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A game of two halves,good first half performance ,Lanzini impressed again ,well supported by Zarate .Midfield could have been better at closing down as they do tend to give the opposition time on the ball in midfield,better opposition would have taken more of an advantage.Second half the team's performance took a nosedive and WBA took the ascendency,Pulis' halftime talk and readjustments made the difference,and it seemed Bilic didn't have the answers.Looking at the 4-2-3-1 system Bilic uses,it's the 4 front players that produce most of the goals and assists,namely Sakho,Moses,Lanzini,Zarate .For me Moses doesn't contribute enough in that department,he is not getting his share,and I think his place is up for grabs.Payet is a massive loss.Not knocking Moses as a player, some good skills,pacey but in the system the team plays he is coming up short,when it comes to assists and goals.Its a real shame Samuelsen was loaned out to Peterborough ,because he looked ready to step up to me as does Cullen,both can score goals and comfortable on the ball going forward,and both have great shots.As far as holding players are concerned still unsure.
You could have : Obiang/Song...Kouyate/Noble....Obiang/Noble....Song/Kouyate...Obiang/Kouyate....Noble/Song....or include another squad member ,like Oxford,who had a great game against Arsenal in that role.
Simply put,one of the holding players is more offensively oriented , takes care of the playmaking and secures the rear space behind number 10, if his team is in possession of the ball. The second holding player is mostly responsible for defensive tasks,effective at closing down and breaking up attacks,ensuring that he doesn't wonder so he doesn't get caught out of position.. Ideally, the two players swap their roles in the system of play time and time again, in order to become less predictable ,but both of these players FIRST PRIORITY is to protect the back four.This is where a lot of Westham's problems lie ,the defence gets left exposed(look at the Spurs game),the holding players have gone walkabouts ,and the closing down in midfield has gone to pot.Even in today's game against WBA they were allowed more and more time on the ball in midield because Westham's midfield were not closing down and breaking up opposition play effectively enough...
When it comes to the defence,I get the feeling Jenkinson's confidence has taken a hammering with his early season form ,in today's game it looked like he didn't want to do much with the ball just release it as quickly as possible and Cresswell is another who hasn't reached the heights of last season.All our central defenders are good players but they all seem to be prone to silly mistakes that have been costly recently ,it seems Tomkins is now in the spotlight and Bilic dropped him .I like Tomkins he works hard but can sometimes shoot himself in the foot with the silly mistakes he makes in games.
Overall this team without the main man Payet and the loss of Valencia,Song and maybe Sakho now after today's injury could have serious consequences on the season,because we are talking the teams best players here.Hopefully it won't be too long before Song reaches a good level of fitness to play at least 70mins,but without these players I can only see a struggle to get into the top ten.Maybe the board will see sense to invest in some more quality in January to keep up our European push,definitely need a top pacey striker.Who would you see as priority?
no need for signings
Quality squad within the budget.
could have easily won this game, just bad finishing.
It happens.
lovely football and enjoyed the game. Never said that last season.
Just got back from the game!
Frustrating,should have been out of sight the first half.The ref was a joke (how many times have we said that this season!).Draw feels like a loss imo....
Thoughts? Good first half,
Thoughts? Good first half, Lanzini looked up for running the game ably assisted by zarate who is starting to look more like a team player, obiang positioning was immaculate, exactly where a defensive midfielder should play, Moses far too predictable, doesn't like crossing it early and rarely beats his man easy to play against and should be benched. Song? Why didn't he get a run out? Bilic got subs wrong again. Song should have been first. Neither obiang or zarate should have come off. Jenks once again was dire dropping Tomkins was harsh as he is far more consistent than jenks. Crowd was dissappointing. Went far too quiet when we were 1-0 up and pressing. Carroll once again never looked like a threat. Poor second half as much as our fault as it was pulis'. Good points Moses and jenks will go back in July.
Didnt go quiet in the east stand upper!!
