[Archived] West Ham United V Brfc 3 - 1 Wham

[Bobby G]

Our solid defensive displays came from alot of rugged, hard-tackling in a 4-5-1 formation where we pretty much showed no ambition in most games other than home against mediocre teams. It worked. It got results.

But, Nelson was a big big part of that success. If our success this season depends on him being fit all the time and also Bellamy being fit all the time, then we are doomed.

We need to get a couple more players in. I think its obvious.

I am so disappointed to lose to a promoted team.

Things can only get better, I guess...

[Quack]

Summer optimism rapidly evaporated in a cloud of bubbles - a reality check now very necessary. The second half sounded dire - Rovers yet again press the self destruct button and another red card - could be a very long season on this evidence.

[sumps]

full time. although it's only the first game of the season it's very worrying to see how easily we were beaten by, let's face it, a team who will almost certainly be relegated!

too many players didn't turn up and my patience with emerton is almost gone, if he doesn't start doing something soon then we should get rid in january. wigan have plenty of money, no doubt we can flog him to them for a tidy sum!

not happy

[Philly Rover ®]

I agree, I just hope there's not a knee-jerk reaction by Hughes that makes him ditch the style of play that was obviously working in pre-season.

338731[/snapback]

But if it doesn't work against a newly promoted team with what barely qualifies as a Premiership roster, who will it work against?

Agree that I'd love to see 4-4-2 work out, but if we need to be more defensive to prevent horrible results like this, I'm all for it.

[Welshrover1981]

Well its nice to hear that Rovers have started where they left off from last season.

Dickov getting sent off for a ridiculous challenge,

Emerton losing his concentration and thinking he is in the opposition half and giving it away for the Hammers to score

and Savage being bloody useless, when we need him most.

but hey its the first game of the season and its a marathon not a sprint.

[Bobby G]

Norwegian dudes, since you guys watched the game:

How many signings do you think we realistically need. 2-3? In which positions, considering Bellamy isnt fit yet and will be back and Nelson will be back too and Gresko once fully recovered could be an option at left back, judging from todays match?

[brfcshabba]

At least we aren't bottom Sunderland are on alphabetical order.

[Bobby G]

West Hams squad is as good as the best in the league according to Pardew.

On a serious note, I think they have a decent team, probably not the worst team in the league for sure.

[krislu]

Norwegian dudes, since you guys watched the game:

How many signings do you think we realistically need. 2-3? In which positions, considering Bellamy isnt fit yet and will be back and Nelson will be back too and Gresko once fully recovered could be an option at left back, judging from todays match?

338739[/snapback]

IMO we need a left back who can defend, a centre back who can defend, and a creative midfielder like cahill who can play just infront of our midfield in a 4-5-1 formation.

We can NOT play with to out-and-out strikers who offers nothing in defense, we just can't..

[Mike Graham]

SHOOT Emerton NOW

What are we doing keeping this headless moron...does he ever lift his head up and look? Why didn't we shift him off to the barcodes?

SHOOT HIM/PUT HIM DOWN NOW

[Rovers_4_life]

Terrible, how can we fall apart to a poor side like that. Mokoena is not a centre half, we saw that last season.

John Williams' prediction of season ticket sales has just taken a turn for the worse!

[Laurence]

listened to the game on 5Live - the first mention of Emerton was 30mins into the second half and you'd never have known that Bellamy was on the pitch. Kuqi sounded ok, mistified by the substitutions!

still, its a fair way to go yet, lets just put this behind us and start again next week - please!

Edited August 13, 2005 by Laurence

[benhben]

What happened to pre season form? Sounds like we missed nelsen.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Cant wait for Hughes summary of that pathetic second half,I really cant.

[Bobby G]

3 signings then, and none in attack.

I would think we dont need a left back and can do with Gresko as the other two positions are larger priorities.

I doubt that Hughes will sign an attacking midfielder though as he is banking on Reid alot.

That leaves a damn centre back and the possibility of another striker.

I have never been convinced by Todd as quality. I know he played out of his skin last season, but he was efficient, solid and consistent, and probably played to his maximum potential to reach those levels last season. I would have been happy if we signed another centre back as Nissa and Short both left.

Oh wait, Amoruso will be back soon. Goodie goodie...

[The1mattjansen]

Ok, We've lost the game and we haven't played well, but there's no need to start calling the players, and moaning about they have 'let us down again'.

We don't have a define right to win games, but I'm sure Hughes will have words this week, and I fully expect a win next week against Fulham.

