West Ham Utd 1-0 Sunderland (22/10/16)

[Paddy O'Hammer]

I assumed we would be on late on MOTD - Hull v Stoke just over......looks like I missed ours!!

Wrong again.....I'm off!

[DaveWHU1964]

Reality check needed.

Absolutely. When you start a season as we did, shipping loads, and stupid goals at that you don't become Brazil '70 like inside a a few weeks.

We're slowly getting the basics right. Sure there's room for improvement - there always is with us but things are improving. I'd have happily taken that three weeks or so ago when it looked possible that we could implode. Good points today.

[RayleighHammer23]

Are people forgetting that we tried signing every decent striker under the sun but they wouldn't come to us. Getting Zaza in on loan was an excellent piece of business at the time and still could prove fruitfull despite slow start.

A slow start? The guy has a lot of potential, the potential to be our worst ever signing.

[Paddy O'Hammer]

We looked good on MOTD

[coyi27]

He's a Juventus player and an Italian national team striker for a reason. Once Cresswell is back and those left wing crosses start flying in we'all see the real Zaza.

[hammerdivone]

We looked good on MOTD

We were good, for most of the game

[HammerMan2004]

I think we'd have smashed them with Cresswell in the team today. But I'm glad we got the win without him. Cresswell will have had another two weeks training by Everton and should be even closer to full fitness without too much risk of getting injured again.

[dave_l]

We looked good for large amounts of that game, but couldn't find the finish. Undecided on Zaza. Might just not suit the prem. The clean sheets will be doing wonders for confidence though. After shipping goals like they were going out of fashion, its a very pleasing turnaround.

[brooking_1980]

Great game, we definitely deserved it, Team played great, Obiang, Payet, the usual suspects, fabulous finish, defence much improved, 1st game at the OS I've really enjoyed, like the West Ham atmosphere of old.

Would definitely put a note of caution, if we think we've turned the corner. Last week Palace ballooned a penalty and this week, Sunderland were dire and we just scraped home. I shudder to think what will happen when the "big" Teams pop over. Can't wait for January window to come and see what the Daves come up with, we need Zaza, Calleri, Tore, Sakho gone and we need stronger players in to replace, please.

[Spammy The Vee]

Anyone care to hazard a guess as to how many punters had left when Winston nailed the winner ?

[Yabish]

we played very well today, scoreline didnt do our performance justice tbh

[WTID]

Glad we got the 3 points I think we deserved the win. The only problem I had today was the fact that it took Bilic so long to bring on Fletcher. Zaza doesn't offer anywhere near enough movement up top. Fletcher will run the lines all day I really hope Bilic starts Fletcher against Chelsea as I believe Chelsea defence will have Zaza in their back pocket all night.

[traxop]

I don't understand the level of moaning that's being expressed here.

Have we not been addressing our defensive issues over the last few games? Are we not grinding out results whilst not being at our very best? Are people not even slightly impressed by our fluidity in our first half performances in our last two games?

Would the narrative have been different had we gotten a goal in the first 30 mins and held on for the win for the rest of the 60. We created ALOT of chances in that 30 min spell. Payet had 3 chances(curler to the right of post from a noble setup, dribble into the box with shot directed straight at the keeper and another effort hitting the wood work), a well work effort involving Payet to Lanzini leading to a shot by Zaza, a penalty shout for grappling in the box and let's not forget we had 3-4 genuinely threatening corners that on another day could have led to something.

The end result is that we got our 3 points - on a day when Tottenham and Arsenal were held scoreless by Bournemouth and Middlesbrough respectively and Everton lost to Burnley. We are moving in the right direction both in terms of performance and results - and that's something given how we performed against the likes of Watford just a few games ago.

[rsnwhu]

Erm. We played the worst team in the league by a mile at home and scraped a win. Our forward line is non-existant despite the rest of the team playing well....Antonio had an off day. His final ball needs work....(and I am a big fan of Antonio)....and Bilic needs to remember to play 2 up top against teams around us at the bottom.A win at this stage in the season was the minimum and getting it really helped with 4 out of the next six matches being against top 5 clubs and with Everton, currently doing well, away and then a home game vs Stoke.

