West Ham vs Aston Villa post match thread

[Astral Weeks]

I thought the defence did very well and that save at the end from Guzan world class.

In front of them there is no creativity, threat, movement just safe boring football.

In isolation this was a decent result but it is 1 point and 1 goal in seven.

The ref was shit.

I don't understand why we play both Cleverly and Westwood. Neither are good enough defensively OR going forward, and they just strike me as two players effectively failing to do the same job.

Precisely. I don't understand why we play either of them.

[brian green]

This is how bad runs end. They never end by the team coming out and overnight playing like men reborn.   They claw their way back to confidence.

Ads is completely right about how our backs when they do go forward look like Captain Scott searching for the south pole.

The way I see it is we are a week nearer getting Delph and Benteke back and who knows, possibly a week nearer the great Okore mystery denouement. 

[ciggiesnbeer]

I win.

But, despite this last-gasp surge from Sam Allardyce's men, boss Lambert felt his team thoroughly deserved their point.

He said: "I thought we were excellent, resolute, everything you need to get anything from here.

"West Ham have been on a rich vein of form. They beat Man City and Liverpool here not so long ago.

"They have been playing really well. So to come here and get something is a big result for us.

"It's a great point, a really great point.

"To come here and play the way we did and be resolute the way we were, I thought we were first class. It was a massive point for us.

"I thought in the second half we looked comfortable up until the last five minutes or so when they put their big lads on. Guzan has made a world-class save towards the end.

House!

I want to give him credit and I do for the point it would be unfair to give him stick for it.

But coming away with what 40% possession versus west ham? Not the best.

[exigo]

Cracking atmosphere in the away end. Heard nothing from the home support all 90 minutes. And very thankful to report that the minute's silence was impeccably observed, with the late arrivals cottoning on very quickly and keeping schtum.

Other than that, not much to report. We could still be playing now without scoring. The most damning thing was that after 70 minutes nobody could think of how we could change things to nick a win. The starting eleven are just too comfortable.

[nigel]

how in the feck did we not lose that

Guzan

[Chris Smith]

It was horrible to watch but for a team on a sequence of 6 straight defeats, and all that does to confidence, and missing the two best players, then a draw at a club on a great run of form should not be taken lightly.

To chuck together a couple of clichés; we've stopped the rot and given ourselves something to build on.

[LeeB]

I'm at the point where I think this is about as good as it gets, and it probably makes me more angry than a defeat.

[Ian.]

The way I see it is we are a week nearer getting Delph and Benteke back and who knows, possibly a week nearer the great Okore mystery denouement. 

You mean we're going to actually find out where Okore is?
Ooooh it's like a Cliffhanger from Lost.

[ChicagoLion]

I thought the defence did very well and that save at the end from Guzan world class.

In front of them there is no creativity, threat, movement just safe boring football.

In isolation this was a decent result but it is 1 point and 1 goal in seven.

The ref was shit.

I don't understand why we play both Cleverly and Westwood. Neither are good enough defensively OR going forward, and they just strike me as two players effectively failing to do the same job.

I am not sure what the midfield plan is, I doubt there is one. There is no discernable shape ahead of the defence. All I can see is 4 at the back and one up front, the rest are just wondering around in a vague formation. Piss poor

[Legion]

[Legion]

Guzan's save: https://vine.co/v/OeEu20vFOLt

[SamTheMouse]

I thought the defence did very well and that save at the end from Guzan world class.

In front of them there is no creativity, threat, movement just safe boring football.

In isolation this was a decent result but it is 1 point and 1 goal in seven.

The ref was shit.

I don't understand why we play both Cleverly and Westwood. Neither are good enough defensively OR going forward, and they just strike me as two players effectively failing to do the same job.

Precisely. I don't understand why we play either of them.

I said this when Cleverley first arrived. Especially as Westwood was looking like an improved player, covering much more of the pitch, and tracking runners more diligently.

Now we have a physical presence with Sanchez, but two midfielders alongside him who see plenty of the ball but rarely actually do anything with it.

Lambert has far, far too much faith in Gabby and Weimann for my liking. He should have signed players to put pressure on them, instead.

[joe_c]

At full time Paul Lambert would kill us and dance about on our graves singing "Hallelujah".

[steffo]

Lambert plays 4 3 2 1 or 4 5 1 NEVER 4 3 3 (as reported in the press)

There must be a minimum of 7 defensive minded players on the pitch at any time. Full backs will provide width as and when. Other than the '1' upfront. The two play either out of position, awaiting a mistake from the opposition or covering the advancing oppostion full back.

Totally negative manager.

[supertom]

Lambert unsurprisingly thinks we were excellent today. He seems as happy as PWS would be at Christmas getting a Kaley Cuoco nude calender.
I wouldn't go as far as the easily pleased Lambo in describing us as excellent. We've simply moved up from pretty shit to mediocre having moved up from complete shite to pretty shit the week before. That's a bit of progression I suppose but I also think we've probably reached our pinnacle at mediocre.

Lambert's just so small time. We come away with a fortunate point against West Ham. In form yes, but still West Ham. We barely troubled them so were never remotely worthwhile winners potentially. To me that's not excellent. At best for the sake of the cameras he could come out and say we did "quite well." Lambert just seems (and genuinely, which is the worrying part) to be too easily pleased. Sometimes you can tell if a manager is giving it the spiel a bit. With Lambert we could come off the back of a hiding and he'll with all seriousness (unless he's a bloody good actor) will be satisfied with the performance.

There's only been 2-3 games this season where he admitted we were poor. But the reality is we've been shit in all but 3 of them.