West Ham Verdict

[sc91]

There was one team that wanted to win, another didnt. Guess which one was which.

 

[Mel Eves on a bike]

Why not just go for it in the final games now. Can’t stand all this getting into the opposition half and then passing back to Sa to kick it long.

 

[old wittonian]

Just bored. I barely looked up from y laptop even though the game was on.
I know that's an enditement against me, but its just how it seems at present.
Haven't played with any intensity since Manure away or Saints at home.

Same here.

 

[TheConcourse]

I can’t. Trying to stay positive. **** it, I’ll have a go..

Sá: Didn’t deserve to be a sitting duck. Our best defender too. 8/10.

Hoever: oh boy oh boy. There aren’t enough characters. I won’t bother. 1/10.

Kilman: Did okay. Nothing more. 6/10

Coady: Battered by Antonio Episode 8463528393 4/10.

Saiss: What. The. ****. Were. You. Thinking? Totally left his man for the goal. Looked shocking since he came back from ACON. Boly please. 3/10.

Marcal: Lol. 1/10

Neves: Didn’t stop. On his own in midfield. 7/10.

Trincao: Don’t want to see him again. No time for players who don’t put any effort in whatsoever. 1/10.

Hwang: Anonymous. Usually is. Grabbed a few goals and does nothing else. 3/10.

Silva: Well done, kiddo. Deserved more today. 7/10.

The eagle-eyed of you would have spotted one glaring omission.

Leander ****ing Dendoncker: My god. My god. I have never seen anything like it. He’s become a parody of himself. He was West Ham’s best player by a mile. He literally put West Ham through 3 times. Can you get your head around that? 3 times.

Then, his big moment. On his own around the edge of the box. Turn and shoot. Just have a go. Oh no no no no no.. don’t be ****ing ridiculous, I’m gonna lay it back 20 yards for a ****ing CB who rarely shoots to have a pop.

Never want to see him in a Wolves shirt again, and I don’t ever remember feeling that way about a player since the Johnson/O’Hara days.

Sorry Bruno, you’ve done an incredible job, but you messed it up today.

On to the next game, hopefully without Marcal, Hoever and Dendoncker.

 

[Jamwolf]

A game too far for Kilman.
I didn't realize that Hwang was on the pitch in the second half until he was substituted.
Apart from Neves, we were useless.
Lage treated West Ham like world beaters. FFS.

 

[oldgold4ever]

The old adage - put garbage in and you get garbage out. The writing was on the wall with the starting line up and just like the Arsenal game, the changes came far too late. WH were there for the taking today but we came up with nothing and deservedly got nothing. Sadly that was a very sad, uninspiring, poor performance today.

 

[peter&thewolf]

If you don't play your best team, you deserve everything you get

 

[Wolf316]

Same as Arsenal only one team were trying to win the game and it wasn’t us. Sá and Fabio only ones to come out if it with any real credit.

 

[Sussex Wolf]

Deserved nothing and got nothing. We could have played all night and not scored.

Most of first half, we defended well but were toothless in attack. Second half, we start to get forward and dominate play and then forget how to defend a throw in.

Hoever was god awful from start to finish. Marcal not much better. The rest of the defence not much better. Donk was atrocious first half but better second. Silva worked hard.

Hope Semedo returns quickly and need RAN back in next week.

 

[Slothmonkey]

Third game in a row we have been awful. I am starting to think that our good defensive record was not because we can defend, but due to other teams not taking advantage of mistakes. A few were awful for their goal but what was Saiss doing running up the pitch?

Hoever at rwb had a mare, as did Trincao. Both far to lightweight.

The front 3 did not work at all today as it did not against Arsenal and we could not hold the ball up at all. Kept coming back. How do we solve this? Is it time to put more players centrally up top?

Overall its been a bad week for us. Not just results but performances. We look like we have no ideas at all. If we concede we cannot score.

 

[Wolvescol]

Awful selection, only looked a threat when podence and Neto came on , sa neves and Fabio my pick of a dire performance, trincao looks like he don’t want to be here and hoever and donker must have had there own competition to see who could lose possession the most , hwang as well with a no show ,

 

[old wittonian]

Hwang is a nothing player, if he doesn’t score he’s a waste of a shirt.
Trincao offers next to nothing
Not sure why you’d start these 2 together

Not sure why you'd start Trincao in any event. No bottle IMHO.

 

[Bognor_Wolf]

Saw the line up wasn't confident at all tbh and then as the game went on just knew we wouldn't get anything we showed absolutely nothing going forward all game got to their box and everyone (bar Silva maybe) was just standing still and the ball went back to centre half.... Really poor!

Dendonker was dreadful especially first half so slow on the ball constantly looks to go back plus just doesn't get stuck in when needed! ... Trincao again doesn't do enough,hides in games and is way to lightweight.... Hoever was the worse of the bunch today for me kept on losing the ball not tracking runners and has zero positional sense meaning Kilman kept getting dragged out wide he was sooooo bad!