[LeChuck]

We need a central midfielder, but we won't get one because Hughes loves Savage. His headless chicken style of play isn't suited to this level, it's probably why his career peaked at the mighty Birmingham City.

Reid is a good box-to-box player and if we could have a holding midfielder who's intelligent with the ball alongside him we'd have a perfect combination. Savage is just impossible to put into a pair, his positioning is too erratic to be a holding player and he's not intelligent enough to be the forward running one.

Apart from that, and possibly cover at centre back, there isn't a whole lot wrong.

[LA Rover]

But if it doesn't work against a newly promoted team with what barely qualifies as a Premiership roster, who will it work against?

Agree that I'd love to see 4-4-2 work out, but if we need to be more defensive to prevent horrible results like this, I'm all for it.

338737[/snapback]

I have to agree with Philly here...I've said in previous posts that a lot of our "rock solid" defensive performances last year had much to do with the 4-5-1, and not as much as the individual players.

Good managers don't make the players adapt to their system, they build they system out of the players they've got, and that's what Hughes did last season. So the options are simple...go back to 4-5-1 or get some better players in.

Can't be dropping maximum points to promoted clubs...those are the points that come back to bite you in the ass.

[Eddie]

Well couldn't be much more upset. Totally let us down, especially after the first 20 minutes seemed to be us pushing for that workmanlike win.

Can't believe, just wish I could each player a punch right now. We need to add players to this squad...optimism gone.

[LA Rover]

...mistified by the substitutions!

338747[/snapback]

Perhaps with the pre-season going the way it had, Hughes wanted to get Bellamy a full 90 under his belt to build his fitness as quick as possible.

[krislu]

Stopp talking about Emerton, the whole team was awful.

Neill - Todd - Mokoena - Matteo => repeat that 10 times, think about it, just how good are these players, really?!

My pre-season optimism has now gone compleatly down the drain, there is no way we will be among the top 10 at the end of the season if we aint going to sign at least 2 more players..

[rover6]

Cant wait for Hughes summary of that pathetic second half,I really cant.

338749[/snapback]

I think Hughes may have something to answer for. He changed the formation to 4-5-1 from 4-4-2 when it was 1-1 and it worked so appallingly badly that he reverted back to 4-4-2 by taking Mokoena off.

I don't think there should be panic but certain areas need to be seriously examined.

a) There is no-one challenging Emerton for the right midfield berth.

b.) Hughes needs to sort out the left back situation. Drop Matteo and replace him with either Gresko or Andy Taylor imo.

Edited August 13, 2005 by rover6

[LA Rover]

We need a central midfielder, but we won't get one because Hughes loves Savage.  His headless chicken style of play isn't suited to this level, it's probably why his career peaked at the mighty Birmingham City. 

Reid is a good box-to-box player and if we could have a holding midfielder who's intelligent with the ball alongside him we'd have a perfect combination.  Savage is just impossible to put into a pair, his positioning is too erratic to be a holding player and he's not intelligent enough to be the forward running one.

Apart from that, and possibly cover at centre back, there isn't a whole lot wrong.

338752[/snapback]

Really?

[modes98]

SHOOT Emerton NOW

What are we doing keeping this headless moron...does he ever lift his head up and look?  Why didn't we shift him off to the barcodes?

SHOOT HIM/PUT HIM DOWN NOW

338744[/snapback]

Harsh! So he cost us 1 goal, we still would have lost.

Hopefully he won't concentrate on this mistake and will put in the performances we know he can in the next few weeks.

This may sound strange but losing 3-1 might work more in our favour than losing 1-0. As with last season after boro and chelski we changed our way of play and became a much better side.

The game against fulham takes on much greater importance now, and i feel hughes must go out and look for a half decent centre back, as if nelsen or toddy get injured we will have to endure most games like that! Not a good day!

[The1mattjansen]

We need a central midfielder, but we won't get one because Hughes loves Savage.  His headless chicken style of play isn't suited to this level, it's probably why his career peaked at the mighty Birmingham City. 

Reid is a good box-to-box player and if we could have a holding midfielder who's intelligent with the ball alongside him we'd have a perfect combination.  Savage is just impossible to put into a pair, his positioning is too erratic to be a holding player and he's not intelligent enough to be the forward running one.

Apart from that, and possibly cover at centre back, there isn't a whole lot wrong.

338752[/snapback]

A good point well made, but I think Savage's energy can make up for his sometimes erratic positioning, and we will see that come good in the next few weeks.