Rival watch

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PleaseNotPoll said:
Obviously haven't seen it, but Arteta's a pupil of the Pep school of tactical fouling.
How many of your cautions were for that?
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Two. Tomiyasu and Lokonga (both in the first-half). Gabriel was booked for a challenge when he tried to get the ball from behind near the edge of our box. Aubameyang was booked for a late sliding block on the Watford defender where he got there slightly late and caught the man.

I have no issue with any of the yellow cards we were given, though. My issue is the lack of consistency. Watford players were doing it all game and Friend, more often than not, let it go. Yet when we did it, it was an instant yellow for the first offence.
 
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Dier Hard said:
Yeah Moyes has to be the early frontrunner for manager of the season.

West Ham look very, very good, it's no longer a patch of good form which is what I was initially hoping at times last season. They're legitimately a good team now, players have been well coached and clearly believe in the process. Bought well too, Soucek has been one of the best midfielders in the Prem since his arrival and Zouma's had a decent impact.

Pool pull one back as I type this though, lol.
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Not sure if i mentioned it here before but i have always thought zouma was a very good defender with the occasionally brain fart. Definitely worthy of being a defender for a top 4 team. He needs a leader with him though and i was a bit sorry to see him go (but totally understandable, hed fallen down our lecking order).

West ham got him on a steal
 
One thing that could cost West Ham in the long run is that Moyes is picking a lot of the same players.
8 of their players have started every Premier League game and Antonio's only missed one.
A lot of them are also playing the cup matches too, so burnout and injuries are real possibilities.
It's given them stability and momentum so far. The full season might bee too much, though.
 
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I must be missing something. I don't see why the Spammers are as good as everyone is saying. I don't think they were much better than us in the game recently, and we were awful. Certainly not enough to say things that people are now doing, about title challenges. They've got a manager and a stadium they don't deserve. And people make all sorts of sweeping statements when we haven't even played one third of the season.
 
vimhawk said:
I must be missing something. I don't see why the Spammers are as good as everyone is saying. I don't think they were much better than us in the game recently, and we were awful. Certainly not enough to say things that people are now doing, about title challenges. They've got a manager and a stadium they don't deserve. And people make all sorts of sweeping statements when we haven't even played one third of the season.
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Bit like City then eh?

They're good too by the way :emoticon-0100-smile
 
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PleaseNotPoll said:
One thing that could cost West Ham in the long run is that Moyes is picking a lot of the same players.
8 of their players have started every Premier League game and Antonio's only missed one.
A lot of them are also playing the cup matches too, so burnout and injuries are real possibilities.
It's given them stability and momentum so far. The full season might bee too much, though.
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They've got no choice but to go all out for the cups now given the position they are in. I think they need to spend big in January to avoid a Redknapp 11/12 type collapse.
 
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vimhawk said:
I must be missing something. I don't see why the Spammers are as good as everyone is saying. I don't think they were much better than us in the game recently, and we were awful. Certainly not enough to say things that people are now doing, about title challenges. They've got a manager and a stadium they don't deserve. And people make all sorts of sweeping statements when we haven't even played one third of the season.
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I agree that the current hype is exaggerated but their run of form hasn't popped out of thin air. They have picked up from where they left off last season which was one of their highest ever league finishes and a record points and games won tally.
 
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Citizen Kane. said:
I agree that the current hype is exaggerated but their run of form hasn't popped out of thin air. They have picked up from where they left off last season which was one of their highest ever league finishes and a record points and games won tally.
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True. But doing well is not the same as "a title challenge". What I really hope is not happening here is another Fairytale (TM). You know, the one in which the pundits and officials conspire to achieve a predicted outcome. Let's see if the decisions start going in their favour (I'm not really counting yesterday, as I'm not sure the fairytale has started yet, but wasn't it a red card?)
 
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vimhawk said:
True. But doing well is not the same as "a title challenge". What I really hope is not happening here is another Fairytale (TM). You know, the one in which the pundits and officials conspire to achieve a predicted outcome. Let's see if the decisions start going in their favour (I'm not really counting yesterday, as I'm not sure the fairytale has started yet, but wasn't it a red card?)
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I don't think anyone thinks they're realistically title-challengers. However, they are currently well placed to get European football again next season. Let's also not underestimate the fact that - across all competitions - they have beaten Leicester, Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool and Spurs. They're also cruising in their Europa League group. Adding all of this to their 3rd place position in the league and it's not hard to see why they're being praised so much.

Like CK said, they've continued their good form from last season. Who really expected them to do that?
 
vimhawk said:
I must be missing something. I don't see why the Spammers are as good as everyone is saying. I don't think they were much better than us in the game recently, and we were awful. Certainly not enough to say things that people are now doing, about title challenges. They've got a manager and a stadium they don't deserve. And people make all sorts of sweeping statements when we haven't even played one third of the season.
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I haven’t seen anyone say they’re title challengers, not sure where you’ve got that from.

As for their game against us, using a solitary game to as a barometer of their form and/ or quality is a bit odd. We beat City on match day one and we deservedly done so too but we’re miles away from their level.
 
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I was told West Ham went to the Balkans for a couple of choppers. Seems you need a couple to succeed.Ask Arsenal and Chelsea!
 
BrunelGunner said:
I don't think anyone thinks they're realistically title-challengers. However, they are currently well placed to get European football again next season. Let's also not underestimate the fact that - across all competitions - they have beaten Leicester, Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool and Spurs. They're also cruising in their Europa League group. Adding all of this to their 3rd place position in the league and it's not hard to see why they're being praised so much.

Like CK said, they've continued their good form from last season. Who really expected them to do that?
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Completely agree. Even outside of that they've had convincing away wins at Leeds, Villa and Everton. It's very easy to forget that 14 months ago West Ham were tipped to go down, according to polls had the lowest fan morale of all 20 PL teams going into the 2020/21 season. To be in the position they are in now is unreal given most pundits said top 4 wasn't even a contest in August.
 
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vimhawk said:
Lot of discussion since the Manchester derby about how much worse United are this season compared to last. Is that actually the case, or are they more or less the same team with a lot fewer penalties?
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Penalties but also nobody wants to have an honest conversation about Ronaldo and Fernandes.

Fernandes is more obsessed with his own stats than winning, when you throw Ronaldo into the mix that's effectively two players playing hero-ball and neither of them willing to do any defensive work. Throw in their back four who are all individually overrated and ball-watchers then this is what they are left with.

One of the reasons I believed a month ago OGS would not survive this is because unlike previous times where he's lucked out, moral seems so low it's as if the players have given up and accepted their fate.
 
District Line said:
Penalties but also nobody wants to have an honest conversation about Ronaldo and Fernandes.

Fernandes is more obsessed with his own stats than winning, when you throw Ronaldo into the mix that's effectively two players playing hero-ball and neither of them willing to do any defensive work. Throw in their back four who are all individually overrated and ball-watchers then this is what they are left with.

One of the reasons I believed a month ago OGS would not survive this is because unlike previous times where he's lucked out, moral seems so low it's as if the players have given up and accepted their fate.
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If you think Bruno doesn't do any defensive work then you are really not qualified to post on us.

Oh, and Varane over rated ball watcher just about sums you up <doh>
 
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