I was given the task of writing 5 things we learnt about West Ham against Newcastle United. I was looking forward to the task but then came a drab bore draw. I will try my best to scrape the barrel.
- Our defenders will be unsung heroes this season. Although Newcastle had 16 shots they were all off target, showing that the defenders only gave farfetched chances to the opposition.
- We really could do with a back-up goalscorer. Don’t get me wrong Modibo Maiga played his part (winning 10 aerial duels) but he isn’t the ideal back-up striker so this needs to be changed regardless of him scoring or not.
- Matt Jarvis put in an impressive amount of crosses (10) that with Andy Carroll in the middle would hopefully have come of something.
- Mark Noble is certainly our midfield maestro making 60 passes with a pass accuracy of 82%. He also had the most touches of any West Ham player with 70.
- And finally (at the bottom of the barrel) the entire game only had 1 shot on target, and that was from new signing Stewart Downing. That’s a good thing that we learnt right? Although Modibo Maiga didn’t get a shot on target away despite playing centre forward which is the very least you expect from a frontman.
Maiga,is playing out of position,on his own up front,he is better off a front man,AC,or coming from either flank into box but I agree he should have got @ least ONE on target
Malga isn’t good enough for perm, he’s never showed anything to me
dare i say it, but we should have kept cole, more of a handful and a better goal scorer than malta !
We don’t need a ‘back up’ striker ! We need more quality up front !Don’t blame Maiga ! W e should of gone 4-4-2 ,with Vaz Te partnering Maiga.Playing the bal to them on the deck !Vaz Te is no winger ,can’t coss a ball.BUT has exellent predatory instincts and would combine well with Maigs.But play 2 their strenghs.Surely Sam’s sole philosphy can be soley around about hoofing the ball to Carroll.Who either gets on the end of it or knocks the ball down to Nolan.If it is.
we are in trouble.It reminds me of our final game of our promotion season against Hull.We had midgets upfront..in Baldock & Maynard.Who were marked by two giants.Yet we hoofed the ball up to them for 90 mins,handing possesion to the opposition.How stupid was that ?
It’s the tactics!!
Last season we were awful away because we didn’t attempt to win any games, our first thought is always not to lose and hope to nick a goal, that’s fine if you have someone in the team who can score from very few opportunities. We don’t have anyone that good.
We must start away games with some attacking intent.