West Ham 3-1 Chelsea

[Bluepower777 36]

We spent too much money on midfielders, so many poor Potch still does not know his best midfield formation, yet we have no strikers, just another Mount clone who runs around like a donkey but can't finish. Disasi is crap at the back also, why let Enzo take the penalty, I told my son this going  to be a miss. Urgently need a striker, TBF we did dominate for long periods so it's not all bad but it's about scoring goals and we dont have that  generally anywhere despite the whole world telling the powers that be we need a proper striker.

[DDA 9,938]

12 minutes ago, Bluepower777 said:

We spent too much money on midfielders, so many poor Potch still does not know his best midfield formation, yet we have no strikers, just another Mount clone who runs around like a donkey but can't finish. Disasi is crap at the back also, why let Enzo take the penalty, I told my son this going  to be a miss. Urgently need a striker, TBF we did dominate for long periods so it's not all bad but it's about scoring goals and we dont have that  generally anywhere despite the whole world telling the powers that be we need a proper striker.

I knew he was going to miss tooo.. said the same to my Mrs.

The thing is although you are correct...  the bosses have actually spent quite abit on attackers .. they are just unfortunately bang average or injured.

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

Yeah I know its not a huge deal but since Jorginho’s departure, I am all for strikers taking penalties IMO. 

Imagine if Jackson took it and scored it, that would get him up and running for the season. And for his position, he had a good game v Liverpool and got no reward whilst he didn’t do so well today but again the main stat people will be concerned with is 2 games, 0 goals scored. Longer that goes on, more pressure gets heaped on. Even for a kid.

Not saying Enzo did anything wrong - although the run up was embarrassing but every penalty run up like that is - just I think we should be looking at giving players who’s main job it is to stick the ball in the net regularly the best chance to do so.

Maybe Poch will stick with Enzo for the next time but I think if you miss you should be off the next one. No questions asked. I know we have a long running history with Frank, Eden and Jorginho being number 1 penalty takers 99% of the time over the last 15 years or so but is there anybody who is renowned as being a regular penalty scorer in the squad? 

Edited August 21, 2023 by OneMoSalah

[NikkiCFC 8,319]

Nkunku is without the doubt our number one penalty taker. My prediction before the season was James second and Enzo third. Enzo had 5 from 5 in Argentinian football. But he did miss against Netherlands on WC. 

[robsblubot 3,595]

Here's the worrying part tho: WHU aren't really a very good team.

Yes, they've got some power in Antonio, a a bit of skill in Paqueta, but they aren't that pacey--team lacks pace. So, that should've limited their range against us, but well you know how it tuned out.

Lots of work for Poch, but no it wasn't a good game by any standards; would suggest not to focus on the penalty miss, but the overall performance. There were good moments esp in the first half--tho some useless possession too, but something was off in the second without carney. Perhaps Sterling got tired too.. as usual. Either way, second half wasn't very good.

[King Kante 1,643]

This game was essentially what I was worried about in the off-season. We seriously lack experience, we appear to have overpaid on a number of players and we are now just finding out how good these players are in the PL. The hope that Nkunku is some sort of silver bullet is also quite fanciful imo. 

For me, the turn around in some of the posters posts here is very surprising. Especially as a number were saying we have upgraded our team and/or that experience doesn't matter because x, y, or z of who we sold where crap anyway, so we did amazing business. 

Personally, I am not going to get carried away with what I have seen the last two games as it was what I expected. What I will do is be patient and hope some of the players can get to grips with the league much quicker than I expect and that they develop in ways that I am not expecting.

What would be nice however, is for there to be some reality checks around here when it comes to squad building and for the forum not to make new scapegoats as they have done down the years with people likes of Alonso, Mount, Kai and Jorgi. 

Edited August 21, 2023 by King Kante

[The Rising Sun 711]

there were some positives since most teams will defend with 10 against us for large periods of the game and then try damaging us via counters/set plays.

1. Poch has coached extremely intricate 1-2's around the opponent box which opens up attacking opportunities for us. This breaks their static defend with 10 strategy. However, making the right pass, or shooting at the goal more often has to be encouraged as goal opportunities come very often simply by having the ball pinging around the pen area. chaos is good in this sense.

2. long vertical fast passes upfield which break the lines are an active feature now of our play- which will become even better with game practice.

negatives

1. we do not shoot from outside the box enough. So no chances of goalkeeper fumbles, blocks that fall into the path of our attackers, or even corners for set plays.

2. Our set plays have become horrendous. Like wow. so bad. From free kicks to corner routines to corner kick ins - needs major work.

3. Mudryk looks lost against low blocks.

 

it'll take time but all the ingredients for success are there.

Not going to be an easy season but lets see where we go from here.

[Bluepower777 36]

I still can’t figure it out🤔 , on what basis did they spend so much money on so many players and yet none of them look the part? Who or what made them decide that. I mean we talking about really a huge insane amount of money. There’s better or equal quality players in our lower leagues.

