West Ham United v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Kingthing]

2 dull teams playing out the dull nil nil draw that I'd predicted in the pub before the match. A point, a clean sheet but very dull.

Nightmare to get back to Central London afterwards. Queued for 40 mins outside Upton Park tube then they closed the station and told us to walk to Plaistow which was rammed and no trains came for about half an hour.

Don't lie, you just didn't want to meet us at Embankment for a beer.

[Brian Taylor]

Benteke needs to be given the ball more. All that passing in our own half is such a waste..20 passes for nothing only to lose the ball. Can't fathom it.
I watched it in a foreign sports bar with a solitary WH fan..we were in agreement by HT..a miserable draw. Man City on next screen and Manure in back..even Stoke goalie goal seemed to just be rubbing in the inadequacies of both sides! How did Benteke miss?
Oh well back to the beach! Always another game..
I can't understand why the barman in Sports bar gives a strange look when I ask if the Villa game is on..Why? Who?, he repiles

[Mister E]

Worst away game I have been to, no singing from Villa fans all game. Not once during the whole game, was the whole away end singing together.

 
Strange. All through the game, all I could hear on my stream was the Villa fans in fine voice.

They were.  Start of the game it was all singing slagging West Ham but got more positive as the game went on.

I also heard one or two of our lot making a bit of noise during the minutes silence.

There was a lot of singing on the concourse before the game and, to be honest walking up to my seat, I didn't realise they were having a minutes silence, people coming up still singing would have made it sound worse than it was, coupled with West Ham fans slagging them off you have a whole lot of noise.

Text from a WHU friend of mine last night:
"Afraid to report that your supporters are a disgrace. 1 minute silence had to be cut short because they would not shut up.  They also booed the advance party wreath bearers, I always had respect for Villa. Irrespective of the result Villa are the losers. Never witnessed that  kind of behaviour in over 40 years of going to top flight football".
He's a bit of a drama queen sometimes but because I wasn't at the game I cannot really comment on whether he has over-reacted.

[eastie]

Benteke needs to be given the ball more. All that passing in our own half is such a waste..20 passes for nothing only to lose the ball. Can't fathom it.
I watched it in a foreign sports bar with a solitary WH fan..we were in agreement by HT..a miserable draw. Man City on next screen and Manure in back..even Stoke goalie goal seemed to just be rubbing in the inadequacies of both sides! How did Benteke miss?
Oh well back to the beach! Always another game..
I can't understand why the barman in Sports bar gives a strange look when I ask if the Villa game is on..Why? Who?, he repiles

I really don't like seeing both Westwood and kea in the team together - one or the other for me - I think it was tough on tonev to miss out yesterday .

[Mister E]

We are working to a budget ...

Yes, I suppose we still have Ireland, Given and Bent on the books.
However, the P'ship is now worth more than ever before and I cannot believe that a couple of season-changing purchases would not be sanctioned for January.

[eastie]

Worst away game I have been to, no singing from Villa fans all game. Not once during the whole game, was the whole away end singing together.

 
Strange. All through the game, all I could hear on my stream was the Villa fans in fine voice.

They were.  Start of the game it was all singing slagging West Ham but got more positive as the game went on.

I also heard one or two of our lot making a bit of noise during the minutes silence.

There was a lot of singing on the concourse before the game and, to be honest walking up to my seat, I didn't realise they were having a minutes silence, people coming up still singing would have made it sound worse than it was, coupled with West Ham fans slagging them off you have a whole lot of noise.

Text from a WHU friend of mine last night:
"Afraid to report that your supporters are a disgrace. 1 minute silence had to be cut short because thwy would not shut up.  They also booed the avance party wreath bearers, I always had respect for Villa. Irrespective of the result Villa are the losers. Never witnessed that  kind of behaviour in over 40 years of going to top flight football".
He's a bit of a drama queen sometimes but because I wasn't at the game I cannot really comment on whether he has over-reacted.

Regrettable , I think it was the fact it was david gold walking onto the pitch that led to the booing , but still very disappointing to hear.

Some of the chants yesterday made me cringe - west hams a shithole to the tune of sloop john b , and the on the piss song - we are not going to attract many positive comments about our support when it can be so disrespectful at times .

I much prefer the fans to get behind the team and players on the pitch than sing about other clubs.

[eastie]

We are working to a budget ...

Yes, I suppose we still have Ireland, Given and Bent on the books.
However, the P'ship is now worth more than ever before and I cannot believe that a couple of season-changing purchases would not be sanctioned for January.

