That's typical of the police. They should be out there trying to find this guy. Won't the insurance pay for the cars? Seems a shame to have to give up buying house for the sake of 2k.
We were very fortunate to be 2-0 up at half time and I thought we were actually quite poor. Wasn't complaining too much though. Second half we controlled the game and I expected the Hammers to come at us more but they didn't. Dyer was poor first half and looked almost disinterested but he wasn't alone. Been ages since I've seen us give the ball away so much. Everyone stepped it up second half, including Dyer, and we were worthy winners in the end. So pleased for Danny - works his socks off every game. Routledge does indeed look like a different player under Laudrup and he was my MOM. Another good day at the office.
second half we were better and being two nil up it was great to see us not easing off and trying to protect our lead like we have done in the past. We were superb and could have easily put another 3 goals on that score...west ham had a good lesson from us today and we are worthy of being top of the league....
http://www.sport360.com/article/fabregas-swansea-fan-welsh-club-go-top? It would appear we have an admirer
Gutted it wasn't 4 though. Quite a miss by Danny. Still....... Amazing to be sitting on 6 points, 8 goals and 2 clean sheets from our first 2 games. Already looking forward to Sunderland. It's a game we can win. Imagine that !
I agree, he was a good signing not at the right time as Brendan preferred to use Sinclair , no matter how bad he was playing. Genuinely pleased for him
Rodgers preferred straight down the wing , which is Sinclairs cup of tea , Laudrup prefers a bit of zig& zag , & beat the odd man one on one .. enter Routledge !!
Routledge has been a breath of fresh air and as said looks like a new signing. He obviously like playing for Laudrup and who wouldn't. Oh forgot Sinclair!!!
I enjoyed the second half, but I have to say that despite being 2 goals up at half time, I didn't really enjoy the first half that much. Personally, I don't mind that much if we have a slow start and our passing is sloppy, because generally we'll get it together as the game goes on and start controlling. What I didn't enjoy was the thoughtless giving away of free kicks in our own half. From the second minute, when Nolan should have got on the end of a dangerous in-swinging cross, we should have realised what West Ham's one and only tactic was going to be. But we didn't, consistently giving away needless fouls in our own half and allowing West Ham to put way too many dangerous balls into our box, forcing us into last-minute blocks and clearances. At half time, I was commenting how we need to just let West Ham have the ball in play. Don't give away silly free kicks in our own half where West Ham were able to pack our box with their big lumps, but allow them to try and play through us, or swing a cross into the box where there'd be a maximum of 2/3 Hammers players to aim at. West Ham's strength was in their set pieces, not their ability to work the ball from in-play situations. Laudrup must've had a word at half time as, bar one free kick on Vaz Te, we didn't really give them anything of the sort in the second half, and I think the yellow cards to Rangel and Chico meant that we had to be much more careful in our own half. Additionally, we were fantastic in the second half. The movement was clinical, the passing was sharp. Dyer and Routledge aren't exactly secretive about Laudrup's plans for them to come inside more and help the striker, but the fact is that when they do it right, it's unplayable. Graham's hold up play was outstanding. Michu's link up play was sublime. De Guzman looked much more comfortable in the second half, and Leon buzzed around in the middle excellently, breaking up play and providing an excellent bridge from our defence to our attackers. Not much to say about our defence really, they are doing their jobs. You can't argue with 2 clean sheets. Love seeing Taylor and Rangel supporting our wingers and getting shots in as well. And Chico and Williams are big, physical presences with excellent ball control and vision. Our team is looking much more balanced this year. The realist in me has us coming between 8th and 10th this season now. The optimist in me is looking at qualifying for a European competition. Can we dare to dream that high?
Okay, now I'm going to play Devil's Advocate but first I'm going to say I'm totally chuffed with the result. The lads played well, in patches, deserved the win and are going to get better. But there are many areas we should be looking to improve and before I get shelled, I'm sure that Michael Laudrup will be working hard on them and we will improve. I'm concentrating on the first half display because for much of the second period WH were just going through the motions. What concerned me was the accuracy and the fluency of our passing game. It was sub-standard. We lost possession many, many times which is not like us. Because we don't play anything like so many close triangles as we used to, we were passing over distance and our distribution was either inaccurate or the ball was being intercepted. We continually under hit passes turning them into 50/50 balls and we are still obsessed with faffing about at the back when a hefty clearance is called for to give us time to regroup. Better teams will punish us for all of that, so we do need to start keeping possession the way we used to. I'm not talking about reverting to Rodgers' style because obviously ML has a different game plan for which I'm all in favour. BUT that is no excuse for being as sloppy as we were when we had the ball. Whatever the game plan, possession is still important and I thought we were under par in that context during the first half when West Ham were still up for it. We should not use the second half as a guide when we were playing a side who knew they were beaten. A major factor is that De Guzman is still finding his feet. He shows plenty of neat touches and glimpses of his class but, right now, we are missing a Joe Allen type in there; a scavenger who also gets involved in the link up play. Leon seems to be ploughing a lone furrow at the moment. Perhaps Ki will be that player but that won't help De Guzman, who, in my opinion, needs games to find his form after a lengthy absence from competitive match play. All in all, though, I'm delighted with our start. Who wouldn't be? Two games, six points, eight goals, a couple of clean sheets and the team gaining confidence at a rate of knots. But remember the tough tests are to come. So far we have taken the lead in both our games and the (average) opposition have had to come at us leaving themselves open to counter attacks - something we are superbly equipped to do. The acid test will come when we fall behind to a quality team and we will have to do the pressing ourselves. Will we cope? I reckon Laudrup will make sure that we will.
Noticed Ash coming out before the game and he looks to me as he's been hitting the weights as my lad said he looks well tank and beefed (what teenagers come out with)
Agree with your observations Ivor. The first half was not our best work technically even though we came in with a lead. Our tempo was also too relaxed. If we'd shown some more urgency and been better technically we'd have finished West Ham by half time. Still we have another home game against Sunderland, a tough but winnable game, then two weeks international break where we can work on what we have to do and give Ki and perhaps Hernandez etc a little time to get into our system. What we are doing that I like is what top teams do to clubs that will probably have a dire season, beating them well, maximum points return and boosting goal difference. We're playing like a top club should even though today we could have / should have taken more pride in our product in the first half. It's easy to pick, since we know what we're capable of in this regard. On balance, the positives out weigh the negatives quite nicely. Who do we sit out for Ki?
Great performance in the second half, anyone think that looked like a goodbye from kemy at full time? Stayed out after all players had left pitch to applaud all stands! I hope not.
