Great win tonight but got to say we were very poor in the air tonight all over the pitch. In particular in midfield, where we seemed to lack the fight to contest balls in the air. Surely West Ham can't be that good in the air.. That being said a great win. Almost had a heart attack I was so nervous until the final whistle went. Happy days
Hoiveld against Carew un the first half was resulted in Hoiveld winning everything. Second half was a different story...
I don't think we were. I just think we came up against a class act in Carew and I thought Hooiveld marshaled him well. I thought Fonte struggled at times, however West Ham had some huuuuuuuge and physically strong players: Bouba Diop and Amdy Faye (who was immense tonight). We wont come up against many teams with that kind of physicality. I thought our biggest Achilles heal was trying to pass the ball out from the goalkick in the first half, which invariably ended up with a hurried clearance.
Hooiveld did well I agree. But he was the only player that was good in the air tonight. Their midfield often won headers without even being contested. They did have some very big players though so perhaps I am being a little harsh. Faye and Diop won absolutely everything in the air. I agree about the short goal kick and it also goes for short free kicks and general play in defence. Sometimes we need to hit it long to be safe instead of risking losing it in silly areas. I watch home games and don't go to away games. Maybe someone can tell me if they play a lot of short goalkicks and free kicks away as well.
Yes we do. Kelvin is always looking to play it to feet, it's obviously team orders and in my opinion it works pretty well. Up at Derby I thought we got the balance between long and short kicks about right, but teams don't take long to close us down and it can lead to cock ups. The decision to pass/throw out short or kick long is down to Kelvin, he should be able to judge whether the receiver has enough space and time to offload the ball. As we saw tonight it doesn't always work as it should but it's an important feature of our game plan. The problem is that although we might think we are Barcelona, we don't have the same composure or control.
I have always said this is the learning division. Somebody has already told you the reason long goal kicks were not the real option the same as long ball clearances. They had the beating of us in the air in mid field. We have to learn to be comfortable in possession even under difficult circumstances. However if our defenders wish to be part of a premier side they are definitely going to have to get used to this attention and learn how to handle it and what to do under these circumstances. If they are being closed down like that then someone is not doing their job correctly. Probably someone in mid field has given away the next move. Or we are doing the same thing each time and our opposition work it out which is the most likely with Davis, in my opinion?
West Ham are an enormous side. Almost every player they had was 6 foot or above. I thought we coped very well against them. Fonte dominated in the air against a bully of a centre forward in Carew. We may have lost a couple of headers in midfield but they are a big side and I'm not sure many teams in the division will cope with their aerial presence but we did for most of the game.
