***West Ham v CITY match thread ***

[DoomMerchant]

Forgot to say I thought West Ham deserved it today. Fucking depressing.

That they did. Noble and Song were brilliant first half.

The count's disinterest in combatting it whilst waiting for cards to fly was boring and stupid.

Cheers

[Dubaimancityfan]

While not a good performance by any measure, I do think that we were unlucky today and sometimes you do need luck no matter how good (or bad) you play. We hit the goal posts twice and Adrian made a couple of great save (the one from Jojo comes to mind). Their 2nd goal just crossed the line and if not for the technology might not have been counted.
Not taking anything away from overall mediocre performance and the bad formation that the Count insists to start with, but we did have a lot of play and created chances in the 2nd half unlike the 2nd half against CSKA !
Oh and Aguero can pass more and not try to win every match single handedly !

[Goaters 103]

The blame for that nonsense today lies firmly and squarely at the managers door.

Once again - forgive if we'd make this mistake before, say in Moscow 4 days ago - but you cant play only 4 in midfield away from home; especially when 3 of those 4 - Silva, Toure and Navas are utterly useless when we don't have the ball.

Our daft selection and stupid formation today gave away the initiative before a ball was kicked, surrendered possession to the opponent and gave them impetus when their tails were already up.

Im losing the will to live Manuel. Sending us out in a basic Mike Basset 4-4-2 - and then refusing to change it and admit your wrong until 60 plus minutes - is horseshit.

Milner and Fenandinho should've started; Navas and Dzeko shouldn't. It isn't rocket science and there were 40 odd thousand of us who watch that team every week who could see it and would have screamed that at 11.30am when you submitted that fateful team-sheet.

On the players themselves - Kompany was awful, Clichy was shite, Zabaleta looks leg weary and out on his feet, Silva again gave the ball away too much in the first half, Toure was again a peripheral figure and Navas was too lightweight. Dzeko had an utter stinker, whilst for me Aguero didn't give us nearly enough - he missed a sitter from 6 yards out, forced a save from the keeper and .... and .... that's about it really.

We only established control of the game when Milner and Kolarov entered the fray, way waaaaaay too late.

Dereliction of duty today by Pellegrini, and not for the first time. Send us out in that 4-4-2 vs United Mr Pellegrini and you can go.

[Original Dub]

Kolarov has to start every game possible IMO. He is no worse than clichy defensively and probably the best player in the league at delivering pin point crosses - high or low - into the box.

[zuricity]

has Jovetic done anything since coming on?

Changed the game for us, that's all.

indeed .. we lost.

[Sideshow Bob]

has Jovetic done anything since coming on?

Changed the game for us, that's all.

are you serious? he came on in ~57th and we did nothing but go 2-0 down until Silva pulled one back out of nowhere.

the subs of Milner and Kolarov are what changed the game, especially the latter.
Jovetic did have that great shot on goal though.

Wtf?? Did u even watch the match??? Jovetic was excellent. Direct energetic and creative. Absolutely miles better with him on the pitch. He needs to start next match.

[DoomMerchant]

has Jovetic done anything since coming on?

Changed the game for us, that's all.

are you serious? he came on in ~57th and we did nothing but go 2-0 down until Silva pulled one back out of nowhere.

the subs of Milner and Kolarov are what changed the game, especially the latter.
Jovetic did have that great shot on goal though.

Wtf?? Did u even watch the match??? Jovetic was excellent. Direct energetic and creative. Absolutely miles better with him on the pitch. He needs to start next match.

Why he didn't get swapped for BosSpaz at HT was a mystery. Jayko showed in the first 5 mins that his touches and day were going to be absolute poo. And that it was.

Cheers

[aaron bond]

As soon as the line-up was announced, the game was always likely to be a struggle for us.

Playing a midfield of 4, when 3 of those players don't like defending, was always going to cause us problems. Dropping Milner, probably player of the season so far after Aguero, another stupid decision.

The fault lies solely with Pellegrini today. His refusal to acknowledge how other teams set-up and picking players on supposed reputation instead of form is costing us.

He acted in this way last season and it annoyed me at the time, but it was his first season and it was easier to believe he would learn from his mistakes. However, so far this season he is continuing to make the same mistakes and tomorrow we could find ourselves 8 points behind Chelsea.

This season has the horrible feel of 2012/13 about it. If Pellegrini cannot see the issues, then I hope someone else at the club identifies them soon!

[walmai]

For the fans, that goes a long way towards making up for the utter debacle of the LC semis last season, so it follows that, for us, the best news was pre-match...no Negredo.

For him, West Ham have been a happy hunting ground in recent seasons, so we also benefited from a low profile performance from Toure. Aguero won't have won many friends for his off the ball stuff with Noble and he too had a 5 or so out of ten day.

