Huddersfield fans descended en masse upon the smoke last night only to see their side comfortably beaten.
Read on to see what the travelling Terriers thought of the Stratford stadium - and their first ever Premier League defeat..."I felt a bit deflated when I came out of the ground after that. We didn't seem to give it a go, there was no high intensity pressing and too many players making sloppy errors. WHU played route one, with Carroll barging and elbowing his way despite Smith complaining to that useless ref about it. In the end we beat ourselves there but it's good to have an honest manager in Wagner who also said it was poor and too many Town players below par. We looked like we were playing for 0-0 and poor Mounie' was left alone up top with no ball. As for the stadium, I'll be happy never going there again, it was awful. Just felt so fake, with piped music and chanting through the speakers. Just felt unreal and not a 'proper' football stadium. Was a long journey home after that non event."
- detox
"West Ham are big, strong and fast plus have a lot of Premier League experience in the team and Andy Carroll back and looking fit. They were up and at us from the start. They closed us down well, Reid and Collins are very strong and hard to get past. They have not started well but if they play like that every week not many teams will take much from them at their place. Considering the players they have, we contained them pretty well but we struggled going forward. There are things we need to work on and it was a reminder, if we needed one, that this is a very tough division. You can see where we are short of quality but, mostly, we defended very well. We will be OK but we will have our share of games like this."
- bluesandtwos
"It was a very atypical Premier League game. As Bilic said they went back to basics and played the long ball game knocking it up to Carroll. It was a bit of a 'Hail Mary' desperate approach from them using Carroll as their only real weapon. He is a tremendous weapon for that style of football. Thought we coped with it pretty well defensively. Thought their pressure was always going to dish up a goal for them and a shame it came so unluckily just when we seemed to have weathered it. We played far too deep but you have to credit them with forcing us back. DW's comments after the game were very illuminating. He didn't go with the pundits' view that we were plucky/unlucky. He was genuinely displeased that we had been second best all over the park and not brave enough on the ball. First time I've really heard him rip in to us. I was a bit taken aback but in hindsight you can see he is doing the right thing and setting very high standards as to how we should play."
- goodshot
"I thought West Ham closed us down really quickly, only Mooy was able to fully deal with the lack of space we had going forward, especially on the flanks. West Ham tired in the last 20 mins and we deserved a goal. A few lessoned learned I think. Not a disaster. Can't believe they were up 2-0 and a third of their support left with five minutes to go... piss poor for a billy big balls London club."
- On the Sidelines
"I thought we had seen the last of those tactics employed by West Ham last night with the demise of Wimbledon's crazy gang in the '90s. Well certainly in the top division anyway. My god that was awful to watch from them. They hardly tried to play football at all, just HOOOOOOFFFF at every opportunity. Their fans must be easily pleased. Effective in the end though obviously, but if that's Premier league football..... quick, where's the off-switch?"
- realmadkid
"We were second best, yes, but not by much. I thought the defence was outstanding, does anyone remember how our defence was just 12 months ago? One mistake by Billing cost us a point IMO. We will learn from this and it's looking good for us in that we are not being outclassed by anyone. West Ham were dreadful considering the quality of players they have. Thank fuck we don't have to play in a stadium like that every week. Never thought I'd feel sorry for a West Ham fan, but that stadium has managed it. My money's on them going down."
- Ibiza Town
"I thought it was a fantastic stadium; not really conducive to watching football though, too far from the pitch. It's been well documented that West Ham fans dont particularly like it, but a super modern stadium nonetheless!"
- sabailand
"The point about Bilic working out a game plan that countered our high pressing game is a point worth thinking about for a minute. West Ham have the players to play that style (big galoot up front, pacy wing/front man) and so they did a job on us. It might bode well for us, in that there won't be many other sides who will have the players, or will even want to play that style as a second or even third option. 2-0, monkey off the back. Tough games ahead, but we've essentially broken our duck tonight and we just need to knuckle down. As said earlier (and by many others), DW will have learnt a fair amount from that tonight."
- blimeyocrisis
"Town battled to the end but sadly had no end product with an ineffective Mounie. Both Smith and Lowe seemed well off the pace against these fast Premier League players. Thought Van la Parra was the worst player on the field tonight, seemed marked out of the game. Shindler was in a class of his own , and by far the best town player. Bilic had done an excellent homework job on Town and the Hammers well deserved that win tonight. Surely no complaints from any Town fans regarding the result."
- Sugy, Paignton Devon Terrier
"When West Ham had the ball, they knocked it long. When we had it, they pressed us quickly - they really put a shift in for their manager tonight. It always looked as though they'd get some joy eventually from a long ball or set piece breaking favourably for them, with their strength in the air. We never really looked like playing our way through them - didn't quite have the class. RvlP and EK aren't going to get the better of many PL defenders, sadly. Ince does look like a PL forward, and was our most dangerous attacker on the night. Pity that shot which hit the bar didn't go in, a first goal would get a monkey off his back."
- nah1
"We were second best tonight, if it were not for Schindler it would have been more. We improved second half, but to be honest we offered very little going forward, all our chances came when West Ham had the game won. Desperately unlucky to concede like we did, but as I said earlier we had rode our luck. The Premier League is a different level than what we are used to, we have to move the ball more quickly through the midfield, quick positive passes to open the opposition up. Proud of what we have achieved but now under no illusion of how difficult this season is going to be, I still think there are three worse teams than us so we should be ok."
- cliffeterrier
Huddersfield fans were immense last night in creating any sort of atmosphere in that sterile stadium. #htafc #loudandproud #dontworry pic.twitter.com/2lEyNYqLCy
— HTAFC Away Days (@htafc_away_days) September 12, 2017
"Just back on the tube. Chastening evening. WHU fully deserved the win but I was beginning to think we'd hold on for a fortunate point till the own goal in the 72nd minute. Massive looping deflection off Zanka. Ironic our first goal conceded was an OG. I would hate to watch football in that stadium every other week. I was row 8, lower tier and the view reminded me of the old Withdean stadium at Brighton with the crossbar obscuring a lot of the pitch. Awful. Great support by Town fans. We move on. Lessons will be learned. Bring on Leicester."
- epsomterrier69
"West Ham are a bottom six side, until they are fully healthy. West Ham won the headers last night. I was surprised at how well Collins played. He bossed Mounie in the air. The Hammers were quicker to the second challenge. We are in a real scrap for survival and my trepidation is goals. Mounie might be good for 10 in the EPL. Who else looks like a goal scorer?"
- htfctx
"In the first half Carroll should have been booked for a clear use of arm to the face.
I read the ref's lips to Carroll...'you are a good player and its great to watch you when you play football but'...and then the camera cut away. He was a homer for sure. Very poor today."
- otium
"Thought we were lucky to get nil. Playing a team under extreme pressure and you give them absolutely nothing to worry about in their own half? Managers have bad days and bad ideas about games, Dave is no different. Playing with a single striker with little or no support ever, it's playing into a team under pressure's hands. We've hopefully learned that boring the pants off the opposition may not work too well here. And playing deep against Carroll is akin to pushing up to the halfway line on saturday against Vardy..."
- galpharm2400
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