Manchester Utd 0-0 West Ham Utd (05/12/15)

[carnage]

Tomkins might be the better defender but we need more from a fullback at home against the weaker teams especially.

[RyanWHUFC]

All in all not a bad point, could've, should've had all 3 which is a shame. I'm sure if we had our full attacking options (Sakho, Payet, Lanzini) we'd of got the three points.

[sussexhammer74]

May have missed it but anybody got any links to the two "potential" reds.Just know the rubbish that is going to be spout at work tomorrow. pre-armed and all that

cheers

[brooking_1980]

Great match, great atmosphere, Bilic got it so right, dropping Jenks, putting Tomkins, getting more out of Zarate than Big Sam ever did, but how did he miss that sitter, it was right in front of us ! Song is getting back to fitness, I like him on the ball. Reid a giant, Adrian one great save. Shame about Moses, he has more talent than he knows I think, could have got the winner, probably should have too ! We hit the post twice, what an Away Day, what a laugh.

Was anyone else on coach D of the delayed 1755 from Manchester Piccadilly, there was 1 guy on there, who was leading the singing and ribbing, everyone who walked by he had a song for them, Harry Hill, Harry Styles, the man with the suit from Matalan, you had to be there, fans fantastic our side at Old T, what a brilliant point, but it should have been 3 !!

[Beavis Danzig]

May have missed it but anybody got any links to the two "potential" reds.Just know the rubbish that is going to be spout at work tomorrow. pre-armed and all that

cheers

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[Kialos]

Indeed DL, but the reason is Ogbonna at centre back, not Tomkins at right back in my opinion. Any threat Manure had yesterday was down our right.

Tomkins is ok at right back away but we need more from our fullbacks at home.

No, the reason is both Ogbonna playing well at CH and Tomkins playing well at RB. I was at the game and the defensive back four all played well together as a unit.

[TSmitty]

What is it with us this year, if we played Accrington we'd go down 2/3 - 0 , if we play teams worth gazilions we put up a show, and mostly win (or in this case should have)

Everyone did well, honorable mention to Winston and all the boys at the back did well.
AC wasn't as much of a waste of a space as usual, but I'd still sell him.
I'm still not sure we need a "striker" per se. With Lanzini out I guess he had to but with Lanzini and Zarate running around like loonies they look pretty strikerish to me no matter what you call them. I don't think either of them know what they are going to do from minute to minute which is all to the good for me. Even without the assist machine Payet we have a solid midfield. With Song back even more so.
Good to see Antonio get a run out, I think he'll come good with a bit more playing time, he's nobody's mug that's for sure. Shame we had to lose Moses for it though, he did have some moments, even though the one on one should have been in.
If Tomkins stays as RB as I think he should, Jenko may well be not too shabby up front, that's where he seems to want to be when he's been caught out before, not sure it's a winner but worth exploring.

All in all I'm pretty happy so far, even with the clangers we've dropped, every week I have hope and it's never been the turgid dross we had before.

[WestHamByTheSea]

Good weekend that, always enjoy Manchester as a night out. Found a decent boozer in town to watch the mighty AFCB knackering Chelsea afterwards too after hijacking a cab on the roundabout outside the ground to get us there for 5 30; being Hammers fans from Bournemouth made us quite popular! My first visit to Old Trafford - obviously I'd heard about how quiet it is but my god, to experience that lack of atmosphere first-hand was stunning!

Despite the odd Alamo moment, I thought we were the only team who deserved a win, despite the usual presumptive nonsense in the media afterwards about us 'holding them to a point'. Feel quite frustrated with only a point now, cos that was the worst Man U side I can remember since pre-Fergie days.

Really fine performance from us, in a very watchable game of football. Some of our passing was lovely especially around the middle of the park. Contrary to many here I thought Song struggled a bit, but I would simply think it down to a bit of a lack of match sharpness/fitness; not surprising he was blowing out his backside by the time he came off. Maybe I'm not seeing it right, after all he has that lackadaisical style of playing that makes him look awesome when good and dozy when not. He'll be fine though, and as someone said, he helps remove that tendency to boot the thing long instead of playing our way out. Not having a moan or a pop, just an observation.

Reid, Nobes and Tomkins the pick of the bunch but very, very good all round.

Adrian 7 - made a couple of really good stops, led from the back, distribution good too with a couple of very good quick throw-outs.

Tomkins 9 - proved again he's the best option at RB. A natural defender, reads it beautifully; ok doesn't bomb forward, but a defender's defensive attributes should always be paramount; sound obvious but seems to get overlooked sometimes. Also he gives us the option when at RB to tuck inside and give us a back 3 when teams go central or long at us.

Ogbonna 7 - very solid, did the foot-soldier stuff well, doesn't get out-muscled, basically takes over from the job Ginge has done for so long; again gives us a good balance when we switch to a back 3 on the left-side giving Cresswell cover to go forward.

Reid 9 - awesome, total warrior. Lead by example, him and Nobes set the tone for the rest of the team. Would get into any team in this division; wish he was English; the difference between him yesterday and that clown Cahill against AFCB was absurd.

Cresswell 8 - positionally excellent yesterday, always knew when to sit deep and when to bring it forward. Looked very calm, gave us an outlet on that side, looked like last year's HOTY.

Song 6

Noble 9 - magnificent yesterday. Tackling and blocking, always saw the pass to bring the ball out of defence and setting up counter-attacks. Superb.

Kouyate 8 - made a superb nuisance of himself yesterday, benefitted from having both Nobes and Song/Obiang with him, gave him scope to roam forward, broke up play really well; not always the most naturally intelligent footballer but transcended that yesterday - didn't put a foot wrong. It's why i'd still like to see us play that central 3 picked from him/Song/Nobes/Obiang even at home, it allows him to bomb on from midfield knowing he's got 2 guys covering him.

