West Ham have fared pretty well against the Premier League ‘big boys’ this season, and the away trip to the Etihad, home of Manchester City, was no different
1) Kevin Nolan doesn’t seem to be up to it lately, and despite his goal against Wigan last weekend, he isn’t up to the current pace of the Premier League. Although he is our joint top scorer he provides nothing much more to the team than a good character in the dressing room. For me, in this late stage of the campaign; having survived the drop – Jack Collison should be experimented with in the position of Nolan, allowing the creative attacker some essential game time, and also some time to adapt playing behind the striker.
2) It doesn’t seem that luck goes in our way in many games, and with us being denied two penalties – due to handballs from Pablo Zabaleta – it can be also concluded that we aren’t any referee’s favourite of sides. It can also be found that there is clear bias from referees, of which has been evident in more than 5 games this season!
3) We seem to have no game-changer and when we need a burst of creative energy most, we look to the bench, only to find Championship standard Matthew Taylor and Carlton Cole, thus showing that we need to offload and ship in come summer. I would much rather see Robert Hall or Elliott Lee come from off the bench and be given game time, than to see Taylor and Cole be brought on. Come summer we need to sign a player who can be a game-changer, it’s something we lack. Despite getting a late goal against City, there wasn’t much hope of winning the game with lacklustre crosses and poor refereeing decisions amongst slow players, I.e Nolan, Taylor, O’Neil, Carroll, Cole.
4) Did you know Jarvis has whipped in the most chances with the least assists? Well it’s true! The reason behind this, is his crosses aren’t poor per se, but they seem to loop, not allowing our attacker to get a good header on the ball. What we need is for Jarvis and any other crosser to get the ball into the box at head-height and with some pace. What was evident against City was the frequent amount of crosses that looped fully out of play, or over the heads of the targeted attacker.
5) Something I noticed too often was our players taking the hard option and losing possession when they could have played a simple, easy, pass that could have built up to something better. Barcelona don’t take the hard pass, they easily work it around, and yes they recently got hammered, but it’s better than losing possession all too often, and allowing the other side to break. I’m not saying we have the ability to grace the pitch like Barca do, however what I am saying is that we need to take a steady build up approach, work it up, and then turn on the heat in the final third.
What did you notice from the game against City? Let us know.
Ben Edkins (@benedkins12)
If you wish you can always watch West Ham’s game against Manchester City in full and its highlights on http://www.footballwatch.net/team/207
What you have written is exactly what i have thought for a long time now. Couldn’t have put it better myself especially about Nolan and the crossing bit. Joe Cole whipped in crosses on his second debut, now he floats it like the rest of them. Big Sam has done his bit, cheers, now do one.
Who would you bring in as manager then?
We missed out on dicanio it seems but i cant stop thinking about the effect he would have on the team, the match days and the club as a whole. Maybe Sam until di canio is available again but you know what the dildo brothers and co said about him.