West Ham Utd 2-2 Norwich City (26/09/15)

Relive every moment of every first team game since the beginning of the 2005/06 season. Our archive of matchday threads originally posted in the General Discussion Forum.

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rciron
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Re: West Ham United V Norwich City: Match thread

Post by rciron »

Mark Noble is NOT good enough. I hope we don't play home town favorites and start Song when he is back and fit.


Tool.Go and support Tottenham.[/quote]
:lol:
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Re: West Ham United V Norwich City: Match thread

Post by smuts »

smuts wrote:Hmm, not sure about this, we looked shagged out towards the end on Tuesday.

A nervy 2-2.
8-)

Should have put money on it.
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Re: West Ham United V Norwich City: Match thread

Post by brewster »

The problem with our home form, and Bilic suggested as such after the game, is our lack of intensity. Maybe yesterday the midweek game took it's toll at the end but after Norwich were gifted their opening goal by Noble's suicidal pass, we shut down and stopped playing for about 25 minutes. No pressing the opposition, no tackles, just give them the ball and let them do what they want with it. It was a pitiful performance that should have seen us beaten by half time. And then, on the half hour, it was like someone had switched the light on. Crunching tackles from midfield, winning back possession and then an equaliser. This has happened in every home game this season. We play well in patches but they are too infrequent. Against Leicester we didn't wake up until the 2nd half, against Bournemouth we played really well for about 15 minutes, scored 2 goals and then stopped playing again. We need more energy all over the pitch and we need it for much longer periods than the odd quarter of an hour here and there. What worries me is that Bilic KNOWS this but 4 home games into the season and it's still not happening.
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Re: West Ham United V Norwich City: Match thread

Post by BPRIGGSC »

Any news on Andy? He looked in serious pain when he went in for that slide tackle. I thought that was him finished. Hope he's ok but he's got to stop tackling.
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Re: West Ham United V Norwich City: Match thread

Post by irving boleyn »

We have a batch of midfielders who have different qualities and different failings. Bilic is still experimenting with the best line up and it is expected that our form should be patchy.

Two more assists by Payet yesterday. Hope he stays well and we keep him happy..
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Re: West Ham United V Norwich City: Match thread

Post by hadleighhammer »

Doc H Ball wrote:Great performances from Mahrez, Ritchie and now Hoolahan against us.
Thought he was brilliant.

Entertaining game. They look like a good side but we weren't great.
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Re: West Ham United V Norwich City: Match thread

Post by jaybs »

Wilko1304 wrote:
Think Noble and Moses were notably affected by the midweek game. Moses wasnt on it at all, left me wondering whether Antonio should have been given the start. .
Correct, a few others were off their game as well, Tomkins, Cresswell, Aaron is nor running as he was?
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Re: West Ham United V Norwich City: Match thread

Post by the pink palermo »

We weren't at our best yesterday for one simple reason, Mark Noble had a bit of an off day .I've said it before , if he plays well, we play well, if he doesn't we don't .It's why he is our most important player .

Having said that I thought Kouyate could have done more yesterday with Hoolihan having the freedom of the Bolyen all afternoon .He bossed the game .Moses too contributed insufficiently and was rightly subbed .

The game itself was entertaining enough, 4 goals, both keepers worked a few times but let's not window dress it too much , it's now 8 dropped points at home .

The positives were another excellent showing from Sakho in terms of work rate ( although he missed a sitter) , Payet again showed we've made the signing of the summer , and the increasingly superb Adrian .

I'm not sure Bilic got his subs right yesterday, I sometimes feel he is making subs for the sake of it rather than with a specific outcome in mind .
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Re: West Ham United V Norwich City: Match thread

Post by irving boleyn »

Kayoute's energy and pace dont compensate for his lack of guile at the sharp end....he is best employed breaking up play and bursting 15 or 20 yards from a deeper position.
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Re: West Ham United V Norwich City: Match thread

Post by Wilko1304 »

It's difficult but I think we probably have to sacrifice Lanzini at home right now even though his contribution is largely brilliant. I think the midfield will be stronger with Obiang in with Nobes and Kouyate, and I think the balance of the team needs him. The full backs cannot bomb forward if we have insufficient cover and Obiang seems smarter with covering gaps when we get counter attacked.

He will also give Kouyate the license to roam that he seemed intent on having at all times yesterday. And I make PP right about Noble and the way the team plays. Obiang being in there takes a lot of that emphasis off it being just Noble setting the pace of our play from midfield. I'm also pretty confident Song will play when he's fit so we should get used to three in there.
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Re: West Ham United V Norwich City: Match thread

Post by Korea Hammer »

the pink palermo wrote: , Payet again showed we've made the signing of the summer .
.
I agree he is a fantastic signing but apart from that one breathtaking bit of control in the box yesterday, he had a poor game, I thought. Gave it away 19 times, apparently.
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Re: West Ham United V Norwich City: Match thread

Post by Aztec Hammer »

Also created 8 chances. Highest in the league this season.
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Re: West Ham United V Norwich City: Match thread

Post by Kludgehammer »

the pink palermo wrote:We weren't at our best yesterday for one simple reason, Mark Noble had a bit of an off day .I've said it before , if he plays well, we play well, if he doesn't we don't .It's why he is our most important player .
I'm not convinced it's that way round - if we play well, Noble usually plays well, but if the rest of the team aren't on top of their game, which they certainly weren't yesterday, Noble drops to that level rather than lifting the rest.

