West Ham London - 1 Aston Villa - 1 The Post Match Thread.

[Exeter 77]

They got the softest of penalties and then Rice cleans out Buendia in the second half in the penalty area and it barely warranted a second glance. Also someone is going to get seriously hurt for nothing if linos carry on flagging that late.

[LukeJames]

I can see what we're trying to do, sucker them in high to create the space behind. It worked a few times in the 1st half and it coincided with our best 15 minute spell of the game. I just feel going forward a few of these players will be replaced in order for us to continue playing this way. I have no problem with that and it's a decent point to be fair.

[RichardBatchelor]

Weirdly, I concurrently thought we played well yet found it frustrating. Final ball not quite there.

[PeterWithesShin]

Played some very nice stuff at times, 2 penalty decisions proved key. Overall i'm happy with 7 points from the last 3 games.

[Scovilla]

I 'll take the point considering we had one of our best player out.

[pauliewalnuts]

I thought we were much the better side. Undone by what was clearly not a penalty.

Three points would have been better, but I'll take a point.

Oh and no Kamara, either. He's such a good player, big loss.

This summer we need to be making sure we don't feel injuries quite so badly by strengthening the squad significantly.

[hilts_coolerking]

Skill level was low today, from both sides, which made for a pretty dull game.  You wouldn't have known that there was plenty at stake.  Players started arguing and jostling just to stay warm.

[Steve67]

I appreciate that it is a bit negative but if we have designs on Europe, this is a game we need to go and win.  Soft penalty for them.  We are still lacking in a few areas and I hate Leon Bailey but we don't seem to have a great deal coming off the bench with Coutinho and Kamara injured.  Fuck West Ham, can't stand them, would like them to go down but with the players they have, they really shouldn't be down there.  A useful point, still pick up points on the road and hopefully, we can beat another bogey side in Bournemouth next week.

[Keeno]

Not an awful point away from home.

Didn't play brilliantly but it wasn't a pen, and we definitely know how to get points out of games where we're not at our best now.

Despite the fact we seem eternally stuck in 11th place, we've narrowed the gap to Brighton/Brentford in the last few games. Definitely still in with a shout of a top 8 finish if we can get Bouba back, IMO.

[Baldy]

At times, we played like Manchester City.

At other times, we played like Birmingham City.

Draw a fair result.

[charlatan]

Three points lost more than a point gained.

How do you figure that out?

In terms of our position relative to West Ham clearly

[Nev]

A fine point away from home, perhaps it could've been three 'cos they were piss poor and I would've liked us to force the issue.
We rarely looked in trouble and you can see that Emery wants us to remain in control throughout games but that can lead to it being a bit dull at times.

As for Gale, he surpassed himself in the second half, particularly when he all but said Gerrard was a better manager than Emery.

[SoccerHQ]

An o.k point (as long as we beat Bournemouth).

Only saw the second half but we seemed fairly content to slow the game down at every opportunity. Can understand away but when West Ham are as poor as they are it feels a bit of a miss.

Luiz-McGinn was really good, McGinn has bounced back nicely from a long period of indifferent form which is great to see. Rice had one of the worst games I've ever seen and I'd like to see that penalty again as did he really get anything on the ball? Guess I'll have to wait until MOTD......oh.

Frustrating that our attacking players just aren't capable of doing anything in this type of cat and mouse game. Bailey just isn't on it and Buendia makes some odd decisions with the ball when he has space to run into. Even a mid table prem player like Benrahama would improve us as he is at least direct and takes risks when in possession.

[villadelph]

The refereeing was really sub-standard today. There were positives today though.. Duran seems to find himself in areas of good opportunity and he’ll bag those chances in the future. I thought McGinn and Moreno were good today. Bert > Bailey, it’s just a matter of match fitness.

We play actual football (hard to believe it..) and I think a year down the road with a better pool of talent and Unai’s tactics firmly in place we will be a consistent and strong team. We’re not even out of first gear yet with Emery, and at times we pass around the opponent like they’re a youth team. West Ham’s reversion to long ball will only take them so far in the grand scheme of things.

It’s a good point, probably should’ve knicked all three but I won’t complain.

[Risso]

That was drab. Bailey very poor as ever, and Chambers is shite. Decent chance to get close to the top half wasted.