I was surprised I have to say about the somewhat modest options available from the bench for you too.

If anything, that team you put out was much less potent than your 'best 11' from last season, which, when you're defending a title and hopeful of a meaningful campaign in Europe is a little confusing in all honesty.

I'd say that you deserved a goal or two more, but didn't put the fight in, or perhaps have that little twinkle of something unexpected to deserve to win.

It was a sweet day for us, as I am sure you can appreciate. Look through these binoculars, guys...that's Man U sweating on the horizon over there...

[zuricity]

has Jovetic done anything since coming on?

Changed the game for us, that's all.

are you serious? he came on in ~57th and we did nothing but go 2-0 down until Silva pulled one back out of nowhere.

the subs of Milner and Kolarov are what changed the game, especially the latter.
Jovetic did have that great shot on goal though.

Wtf?? Did u even watch the match??? Jovetic was excellent. Direct energetic and creative. Absolutely miles better with him on the pitch. He needs to start next match.

i don't agree at all with the things phips writes, but Jovetic was a bad choice today,did nothing.

Like Navas he flatters to deceive.

[South Stand Balti]

It' amazes me how influential Chsmps league games are on league form. Last season we lost both league games directly after playing CSKA and this season we have done the same again.

[zuricity]

For the fans, that goes a long way towards making up for the utter debacle of the LC semis last season, so it follows that, for us, the best news was pre-match...no Negredo.

For him, West Ham have been a happy hunting ground in recent seasons, so we also benefited from a low profile performance from Toure. Aguero won't have won many friends for his off the ball stuff with Noble and he too had a 5 or so out of ten day.

I was surprised I have to say about the somewhat modest options available from the bench for you too.

If anything, that team you put out was much less potent than your 'best 11' from last season, which, when you're defending a title and hopeful of a meaningful campaign in Europe is a little confusing in all honesty.

I'd say that you deserved a goal or two more, but didn't put the fight in, or perhaps have that little twinkle of something unexpected to deserve to win.

It was a sweet day for us, as I am sure you can appreciate. Look through these binoculars, guys...that's Man U sweating on the horizon over there...

Hi there Walmai..

You deserved the win today.
Whatever problems we have, the best team won. Everytime Edin was on the ball, for example,you had 4 men tirelessly closing him down. You guys did your homework.

[South Stand Balti]

For the fans, that goes a long way towards making up for the utter debacle of the LC semis last season, so it follows that, for us, the best news was pre-match...no Negredo.

For him, West Ham have been a happy hunting ground in recent seasons, so we also benefited from a low profile performance from Toure. Aguero won't have won many friends for his off the ball stuff with Noble and he too had a 5 or so out of ten day.

I was surprised I have to say about the somewhat modest options available from the bench for you too.

If anything, that team you put out was much less potent than your 'best 11' from last season, which, when you're defending a title and hopeful of a meaningful campaign in Europe is a little confusing in all honesty.

I'd say that you deserved a goal or two more, but didn't put the fight in, or perhaps have that little twinkle of something unexpected to deserve to win.

It was a sweet day for us, as I am sure you can appreciate. Look through these binoculars, guys...that's Man U sweating on the horizon over there...

Enjoy your evening, you deserved the win. I have a friend who supports West Ham. He text me as soon as the final whistle went. Last season we played West Ham four times and he did nt text me once, the cheeky git.

[Goaters 103]

For the fans, that goes a long way towards making up for the utter debacle of the LC semis last season, so it follows that, for us, the best news was pre-match...no Negredo.

For him, West Ham have been a happy hunting ground in recent seasons, so we also benefited from a low profile performance from Toure. Aguero won't have won many friends for his off the ball stuff with Noble and he too had a 5 or so out of ten day.

I was surprised I have to say about the somewhat modest options available from the bench for you too.

If anything, that team you put out was much less potent than your 'best 11' from last season, which, when you're defending a title and hopeful of a meaningful campaign in Europe is a little confusing in all honesty.

I'd say that you deserved a goal or two more, but didn't put the fight in, or perhaps have that little twinkle of something unexpected to deserve to win.

It was a sweet day for us, as I am sure you can appreciate. Look through these binoculars, guys...that's Man U sweating on the horizon over there...

Some fair points Walmai and you deserved to win the game, end of.

Our performance was principally influenced by our managers selection and formation, and refusal to learn from his past experiences and mistakes.

Agree Agueros stamp on Noble wasn't great, though it was payback for the 3 yellow cards Noble should have had in the 1st half - his stamp on Dzeko wasn't exactly clever either.

Well done today though, you deserved it. We were toss. Too many big name players, and manager not doing it.

[City64]

Terrible week !!!

2 up front isn't working for us , we are a far better and versatile team with just Aguero up front . Totally fucked off and we are missing our edge.