Poor from Lage today way to many chnanges...Actually thought todays game was bigger than Arsenal as West Ham were the ones I thought we could really overtake but to not pick atleast a point up today is a massive blow...

 

[Ned Stark]

Very odd team selection today, love Bruno but baffled by that. I was supportive after Arsenal but this one has tested me tbh. This is the Premier League, you have to do the basics first and then the add-ons, we seem to have that the wrong way round at the moment.

 

[OLDGOLD]

Hoever was pretty shocking today. All the Semedo knockers should realise how much we missed him. Fabio tried hard but is not a premier league player.
No urgency except for last 5 and then we just wanted fancy flicks. It was a hard watch.

That's how I am seeing Silva atm. You can't fault his effort, but nothing comes off for hi. Will it ever..?
As for Hoever, good god that was poor.
As you say, no urgency. More time passing backwards than going forwards ....again.

 

[Hollywood Wolf]

Well basically it feels like we have thrown that game.

As soon as we saw the line up with so many physically weak players that was it, and it turned out exactly how we expected.

No point ever Fabio or Trincao being on the pitch again.

This one is on Bruno though.

No point Fabio being on the pitch ??? What a pity you did not watch the game. He was our best player.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

Turns out you can't grind out 1-0s whilst consistently creating nothing in the Premier league. Aside from Spurs who essentially gave us 2 goals early we've not played very well consistently for some time. Performance matters over the long term, not just results

 

[marrs-guitar]

A total waste of time, no better than McCarthy's Old Trafford surrender or our 0-4 kickaround against Burnley.

There seems no point even bothering to qualify for Europe if we are so incapable of playing proper football on Thursday and then again Sunday.

The game laid bare what poor support our transfer hierarchy have provided the coach.

The sad thing is that West Ham aren't even much good. Watching their 180 minutes against us showed that they really don't have much aside from Rice and Antonio (and Antonio only becomes a real asset because of Coady). We would have taken a real battering against a team with a real hunger to attack today.

 

[Tring Wolf]

Good first 15 minutes but a really poor performance after that. Terrible, terrible goal to give away and our ball retention was awful.

I’ve stuck up for Dendoncker before but he was so cowardly in possession today. In fact, our biggest problem was that 3 of our 4 ‘midfielders’ automatically turn around and play backwards when they receive the ball. The contrast with Rice was huge.

Never got the ball forwards quickly enough into Fabio who was the only outfield starter to come out with any credit.

And I know we’re not allowed to say it but our attacking play has largely been poor ever since we let Traore go. The truth is we aren’t a better footballing side without him and haven’t been since that purple patch with Raul and Diogo in our first season. Hopefully Podence and Neto can change that going forward.

Today also showed how important the athleticism and pace of Semedo and RAN are to us.

Sa 7
Kilman 5
Coady 5
Saiss 5
Hoever 4
Dendoncker 4
Neves 6
Marcal 5
Trincao 5
Fabio 7
Hwang 5

Been a great season but in danger of drifting away from being in a great position at the start of the transfer window. The one upside is we have a run of very winnable fixtures coming up. Hoping we go something like:

Sa
Kilman, Coady, Saiss
Jonny, Neves, Moutinho, RAN
Neto, Raul/Fabio, Podence

 

[L78]

Not sure why you'd start Trincao in any event. No bottle IMHO.

Because wolves have to justify paying 25m for him in the summer

 

[old wittonian]

Why not just go for it in the final games now. Can’t stand all this getting into the opposition half and then passing back to Sa to kick it long.

Too many times we make as an intermediate pass instead of from A to B. This loses momentum.

 

[Royal wolf]

Thank god I didn’t get carried away with the European places talk. We all knew deep down we’re not quite good enough

 

[JOSWolf]

No urgency. Crap, predictable attacking play. Attacking players who havent scored a goal all season and it shows. Lage got the starting line up wrong.

Marcal and Hoever both awful, Dendoncker where was he? Trincao, words fail me. Fabio tried hard but never looks like scoring.

Yes it isnt easy but the last two games have been a timid surrender. In fact the last 3 games including the Leicester game have been poor.

Europe a distant dream now and we will struggle to even get a Europa League or Conference League qualification if we keep playing like this.

The lack of intensity and attacking threat is infuriating and we have some players who almost seem to lack the fight and intensity.

 

[BridgnorthWolf Inc]

We got what we deserved. The team selection proves we don’t have a squad.

Or the desire.

 

[Matt]

There was one team that wanted to win, another didnt. Guess which one was which.

Exactly this.

 

[Perton Wolf]

Trincao must be the worst signing of the Summer, he's so ineffective. Just a dreadful performance on the whole, kiss those European dreams goodbye. Disappointing.

 

[Jd132]

So many things I don't understand about our current play.

1) Have a goal kick, welcome the press by passing to a CB, pass back to Sa, lump it to the opposition midfielders or Dendoncker whilst playing their whole team onside to inevitably lose it. It's inviting pressure game after game after game.