Non stop singing & banter,especially when a member of the west brom fan club bore a striking resemblence to a certain (unpopular) D.J. that used to try to "Fix it" for people...Lets just say after the westham wags were finished with him,he ended up in a quiet corner of the stand with his tail between his legs!!!;)
Can't understand why Antonio
Can't understand why Antonio is not getting any decent time on the pitch to show what he can do.He was scoring for fun at Forest what the hell is going on? Why pay all that money out for him when he is not even first choice? Baffles me!!! I think your right Red Neck ,I cannot see Bilic keeping Jenkinson or Moses,but I really think there is a case to bring in another free scoring attacking midfielder if Antonio is not being used.But for me a top notch striker is priority,because we have no competition for Sakho with Valencia out long term.I honestly feel Carroll will be offloaded to the highest bidder before long ,its a shame cause I like the guy in a team that is set up for him but I don't think Bilic will go down that route.
Think that might be what I'd
Think that might be what I'd do Essex offload Carroll in January and getting someone in that's fits our style. Admittedly I haven't seen much of Antonio but having seen some clips on you tube with forest he looks to me like he could play upfront a bit like lakakus style. Obviously bilic sees more of him than me tho.
excellent first half
excellent first half, but we'd have to score the second goal. we were a little inaccurate and a couple of good saves of their goalkeeper. At the beginning of second time their goal has turned off a little of us. I agree that Moses was too predictable, I would have changed with Antonio. great job of Lanzini and Zarate. Anyway we are paying the absence of payet, he is the soul of the team. Hope at least that song to be ready to return.
Free kick apart
Zarate was very poor and Moses was even worse! It's no wonder that Moses hasn't settled into other clubs as he isn't a Team player. Lanzini and Sakho are my favourite players to watch, Payet apart, as they are both quality players and work hard for the Team. Carroll seems to be a geordie version of Carlton Cole........it's not looking good then!
Agree ANTKB ,for me Payet and
Agree ANTKB ,for me Payet and Lanzini are the two standout player in that attacking midfield ,along with Song and Sakho are 4 top players would not look out of place in any top 4 side.
Missed opportunity
Agree with much of what has been said. Hopefully Bilic will be able to adapt and change the system if and when other managers do likewise (Pulis did). I don't think he reacts quick enough though I like the man. He is on a learning curve but needs to be able to cope with the growing number of injuries. Carroll and Jelavic looked impotent as strikers. Can we do anything with Kouyate to be further upfront. I don't see many options as it stands and we are not scoring enough goals. Rocky times ahead.
Plenty of balls pumped up high
To carroll yesterday,imo the injurys hes had have effected his mobility,hes not the player he once was....
I get that impression too dicksy!
Maybe hes trying to stay injury free to possibly get a move back home....
I agree Carroll doesn't look
I agree Carroll doesn't look the same player, touching on what dicksy said now sakho is out for 2 months if bilic wants to play Carroll then he now has to set up to accomadate him more. For me that that means a revamp of the formation and midfield. There is no way he can just slot in playing the same way. Spotting this is what he is paid for, so stop being so inflexible.
Agree with most of the above.
Agree with most of the above. What struck me is the lack of leadership in the side. People question the fact that Noble was appointed captain, but looking at how we fell apart after their equalizer I must say that apart from him there is not even a remotely strong personality who could reorganize his teammates on the pitch. Instantly after their plucky goal our heads went down. Winston is not captains material sadly and for me he's never looked like one.
Other thoughts on the game. Bilic is still learning the trade in the BPL. Not the first time he has subbed a central midfielder for an attacking options. That makes us loose our shape and didn't brought anything positive if any we were fare too open for a counter ( Bilic did the same against Palace but they were a man down ). Apart from the well stated selfishness of some of our players I must say that we do not provide enough good service to our forwards. Sakho's chance in the second half was the first he's had in a long while and you can't blame him for not putting himself about. Same goes for Carroll and Jelavic. We have to put good balls into the penalty area for any of our strikers to have a shout at goal.
O have to agree we don't have
O have to agree we don't have any or enough real leaders. It could be the thing we critically need the most so we don't lose shape or discipline. And I do feel even when we were winning we shouldn't be so open. That's why we lose against the small teams easily.