Mangala diabolical first half , Dzeko hopeless but he has these spells doesn't he , Yaya much better second half , Silva unplayable once Pelligrini sorted the system out . Don't think we deserved to lose but football kicks you in the bollocks from time to time ......... we have to be better , get it sorted Mr Pelligrini !!!

[nottsblue]

Not a good result today. Maybe we were a bit unlucky, maybe West Ham fully deserved the win, doesn't really matter as we lost. Need a big favour from rags tomorrow. Should Chelsea win and go eight clear it will be very difficult to claw that back. Not impossible at all, but very difficult. Can anyone really see us not losing again and Chelsea losing another three games? Unlikely for me.

I think we've seen enough games this season to see the current midfield incumbents need to readjust their play or we will get nothing in May. Pellergrini needs to get a grip on this and fast or I fear his tenure will be shortened. Just to say I for one hope not, but our owners want European success as well as domestic glory and quite frankly, we've been poor in Europe up to now. Many more showings like today and the knives will be sharpened. Shame, but it's tough at the top.

As many have pointed out, we are too pedestrian in attack and too lazy when we don't have the ball. This is either down to the tactics, the players willingness to press, the manager, the playing personnel or more like as not, a combination of these. I personally think we need to refresh the engine room and require some young blood in there. Whether as a club, we are buying older players for now in readiness for some academy lads to come through remains to be seen. What is evident is we are frequently being outfought and overrun in midfield this season. That's diabolical given our personnel.

The defence isn't as solid either. Mangala has had a rocky start. Can forgive him that but Clichy? Jesus wept. Kompany isn't beyond criticism and nor is Zabba. Are they tired? Something is missing I feel and I did the signing of Mangala might have been the thing that gave us a lift. Maybe in time it will, but for now teams are expecting to score at least once against us. This is unnacceptable and again the buck stops with Pellegrini

Still, onwards to the next game. Lets now focus on that. Also at the end of the day we will still finish second in all likelihood meaning for five seasons in a row the only side to get more points than us were league champions. Bar the years we won of course. Compared to the dross served up throughout the 80s 90s & the early 00s second and challenging for titles is something we used to dream about. Lets not moan too much. We will still smash the rags

[DoomMerchant]

For the fans, that goes a long way towards making up for the utter debacle of the LC semis last season, so it follows that, for us, the best news was pre-match...no Negredo.

For him, West Ham have been a happy hunting ground in recent seasons, so we also benefited from a low profile performance from Toure. Aguero won't have won many friends for his off the ball stuff with Noble and he too had a 5 or so out of ten day.

I was surprised I have to say about the somewhat modest options available from the bench for you too.

If anything, that team you put out was much less potent than your 'best 11' from last season, which, when you're defending a title and hopeful of a meaningful campaign in Europe is a little confusing in all honesty.

I'd say that you deserved a goal or two more, but didn't put the fight in, or perhaps have that little twinkle of something unexpected to deserve to win.

It was a sweet day for us, as I am sure you can appreciate. Look through these binoculars, guys...that's Man U sweating on the horizon over there...

Congrats on the win..well deserved as painful as it might be to admit.

Pace and power and you made a fist of 90 mins. Classic football. Well done.

Cheers

[Hazy2]

For the fans, that goes a long way towards making up for the utter debacle of the LC semis last season, so it follows that, for us, the best news was pre-match...no Negredo.

For him, West Ham have been a happy hunting ground in recent seasons, so we also benefited from a low profile performance from Toure. Aguero won't have won many friends for his off the ball stuff with Noble and he too had a 5 or so out of ten day.

I was surprised I have to say about the somewhat modest options available from the bench for you too.

If anything, that team you put out was much less potent than your 'best 11' from last season, which, when you're defending a title and hopeful of a meaningful campaign in Europe is a little confusing in all honesty.

I'd say that you deserved a goal or two more, but didn't put the fight in, or perhaps have that little twinkle of something unexpected to deserve to win.

It was a sweet day for us, as I am sure you can appreciate. Look through these binoculars, guys...that's Man U sweating on the horizon over there...

Congrats on the win..well deserved as painful as it might be to admit.

Pace and power and you made a fist of 90 mins. Classic football. Well done.

Cheers

Fuck me why not have a group hug... My father in Law is fooking hammering me all night here fuck West Ham, sorry Walmai mate all the love is a touch to much for me... P.s love ya

[Michigan Blue]

Don't look now, but we've won just 4 of our last 11 games, one of which came against Sheffield Wednesday.

Nowhere near where we need to be, and even now the season is already at a crossroads.

[DoomMerchant]

Don't look now, but we've won just 4 of our last 11 games, one of which came against Sheffield Wednesday.

Nowhere near where we need to be, and even now the season is already at a crossroads.

It's been pure crap. I hate the football.

Cheers