Blind Hammer Celebrates Bilic’s return to 3 at the back. And argues that Arnautovic has to wait.
There is a school of thought that our victory against Huddersfield was due to luck. I couldn’t disagree more. When I arrived at the LS on Monday night and heard the team announcement, a weird calm serenity swept over me. All my nervousness and anxiety about the match dissipated. Possibly this had to do with the strong pain killers I had taken for my hip but I think it was much more to do with relief. At last Bilic had returned to a tried and secure defensive formation.
In the days before the match I was shouting in frustration at my keyboard as I heard website after website, pundit after pundit, all recommending variations of a flat back four. It made me want to tear my hair out. I could not understand why people seem blind to an obvious reality. With 4 at the back we are a defensive nightmare, shipping all sorts of goals from all sorts of positions. With 3 at the back our record is not at all shabby.
Three at the back was tried and failed in away games against Chelsea and Manchester City last Season but at least the margin of defeat was not humiliating. In recent months we had much more success. We defeated an in form Spurs 1-0. We shut out and similarly in form Everton, including and on fire Lukaku in a creditable 0-0, a result crucial at the time to allay fears of relegation. Now again with three at the back, we achieved a crucial 2-0 win against Huddersfield. In other words by using three at the back in recent games at the LS, we have achieved 3 clean sheets in 4 games.
The exception was of course the heavy defeat to Liverpool but even here we only experienced our eventual predictable thumping when, after falling behind, we switched to a flat back 4 in a failed effort to chase the game.
The game against Huddersfield was interesting for a number of reasons. First of all the idea that Zabaleta could not play alongside 3 at the back was actively, for the time being at least, disproved. The second was the realisation that just as in the games against Tottenham and Everton, Fonte immediately transformed from an apparent slow and aged “has been” into a quality Premiership performer.
Time after time I heard Fonte Collins and Reid all covering each other. If Reid slipped or was beaten, Collins was there to cover and vice versa. Fonte was able to operate smoothly with Zabaleta whilst Cresswell showed that he could operate at the standard he previously showed at the Boleyn. Post match both Zabaleta and Collins publically supported the three at the back system. Collins in particular seemd extremely relieved that we had returned to what had worked at the end of last season.
The result was that the familiar dramatic chaos around our goal virtually disappeared. Huddersfield mounted no serious threat throughout the entire first half. They were literally crowded out.
If anybody denigrates the challenge of |Huddersfield we should remember that this team had, until their visit to the LS, conceded no goals and were sitting in a very respectable table position.
With the attacking threat of Huddersfield nullified it was a question of matching our offensive quality against their proven defensive solidity. Huddersfield actually had a majority possession statistics for the match but it did not feel like that, especially in the first half where West Ham was from a secure defensive base, was able to completely dominate the game.
In the second half Huddersfield managed to enter the game more, a fact I largely attributed to lack of peak match fitness for several of our crucial players. I still felt confident though. Unlike all of our previous games our defensive solidity meant that we were not chasing the game, not behind and having to take increasingly desperate risks to get back on terms.
Even then, though, I would not have predicted Obiang and Ayew in particular as our match winners. Ayew’s performance has come under recent scrutiny with suggestions he has “fatigue”. However if he can continue to make a similar impact from the bench I will be happy. Above all though his impact proved what can happen when a team start from a sound defensive platform.
Moving forward Bilic will soon have some attacking options. Arnautovic will be available for the West Brom game, and Lanzini will hopefully return to fitness. Yet the biggest threat to the progress finally made on Monday night is their availability. If Bilic is tempted to revert to his disastrous defensive setup to accommodate Arnautovic then he would have proved he has learnt nothing. Others are also reluctant to learn. Even after the game on Monday I saw a post on Claret and Hugh calling for a return to a back 4 against West Brom.
We must resist the disruption to a stable defence. To my mind Arnautovic would do well to ponder the consequences of his stupidity against Southampton from the comfort of the bench.
It is clear that 3 at the back will not allow all of Carroll, Chico, Lanzini, Antonio, Arnautovic and even Sakho to play if we want to retain at least a modicum of midfield cover.
I want Bilic to succeed so that he can retain his job. For me this requires that he understands that, for the time being, Collins organising a back 3 is more important than the talents of Arnautovic or Lanzini. My hope is that eventually Lanzini will become the complete centre midfield playmaker able to dominate games, but in the meantime we may need Obiang more.
The attacking riches are there for Bilic to refresh and deploy from the bench. I only hope that Collins avoids his habitual hamstring injury. Rice may soon have to learn very rapidly on the job.
COYI
David Griffith