Tag: #nottinghamforest

West Ham Briefing: Potter’s Wheel of Good Fortune, Summerville Love-In and Last-Minute Window Shopping

It was a vintage unexpected West Ham display at Nottingham Forest where only the overzealous or insane could have predicted a 3-0 demolition masterclass for Graham Potter’s men

I was so convinced that Sunday’s game was going to be another heavy defeat that I considered wearing a black armband just to watch it. How wrong I was. And it was this sudden and unexpected transition from dysphoria to euphoria over the course of ninety minutes (plus added time) that made victory so sweet and uplifting.

Having criticised Graham Potter in the past for his poor record in the West Ham hot seat, it is only fair to give him credit for his part in yesterday’s success. The decision to scrap the three centre back experiment in favour of a back four certainly had my support – and that of many others judging by online reaction. Some might say it was a case of Potter playing catch-up as many had singled out the defensive formation as the side’s greatest issue since the opening day. I have a real dislike of the back 3/5 as the default formation – it is too predictable and stifles creativity – and it is no surprise that so few coaches opt for it – only Manchester United, Wolves and Crystal Palace on a regular basis as far as I know.

Still, Potter made the right call and the relief in his demeanour palpable. In his post-match comments, Potter suggested that defeats to Sunderland and Chelsea were primarily down to individual errors. That it was results rather than performances which had been poor. For now, we must agree to disagree on that point but let’s see how events unfold after the international break. The win was copybook awayday smash and grab, and it will be fascinating to see how the approach translates at home in the London Stadium, where the coach’s record sits at just two wins from ten.

The Hammers made the usual tentative start at the City Ground with worrying early signs that they could be caught out by early through balls. But once settled, a more compact West Ham rearguard were able to limit the host’s threat to a succession of hopeful crosses. With Kyle Walker-Peters and Malick Diouf doing a great job of policing the flanks, the excellent Dinos Mavropanos and skipper Max Kilman were free to dominate the penalty area in a way that is expected of central defenders.

The brightest moment of the first half came when impressive debutant Mateus Fernandes perfectly picked out the run of Lucas Paqueta whose first time effort was tipped over by the Forest keeper.

Despite the Hammers growing confidence, caution continued to get the better of them when in possession. Reluctant to take risks, commit players to attack or move the ball forward with purpose. It took a collection of inspired substitutions to change the complexion of the game completely – Callum Wilson (64th minute), Andy Irving (75) and Crysencio Summerville (82) on for Niclas Fullkrug, James Ward-Prowse and Fernandes respectively.

The introduction of Summerville might well have been a token gesture; to give him a short run-out after such a lengthy lay-off. Yet within six minutes, his pace, energy and direct running had set up Jarrod Bowen for a delightfully instinctive opener and won the penalty (converted by Paqueta) to double the West Ham lead.

The signing of Callum Wilson had divided opinion among West Ham fans. There’s no doubt he is an intelligent and mobile footballer with a level of close control rare in a West Ham striker. His presence and movement caused immediate nuisance to the Forest defence, and he capped off a fine display with a well taken headed goal – West Ham’s third and his 89th in the Premier League.

Special mention also to Irving who, as ever, acquitted himself expertly in the few minutes he was allowed on the pitch. Quite why he has never been given the nod over several of the other underperforming midfielders is an ongoing puzzle.

And no forgetting a first clean sheet of the season. Well-done to Mads Hermansen for bouncing back from an awkward start to his West Ham career. He wasn’t unduly tested by Forest but handled everything thrown at him competently. It was noticeable how comfortable he is with the ball at his feet.

Despite Sommerville grabbing the headlines, my man of the match vote goes to Diouf. Strong in defence, quick to get forward and provider of wonderful crosses. But there were also many other fine performances including Mavropanos. Walker-Peters, Fernandes, Bowen and Paqueta. The mazy Payet-esque run by Bowen would have been a delightful goal had it not been for Wilson’s intervention.

Only time will tell whether Potter has answered his critics with this unlikley win. In many ways, it was a very un-Potter like victory based on fast breakaways/ counterattacks and defending a lead by trying to score more rather than sitting back, bringing on more defenders, and conceding space and territory. Was this by accident or design? Trying to visualise a Potter lineup that simultaneously includes Magassa, Fernandes, Paqueta and Summerville stretches adventure to mind bending proportions. Never mind, at least we now have three surprise points on the board and are only three away from a Champions League spot😉.

