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.
Colours never run wrote:We literally have no central midfield when both Lanzini and Noble don't play.
Which is something that needs to be addressed. Moyes used what he had today and at least, although a bit late, realised that we needed to bypass the two that were in there.
Moyes can take some blame, but the usual non performers were out there today. Take our most creative player out along with the only other midfielder who can pass and you get this. The one other thing for me he did wrong was take off Ayew and then bring Hernandez on after. Ayew should've been on with him.
Hernandez needs to start next match with Lanzini and hopefully Noble back in the side. Kouyate and Antonio need benching and I would really consider Byram over Zabaleta when he returns to fitness.
Aside from most of the obvious negatives already highlighted in this thread, I found the result today doubly disappointing given how awful Newcastle looked at the back. They were at absolute panic stations every time the ball was anywhere near their 18 yard box. They were there for the taking today and I thought with the early goal and recent results our confidence would soar and their heads would drop. But in typical West Ham form we allowed them straight back in to the game.
Amongst the plethora of problems on the pitch one thing which has had me continually pulling my hair out for the last 18 months is our complete inability to pass the football in front of the man they are passing to and with any sort of pace/weight on it. Passes are continually under hit and behind players causing us to lose any sense of momentum and allowing the opposition to get men behind the ball and back in to shape.
Obviously the above is a squad wide problem. But if we are going to persist with the 3CB which I think we do need to make us better defensively. I’d be looking to bring in a CM who is capable of the above, dictating the play from that deeper position. The sort of impact and simple things you might not necessarily notice at the time but it would undoubtedly improve us and all the players around them. In fact it’s been a shame Whilshere has got back in to the Arsenal team recently, quashing any chance of a move, as he’s exactly the type of player we need.
Antonios problem is his attitude not where he is being played. You can see that just watching the games. He used to give everything for 90 mins, now he barely gets out of 1st gear and never harries the defence. Shocking attitude which is a shame as when he is up for it he is unplayable. I'd sell in the summer if he doesn't improve.
Hugh Jargon II wrote:We simply are not good enough. Reid, koyate, Antonio, obaing and cresswell are shadows of their former selves.
It's a funny one because I think Reid's deficiencies are exposed far more in a back 5. IMO he looks our worst defender. However In a back 4 he looks our best defender but we are hopeless as a team in that setup.
God what a sh**** day a 1 mile detour to get to our turnstile then 90 minutes of that sh** watching Newcastle rip us to shreds f****** Newcastle not Manchester city, where do you start they could have had 6.
Antonio looks totally disinterested and needs to F*** off strolling around as if he's sh** don't stink, Zaballeta bless him constantly out of position and isolated far to often for his own good , kouyate was he on the pitch because i didn't see him do anything positive or negative the whole 90 minutes and then there's Ayew where do you start with this c*** the ultimate headless chicken why did he take the pen if that was down to Moyes then he needs shooting also we were getting destroyed down the flanks the whole of the first half yet he doesn't change the formation and we get more of the same clueless.
And i wont leave the fans out of this either 1 n il up and not a f***** peep out of anyone so quiet it was totally pathetic 40 minutes on the clock and everyone f**** off to the hot dog stalls what is happening to our club and our so called support, fair play to the geordies the loudest set of fans iv'e witnessed at the bowl in two seasons proper support we should take note, i was at the emirates on Tuesday that was just as bad.
Merry Christmas lol !!.
Not seen any of it yet, but by reading this thread it sounds like we gave it to them. Newcastle hadn't won in ages so were obviously nailed on to beat us, even though we threw Tuesday to guarantee today's win.... Back to square one it is
Same old WH off to a flyer then lose the plot. Watching from the stands, we were constantly undone by a simple tactic of the ball floated into the left back position. Cresswells reading of the game to get to the second ball was appalling. Moyes should have seen this and changed the back 5 to a 4, he didnt hence the result. Another thing that so pisses me off is when we are trying to raise the tempo, the ball goes out for a throw and it takes an age to get it back into play. Sullivan please give 50 kids a Saturday job as ball boys to get the poxy ball back quickly. This is really basic stuff that is constantly overlooked.
Hugh Jargon II wrote:We simply are not good enough. Reid, koyate, Antonio, obaing and cresswell are shadows of their former selves.
I actually think Cresswell has shown a new lease of life in the last few games under Moyes, even if today was more of an off day. Can't say much about Obiang, Antonio and Kouyate though.
Was Newcastle's first goal caused by a poor wall or poor goalkeeping? Haven't seen it again yet but the actual free kick didn't seem that well struck from where I was sitting.
Antonio has got too big for his boots in my opinion.
He's deluded himself into thinking he's already made it as a top level footballer when really he's technically very poor. He made up for his lack of technical ability and managed to get himself into the Premier League by working extremely hard. Now he has lost work ethic so we should move him on asap.
johnnyb wrote:Was Newcastle's first goal caused by a poor wall or poor goalkeeping? Haven't seen it again yet but the actual free kick didn't seem that well struck from where I was sitting.
Adrian too far over to the left , his mistake a# he could easily have dealt with it had he been a foot or two to the right
sjb958 wrote:Antonio has got too big for his boots in my opinion.
He's deluded himself into thinking he's already made it as a top level footballer when really he's technically very poor. He made up for his lack of technical ability and managed to get himself into the Premier League by working extremely hard. Now he has lost work ethic so we should move him on asap.
The time to sell was at the end of 2015/16 , what's the going rate now for a hard running player who can't control a ball or score at all ?
Good game of football. Anyone who is honest must agree that Newcastle deserved it. But the difference was we kept plugging away and played some good stuff at times. Not too disappointed really.
Agree that it wasn't as bad as all that, we were just hamstrung by the lack of midfield. People are making an issue of us not playing a striker but I really don't think that was the issue today. We've scored 5 in the last 2 league outings. Arnie plays very much like a striker and his off the ball movement around the box is excellent. No complaints on that front. Today we were weak in the area that we've been weak in for far too long - central midfield. That's what cost us the game. I'm starting to think that maybe we didn't throw the game against Arsenal. We were just simply crap, and for the same reason. Without lanzini and without noble, and with a massively out of form Obiang who is far weaker than he should be and has forgotten how to pass, we simply cannot take control of the midfield, and cannot effectively pass the ball through midfield to the forward players. Arsenal saw this, took advantage, and pushed players forward until they had complete control of the centre of the park. Today our tactics involved either hoofing it and bypassing the midfield, or relying on Masuaku to bring it forward, and given how completely ineffective Kouyate and Obiang are, they were probably the best two options we had. We need an effective backup for lanzini, and we desperately need a new defensive midfielder that knows how to pass and retain possession. Can't wait for Byram to get back from his injury too. If only we'd have signed William Carvalho eh?