Well at least Palace lost too tonight - and their next game after the semi is against Newcastle who are on a bit of a roll at the moment. Said he with fingers crossed.
Well, considering i expected us to get well and truly tonked, we did really well! There was some great football on show and we managed to keep hold of the ball and dominate even for chunks of the game. Abdi was well off the pace, as proved by his giving away the 2nd penalty and despite what you hear, Anya was his usual self, which basically means...all pace and no product! He had a great chance and blew it as he does..he's so frustrating! I'm hoping we sell him in the summer. Berghuis, however, did fantastically when he came on and really made a difference. It begs the question, why have we not been playing him!? Suarez had his best game for us this season, and i don't think, on this performance, losing Amrabat on Sunday will be too much of a loss, lone striker doesn't suit him. Jurado did very well and i was surprised to see him come off, i can only assume he was being put to one side for Sunday. Guerdiora just couldn't get a pass to find a yellow shirt today and didn't get forward enough, but Behrami, perhaps buoyed by being back at his old club, was on fire...i have to admit i worried for him and his love of red cards at times but he was very restrained. I'd say Prodl was our MotM, simply for being pretty solid and scoring the goal, but Cathcart had a bit of a mare today, and our RB on Sunday is going to be a real dilemma. Massively disappointed with Holebas too. But, negatives aside, it was a good, all round team performance, with a lot of effort, and we managed to keep West Ham at bay a fair amount. Gomes had very little to do for most of the game, and only did a worldy once! The best part though was the fans. We were loud for 90 minutes, nobody stopped singing, everyone was pretty relaxed and just having a good time! On the way home it was hard to find anyone who was unhappy with the performance or the result! If we hadn't won at West Brom that might have been a different story. Roll on Sunday, here we go! COYH!
Fully agree H, overall a good performance considering the number of changes. I thought we looked a bit "lightweight" and got knocked off the ball rather too easily. I also wondered why Jurado was taken off so early, but I think you have called it exactly right. Our fans were awesome last night and West Ham never really made any noise until the 2nd penalty - as was said by somebody yesterday, good chance their new stadium becomes the new Emirates. But I will not miss the away end at The Boleyn, it's horrible....plus the horrible journey on the tube!
I heard a few say that too, they were deadly quiet for much of the game. Great having a sparkly new stadium that you don't have to pay for, but though they will have loads of money to buy fantastic players and will probably be up there with Man City and co, there will be no atmosphere and they will have lost their soul, to use a cliché.
It will be a real shame if it does. I have a lot of mates who support West Ham and Mrs W_Y and a lot of her family support them as her old dad was a proper Eastender, so I have always liked them. I will miss the whole Upton Park area, but not the ground and getting there.
Thanks for the reports all. I thought the West Ham player was all over Holebas for the first pen, could've been a free kick the other way.
Why does he seem to produce for Scotland and not us? Maybe Strachan plays him in a role where they aren't so reliant on his pace, it's more an added extra, and this gives him the time to provide the product.
Agreed. It will. I also have a few friends who are West Ham supporters and so i have a soft spot as well. Horrid place to get to though, it will definitely be easier in future! I still don't understand how they got the deal they did though, it's ludicrous!
we can only assume it's positional, but it's true, he's always looked good for Scotland, can't say the same when he plays for us.
Nice summary H. My fear was that the various elements taken together (pens against, pen missed, red card, etc. ) would affect our confidence for Sunday. But it sounds like the performance as actually OK, especially given that there were seven changes and Sunday's team will look vastly different to last night's.
I have to agree that RB is going to be our biggest problem, being unconvinced about any of our players in that position. How about Anya there? Or does anyone know if Cathcart can play there, leaving Britos & Prodl in the middle? Holebas certainly had a bad game last night - although I thought the first penalty was harsh, to me the WHam player appeared to loop his left arm around Holebas and pull them both over, which was why Holebas was spitting chips at the decision. He was entirely at fault for the second one though - his poor positioning left Abdi with little choice but to try covering for him. I can't see QSF making too many changes on Sunday based on last night. Capoue, Watson, Jurado and either Suarez or Behrami in the middle I suspect & we have no other attacking options but Troy & Iggy. The bench should be interesting...