VAR – Ruining Football Since 2019

When West Ham scored their opener on Sunday, I was waiting for VAR to rule that the throw-in leading up to it had been awarded to the Hammers incorrectly and that the goal should be chalked off. This came on the heels of one of the most ludicrous VAR interventions ever in the Chelsea – Fulham game on Saturday when a collision in one half of the pitch was deemed to be a careless enough challenge to rule out a Fulham goal in the other. Quite why the VAR guy felt the need to get involved, why the referee went along with it and how it can take four minutes to check a clear and obvious error, highlights everything that is wrong with the implementation. Putting useful technology into the hands of incompetents will always fail. VAR is sucking the life, joy and spontaneity out of the football experience.

It used to be said that two pairs of eyes are better than one. But whoever said that had never met referees. Keep the goal-line technology and semi-automated off-sides but chuck the rest out until someone sensible can be found to operate it.

Pawn Man Swoops In To Save Kyle MacFallguy

The funniest story of the internet content week was the idea that David Sullivan was taking back control of the club’s transfer business due to the failure of Potter and MacFallguy to identify any players the Chairman was prepared to sign. Surely only an idiot believes this spin from the man who has undermined every recruitment specialist hired by the club over the last ten years.

Pawn Man announces two new West Ham signings

As it happens, it may just be possible that the club has made a few excellent signings this window. At least they are in the right age range and can move beyond snail pace. We will need to wait to see how reasonable the transfer fees paid turn out to be.

The club has taken an unusual approach to transfers. Announce at the start of the window that you are skint and must sell before you buy – so that buying clubs can screw you on fees received. Then do little or nothing for over 80 days before desperation sets in and allows selling clubs to similarly screw you on fees paid.

Today is, of course, the final day of the summer window. Most often, it is an anticlimax at the London Stadium especially when considering the typical time needed to complete a medical and seal a deal for each player. Will this year be any different? Was winning on Sunday bad timing, giving the board an excuse to do nothing more now that everything seems ok again?

We can definitely expect a few more outgoings with Nayef Aguerd and Guido Rodriguez ready and waiting with their bags packed . Maybe Andy Irving will also depart in search of regular football – I hope not. Plus, there are still rumours about Tomas Soucek heading for a Moyes reunion tour.

As for incomings, we are still short in cover for central defence and striker. Useful youthful cover in both areas would be more than welcome.

The bright spot is that with the window closing (slamming shut) at 7pm, there’s no need to stay up late this year. COYI!

A Tale of Two Cities – London v Nottingham; West Ham v Nottingham Forest, the final home game of a season that many fans would like to forget

Last week I looked for inspiration in writing my article to my good friend Bill Shakespeare. It worked in that we won our first game following eight winless matches. So once again I turn to another good friend, this time Charlie Dickens. I gave him some background to this week’s game and he has written this week’s preview for me. He begins with an extract from a book written by one of his ancestors and then goes on with his thoughts written in a similar style ……

An extract from the first paragraph of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities 1859, 

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us”

“Pairs of contrasting words in the opening lines could be interpreted to illustrate the disparities between the fortunes of West Ham and Nottingham Forest as the season draws towards its conclusion. It was the best of times for Nottingham Forest. It was the worst of times at West Ham United. It was a season of light at the City Ground, it was the season of darkness at the London Stadium. It was the spring of hope for Forest aiming for the Champions League, it was the winter of despair for the Hammers who were fortunate that there were three very poor sides who would be relegated to the Championship. In Nottingham they have everything before them, at West Ham we do not know what we have before us.

Our team, West Ham, a team of valiant spirits, find themselves in a state of relative tranquility, with no fresh injuries to report before the anticipated visit of Nottingham Forest. The unfortunate Crysencio Summerville remains sidelined, grappling with the affliction of a hamstring injury, I don’t think we’ll see him again before the new season dawns. The resilient Michail Antonio, too, who is on the mend from a grievous broken leg; will we see him in a claret and blue shirt again? Nottingham Forest, too, face their own trials, with forward Taiwo Awoniyi convalescing after an abdominal surgery, after an unfortunate and potentially life-threatening collision with a goal post last weekend which will undoubtedly raise calls for assistant referees to flag for offside more promptly. The surgery, according to the esteemed head coach Nuno Espirito Santo, has proceeded favourably. The fate of Murillo and Callum Hudson-Odoi, both beset by hamstring woes, hangs in the balance, awaiting assessment before the impending contest.

