West Ham Utd 2-3 Newcastle Utd (23/12/17)

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.

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richneal
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Re: West Ham Utd v Newcastle Utd: match thread

Post by richneal »

bubbles1966 wrote:We scored two goals. So the attack has done it's job.

We let in three. All starting with Zabaleta who was utterly awful. Bloke lost the plot and was thumping the ball into OUR players regularly. Atsu murdered him.
Joselu also sat on Cresswell and Masuaku.
I think Cresswell was picked pretty much because of his set play capabilities. Understandable in Lanzini's absence.
Benitez picked the two weaknesses and they exploited them well.
We missed a pen, had one off the line, missed a clear header etc. They played a fluid, counter attack game.
Cracking game. Flew by.
Masuaku's dribbling is a delight and Arnie really looks top drawer lately.
good observations there. I'd add

1. Ritchie murdered our midfield. Did very well and helped them terrorise the flanks.

2. Newcastle did a great job on the counter. Only wasteful finishing on their part (and the bar/post) stopped them from shipping six past us.

3. We lost the match tactically. It was obvious that hoofing the ball repeatedly forty yards plus wasn't working after the first ten minutes. It continued for 90 plus. Our long balls repeatedly mostly ended up with Newcastle possession and as far as I can recall didn't end up creating a single decent chance for us.

4. Credit to Newcastle - played well and deservedly won. Their midfield dominated ours and won the match.

5. Ayew's penalty was both hilarious and embarrassing. He needs to be made to watch that again a dozen times over with the squad. Hope they all subject him to the ridicule he deserves. Cost us a point that we didn't deserve.

6. Both the contact and the foul for the penalty happened outside the box. Perhaps kharma for Newcastle.

7. Carrol's positioning is still awful. Consistently hogging the edge of the 18 yard box wrestling instead of lurking near the six yard box. Baffling. When he was in the six yard box for crosses yesterday he made something happen. Perhaps there's a lesson there.

8. Sakho over Carroll all day for me. And Hernandez should have replaced Ayew after 15 minutes. Hernandez has great first touch, quick feet and has the potential to release the ball at the first opportunity. With a packed midfield that was exactly what we needed early doors.

9. Masuaku has a reputation - every time he went marauding down the left he had two markers. Reminds me of the days when Devo would always take a couple with him. This is something we need to exploit.
goa127
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Re: West Ham Utd v Newcastle Utd: match thread

Post by goa127 »

I don't think 'throwing' the arsenal cup game had anything to do with our loss yesterday. Without Lanzini and noble we had no one to move the ball forward. In hindsight we would probably been better to put rice in midfield. However the team was exactly the same as the one I picked in my head, so I've no complaints. Although Newcastle were slightly the better team, we still should not have lost. We missed a penalty at 2-1, (if only Ayew had hit it like he did his goal) and gave away a stupid 3rd goal. I thought it was a normal game where one team edged it. Other than the third goal it was streets ahead of games like Brighton. But can someone please practice penalties?
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Re: West Ham Utd v Newcastle Utd: match thread

Post by Crouchend_Hammer »

I didn't start proclaiming some kind of new Dawn after our recent results, and nor will I think the end of the world after this one
We are a team that is in the 9th-20th region of the league and thus our results reflect that. Occasional points against a top six team if everything aligns and then absolutely any possible result against anyone else. We are no better or no worse than any other team outside of the top six and everton and leicester. Who gets relegated will simply be the three teams who f*** it up the most.
Yesterday was a game that could have gone either way and we came out on the wrong end. Same as stoke went in our favour. Bournemouth and west brom. Who knows?
I quite enjoyed yesterday in all honesty but that's the premier league for you
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Re: West Ham Utd v Newcastle Utd: match thread

Post by ryanrc »

Has there ever been a team more susceptible to the counter attack than us since Allardyce left? so error prone and I'm afraid that's what happens when you spend bugger all on defence year after year. Free goalies, free right backs and cheap everywhere else along the back line. We need some quality in there sharpish and I'm afraid Zaba has not been very good.

I still think we look a better side under moyesy though and should be fine this year, but he needs backing in jan.
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Re: West Ham Utd v Newcastle Utd: match thread

Post by brownout »

As an aside, I had no idea who any of the Newcastle players were. West Ham don't have the decency to announce the away team, the names on the shirts are much too far away to read, the numbers I could just make out if they game down our end but they meant nothing as for some reason we stopped showing the team sheets, scorers, bookings etc on the screen at any time during the match.
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Re: West Ham Utd v Newcastle Utd: match thread

Post by ChzMff »

[quote="bubbles1966"]We let in three. All starting with Zabaleta who was utterly awful. Bloke lost the plot and was thumping the ball into OUR players regularly. Atsu murdered him.

I think Cresswell was picked pretty much because of his set play capabilities. Understandable in Lanzini's absence.[/quote]
I'm sure I'm on my own with this but I thought Zabaleta did OK. Anybody would think that full backs never get beaten by wingers... Arthur certainly twisted up their right back enough.

I think Cresswell was picked because he's played there for the past 3 out of 4 games where he's done well and we've picked up results.

A lot of people around me were screaming for us to pump the ball forward but it was blatantly obvious that Newcastle could deal with that all day. Our main joy was getting wide but we persisted with 50 yard punts to Carroll on the edge of the 18 yard box who couldn't win the header but even if he did, was in no position to impact the game.
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Re: West Ham Utd v Newcastle Utd: match thread

Post by goa127 »

totally agree crouch end hammer. Leicester been quite good lately but totally blew it against palace. It's football it happens. Our beloved owners were keen to get benitez (may still be) as manager. perhaps this is why. We were never going to suddenly become world beaters and Newcastle really weren't as bad as their recent results suggested. Let's hope we can get at least a point at Bournemouth on tues,.
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