I thought he was OK-ish yesterday, apart from another suicidal cross-field pass in our half, which he has got to stop doing, but he didn't really impose himself on the game.

We're definitely struggling when we're the team trying to make the attacks happen - we looked pretty clueless going forward for the first 35 minutes. In comparison, Norwich had the opportunity to counter-attack us most of the after-noon, and they caused us a lot of problems; if we'd scored first and the shoe had been on the other foot, I think we come out with a fairly comfortable win.
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Re: West Ham United V Norwich City: Match thread

Post by LincolnshireHammer »

the pink palermo wrote:We weren't at our best yesterday for one simple reason, Mark Noble had a bit of an off day .I've said it before , if he plays well, we play well, if he doesn't we don't .It's why he is our most important player.
But do you think he's our best midfielder though, Pinky?
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Re: West Ham United V Norwich City: Match thread

Post by nickkarkie »

When I watch us at home here is what I see:


....................Tomkins......................Reid


Jenkinson........................................................... .....cresswell

...............Opposition Danger Man


.................................................................. Noble


...................... Kouyate


There is quite simply nobody marshaling the space between defence and midfield, the most important position on the pitch, your deep lying player must at all times occupy that space, his job is to break up play and stop counters when defending but when attacking that player must also not play a big part in your attacks, he is there simply to get the ball and get the team moving forward with a good range of passing.

Now we are playing noble there, he drifts near to Cresswell to get the ball, likes to play one two etc and generally wants to be a creative force, he simply can't be doing that in that role.

When I watch us away I see:


Jenkinson.............. Tomkins......... Reid............. Cresswell


.........................Obiang ..............noble

.....................................Kouyate

We play more as a unit away from home, the lines are closer and teams can't play in between us
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Re: West Ham United V Norwich City: Match thread

Post by Iron-worx »

Another feeble goal conceded that the opposition didn't have to earn.

A goal conceded that wasn't earned is appalling at this level and we've done it a number of times recently.
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Re: West Ham United V Norwich City: Match thread

Post by claret parrot »

I enjoyed the game but I did think the huge effort required last weekend plus a two hour match at Leicester mid-week took a physical and mental toll. I think those that say they are professional athletes and should not be affected, have no idea. Does anyone think Scotland would have crushed Japan with ease had it not been for their herculean effort in overcoming the Springboks a few days before?

Having said I've witnessed many a similar performance down the years without West Ham having that excuse available so we might have performed as poorly anyway. I thought Norwich played well. Their football was quick, direct, and simple. I've admired Nathan Redmond for a while now, I thought Howson had a good game, and was particularly impressed with Robbie Brady. All in all I'm happy to take the point and hope for improvement next time.

It concerns me that Diafra Sakho (Diafra Song according to the match programme ;-) always looks like the goal he just scored was agaiinst his beloved hometown club whom he's just left after spending most of his career with. FFS we love you Diafra, would you please try to look mildly satisfied at scoring a goal for us?
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Re: West Ham United V Norwich City: Match thread

Post by SirStoneyOfBow »

Noble indeed had a stinker, but so did our entire midfield for the most part.
But games earlier all I've seen in terms of negativity is Noble and wayward passes. It's come up a lot, and like a ticking time bomb he was found out and we were punished. From that moment I never really felt we could recover enough to win.
The Boleyn atmosphere seemed to switch and we simply couldn't get going. When the Sakho goal came, it was surprising to me, because we had been flat. It was a quality move that led to the equalizer but it seemed to come from nowhere.

In any case, I felt Norwich were the better team and by the end a draw is all we deserved.
As for going forward at home, I'd like us to switch to one DM and play another forward, preferably Zarate or Jelavic. Both can link well with the midfield and provide Sakho with much needed assistance, allowing us to press and retain more possession. We cannot use this counter game when playing "lesser" teams, it plays into their hands.
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Re: West Ham United V Norwich City: Match thread

Post by Ding »

the pink palermo wrote:We weren't at our best yesterday for one simple reason, Mark Noble had a bit of an off day .I've said it before , if he plays well, we play well, if he doesn't we don't .It's why he is our most important player
I doubt Noble is as determinant as you think. And if he was so, it makes him possibly more dangerous to us than our opponents because he can be and has been inconsistent and error prone. He seems to have gone from giving away fouls in dangerous areas last season to dispensing hospital balls this season. Plus he now wears the arm band - thus it's not as though he can be dropped without consequence. Seriously hope he improves his consistency.
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Re: West Ham United V Norwich City: Match thread

Post by Crouchend_Hammer »

Obiang and Noble would be my ideal pairing at home if going for two central midfielders
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