POSITION UPDATE: We end the matchweek in 17th following West Brom’s 2-1 win over Leicester. The champions are only just the single point ahead of us!
Neither team was at their best going into the match. We were forced to play with three at the back with no experienced RB, and Stoke were missing Shaqiri & Arnautovic. Usually, that can be used as a bit of an excuse, but I can’t give the benefit of the doubt with the shoddy performances on show in that match. Judging by the distance Phil Bardsley was taking his shots from, I’m not sure how the Potters went five games without a defeat. Mark Hughes side showed Swansea’s American manager Bob Bradley what a night at Stoke is like – hardly an accomplishment! How about playing a team with more than double your capacity? Jokes aside, I’m sure in time, it will be a scarier prospect than playing against Stoke on Halloween night! And I don’t mean that in the way of hooligans – there were no arrests made at the LS yesterday.
It wasn’t going to be an easy game for Stoke City, as they had won just six of their 44 PL matches in London (D9 L29). They conceded a ridiculous amount of goals earlier on in the season, and also finished in the top-half last season, so not much to differentiate between the two teams. You would have thought that we were in for a goal-fest with the number of goals conceded by both teams this season, but you would be dearly mistaken. Moreover, we were on the front foot against Everton in the opening 20 minutes, but had no goals to show for it. But, this time, Stoke found themselves in our position away from home. We took advantage, but couldn’t hold on.
A win against the Potters wouldn’t have been very convincing, given the way in which we would have won it, but it would have done, given that we have Spurs, Man United, Arsenal and Liverpool to come. Oh, and a 5th round tie away to the Red Devils in the EFL Cup – though that has to be the last thing on the gaffer’s mind. Speaking of the gaffer’s mind, I can’t see him wanting to drop Adrián to the bench. He was obviously at fault for us not getting the win, but he has played well enough to continue in the starting XI. We would have been down at least 3-0 to Everton if he hadn’t saved Barkley’s shot from close range. He also made a one-on-one save against Khazri in a 1-0 win over Sunderland, which is down to his cat-like reflexes – something which Randolph doesn’t have.
The tempo of a PL match is incomparable to a cup match. We easily could have conceded two against Chelsea, but Randolph wasn’t really challenged with Batshauyi and a few others missing great chances. In a regular match, the Blues would have taken their time and scored. We have made more defensive errors leading to goals (4) than any other side in the Premier League, which is not down to the keeper, so I don’t know why Bilic would want to change that. To reiterate, Adrián is the incumbent for his undeniable talent, albeit he had his worst game of the season.
We have been playing with three at the back for longer than expected. There have been a lot of encouraging signs from our defence with this bizarre formation, but it won’t work long term. Chelsea have won five PL games on the trot, but they are the side that is top of the table (unless Arsenal beat Tottenham or Liverpool beat Watford)! To try and replicate what they are doing would be detrimental to our success. Our next run of fixtures won’t be easy. Whilst, I don’t want to see the Sam Allardyce approach to these fixtures, I feel it is important that we revert back to a 4-2-3-1 formation. The extra stability at the back is needed against teams that have players who can find themselves in pockets of space without four at the back. The communication between our defenders is fairly good, but it’s not sufficient to stop these teams from scoring.
Obiang has certainly stepped up for us at the right time. I feel as though he and Kouyaté could be the two central holding midfielders. Noble had a very quiet game, and is struggling to get going. Playing with two midfielders will put more pressure on us to get the ball into the final third. The amount of passes going sideways in our own half was ludicrous. This is the fundamental problem with having three midfielders at a club like ours. The lack of urgency means we don’t get as far forward as we can. Our passing accuracy in the final third was 70.5%, but it can improve. We had to make far too many dribbles to get forward, which is not a position you want to be in.
The top five dribblers in the match came from our side. Whilst that is promising, it means we have put too much pressure on the creative attacking players, who can’t find space to pass. Some strikers, when they don’t get much service, have a tendency to go and get the ball themselves. Sergio Aguero has done this in the past. Ayew tried hard to get involved in the game, but our usual lack of service to the man up front meant he had to stray out of position. In fact, he failed to win the ball at all, and barely made any touches, so the tactic came to no avail.
????@CarltonCole1 at Rush Green!#AlwaysBelieveIn pic.twitter.com/5xwd2n9GCs
— West Ham United (@WestHamUtd) October 29, 2016
It may take some time for Payet, Lanzini, Ayew, and Antonio to link up, but Slav can’t afford to play Antonio as a striker against the top teams. None of our strikers have scored this season, but putting Antonio in the wrong position isn’t helpful. He was meant to have scored six headed goals, but the footballing gods didn’t want to teach Slav any arcane beliefs with it put down as a Glenn Whelan own-goal. His streak would have been more than any other player in Europe’s top five leagues. But like the fate of Antonio’s goal, it wasn’t meant to be. And judging by the replays, rightly so. It’s not as if some old Hammer is going to come back, and play as striker! Can’t see it happening. I can’t believe in anything at the moment (not even Carlton Cole).