross or cut inside and get a shot on goal. Sadly Jarvis doesn't really seem capable of either. We needed Downing and Payet, that is strengthening the squad. We need a replacement for Downing. We need goals from midfield and our forwards. Noble 2 goals, Nolan none, Jarvis none, Song none.

I think that's why people are saying we need a replacement.

[wasserburg_hammer]

Anybody got a link to the full game? I missed it while on hols...

[r99c]

Well I have no complaints after watching MOTD. Sloppy defending isn't completely unusual when Reid and Ogbonna have only had 1 previous competitive game to gel. Payet turned in another great performance and Obiang is in the fold now. We had our fair share of chances and if we had got a penalty/red card for the Sakho/Schmeichel incident, it would have been a completely different game. Leicester may be Leicester but they seem to be a decent proposition these days.

[DD]

Off topic but bizarre move by a few Leicester to arrive in the Vic during the game. Guess it's their last chance to make a name for themselves in e13 but seemed very noveau hoolie to me

Anyway, personally thought Zarate played well. Just need more support for Sakho, bit of width and the defence to gel and we'll be Ok.

[ryanrc]

I just re-watched the highlights and paid special attention to the defence; our shape for every single one of their attacks (even in the second half) was appalling and Reid and Ogbonna were getting pulled all over the gaff. Ogbonna got a lot of praise yesterday but for me so far, he's shown exactly what I expected of him which is that he's good on the ball but a bit suspect positionally and not so aggressive at chasing balls down or last ditch defending. Of course I still think he's a very good player and I'm not writing that side of his game off yet, i think considering it's only his second game in the prem he's done well but just commenting on what I've seen so far.

The sending off won't get revoked so I really worry about the next few games based on what I've seen of Randolph so far. If we play with the same formation against Bournemouth I think they have the ability to pull us all over the place. Going forward we're okay but need another outlet for sure.

[giantsteps]

Hell of a step up for Lanzini.

Fact is that our bench is weak as **** and talk of selling Collins (for all his faults) is mad. Too much dead wood who should have been moved on and the embarrassment of having to probably replace our number 2 goalkeeper within a few months of him joining as he's not up to it.

Mirallas would of been mustard.

Still think our priority should be a new striker. As much as I like Zarate, he's not a 90 min player and I don't think he'd be starting games now if Valencia was fit.

And we all know relying on Carroll for anything is basically a joke.

A lot of pressure on Sakho now to do the business on his own.

[smuts]

Mirallas would have been great.

Sadly all we did was allow him to get a new contract out of all our fannying around.

[Yea Why Not]

One thing that was noticeable yesterday was the lack of protection for Cresswell and Jenkinson. Sure, they both had poor games but they were undoubtedly helped out a lot less than they were last season. A consequence of us trying to play a more attacking brand of football I guess

[claretchris]

We wanted a change after the Allardyce era - in fairness we've just had a couple of results that we likely wouldn't have had under him.

We are looking to change our style a fair bit under Billic, I fully expect us to have random performances for a few months until things settle down and we get an established 'style'.

[Puff Daddy]

Hell of a step up for Lanzini.

Fact is that our bench is weak as **** and talk of selling Collins (for all his faults) is mad. Too much dead wood who should have been moved on and the embarrassment of having to probably replace our number 2 goalkeeper within a few months of him joining as he's not up to it.

It is, there is not one game changer there

[Nesticles]

That first half yesterday was incredibly poor, the defending on both of those goals was abysmal. When I saw the replays I could not get over how bad it was.

Second half was much better, was hopeful we were going to salvage a point but it never came.

[The Gibbins]

Our tempo was far too slow as the home team and even at 2-0 down we showed no urgency whatsoever. We were poor but at the same time we looked like a team who hasn't quite grasped the new managers system. Winston Reid was very poor yesterday and as a defender collecting the ball short from the keeper he needs to be bringing the ball out and releasing it much quicker. Mark Noble was also incredibly slow in possession and Kouyate constantly giving the ball away.
If we want to do damage the football needs to be played at a higher tempo and releasing it quickly for the likes of Payet so they have space to do damage. We give an already resolute Leicester side time to get men behind the ball. First half they were all over us and second half showed fantastic discipline. Like our performance last week it was the perfect away performance.

I was really disappointed with how we played, but think we will get better.

[New Jersey]

Haven't read the whole thread, but here's my view on the game.

As much as I love Bilic for giving youth a chance, having Oxford play yesterday was like paying with 10 men. It was like Reid, Ogbonna and Noble were protecting him, only passing to him when there wasn't another option. Watch the first goal again, Oxford covers the goalscorers run for a few yards and then stops. If he had continued, he would have been in position to possibly block or intercept the shot. Second goal, Oxford was guilty of being in no-man's land. Not knocking him, he's 16 and will be a great professional, but Bilic got it wrong having him in the starting eleven yesterday. Bilic at least saw it and we were a different team with Obiang playing there. Sitting in front of the back four doesn't mean that you can't get involved and be creative, as Obiang was. Oxford will learn from the experience, but unfortunately that's what caused us to lose the game.

Second half was much better, I thought Zarate should have pulled the trigger when he turned the defender twice, but he wanted to turn him one more time. I was impressed with Zarate, he does have the ability to come collect the ball, turn his man and go forward. Some decent passing movement in the second half, and if Sakho mis-hits his chance, he would have equalized, he hits it true and it goes right where the keeper was.

Leicester are a decent side, but we should have at least gotten a draw. One last comment, how does a ref not see that it was a blatant penalty and sending off at the end of the first half? We saw the Chelsea keeper sent off for a similar incident last week. I know the ref's have a tough job, but there has to be more consistency.

All in all, it's typical West Ham, win at Arsenal, then lose at home to Leicester.

[Hammer83]

We were awful first half too slow in and out of possession and defended terribly for the goals.Jenkinson didn't look match fit and Ogbanna Reid and Oxford looked ropey.Payet of course was the stand out performer again and I thought Zarate and Sakho done ok just need to work on the end product.Obaing looked very good also.

I still think we will have a good season despite yesterdays results.I won't lie I am very worried about the next 3 games though with that Adrian red card, because Randolph is a lower league journeyman and looked out of his depth against the pub teams we played in europa/pre season.He was signed before Bilic joined us so I guess we have the porn dwarf to thank for that.

[Smonnie]

Without natural width, we left the midfield congested for our own attacking moves. Wingers also draw players in, and even without the ball, they have to be marked. As such, by not playing wingers, our attackers - especially Payet, but also Zarate and Sakho - have much less space.

[Patito]

It is, there is not one game changer there

Obiang completely changed the game when he came on.

[61dicksey]

Without natural width, we left the midfield congested for our own attacking moves. Wingers also draw players in, and even without the ball, they have to be marked. As such, by not playing wingers, our attackers - especially Payet, but also Zarate and Sakho - have much less space.

They got in each others way, Zarate and Sahko were almost treadng on each other, Zarate needs to learn when to release the ball .

[Wildy]

Some of our fans are having a meltdown after we've beaten arsenal and lost to Leicester. Imagine the state of what Chelsea fans must be going through right now.

[the pink palermo]

They got in each others way, Zarate and Sahko were almost treadng on each other, Zarate needs to learn when to release the ball .

He's 28 .

It's a bit late for that .