southbankbornnbred 12:38 Sun Apr 25
Re: ⚽ West Ham v Chelsea (ExESL) - Official Match Thread

Maybe, master. But maybe not.

Moyes is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t over this.

If he plays Mipo in the next few matches - arguably the most important games we’ve played for a decade - and he fails miserably (or is even just ‘meh’), as he did against Man Utd, then the manager will get slaughtered.

“Why did you play a largely untried 18-year-old kid, who looked out of his depth last time, in the biggest games of the season that could have hit you into Europe?” Etc etc.

You’re asking a really experience manager to take a very risky punt on a kid whose track record is unproven and who suffered stage fright last time around.

Maybe it’ll work. Maybe not. Moyes has got us this far. He’s not a perfect boss by any means, far from it, but I’ll trust him to make the call more than most fans.

fraser 12:31 Sun Apr 25
Re: ⚽ West Ham v Chelsea (ExESL) - Official Match Thread

The thing is Bowen didn't look like he was up front. It just looked like we'd replaced Antonio with a centre back.

May as well played 4 at the back as we lost.

master 12:28 Sun Apr 25
Re: ⚽ West Ham v Chelsea (ExESL) - Official Match Thread

Perhaps. Then again Kane was thought to be pony and on the verge of leaving before he was given a consistent set of matches to play in (Europa League).

Fact is, Moyes would rather play a short winger up front and play high balls to him than akid who's played striker his whole youth career and is in a (moderate) habit of shooting and scoring (albeit at a lower level). But he has the instincts at least to do the things the role requires.

Similarly Moyes would rather play an ageing player who's legs has definitely gone, and revert to then shoehorning in Lanzini or Fornals, in a desperate attempt to not play Coventry, a natural, young, fit central midfielder who plays for his international team and is trusted to do so.

We're not talking 10 game runs here. We're talking a few games before the season ends.

It seems Moyes would probably play a full back in there (frankly i could be referring to any position) before he'd play a player who naturally fits in but unfortunately lacks the experience. He's always proved it when he tried to shoehorn Johnson into midfield a few weeks ago and Leicester scored their first goal.

Why doesn't he just trust players to do what they've been coached to do.

Side of Ham 12:28 Sun Apr 25
Re: ⚽ West Ham v Chelsea (ExESL) - Official Match Thread

Chelsea went into this game knowing they were playing the Gold & Sullivan scraps in key areas it doesn’t matter how many staff they change it is common knowledge in the football world.......the only owners in history to try and keep a 60’000+ crowd happy with no preparation in squad improvement just a one off payment that gets spent on ONE player by clubs with this type of stadium capacity.

southbankbornnbred 12:21 Sun Apr 25
Re: ⚽ West Ham v Chelsea (ExESL) - Official Match Thread

I don’t mean to dismiss Mipo - he’s young, and I hope he becomes a good striker. But judging by what we saw earlier this season, he is WAY off PL level at the moment.

Some of the positions he took up against Man Utd were criminal for a centre forward. He really did gift the opposition centre halves a night off. Clearly, the kid had stage fright that night. Hopefully he’s learned from it - he’s one of us, and I hope he goes on to have a good career.

But Moyes sees these folk in training every day. I don’t doubt that playing Bowen out of position and up front is a better option right now, which just goes to show how thin the squad is.

master 12:14 Sun Apr 25
Re: ⚽ West Ham v Chelsea (ExESL) - Official Match Thread

Absolutely lacking up front. Bowen dropping off to the right yesterday left absolutely nothing up front. Nothing.

For us to not even contemplate playing Mipo, an actual striker, who has the mindset of a striker, who'd do the things a striker would naturally do during a game, even if poorly and with lower quality than we need, shows a total lack of faith in his abilities and total misunderstanding of what makes opposition defenders uncertain and uncomfortable.

Bowen and Lingard simply won't cause that kind of issue.

Even shit strikers like McBurney and Robson-Kanu have scored goals in the premier league and caused defenders problems occasionally. We have absolutely no threat and are giving 2 opposition cbs the day off and allowing 2 fullbacks who want to attack and not defend all the time in the world to do so.

southbankbornnbred 12:08 Sun Apr 25
Re: ⚽ West Ham v Chelsea (ExESL) - Official Match Thread FT 0-1

Morning after the night before...and I’m still feeling shit about the result!

One of the worst red cards I’ve ever seen, but not sure it really changed the game. Much.

Reluctantly, we have to accept Chelsea we’re the better side. We looked bereft of ideas after going 1-0 down just before hand time. Worse, though, we just look like we’re running out of steam.

Injuries to key payers and suspensions have killed us just at the very moment we were in the cusp of actually doing something ‘special’(by our standards!) the first time in 15 years.

