Reid’s late goal in the final minute was absolutely spectacular. You may remember former skipper Kevin Nolan scored an equaliser in injury-time in front of the home crowd against Sunderland back in September 2012. He leapt over a TV camera in his celebration. Likewise, it was great to see another former skipper score late on against the Black Cats.
The goal was slightly controversial, as a player was beyond the last man, but the flag rightfully stayed down, as he didn’t get into the keeper’s eyeline. The decision seems fair enough. Additionally, Danny Murphy on MOTD criticised Sunderland’s defending in the dying embers of the match, as Payet was given a lot of space down by the corner flag, and that there was no one on the edge of the box, which allowed Reid to get his shot away. We had failed to defeat a side managed by David Moyes in 13 attempts stretching back to 2007. 13 wasn’t the unlucky number for us though! Credit to Dan Coker for that stat. But fair enough won’t do for Sunderland. They are only the second team in top-flight history to fail to win any of their nine league matches in consecutive seasons after Bury in 1905-06. Amazingly, they survived.
The Black Cats could find themselves near extinction in a few years time if they don’t find someone who can continually improve the club in the long term. There are only so many managers that can do what Big Sam did. And I’m not talking about taking bribes.
We couldn’t have asked for anything better than six points and two clean sheets from our last two games. Though, the last time we got back to back wins in PL matches was back in April. The volatility of our defence is something that has attributed to this. Conceding just the one goal in three matches is very reassuring. A huge improvement on conceding 11 in three matches earlier this season.
The change in formation has allowed our midfielders to be able to pass more accurately, as they can play with freedom to get forward with ease. Wish someone would remind Noble of that. Fernandes and Noble both had 96% passing accuracy, which is terrific. The Swiss youngster Edimilson Fernandes played very well at LWB. He made the second highest number of dribbles (3) on the pitch, so we may have an attacking midfielder in him. We nearly forgot about Pedro Obiang, who is 24, but I’m sure we won’t forget the 20 year old anytime soon. As a matter of fact, all of our left backs or LWB’s have put in terrific performances. They are Masuaku, Cresswell, and Fernandes. Our signing and development of young players has been sensational, and I hope it continues.
We made 17 key passes to Sunderland’s seven. The strength of our midfield was on show in the first 20 minutes when we kept them in their half of the pitch, and a bit throughout. The Black Cats tried to pounce in the second half, but couldn’t score. Khazri should have scored, but he took his shot too early, and Adrián was able to make the crucial save.
Whilst it was great to see the goal, we were very ineffective with our chances. We had 20 shots with only three on target. Sunderland had 10 shots with two on target. Zaza’s timing in the box was poor, though I can’t say much, because he was hardly in the box to start with! I thought that it was rather comical that Lanzini had to do his job. And then Calleri tried to do so when the Italian was subbed off. It’s fair to say this is not why the two Argentinians are in the squad. I have mentioned this in my recent match reviews, but it seems clear to me that we’re not going to see as many goals with Carroll and Ayew out. When they return, we can expect the goals to come eventually, because Antonio has stopped scoring at the far post and Payet can’t score a dozen magical goals a season.
We do put a lot of pressure on certain players to step up, but this can be very damaging. Our problem isn’t creating chances, but it’s converting them. This has been a bit of a trend from the latter part of last season. Payet has created the most chances this season with 29, and he is joint top of assists with four this season alongside Kevin de Bruyne whose side play Southampton today at 13:30. He did doze off a bit in the second half, but in fairness, he had the most dribbles, and nearly scored after passing through a number of Mackems early on. I feel as though the pressure on the creative attacking players has come from a lack of options for a striker, which has meant that they aren’t playing to the level at which they are expected playing having to cover more ground or score headers despite being 5’6’’.
Personally, I never leave matches early, as I want to see the team in action for the entirety of the game. The last time I was with Iain, he left early and missed a goal! Jokes on me though, as I saw our side concede yet another goal to Swansea. To be perfectly honest, I knew we were going to lose, but I really wanted to see how the side would react to it all, so I could maybe analyse it, and look at bounce-back ability even if there are no more goals to see. That’s why I don’t see much point in leaving early. Then again, I only live a few stops along the Overground, so I can’t make much of a case for saving time to begin with.
Jenny, attending her 1st match, as we walk away from the Olympic Stadium: "Have you ever missed a goal by leaving early?" Cue immediate goal
— Iain Dale (@IainDale) October 22, 2016
Our next match is against Chelsea in the EFL Cup on the 26th of October, which happens to be my birthday. This is a huge predicament for me, as I haven’t experienced a loss on my birthday whilst actively following football. The last time the team lost on my birthday was back in 2008. Losing before the day doesn’t mean much to me, but losing having watched the match on my birthday would be terrible.
The last time I missed a competitive match, I was on my DofE expedition in Epping Forest three years ago. If recent history is on our side, we should do well. We beat Chelsea at home in the PL on the 24th of October last season 2-1, so to replicate another win would be swell. The season before that, we beat Man City at home 2-1 on the 25th of October. So in the last two seasons, West Ham have beaten Man City and Chelsea at home. I really hope that the good luck continues for me in the LS on the 26th. Another reason why this date has such significance is because my birthday is one week after Big Sam’s and one week before my mum’s! One of the reasons I felt quite sad when he left is because I couldn’t experience that trio of birthdays. Who would have thought the young, statistical writer had such bizarre feelings about football?