2) Have it in their half, play it forward towards their 18 yard box, for some unknown reason, pass it back to the player that just passed it forward. He just passed it forward for god sake- if you pass it back you give up the 20 yards gained.

3) Back heels. How many back heels went to the opposition today? Not one opened up the defence. It's not working lads so stop doing it.

4) Why do we very rarely play a ball in behind? They played ball after ball after ball in between our centre halves and we were all over the place. We never do anything like that.

5) Urgency- ball to the wing backs, back to the centre backs, into the midfielders, back to the centre backs, ball to the wing backs, back to the centre backs, ball to the midfielders, lose it and under pressure. What's the point?!

 

[Eastern Wolf]

We just don't have the quality through out the team to maintain our good run. Over a season a team will find their level eventually. We are finding ours. We have lost momentum now. Will do extremely well to hold on to 8th place.

 

[SA Wolf]

Horrible performance with as much bite as Zouma's cat. Bruno changed the team and as is his wont, he has to take responsibility. Fuming that we never gave it a go and if anything, it surely has focused Fosun that we need reinforcements as those called-up today were totally ineffective. Weak is an understatement to how we 'got into 'em'. Wet Sham were poor, we were abysmal until Podence, Neto and Raul came on.

Ratings;

Sa - 7 - Didn't do much wrong and pulled-off a few decent saves.
Saiss - 6 - Still in Africa!
Coady - 5 - Bullied when Antonio was fit. Bossed when Antonio was knackered.
Kilman - 5 - Can't remember when he was last this sloppy.
Hoever - 4 - Powder-puff performance and those crosses!!!
Marcal - 6 - Best of the back 5 and he went off on 76 minutes!
Neves - 7 - Tried hard and worked his socks off.
Dendoncker - 4 - Who!
Hwang - 5 - Did nothing but fluff our best chance.
Trincao - 4 - Do not buy - contaminated.
Silva - 6 - Abysmal first half, better second.

Subs;

Podence - 6 - Didn't do much. Fitted in well.
Neto - 6 - Too late to have much impact, but showed glimpses.
Raul - N/A - ???

Thank **** we're not qualifying for Europe as there's a war on, I believe!

 

[kinyo298]

Totally inept

 

[Ian C]

We get into the final third, stop, **** about and pass it back to Coady.

Every other team go for the jugular, we just **** about and pass it backwards. It’s just so boringly predictable. We’ve got where we are for having a mighty defence, which is now looking shonky. God, are we BORING to watch still.

 

[thommo1984]

Really hard not to think we've completely bottled it this week.

No desire at all to win either game and take 3 points home, and I find that really worrying, to be honest.

Bruno might well be up against it but this week is on him, got almost everything wrong I think.

 

[Leigh72]

Tripe again, you can't rotate when the squad is 3 players light, stupid by Bruno and even worse from Jeff.
Still will only £600 odd to watch them next season

 

[Contrarian]

Fortune favours the brave

Like Leeds?

 

[Kashmire Hawker]

Extremely annoying viewing and the only one with some kind of sharpness and who showed some kind of desire was Fabio who must be the annoyed player this season - with much he has been starved of this campaign!

Palace is a very important one on Saturday and I hope Bruno puts a rocket up Leander, Romain and Francesco's backsides as they were truly terrible this afternoon!

 

[Monketron]

Horrible week, all 3 games we were very much 2nd best.

Trincao isn't the reason for this AT ALL but I can't see how we're going to spend the money on him that Barca want, nowhere near good enough and , more damningly, has not shown even the slightest bit of improvement as the season has gone on.

Saiss gives us nice control when it comes to keeping possession and building up play, but he's clearly lacking physically from a defensive point of view and I've noticed teams are very much targeting him as the weak link in defence.

Saying that, didn't mind the changes made today, only the team will know just how tired some of those players are, but it seems if teams can keep our wingbacks relatively quiet we really do have no other way of making good chances. Marcal and Hoever really lack the pace and trickery of Ait-Nouri and Semedo which makes them a lot easier to mark out of the game in an attacking sense.

 

[steve vena]

I'm tamping ! very poor. Got to stop this playing for a point crap.

 

[DDPPwolf313]

Absolutely baffled by the team selection. He's got it badly badly wrong.

Exposed just how much we lack any depth in the squad.

 

[northnorfolkwolf]

The gaffer's doing the best he can with what he has been given by his chairman. If we fail to make Europe, it won't be Bruno Lage's fault.

Not sure I agree. Bad team selection imo. Substitutes brought on too late. Too passive, no imagination. Lage has a lot of questions to answer about today's performance. Top 4 gone now, never really on tbh, but still have a chance (?) of top 6. Winnable games now coming up but last 2 games have been really, really disappointing.

 

[Royal wolf]

Absolutely baffled by the team selection. He's got it badly badly wrong.

Exposed just how much we lack any depth in the squad.

Dropping Rayan when Semedo is injured is a strange decision