There is no doubt that West Ham deserved the three points on Saturday. A dubious late penalty, which both wasn’t a foul and wasn’t inside the box, gifted them an equaliser that could mean so much in our Champions League challenge later in the season.
However, we were superb again, and Bilic is a man of his word. He said a few weeks back that he would never take a draw, and his team are always set up to play for the win. Look at the average positions of the West Ham players at Stamford Bridge on Saturday:
Kouyate has dropped in as the holding midfielder, and Ogbonna and Reid are fairly deep. But Antonio and Cresswell are so far advanced in comparison to the other defenders. It almost forms a back 3, with Antonio nearly as far forward as Valencia. Lanzini played slightly deeper than usual to help Noble, but Payet was actually our most advanced player for most of the game. By playing Cresswell further forward down the left, Payet doesn’t have to stay out there and can find space more centrally, which he did when he played in Carroll for our second goal.
Bilic’s team isn’t set up to shut up shop, and whilst 2-1 up we had chances to further our lead with Carroll having a header cleared off the line. Cresswell hit the crossbar from inside the box, which shows how advanced he was for the majority of the game.
Payet watch:
Just the 5 chances created for Payet this weekend, including one sumptuous assist for Carroll’s goal. The Frenchman wasn’t quite as involved as he usually is, but still came up with the goods for the second goal. 4 of the chances he created were from corners, which demonstrates how good his set piece ability is once again.
Lanzini to Payet was the highest pass combination in the game. Considering Chelsea had majority of the ball, and most passes by a distance, this shows that the two players have formed a real partnership in midfield.
Antonio: Not a defender, but a threat from RB
Ignoring the non-penalty incident, Antonio made four interceptions in the game, but most of them were further up the pitch than would be expected. He puts us on the front foot, but when one on one against a decent attacker it isn’t surprising to see him struggling. It was Martial last week and this week Kenedy managed five take on’s in the first half, more than all of the West Ham team combined. Kenedy clearly enjoyed playing against a midfielder, but was subbed at half time after going off injured. Pedro came on and wasn’t quite so effective, with two take on’s. Antonio completed two take on’s as well, we need him back in his favourite position sooner rather than later.
In fairness to Antonio, he made two clearances from his own six yard box, demonstrating his heading ability once again. He works so hard that it’s impossible to criticise him for playing out of position, but the sooner Byram is back the better for both attack and defence.
Carroll: Haunting Chelsea once again
Andy Carroll got his fourth goal of the season in the draw at Chelsea. Interestingly, half of them have been scored against the West London side after he scored the winner against them back in October, also from the bench.
If Carroll can have this kind of impact against Chelsea, why can’t he do it more often from the bench? Hopefully we will start to see him causing havoc as a substitute more often. If he can do it against John Terry twice a year, why not the other central defenders?