West Ham, in their storied history, have triumphed in five of their six Premier League home encounters with Nottingham Forest, succumbing only once. Yet, the Reds stand on the precipice of a historic achievement, poised to complete their first league double over the Hammers in forty-one years. The Irons, steadfast and resolute, have remained unbeaten in eight home meetings with Forest in both league and cup, a streak that commenced in the distant February of 1999. The most recent victory, a 2-0 triumph over Manchester United at Old Trafford, has ended a disheartening run of eight winless games, rekindling hope and ambition.

Graham Potter’s side, emboldened by their recent success, aspire to secure consecutive top-flight victories for the first time since February, when they had vanquished Arsenal and Leicester. The Hammers, on the cusp of drawing four top-flight home games in succession for the first time since April 1985, are determined to uphold their proud record of not losing their final home league fixture in any of the past seven campaigns, a period marked by five wins and two draws.

Jarrod Bowen, a player of remarkable prowess, has been directly involved in six goals in his last six Premier League outings, finding the net four times and providing two assists. His ambition to score in four successive league games at the London Stadium would mirror the feat last achieved by Jesse Lingard in April 2021.

Nottingham Forest, on the other hand, have tasted victory only once in their last six Premier League encounters, drawing twice and suffering three defeats. Nevertheless, their prowess on the road is undeniable, having secured nine top-flight away victories this season, second only to the champions, Liverpool, who have won eleven. Forest’s triumph over Burnley at Turf Moor at this juncture last season has set the stage for their quest to win their final away league game in consecutive campaigns for the first time since the seasons of 2006-07 and 2007-08 in League One.

Anthony Elanga, with ten top-flight assists to his name this term, stands on the brink of equalling Bryan Roy’s Premier League club record of eleven assists in a single campaign, a record that has stood since the 1994-95 season. Chris Wood, too, has etched his name in the annals of Forest’s history, becoming only the second player to score twenty Premier League goals for the club in a single campaign, a feat last accomplished by Stan Collymore, who netted twenty-two goals in the 1994-95 season.

The current form guide, a curious and unexpected revelation, shows the East Londoners with the upper hand, possessing six points to Forest’s five. Historical encounters, totalling 121 to date, hark back to an FA Cup game in 1911, and also give a slight edge to the Hammers with 48 wins to 47, with 26 draws.

A victory in this game guarantees that West Ham will finish above both Manchester United and Tottenham, one of whom surprisingly shall play in next season’s Champions League, following their defeats on Friday night. This is but one incentive. Such a triumph would secure us 15th place at the very least in the final table. Depending upon results elsewhere, we could even ascend to 13th place, a position we have only achieved in seven weeks of this dismal season.”

Thanks Charlie. I enjoyed that. I may call upon you again.

Towering Incompetence: Incendiary West Ham Atmosphere May Be Fanned By Forest Fire

The ongoing saga of last chances for David Moyes has now been running for longer than an Eastenders story line – doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof!

How many last chances does a failing manager get to have. I was convinced the game was up after et another typically insipid display at Tottenham. But no, he gets to fail another day.

I would have thought that by the time a Board gets to the stage of giving manager’s last chances, you might as well fire him and be done with it. It will only be a matter of time, anyway. Stupendous turnarounds in fortune rarely happen. And this is a team that has been in decline for over a year, and woeful for the best part of this season.

Should the Hammers eke out a victory win this weekend, and then lose (as usual) at Brighton, is the clock then reset once again to last chance for the home fixture with Villa? Repeat until relegated. What a way to run a football club!

Even the media have now woken up to recognise that David Moyes is an emperor without any clothes. At last, journalists are scratching their heads and questioning the merits of our unadventurous, unambitious manager. It is only fellow dinosaurs such as Graeme Souness who believes everything can be fixed by the players rolling up their sleeves up and showing some grit. The players are a victim of the tactics, not the other way round. The squad can’t be changed now, but manager and tactics can. Freeing the players from Moyes inertia is the only escape route.

