What Did We Learn About West Ham Against QPR?

I was fortunate enough to battle the weather conditions and make it to Upton Park for the game against QPR, and it’s fair to say I left disappointed, but what did we learn from the game?

 

 

Well for a start, we need a clinical striker. Time and time again balls were put into the box, more out of hope than anything else, but we were unable to capitalise. Those who watched the game will agree that we dominated virtually throughout, but we were unable to put the ball into the net. I felt Marouane Chamakh actually played well, his touch was good, fed people in, held the ball up, won every header, a good shift for the side, but when the ball was put in, we just couldn’t put it away, whereas QPR, with Loic Remy, have that difference in the final third. We haven’t seen enough of Chamakh & Paulista to see if they can provide that, or have any meaningful effect on a game, but we need to address this if things do not pick up.

 

 

Our delivery from set pieces and the wide area’s need to improve, without question; we brought in Matt Jarvis with the aim to improve our team crossing, but for all the balls he is putting in, very few are of good quality, most are hopeful balls into an area, with no real zip or pace. Joe Cole’s are a slight improvement, but again, his deliveries in from corners were pretty average at best.

 

 

Now, free kicks. Mark Noble takes most of them, and I don’t really understand why. They have no pace, or effectiveness, and are easily cleared, and I don’t see why a set piece specialist like Jarvis or Cole isn’t taking them, it’s baffling. I doubt we will be able to address this need during the current transfer window, but it is something which needs to be looked at in the summer.

 

 

The offside trap needs work. We were again beaten defensively in our own areas by incorrectly playing the offside trap against arguably the fastest player on the pitch in Loic Remy, who could easily be wearing claret and blue if you believe what you read. No doubt, Winston Reid has been exceptional all season, but it’s becoming a recurring theme that he tries to step up when a ball is played in, but is too late and the striker is onside. At the time we were dominating and QPR couldn’t get out of their half, with one pass, our defence is torn apart and Remy is in on a 1-on-1. We cannot continue to concede sloppy goals like these; otherwise we will be pulled into the relegation scrap, because we aren’t scoring enough goals to balance out the sloppy one’s.

 

 

 

We lack pace, all around. If we run through the team, I cannot say, with the exception of Jarvis that we have any pace. We are a slow side. This gives the opposition time to regroup and regain their shape. We also lack creativity. We were unable to find that key pass. We do not have a David Silva, or a Juan Mata, or even a Jordi Gomez, no one in our team has any idea on how to break down the opposition, we are becoming a one trick pony, play it out to Jarvis/whoever happens to be out on the right, and hope from there, which, against a stronger side, would be easy to defend against. We need to work the loan market and find someone who has that creative spark and can find that pass to penetrate the back four. The key to winning games is scoring goals, and we cannot do this on a regular basis, if it stay’s as it is, we are going to struggle.

 

 

 

Big Sam has an unhealthy attraction to Kevin Nolan & Ricardo Vaz Te. Sport in modern time is all about ‘what have you done for me lately’ and you see this time and time again with players/managers being given less time to make an impact, and recently, Nolan & Vaz Te have produced next to nothing on the football pitch. Chamakh had more of an impact than Nolan did yesterday, yet he was subbed off. Nolan isn’t scoring, and Vaz Te is just so ineffectual. I’d much rather Matty Taylor come on instead of Vaz Te, someone who actually has a good delivery, and can shoot. Nolan is slow. He cannot get around the pitch with any conviction, and really, shouldn’t be playing, and I think many of you will agree.