Cheltenham Town 0-2 West Ham Utd (23/08/17)

[Jumby]

We're through

League One side at home next round please, we need as many opportunities as we can to give the likes of Rice, Fernandes, Quina and Byram minutes.

[the pink palermo]

A good comfortable win and a pleasant evening out at a new ground .Our support was more Dads than lads tonight with many of us astonished at the quality of the pitch .A fourth division club with a pitch like a carpet , so no excuses for our lads and none were needed .

We were the better team throughout , clearly had the more technically gifted players , and took our chances for a straightforward win .

Job done .

[Crossd_Hammrs]

we need as many opportunities as we can to give the likes of Rice, Fernandes, Quina and Byram minutes.

It's a shame Quina only got two minutes in this fixture.

[Hammer Laffers]

Good day out and once we got the first never looked like losing.

Cheltenham played well too.

Lovely little ground too.

Now to kick start our league season.

[StokeIrons]

It's a shame Quina only got two minutes in this fixture.

Agreed

[kayahammer]

Job done.

What has happened to Fernandez? Apart from a couple of moments he was poor. Hope his confidence returns.

Nobes looked like he was enjoying himself, and Rice didn't put a foot wrong, although he might try looking forward for a pass sometimes.

Adrian looked assured when he needed to be. I think he should start against the Toon, who will now be more nervy than us at the weekend after their loss and our win.

[miles]

First step on our way to a glorious Cup Double.

[Chrissieboy]

A much needed win for morale and another run out for Rice. Good points. Bad points? Why play 4 central midfielders? Maybe Fernandes struggled because he wasn't needed? Another striker or winger would've been nice. Are we going to play against Newcastle with 4 centre midfielders, 1 winger and 1 striker? Bilic sometimes just seems to throw players on a pitch and hope for the best. Good to see Adrian get a run out and Byram. Very happy for Sakho and Ayew to get goals though I'd still be looking to offload Sakho and trying to get somebody in I could trust in body and mind. As per usual hope Sakho proves me wrong if he stays.

[hammerman11]

looks like sakho is not liked by the team very few congrats on the goal.
job done and safely negotiated.
we looked poor I thought most of the time. hit a purple patch and scored two which should have been saved by the goalie.

not much drive or passion.

we need kouyate antonio lanzini reid back asap

[pezza20]

looks like sakho is not liked by the team very few congrats on the goal.
job done and safely negotiated.
we looked poor I thought most of the time. hit a purple patch and scored two which should have been saved by the goalie.

not much drive or passion.

we need kouyate antonio lanzini reid back asap

What you mean aside from the club captain and 4 others?

[hammerman11]

no but those players are important to us. play like this on saturday and newcastle will get their first premier goals and win.

we wont and they wont though !

[Julien Snow Bear]

looks like sakho is not liked by the team very few congrats on the goal.

Seeing things you want to see!

Barely anyone celebrated with Hernandez after his first against Southampton either - I guess he's hated as well?

[the pink palermo]

Barely anyone celebrated with Hernandez after his first against Southampton either - I guess he's hated as well?

Give it time .

A fortnight is usually long enough .

[ads78]

Decent performance in general.

First 30 minutes Ayew & Fernandes were compltely anonymous. At least Ayew then got himself into the game.

Adrian - 7 - didn't have too much to do
Byram - 7.5 - Always available for the ball, didn't appear to be doing too much grabbing. Was solid in defence but ran down a few blind alleys or overhit crosses in attack.
Masuaka - 5 - Pretty poor in general, did make one nice mazey run into the box but didn't shoot when he had the opportunity. Very lucky not to give away a silly penalty / free-kick in the 2nd half (looked like the foul was outside the box).
Collins - 9 - excellent - well deserved MOTM - always in the right place and didn't put a foot wrong
Ogbonna - 7.5 - decent performance, unlucky not to score with the header in the first half
Rice - 8 - very composed for someone so your. Loved the way her regularly dropped back into a back 3 to get the ball, hit a few nice sweeping passes out to Byram on the right
Noble - 8.5 - excellent game from our captain. Lovely ball to Sakho for his goal and was first to congratulate for Sakho when he scored even though most of the team didn't really celebrate. Made us tick in the first half.
Fernandes - 6 - bit anonymous, easily muscled off the ball and didn't really do much of note
Obiang - 7 - generally a decent performance, didn't do much wrong and broke up play well on a few occasions
Ayew - 7 - completely anonymous for the first 30 mins, but then got into the game a bit more and started to make some good intelligent runs. Did what he did best in turning up with a goal.
Sakho - 8 - always a goal threat, took his goal well although the keeper was flat footed. If we can get him right he is such a useful player to have in the squad either as cover for little pea or to play alongside him.

Thought Hernandez looked different class when he came on, can't wait to see him, Lanzini & Antonio combining, but would also love us to try Hernandez & Sakho up top together at some point with Lanzini tucked in behind them.

[The Old Man of Storr]

Spent the day in hospital having my gallbladder out - totally forgot we were playing until this morning .

Good job , lads .

Onwards and upwards , can only beat what's in front of us .

[Stulaw]

Thought Masuaku was fine, don't know who this Masuaka bloke is.

[e-20]

Rice shone again, he's mastered the art of stealing possession in the middle of the park, holding off the opposition with his strength and picking a simple pass; he did it over and over again today. Can't wait to see him in an Ireland shirt, O'Neill may cap him soon!
.

We might be wishing he had chosen England in a few years though there is so much negativity there that maybe he won't regret it in the end. At least in the Ireland team he has a chance to really stand out and get noticed.

[StevePottsGoalsReel]

Just saw the goals on the OS highlights. Seems like the Cheltenham goalkeeper has the opposite condition to Joe Hart. Cheltenham keeper sticks all his weight on his left leg and struggles to get over to his right, Hart apparently can't save anything low to his left.

If we sign him up and play both though it'll be clean sheets all round

[YorksHammer]

Agree Stu, thought Masuaku was fine - with the exception of that push at the end. Mind you, Zabaleta was guilty of the same thing last weekend, so it's not exclusively a problem with him.

I'm struggling to remember a game where Collins has impressed me as much as he did last night in recent years - dominant in the air and absolutely terrific at sniffing out the ball and whamming it clear. Wonder if he might have played his way in to contention for the weekend.

[e-20]

So Bolton at home next. We nearly had a chance to see more of our youngsters play in the first team but one presumes they aren't allowed to play in cup games for Bolton it seems.