Make no mistake, Bilic has done well bringing Obs back....very important and with Cresswellback, things can only improve but there are real problems scoring goals that, unless addressed,will cause us serious problems this season and already have with a quarter of the season gone. Yes, we can look forward to injured players coming back but with a tough run of matches coming up, we could easily see ourselves near the foot of the table comemid December if we are not careful. Still, no change there after supporting this club for half a century enjoy the win

[SXreject]

He's a Juventus player and an Italian national team striker for a reason. Once Cresswell is back and those left wing crosses start flying in we'all see the real Zaza.

Cresswell played out of his skin AGAIN on his return and Zara was still ****. Wake up and get back to reality he ain't good enough.

[richneal]

Nicked a win.

Antonio has improved his first touch considerably since last season. Never thought that could happen with a player beyond mid-teens - well done to Antonio & the coaching staff. However, his final ball in from the wings was abysmal.

Tip of the hat to Defoe - had our back three running rings round each other. Biggest reason the defence looked better today was that our midfield was pretty much doing all the running & providing cover.

Zaza is not a No. 9. Yes, he was running his butt off for the first 45, but you expect a pro striker to be able to hit the target once in a while. So far this season he has not yet demonstrated that he can either make a chance or take a chance.

If we're going to bring Fletcher on, can we see him for 45 pls?

Could have used Creswell big time. Fernandes did ok - did well at times, too. But being played out of position showed us how one-footed he is - consistently cut in on his right or looped back to pass with his right every time. Every time.

Payet did very well - enjoyed his performance today.

Sunderland did very well in restricting most of our chances to speculative shots from outside the box. We couldn't break them down, and certainly didn't make their keeper work hard enough today.

[Stepney]

Cresswell played out of his skin AGAIN on his return and Zara was still ****. Wake up and get back to reality he ain't good enough.

Did you watch the Palace game? Zaza's best game for us so far and deserved a goal for his efforts. I agree he is running out of time and I was very disappointed with how he handled (or didn't handle) that ball played through to him today but I haven't given up hope yet. One goal could change everything for his confidence...

[Up the Junction]

I don't understand the level of moaning that's being expressed here.

See it as constructive criticism. Works better that way.

On Zaza ... back in the mists of time there used to be a 'Popeye' arcade game where his nemesis, Bluto, spent his entire time running around the screen charging into stuff.

That's him, that is.

[Colours never run]

Antonio is what I'd call a Premiership player. What I mean by that, is that in many games he can look like a quality Premeir League player but in others he can look like a Championship one. He does have a knack of showing inconsistencies in his play. He'll get it back but I weren't impressed at all by him today and was greatful to see him get subbed.

Also thought Feghouli did alright after being out so long and showed more promising signs of quality, if not a little ring rusty.

[Peaches]

We are desperately missing a top striker, and Sullivan's failure to get one in this summer will haunt us. If We had a striker with movement, pace and precision we would have scored a hatful today. A proper striker would have scored when Ogbonna put him through behind the defence and would have benefited from Payet and Lanzini's excellent play.
We are starting to find a system that provides a bit of solidity. After shipping 14 goals in 4 matches, we have only given up 1 in 3. That with only one fit fullback for one of those matches and none for the other two. We look more solid in midfield and defence, and our fitness and passing is greatly improved. In the first 25 minutes today we looked like Barcelona. I know we were playing the last place team in the league, but we looked like Barcelona. Barcelona minus a finisher mind, but still we were passing and moving and dominating possession like Barcelona.
Hopefully with the wins and clean sheets comes confidence and with Arbeloa and Creswell coming back we will only improve in wide areas and quality deliveries. A little quality up front will be all we are left needing.
Fernandez looks like a player another who can run with the ball and pass and shoot to link up with Payet and Lqnzini, and he looks to be able to win the ball and tackle. All very one footed, but quality none the less. I think we will come to see him Ayew, Arbeloa, Masuaku and the youngsters Quina, Martinez and Fletcher as the best of the summer signings, while a year from now Zaza, Calleri ,Nordveit Tore and possibly even Feghouli have left the club. If we can fix the striking problems we made for ourselves this summer in January, and stay healthy, I think we can actually at least match last year's 7th place. After all in spite of our insipid start to the year we are only 4 points away now.