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.
the pink palermo wrote:
Up until the season before joining us he had played his whole career as a CN .
For me its where we should play him .I agree with you that he is not a RB but he also likes positional discipline to feature in midfoeld .
I would pair him with Reid . This season is done wirh little left to play for but respectabiliry . Wr do need extra energy in midfield but Kouyate is nor the answer .
I wouldnt play him in midfield either - his passing is poor. Yes he can go on a run, but that usually results in giving the ball away - and if we really needed him to do that from time to time the holding midfielder could drop in behind him.
I thought when he went to CB and Lanzini dropped back to the heart of midfield with Ayew playing off the striker that we moved the ball about as well as any game we have played this year. And that was against a team whose priority was to keep midfield tight.
Entertaining match. Ultimately that is what it's all about. Leicester nicked all three points but there's enough elements of what I saw yesterday to keep me optimistic - i.e. chasing the game we looked very good. Key point now is to see if those elements can be sustained for 90 minutes against any opposition.
1. Wish we had started the game the way we finished . . .
2. Schmeichel was on form. Did very well.
3. Others have commented on this . . . is Carroll still carrying a knock or - as many on this thread predicted before the match - did Huth & Co have him in their pocket for most of the match?
4. Again genuinely surprised that Kouyate ended up in the back three instead of brining on Collins. That tells us something of Bilic's opinion of Collins.
5. Fernandes and Masuaku look great when we are on the front foot. More of this please
6. No idea if it was rehearsed as executed but Leicester's second was fantastic. Never seen that before, and I'd be interested if anyone on here has either. Brilliant stuff.
7. I really enjoy watching Lanzini.
8. Contrary to my predictions, Byram didn't get sent off . I only saw him try to ensnare the opposition with his tentacles three times. Much improved.
9. Second half was crying out for Ferghouli but we didn't have the subs and tactically it wouldn't have worked with him in front of Byram.
I'm definitely not finding our defending/goalkeeping entertaining. That side of the game I find embarrassing and not in the least bit entertaining. Going the other way, I agree it's entertaining. Just bored to death of constantly watching schoolboy errors at the back.
Johnny Byrne's Boots wrote:Is it remotely possible that Carroll's failure to clear the corner is because he's still carrying the groin injury and can't fully launch into a jump?
No he simply missed it, and it was a very very bad error
Just watching match of the day which is always nice as I can see the action a lot more clearly than from my seat in the bowl. I love the way Ayew celebrates pulling one back like hes scored the winner. Im starting to take a liking to him now. God knows how he would have reacted if he took he's chance at the end.
I think, after a bit of thought that this is a typical West Ham season in the Premier League.
Last season was magic, and fittingly so thank goodness for our last season at the BG.
Many factors are at play this season and we have no right to expect to be challenging for much. Mistakes have been made and we are in a bit of turmoil with the move and frustrating transfer windows.
But watch this game again. It's the good, the bad, the ugly and quite frankly a typical West Ham experience.
We could have been stuffed, we could have won.
I cannot get angry. Slaven is as up against it as we are. He has his strengths, he has his weaknesses as does the team.
Yesterday was the norm for me. I love it. It's why I love West Ham. I'm so grateful I'm not on the managers back for finishing in the top four for the last twenty years. I'm glad I don't expect a trophy at any given time.
I am proud the majority back the manager through adversity and would not consider sacking him nine months after a fairytale Title and in the last sixteen of the Champions League. We would not allow our players to dictate a managers destiny.
Yesterday was West Ham personified. After forty odd years I'm used to it and I don't actually expect anything to change for another forty years.
But I live in hope.
Johnny Byrne's Boots wrote:Is it remotely possible that Carroll's failure to clear the corner is because he's still carrying the groin injury and can't fully launch into a jump?
Don't think so, he had cleared a couple before that one and had been good defensively in our own area (iirc correctly they had more corners than us first half. Cressell was hiding again). Either Snodgras got a slight touch on the ball or he saw it late because of Snodgras and misjudged the flight of the ball.
Thought Arthur looked very up for it when he came on. We seem to forget that we rated him enough to pay 6 million so he's our most expensive full back ever.
Wonder if it's worth starting him at LB with Cresswell in front of him who at the moment can't defend to save his life. He just stood and watched while Mahrez swung that cross in.
The thing I noticed about Masuaku when compared to Cresswell, is his willingness to take on his player on the by-line, but - and this is important - he doesn't rush it, he delays making his move on his opposite and this allows our players the time to get into the box. He gives us a different look from Cresswell, who on his day can produce quality early curling crosses.
This is something I wish Bilic would teach/tell Antonio to do, which is to hold up the ball after he makes the initial break. Every time Antonio makes a break, he has a tendency to cut infield if possible with the intent of going for worldie goal whilst going full tilt and off-balanced. He is absolutely strong enough to break off his run and hold the ball up for the rest of the team. These are the simple things that Antonio can do to make him more effective, rather than going full Sissoko and running into dead end cul-de-sacs up the field.
Johnny Byrne's Boots wrote:Is it remotely possible that Carroll's failure to clear the corner is because he's still carrying the groin injury and can't fully launch into a jump?
So why didn't it seem to effect him jumping for the rest of the game especially the one in the 2nd half where he took 2 defenders out ??
richneal wrote:4. Again genuinely surprised that Kouyate ended up in the back three instead of brining on Collins. That tells us something of Bilic's opinion of Collins.
We were 0-2. Collins would have replaced Reid for sure if we weren't already chasing the game.
DDHammer wrote:I'm convinced Kouyate is the best CB at the club. If he's played there 10 times for us i reckon he's been close to picking up 10 MoTM.
I too, think Kouyates best position is CB. Wins loads in the air, makes fantastic tackles and can bring it forward. I really don't understand the clamour for him to be a centre mid - he gets completely lost and provides no cover when he often loses the ball. Fantastic centre-back.
Koyate is a CB, he is like the kid who plays defence but wants to go in midfield and can do a half decent job but his real position is at the back or I wouldn't mind seeing him play in a very, very defensive midfield position but he would have to be disciplined