Thats the 2nd time a team from London have played at Carra Rud. Thats the 2nd time we should have won against a team that were there for the taking. Thats the 2nd time we didnt bury our chances. Thats the 2nd time that the game was screaming for Hooly. Im beginning to wonder what Hooly has done to upset CH.West Ham were very poor so didnt really offer any threat to our defence sos why oh why didnt he bring on Hooly to play behind the front two and let him do his thing.Im convinced we would have beaten WH if so. Ive yet to criticise CH but thats two home games we should have won easily but he didnt take a chance and gamble.I would gladly take 17th RIGHT NOW. Oh yes,thats the 2nd time the ref was somewhat poor.
I thought the referee got everything 100% right first up, and watching the match I thought we were going to score any moment so I can't blame Hughton's reluctance to change things.
West ham worked well to counter us and I understand perfectly the Sam alardyce way of playing but my god, they are so ****. Can't wait for west ham vs stoke, that'll be a cracker. My neck actually hurts after that.
While it pleasing to see us so much more resilient at the back and difficult to beat, we do seem to have lost the cutting edge we had last season. I would rather see us have a real go at sides and risk getting beat than what we are seeing at the moment. Thing is, we are creating chances, just not as many as last season. There seems to be a lack of pace up top and I don't necessarily mean speed of foot. that crispness of pass and movement off the ball that we have all enjoyed watching over the last three years is not there in such abundance. I can totally understand CH coming in and wanting to first of all make us hard to beat. I just hope that, now that appears to be achieved, we are working on the attacking side. 2 goals in 4 games is not good enough however you look at it. We must remember, it is better to win one then lose one than to draw two. Lets hope we are not rueing missed opportunities come May.
I don't think we were missing Hoolahan at all really. Yes he can impact games but not that often. We had enough players out there to impact the game.
I think hoolahans time is now. But would sticking him in today have been wise? The look I saw on little Simeon jacksons face every time he got the ball and there was a 7ft er about to steamroller him suggests not. I still think we miss him from the midfield though, but it's a hard puzzle to crack.
That 2nd half was dire.It needed someone to get hold of the ball and thread some passes through.wHATS THE POINT IN HAVING HIM ON THE BENCH.
mmmm,yes.Foxy could have played a part.Didnt you think think the 2nd half had a tint of chumpionship about it?
Hoolahan suffers from the position he plays. We all know he plays best at the top of a diamond and I could understand Hughton not wanting to risk putting him on and leaving more space for West Ham to exploit on the break and also lose out on height at set pieces which was WHs only means of scoring come the second half.
Yeah, it wasn't quite as good as the first half but we had some good chances and West Ham weren't that brilliant.
I watched the match and thought we looked well balanced. Solid in defence but also good going forward. I can understand why CH didn't see the need to change things too much. According to the BBC no other PL team had more shots on target today. We were creating chances and could easily have taken a deserved 3 points.
The way I looked at the game today was whilst it was frustrating that we missed another good opportunity to take all three points, we drew against a team which employ the same style as Stoke and with our type of gunho approach it would have been the kind of game we would have lost last year.
Where do you play Hoolahan? He can't really play out wide as he drifts from his position, we don't really have the right striker to play one up front. I think he's a great player but I just don't see where he fits in.
Agree Wonky but would you forsake a striker to bring him in? We have Kane and Jackson who both look good, and the it's almost a straight choice of Moro or Holt. I guess these are the choices we want though.
Perhaps Hoolahan's place is the Championship where he could tear apart defences at will if played at the tip of a diamond. The problem is that diamond is pretty inneffectual against most Premier League teams.
I thought Hoolahan could have come on. West Hams strength was their willingness to work hard and battle and lets not forget they have just come up from a lower division. They put our midfield under pressure and to be honest I didn't't think today was one of Snoddy or Howsons better days. They played better football than their counterparts but didn't ever look like hitting the killer ball. I think 2nd half, Hoolahan could have have committed their midfield closer to goal than Howson. But having said that, we were awful in front of goal. Kane looked really useful but his goal attempt was woeful. Holt looked lost most of the game and must be on the verge of warming the bench. Jacko is always the first to go as if its planned and I thought he was unfortunate to be subbed. Snodgrass tried to place his shots and our headers were dreadful. Bassong got muscled out of his header. A guy like him should be knocking them sideways in the air. I'm sure we will come good in front of goal. We simply have to. Our next five fixtures don't look likely to produce a harvest of points.