[lluubbeenn 173]

We really need to calm down. We played great until Antonio killed us. This is a very young team with a new manager. West Ham love to play with 10 men behind the ball and with missing the pen we gave them the opportunity to do exactly that. Not being able to score against 10 men is hard to find excuse for, but in my opinion the team needs to win a couple of games to start believing in themselves more.

The only big problem I had yesterday was that Poch threw Caicedo in a game he was soo not ready for. You could clearly see he had no idea where to position himself, when and who to tackle, who to pass to. Very sad showing. Injuries are another massive problem that annoys me as f*ck. I am not sure what can we do about that, but I sure as hell hope our luck/strategy/doctors improve. 

[Gundalf 806]

[King Kante 1,643]

1 minute ago, Gundalf said:

Would be about 12 if we didn't have Silva playing.

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

Average age is not representative here bc of Silva. Median age is what we should look at it and that is around 22. Significant gap to the next team I am sure 

[Mhsc 1,097]

3 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

Yeah I know its not a huge deal but since Jorginho’s departure, I am all for strikers taking penalties IMO. 

Imagine if Jackson took it and scored it, that would get him up and running for the season. And for his position, he had a good game v Liverpool and got no reward whilst he didn’t do so well today but again the main stat people will be concerned with is 2 games, 0 goals scored. Longer that goes on, more pressure gets heaped on. Even for a kid.

Not saying Enzo did anything wrong - although the run up was embarrassing but every penalty run up like that is - just I think we should be looking at giving players who’s main job it is to stick the ball in the net regularly the best chance to do so.

Maybe Poch will stick with Enzo for the next time but I think if you miss you should be off the next one. No questions asked. I know we have a long running history with Frank, Eden and Jorginho being number 1 penalty takers 99% of the time over the last 15 years or so but is there anybody who is renowned as being a regular penalty scorer in the squad? 

Have always thought it should be your most cold blooded, composed in front of goal guy, which you'd expect would most often be your 9 if you've got a good one, because that is the bulk of their job. I would absolutely let the lad pad his numbers by adding 5+ penalty goals a year too, personally I would love to see a Chelsea player competing hard for the Golden Boot - probably Haaland wins unless he gets injured, but having a striker who is in the top 3 for the Golden Boot every year inspires massive confidence IMO. I was absolutely baffled by it when I realised Enzo was going to take it, because of the sheer disrespect to NJ. If he wasn't on the field then ok, I personally still wouldn't pick Enzo but I can listen to an argument in favour of him in that situation.

[lluubbeenn 173]

5 minutes ago, Gundalf said:

As you can see we played against one of the most experienced teams. Well drilled in what they do - defend and counter. First half you could see which team had more talent. Second half you could see who has been there done that. Simple as that.

[Reddish-Blue 2,505]

24 minutes ago, Magic Lamps said:

Average age is not representative here bc of Silva. Median age is what we should look at it and that is around 22. Significant gap to the next team I am sure 

The fact that we don't have many players in that 26-30 age group is a massive concern.   The young guns will always need a few experienced heads alongside them to lead the way.  

Get the feeling that we'll be found out quite a bit this season by the rest of the top 6. 

Enzo - Caicedo - Lavia  will be a huge midfield for years to come but who's the experienced one that can settle the team down when the going gets tough?    A player like Jorginho would have been handy right about now....

[DH1988 1,348]

Paqueta shouldn't have even been on the field and its the second game, a day later I'm still annoyed about the lineup and performance after 65-70th minute but at the end of the day, taking a step back, I was happy with the attacking flow yesterday once we settled, its just annoying that we have some glaringly weak areas.

We've spent a ton, we all know that, we're paying for previous mistakes as well, at a massive premium. Hope that the debut hasn't affected Moises too much to be honest.

[Fernando 6,585]

Well we didn't start with Caicedo nor Lavia. They would have been good for this game. 

But just got bought and not enough time to gel with the squad. 

Maybe in 2 or 3 games times we start to see some improvement. 

Usually November was always our worst time, but I think this time might be different, hoping for improvement since young squad gelling over time. 

[Mhsc 1,097]

Caicedo should not have been subbed on imo, it was a bizarre move when we're chasing the game and very high pressure situation to put a young guy into but I guess that's the treatment you get when you come for a record fee, I'd have rather either started him or not played him at all.

Not convinced that Thiago and Disasi is a good CB pairing, good when we're in possession and building but as a combo they're a bit too sluggish in defense I think, one or the other for me but probably not both?

Edited August 21, 2023 by Mhsc

[Fulham Broadway 17,313]

Left before the end - still fucked off about it- you start thinking Potter and Lampard might have got 3 points against 10 men. 

Plus points - you can see the seeds of a good team, but we're lacking leaders

[MoroccanBlue 5,382]

Think its evident Poch needs two systems.

- One with a CAM/CF (carrying the ball + linking with attacker) 

- One with 3 central midfielders. (433)

 

There is no way he can expect to go into the season with fit CAMs throughout the entirety, and the mark of a great manager is being flexible. What I saw yesterday was Poch panicking and throwing the kitchen sink after Mudryk at CAM experiment destroyed the momentum.