We need a break - somebody to return from injury and spark something etc - or I can see us running out of steam and finishing 7th or 8th. Legs look tired, and we have few options up front without Antonio: as people have already said, not having a back-up for him has been criminal - and that’s on the owners. They’ve known this all season.

daveyg 12:08 Sun Apr 25
Re: ⚽ West Ham v Chelsea (ExESL) - Official Match Thread

simon
We had a replacement for Antonio in Haller, he never came good. Then when he left Linguard came in. Benrhama was doing fine until Linguard came in but Moyes changed tactics to allow Linguard to flourish. Benrhama is not changing games when he comes on and probably feels hard done by,which is not in the collective spirit of Moyes. Benrhama had an excellent game then was dropped for the ManU game for a very defensive line up. Moyes mistake.
We've seen this several times and despite Moyes's excellent season he does make these errors.
For the final 5 games Benrhama needs to man up and Moyes needs him . We need to be more positive to win these 5 games .
9 days for the injured players to come back to Burnley away who should be safe by then. Having Cresswell and Rice back will work wonders. Maybe even Antonio on the bench.
Fabianski. Coufal,Ogbonna,Dawson,Cresswell.Rice,Soucek.Fornals.Linguard,Benrhama,Bowen

goose 11:44 Sun Apr 25
Re: ⚽ West Ham v Chelsea (ExESL) - Official Match Thread

Middle part of the game up until the red card I thought we did everything that could be expected given the players available.

If/when we miss out on 4th it will be down to the lack of investment in January.
I don’t think we’ll get an opportunity like this again.

Mex Martillo 11:37 Sun Apr 25
Re: ⚽ West Ham v Chelsea (ExESL) - Official Match Thread

That made me chuckle Forest Gate

Have to agree with you all, Chelsea were the better team, plenty to complain about, but that was how it was. We still have a good chance of top 4 as Chelsea and Leicester will drop points even if it is just because they play each other.

Still gutted, but best move on.

Mike Oxsaw 11:33 Sun Apr 25
Re: ⚽ West Ham v Chelsea (ExESL) - Official Match Thread

Or, put another way, this completely vindicates the poisoned dwarf's claim to be able to "do it" without spending any money.

Forest Gate Ugly 11:27 Sun Apr 25
Re: ⚽ West Ham v Chelsea (ExESL) - Official Match Thread

On paper our run-in means we should still have a chance of coming fourth. But, however you slice it, yesterday underlines the difference between a team funded by a billionaire Russian oligarch and a team funded by a funny little bloke in a Russian hat who keeps his money safely under the bed.

daveyg 11:16 Sun Apr 25
Re: ⚽ West Ham v Chelsea (ExESL) - Official Match Thread

Fraser
I agree with you there for once.

simon.s 11:11 Sun Apr 25
Re: ⚽ West Ham v Chelsea (ExESL) - Official Match Thread

I watched the first half, but as soon as Werner scored I knew it wasn’t going to be our day. I think we’ve run out of steam and it’s caught up with us. Not having a replacement for Antonio is fucking criminal though.

Mike Oxsaw 11:06 Sun Apr 25
Re: ⚽ West Ham v Chelsea (ExESL) - Official Match Thread

Did Watkins have a "good" agent?

CanningTownWA 10:42 Sun Apr 25
Re: ⚽ West Ham v Chelsea (ExESL) - Official Match Thread

Iron Duke
I agree, Watkins cost £28M not much more than Benrahma and it was a for a position we needed more.

normansmymate 10:40 Sun Apr 25
Re: ⚽ West Ham v Chelsea (ExESL) - Official Match Thread

Fraser. Spot on mate. That says it all

fraser 10:33 Sun Apr 25
Re: ⚽ West Ham v Chelsea (ExESL) - Official Match Thread

I don't get why people keep criticising the subs, we were no worse when they came on and if anything knocked the ball around better for 10 minutes till the sending off.

Nobody knows if we would have scored.. Nobody knew we could draw when three down in 81st minute at Ys

normansmymate 10:24 Sun Apr 25
Re: ⚽ West Ham v Chelsea (ExESL) - Official Match Thread

Gutted. But if honest they was 1 up, we could have got a 1-1 before the red. But we had no center forward and got no goals, they have a poor one who got one and if he was any good really could have had 2 or 3 or more. They were better than us all over the pitch except maybe for goalkeepers. Balbuena will be back next week. That will be overturned. Its sad but just have to suck it up. Still think one way or the other we will be in CL next year though Id rather be there on merit.

Mike Oxsaw 10:18 Sun Apr 25
Re: ⚽ West Ham v Chelsea (ExESL) - Official Match Thread

Kaiser Zoso 10:14 Sun Apr 25

Got the pundits talking and upped the click-rates though, not that I'm suggesting that is a driver in media-exposed referees' decision making.

Kaiser Zoso 10:14 Sun Apr 25
Re: ⚽ West Ham v Chelsea (ExESL) - Official Match Thread

I don't think we deserved much more than a 0-1 as they were clearly the better side for most of the game.

Another bizarre decision which seems to be the sort of thing football are happy to see happen to West Ham, even if it means rescinding it later. The moment is gone and the result secured, which cynically seems like it's part of the overall view of how to ensure the result the status quo prefer.

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