We should remember, West Ham are one the world’s top twenty richest clubs. They have spent hundreds of millions on players. Yet Moyes talks about fans having unrealistic expectations as if it is a low budget operation. I doubt many supporters are demanding repeated top six finishes, but we would like to be entertained and should be nowhere near a relegation scrap. 

Last weekend was the latest in a string of tame surrenders – the scene set even before kick off. Fighting talk about drawn games not being good enough didn’t make it past the team selection. Starting the game with a maximum of two attack minding players in the side was all the incentive that the opposition needed to know the points were theirs. There is nothing to fear from West Ham at the best of times – no explosive pace, no accomplished dribbler, and the main set piece threat having been sold in January – but this was caution taken to another extreme. One more notch on the bedpost of failed away trips to ‘big six’ clubs.

It has been reported that the Board’s stance on a stay of execution was swayed by improvements in form since the Everton game. I do wonder what they have been watching from their lofty position? Had there been a run of victories then fair enough. But the club need a better rate of return than five points from four games if they are to avoid the drop.

It was supremely ironic to read David Sullivan’s rant in the week about how fantastic an organisation the Premier League is – and how it didn’t need regulation – when he is doing everything in his power to leave it by the trapdoor.

There was one piece of good news in the week as the U18s reached the semi-finals of the FA Youth Cup for the first time since 1999 – the days of Joe Cole and Michael Carrick. There looks to be a lot of promise in the youth ranks, even if there is still a lot of development yet to be done. We hear mostly about the goalscorers – Divin Mubama and Callum Marshall – but George Earthy, Lewis Orford and Oliver Scarles all look to be great prospects. Interesting that the Youths play nothing like the first team in style or formation. The watching Moyes would have been livid with the boys pressing for a fourth goal once they had gone ahead in extra time. All behind the ball, boys!

The sad news of the week was the passing of John Motson. He and Brian Moore were both top class commentators who knew their primary job was to tell us what was going on – and knew when to let the action do the talking. Nostalgia’s not what it used to be but they were happier and simpler days at West Ham.

Oh, Devonshire round the back …… Oh, right across ….. It’s free ….. Driven in ……. And is it a goal? It is! Brooking, ………. Trevor Brooking. The ball ricocheted in off him and West Ham are in front.

RIP Motty 1980 FA Cup Final

Tomorrow’s game will be a first home league meeting with Nottingham Forest since January 2012 when two Mark Noble penalties took the Hammers to the top of the Championship.

It wasn’t long ago that Forest looked red-hot favourites for a quick return to the second tier, despite their early season win against West Ham. Yet an upsurge in results has lifted them to the higher fringes of the relegation quagmire. They currently sit five places and five points above their hosts. They are one of only three teams to have scored fewer goals than West Ham this season, while conceding nine more. Defensively they look suspect, but they do have pace in attack through Brennan Johnson and the always busy Morgan Gibbs-White. One-time West Ham nemesis Chris Wood might also feature in the game. Woods had been well marshalled in recent encounters by Craig Dawson, but obviously that is no longer an option.

So, what approach can we expect from the Moyes book of old school football tactics for this one? We know from experience that change only happens at glacial speed. He will usually stick with a formation, regardless of opposition, until something dramatic forces his hand to change it. It is a self-evident truth that the route to survival is scoring goals – it is only Moyes who believes not conceding them is more important. If he picks the same formation – with three/ five at the back – for this game, there could be mutiny in the stands before kick-off. It is overly cautious, and the wingbacks do not offer sufficient attacking threat to compensate.

I have argued for some time that West Ham should be lining up in a 4-3-3 formation. Ideally a midfield three of Rice, Paqueta and Downes but Rice, Soucek and Downes would do if Paqueta is unavailable. Then it must be a front three who are geared towards pushing forward and playing closer together. Is any more evidence needed that the isolated striker gambit is never going to work?

Forest will be well aware of a potential powder keg atmosphere at the London Stadium tomorrow. A trademark cautious team selection by Moyes and a typically slow start by the team will play right into the opponents hands. As a supporter I feel conflicted. I want Moyes gone but I would rather three of the most winnable points remaining were not sacrificed to achieve that. But it is hard to envisage a scenario where Moyes stays and we are not relegated. It’s a sad, sad, situation. COYI!