Moses 7 - he's got on my nerves of late and he still goes to ground too much, but he offered a threat yesterday before his knock, cut inside well once or twice. Shame he didn't put that 1-on-1 away, would've done him the world of good, let alone us.

Carroll 8 - got better and better throughout, worked his nads off, looked properly fit at last. Highlight was when he chased it down on the left side in the first half, ran full pelt and won the all back off their RB. We played to his strengths more, getting it into his feet more when need be, and he demonstrated why managers pick him; for all the debate on his strengths one thing is clear - he gives the oppo a problem that nobody else does; real or imagined, he will tie up defensive resources on their part not just cos of what he does but what they think he CAN do. Was up against a rarity yesterday too in Smalling, one of the few defenders I've seen take him on physically with good effect. Hopefully Andy will take confidence out of his performance (I certainly did), despite the lack of a goal he merited his selection, he'll probably get a long run in the side now - more of the same please.

Zarate 8 - miss aside (from where I was stood it looked a bit harder than it subsequently did on telly!), excellent again. One of the biggest plus points of this season along with Lanzini, and with the absence of the latter yesterday he fronted up and took on the responsibility of being the creative flair outlet, whilst also running his socks off. The talent has always been there, his industry is now not in question, and even though he still occasionally holds onto the ball when a pass is on, that part is getting better too; and to be honest with his strike rate this season (and where he gets his goals from), it's hard to begrudge him having long-range pops. Visibly worried their backline all afternoon, great stuff from someone who, like Carroll, is vital to us while we miss Sakho, Payet and now Moses.

Antonio 7 - showed enough to suggest he can be a cult hero as suspected, still very raw but again worried them. Gives us a unique option of power out wide - love his way off holding onto the ball with that little instep flick. Great tackle later on, and he'll be important in the next month or two. I'd like to think Slav will like what he saw. Impressive performance in the context of being thrown into the team away at Old Trafford.

Personally would like to see that 11 (with Antonio for Moses) start v Stoke, regardless of it being a home game.

Well done West Ham, let's now make it properly count next Saturday.

EDIT: Forgot Lanzini will hopefully be back next week, if so then him for Moses and Antonio back on the bench as first attacking option.

[Colours never run]

The thing with playing Tomkins Reid and Ogbonna together, is it almost makes for an extremely solid Three at the back protecting the penalty box, which grants Cresswell a lot of licence to get forward as well as fall back in to line when he can.

Tomkins' natural instinct is to come tuck back inside making crucial blocks/interceptions/tackles/stopping some crosses and not focus so much on charging forward as he knows it's not in his game and nor should he pretend to be leaving us severely exposed not being a modern day full back. But I quite like the way we defend in this manner and has yielded a few spectacular results with clean sheets to back it up.

I think it also helps that Tomkins and Reid stay the same side as if they were still playing together. In the long run I still feel they are our best pairing, but with Jenkinson so out of form I wouldn't want to see him back in so fast or hopefully a quality full time replacement in Jan?

352 could also be the used as a good alternative depending on opposition with the players we have available

...........................Adrian

................Tomkins Reid Ogbonna

Jenkinson .............Song.............Cresswell
...................Noble...........Kouyate

............................Lanzini (No 10)
............................Carroll

[sanchoz]

One mention by name, another as "both teams". Don't bother looking towards today's Metro for coverage of the game:

[irving boleyn]

West Ham by the Sea.

You have an excellent eye! ( Although I guess that means your views mirror mine ! )

[prophet:marginal]

One mention by name, another as "both teams". Don't bother looking towards today's Metro for coverage of the game

Not only that, but Smalling's opinion was that they 'dominated the game'!?

Whatever, mate.

[jhammers]

WestHamByTheSea, nice review of the game and i agree with all of it really.

Disappointed to draw at Old Trafford, shows how far we have come in my opinion

[jhammers]

On a side note, lets see if the FA do anything about the Fellaini stamp + Schwienstieger elbow....

[-DL-]

Nice to read from somebody that was at the game how they saw it when AC bombed it down the touchline and won the ball against their right back, as that's how I saw it and when I mentioned it on the AC thread, I was told by others that were not at the game that's not how it was and was laughed at.

Good to read it from somebody that saw it in the flesh.

[De Niro]

That Andy Carroll knock on and running after it himself got one of the biggest cheers of the afternoon from the away end (well, those around me at least)

[Belgian Iron]

One mention by name, another as "both teams". Don't bother looking towards today's Metro for coverage of the game:

Anyone spotted Eggy Magnusson in that crowd?

Manchester United on the brink of going into administration.....

[Belgian Iron]

Tomkins might be the better defender but we need more from a fullback at home against the weaker teams especially.

Yes & No.....

If we would play Tomkins at RB at home games, we could opt to switch to a back 3 when in posession. Reid, Ogbanna & Tomkins staying back while Cresswell can a have 'free go' going forward. The extra presence of Cresswell going forward, gives the opportunity for 1 of our central midfielders (f.e. Payet or Lanzini) to have a go at the right side, overlapping Moses.
We wouldn't get cought as much on the counter as well in that way with 3 CB's staying back.

Would make sense IMHO.

[BrownFatwa]

Tomkins might be the better defender but we need more from a fullback at home against the weaker teams especially.

you mean like Bournemouth, Norwich, West Brom......
i think the point at the moment is we need defenders who can defend rather than supplement the attack.

[hammer1975]

you mean like Bournemouth, Norwich, West Brom......
i think the point at the moment is we need defenders who can defend rather than supplement the attack.