Bent and Ireland wages will be part paid by their loan clubs- we have got the likes of heskey, collins, warnock, dunne, and regrettably stan off the wage bill along with others - so we have reduced it greatly.

[Chico Hamilton III]

2 dull teams playing out the dull nil nil draw that I'd predicted in the pub before the match. A point, a clean sheet but very dull.

Nightmare to get back to Central London afterwards. Queued for 40 mins outside Upton Park tube then they closed the station and told us to walk to Plaistow which was rammed and no trains came for about half an hour.

Don't lie, you just didn't want to meet us at Embankment for a beer.

We got there eventually, chap. Had a few in there but it got busy and they were playing Keane songs at full blast so we left. We ended up in the Coal Hole on The Strand. Can't remember how I got home

[Clampy]

Worst away game I have been to, no singing from Villa fans all game. Not once during the whole game, was the whole away end singing together.

 
Strange. All through the game, all I could hear on my stream was the Villa fans in fine voice.

They were.  Start of the game it was all singing slagging West Ham but got more positive as the game went on.

I also heard one or two of our lot making a bit of noise during the minutes silence.

There was a lot of singing on the concourse before the game and, to be honest walking up to my seat, I didn't realise they were having a minutes silence, people coming up still singing would have made it sound worse than it was, coupled with West Ham fans slagging them off you have a whole lot of noise.

Text from a WHU friend of mine last night:
"Afraid to report that your supporters are a disgrace. 1 minute silence had to be cut short because they would not shut up.  They also booed the advance party wreath bearers, I always had respect for Villa. Irrespective of the result Villa are the losers. Never witnessed that  kind of behaviour in over 40 years of going to top flight football".
He's a bit of a drama queen sometimes but because I wasn't at the game I cannot really comment on whether he has over-reacted.

I wasn't there but our support is normally really good. Yes, you get the odd knobs who can't take their beer but minutes silences are usually respected.

[l_mckay]

Terrible game,our midfield was shocking and we never really threatened to score,kept a clean sheet away from home though so that's something,having said that we were missing 2 of our better players in Delph and Gabby. Got from upton park tube before all the delay as well so that was a bonus

[Pat McMahon]

2 dull teams playing out the dull nil nil draw that I'd predicted in the pub before the match. A point, a clean sheet but very dull.

Nightmare to get back to Central London afterwards. Queued for 40 mins outside Upton Park tube then they closed the station and told us to walk to Plaistow which was rammed and no trains came for about half an hour.

Don't lie, you just didn't want to meet us at Embankment for a beer.

We got there eventually, chap. Had a few in there but it got busy and they were playing Keane songs at full blast so we left. We ended up in the Coal Hole on The Strand. Can't remember how I got home

I gave you £50 and put you in a taxi home. You can pay me next week.

That was one of the dullest games I have seen in years. We were compact but lacking any penetration or flair. Annoyed at how often we were second to the loose ball in midfield and unable to keep possession without going sideways or backwards. And the whole ground was flat re atmosphere all game I thought - not that there was much to ignite the crowd.

[Chico Hamilton III]

How's the head this morning, Pat?

[Clampy]

Another thing regarding yesterday's game, did anyone else think Howard Webb bottled out of at least booking Morrison for bringing down Weimann in the first half? The pundits on MOTD didn't seem to think it was a foul despite the fact that Morrison didn't make any kind of attempt to get the ball.

[Pat McMahon]

How's the head this morning, Pat?

I don't think I shall be inventing anything clever in the garden shed today. And yours?

[supertom]

Anyone else notice that Benteke seems to be short a yard or two of pace compared to last season? Not particularly just in recent weeks after returning from injury, but obviously before that he didn't seem his typically sharp self (though he still scored 5 goals before getting injured to his credit). He just seems a tad heavier after the summer. Obviously this injury hasn't helped either, nor did missing part of pre-season I guess. He's not running at defenders as much as last year which has taken one aspect out of his game somewhat. Right now we desperately need goals but we're not getting those moments of Benteke magic where he'll score a goal out of nothing. The goals he has got already have been well taken, or pens, but he's not produced moments like WBA last season or Liverpool away etc.

I'm keeping my fingers tightly crossed that he'll be sharper by next week and back up to full speed by the week after, because if he's not going to score the rest of our squad couldn't score in an Amsterdam brothel with their pockets stuffed with Euro's.