Manchester Utd 4-0 West Ham Utd (13/08/17)

[DannyboyDJL]

I know Slav wants to play a front three, but is this surely the right way to play against this United team at Old Trafford? Especially with key men missing in the middle. We got absolutely bullied. I wouldn't have minded if we actually had a go at them, but we did nothing. Never expected us to win today but never expected us to get a smashing like that either. If we don't improve and get at least 4 points in the next two games I think questions have to start being asked of Bilic tactically. Can't be getting smashed like that with the team we now have.

I keep reading about this team we have now and it being the best squad we've had for years but I just don't see it. Hernandez aside, the other signings are just ok and did nothing to address the problems we had last year.

I don't think Zabaleta was good at all yesterday. He was far too up the pitch for the first and didn't tuck in enough for the 3rd. Arnie couldn't hit a good set piece all day. He's a decent player but he'll give you 3 or 4 average performances before you get 1 decent one and Hart looks similar to Adrian.

Hernandez is great, but we lumped balls to him like he's Carroll.

We still need pace and we still need to improve tactically.

[Westbourne Bill]

If a reversion to 3 at the back is the solution to our still-creaky defence, Zabaleta will be redundant because he won't have the legs to play wing back.

[pablo jaye]

Having slept on it, my thoughts on the game were as follows;-
- we appeared from the kick-off intent just to limit the damage, just as I remember us doing when Sam was in charge. It's almost as if we believed the media hype that Man U winning the title was a foregone conclusion and we just had to roll over and have our tummies tickled.
- having said that Man U were mustard
- impressed by Chicho, Rice, Zab and Arnie. We appeared to have no creativity until Chicho played deeper in the second half. Unfortunately, Sakho wasn't really at the races.
- too many players not at the races, Noble had a poor game today and his 'tantrum', banging the turf and holding his head in mock disbelief, after being booked wasn't that impressive.

[Gabers]

Have to agree with Tyler, for the first time today Noble looked like he was finished. Unfortunately right now, he's the biggest weak link in our starting 11.

Are you serious? Did you see the likes of Ogbonna, Masuaku and Sakho... Noble might have got overrun on a big pitch by 2 world class midfielders but he is far from our weakest link ... we are dogshit from the board down! At least Noble f'king tried

[Gabers]

I don't ever want to see Masuku in a West Ham shirt again

[hammerman11]

first game against a full strength most costly team ever at 400m. we were missing antonio kouyate lanzini and hopefully carvalho.

masuaka had a bad game against them for sure but he had been better than cresswell for some time so I doubt cresswell would have played better.
reid lost lukaku several times and was not match fit
zabaleta was ok but got let down by no one supporting him. he looked fitter than anyone else !
arnie was poor
noble tried but was knackered when he came off
obiang poor
fernndez poor
chico ok
sakho came on for a jog.

the team slav picked was what most people wanted but were simply outclassed and out played by man utd.

no need to panic as the next two games will tell us where we are.
southampton - antonio back for this one .
newcastle - kouyate lanzini and carvalho maybe available

if we have no points after these two games then we will start to feel the pressure.

[Scratchy]

I don't ever want wang to see Masuku in a West Ham shirt again

who's wang?

[westham,eggyandchips]

Reid looked so unfit it was untrue. Looked like Christian Dailly at times. That was Slavs biggest mistake yesterday. You can't start a season carrying players, especially against that lot.

[hammerman11]

none of our lot looked fit apart from zabaleta !

Reid had one pre season game against the german pub team where he got sent off and missed man citys game against cones ! How can he be match fit

[coyi1973]

Let's not get carried away with one game. Bloody difficult game to start the season with against one of the favourites, if not The Favourote for the league. But in saying that, there were some things to note from this.

Hopefully will now realise that Cresswell should be first choice, a couple of decent wing back performances last season seemed to have a lot of people thinking Masuaku was better

Noble although still important to the squad is not a starter anymore

Obiang I like but lacks urgency in his play.

Kouyate is hugely important to us as is Antonio and Lanzini. Those three will make a difference.

Ayew is not good enough, has shown me nothing

We need another striker, fast winger and holding midfielder.

Hoping defence will be better with a holding midfielder but also questions here

[hammerman11]

it is only the first game but the lack of fitness following on from last season alarms me.

will slav persist with noble as he is the captain ?

still think masuaka is currently better than cresswell who has not been the same player since his injury. a bad game against united for sure but would give him the next two

hopefully we will see this soon

hart
zabalete reid ogbonna masuaka
kouyate carvalho
antonio lanzini arnautovic
hernandez

[Gabers]

who's wang?

You added that didn't you!! :lol:

[sendô]

Our midfield three were overrun by their midfield two.

Everything else stemmed from that.

[steps]

Our midfield three were overrun by their midfield two.

Everything else stemmed from that.

One of world football's top 10 midfielders Paul Pogba up against a washed up (not my words, taken from here) ageing Mark Noble who's probably done after this season.

And league title / compulsive silverware hoarder and top PL campaigner Matic up against an inexperienced but promising young Swiss footballer who's only in his second Prem season and was largely covering for injuries, Edmilson Fernandes.

But some still say the gap in class between our team and theirs is not much.

[coyi1973]

it is only the first game but the lack of fitness following on from last season alarms me.

will slav persist with noble as he is the captain ?

still think masuaka is currently better than cresswell who has not been the same player since his injury. a bad game against united for sure but would give him the next two

hopefully we will see this soon

hart
zabalete reid ogbonna masuaka
kouyate carvalho
antonio lanzini arnautovic
hernandez

I agree with your 11 but Cresswell is better than Masuaku. This is not to do with the second goal, harsh to be singled out on tv the way he was but Cresswell offers more quality in defending and crossing. I like Masuaku but not first choice for me.

[sharphammer]

Everyone needs to calm down over the Rice appearance.... He was caught napping for the 3rd and 4th goals!

I rate him highly, and appreciate he was up against world class players but think some people are getting carried away

[kitthehammer]

Seriously folks, any other team missing Antonio, kouyate, lanzini (and maybe carroll) would seriously suffer. We were playing a good man u side with lukaku and martial in the team who score for fun against us. Let's just write it off, as i did before it began and predicted 4-0.

[Lostcoco]

If after 2-0 we shut up shop and Bilic just bought on defenders instead of attackers and the game stayed at 2-0 it wouldnt look nearly as bad as it did

[Centre Half]

I love Noble but anytime we play a top six side all I see is him running around like a headless chicken.

He never gets close to anyone

[The Sherriff]

Was lucky to be on the 10:20 from Euston which got in on time, train going up was mobbed.

Thought we did alright until the first went in then our heads dropped. Game plan went out of the window.

Particularly disappointing was the lack of fight and belief. Very poor start to the season

Feel partly responsible as I’ve left at 2-0 and I think when the players saw me leave and their heads dropped.

Thought Noble played well, some lovely set ups on the edge of the box. Was baffled by his substitution.

Hernandez showed some great touches and movement, had no service or support. Zabaletta was also good and never gave up.

We had 3 x starters out, going to OT with luxury’s like Arnie and Ayew you going to be up against it. Fernandes completely out of his depth and Obiang was a passenger.

Rice did well when he came on.

The squad lacks depth, as it has done since last summer. I maintain that we still need another 4/ 5 players. Our net spend is nothing. The bench yesterday shows up our problems. We have done the absolute bare minimum

Next week is more of an indicator of where we are.