Big FAT Sam's UGLY FOOTBALL or Lord Poyet's Beautiful Game

[terryberry1]

Clearly the ugly football won lastnight. Think we need to change our approach. We are becoming so predictable. Teams have found us out. We lack height all over the pitch. All those corners we had and the keeper never got tested once from them. We are just too light weight and i fear where our season is going

 

[pork pie]

Clearly the ugly football won lastnight. Think we need to change our approach. We are becoming so predictable. Teams have found us out. We lack height all over the pitch. All those corners we had and the keeper never got tested once from them. We are just too light weight and i fear where our season is going

Exactly! Pretty football is great - if you can win matches with it. ALL that matters is winning. No prizes for playing pretty football.

 

[The Large One]

Clearly the ugly football won lastnight. Think we need to change our approach. We are becoming so predictable. Teams have found us out. We lack height all over the pitch. All those corners we had and the keeper never got tested once from them. We are just too light weight and i fear where our season is going

Well, which is it?

Did our tactics get 'found out' or is it that we lack height?

 

[The Large One]

Oh, and Gus' way.

Every. Single. Time.

 

[Storer 68]

Clearly the ugly football won lastnight. Think we need to change our approach. We are becoming so predictable. Teams have found us out. We lack height all over the pitch. All those corners we had and the keeper never got tested once from them. We are just too light weight and i fear where our season is going

what was ugly about it.

They had a game plan and it worked beautifflly. they packed the midfield, compressed the space in which we wanted to play, stopped us playing the way we wanted to, scored a good goal, defended a lead for an hour without looking like conceding a goal (even with almunia in goal!) . All in all an excellent away team performance.

We faffed around in midfield, playing pretty passes that went sideways tim e and time again which gave them time to get back into the midfield and cover the space,, and didn't hurt them at all in the final third.

had we scored first they would have had to changed the way they were playing... but we didn't.

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

west ham fielded an entire team of players with a shit ton premiership experience...in my view they could play nicer football and still go up, but hey ho....i think i just HATE that type of football

our 'brand' IS the best way to play football IF you have the players to do it. Last season it worked because all of our players were either top end league 1 players or simply too good for that league, but in this league it's falling down because not all of our players are up to this level unfortunately. It's work in progress and i still think we'll be mid table at worst.

 

[Aquilaugh]

Clearly the ugly football won lastnight.

W Ham showed you respect by playing the way they did, it wasn't ugly just effective and tailored to that particular game. They will play differently in the return fixture.

You won't get extra points for playing pretty football.

 

[Aquilaugh]

west ham fielded an entire team of players with a shit ton premiership experience...in my view they could play nicer football and still go up, but hey ho....i think i just HATE that type of football

our 'brand' IS the best way to play football IF you have the players to do it. Last season it worked because all of our players were either top end league 1 players or simply too good for that league, but in this league it's falling down because not all of our players are up to this level unfortunately. It's work in progress and i still think we'll be mid table at worst.

Valid points, however underestimate the Coventry's and Barnsley's of this world at your peril, they are quite good at staying in this league, and they are the teams you need to beat.

 

[terryberry1]

Well, which is it?

Did our tactics get 'found out' or is it that we lack height?

bit of both

 

[Gus is god]

The thing is West Ham played our brand of football under Zola and they were almost relegated the first season and were the second season, they played lovely football under Zola but had the same issue we do they couldnt score.

 

[terryberry1]

what was ugly about it.

They had a game plan and it worked beautifflly. they packed the midfield, compressed the space in which we wanted to play, stopped us playing the way we wanted to, scored a good goal, defended a lead for an hour without looking like conceding a goal (even with almunia in goal!) . All in all an excellent away team performance.

We faffed around in midfield, playing pretty passes that went sideways tim e and time again which gave them time to get back into the midfield and cover the space,, and didn't hurt them at all in the final third.

had we scored first they would have had to changed the way they were playing... but we didn't.

the ugly bit was in response to the OT

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

Valid points, however underestimate the Coventry's and Barnsley's of this world at your peril, they are quite good at staying in this league, and they are the teams you need to beat.

not underestimating them at all.........there are no easy games in this league whatsoever and anyone can beat anyone

i'm hoping that this is our poor run though, good to get it out the way.......however without some top signings in january we'll definitely struggle to do better than mid table (which, coincidentally is where i think you'll also finish)

 

[TheMajor]

I love the way we play but we do need to vary it now and then.

With 8 minutes added injury time I did think we would push on and get the ball in their box at every opportunity. But we didn't we continued to pass and move but with no penetration. Had Dunk or Greer been sent upfront to create a bit of havoc we may have created something but we didn't do this.

Millwall managed to steal a point from us midweek and in the dying minutes they resorted to putting the ball into our box with numbers piling in - it created problems for us and they nearly stole the game. It's not pretty but sometimes it works - last night was one of those times we should have tried it.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Well, which is it?

Did our tactics get 'found out' or is it that we lack height?

We have defenders who are over 6' who cannot head a ball. Corners are a waste of time. 10 of them and the result was zilch. The only defender who could score from a corner was Elphick.

 

[withdeanwombat]

Mr Poyet gets the team to play the game how he wants it played.How it should be played in my view,and it's also my belief that he is one of the best managers in football,and we're lucky - honoured - to have him here.

He has probably considered that he could do it better with faster,more skillful players ,but even with Mr Bloom's deepish pockets this isn't easy.I think our club and team will evolve into something truly brilliant if we keep doing what we have been doing,but it won't be done by a week next Tuesday.

Poyet's way,every game.

Please.

 

[JamesAndTheGiantHead]

I can't help but feel this is a slightly leading question.

 

[CBWHU]

put this on another thread but it fits here better

Hammer here!

Just thought i'd point out that while yes last night we played a dogged Allardyce Bolton style last night, that's not the way we usually play

However any side in this divison missing Rob Green, James Tomkins, Guy Demel, Henri Lansbury, Matt Taylor, David Bentley, Gary O'Niell and Carlton Cole all injured (who would all have started if available) is going to have to adjust it's style to fit the players left fit

Against Blackool the other week we played soem of the best football I've seen in YEARS at West Ham, scored 4 and it could and should have been 10

23 goals in 13 games shows last night was not our usual style

6 more than you've scored in fact

good luck for the seaon and I reckon yu'll make the play-offs

But don't make the mistake of thinking we play like that in every match

That's probably the real; answer to this question, it's best to able to play both ways depending on the opposition and the player at your disposal

 

[Kev59]

Hope you don't mind a Hammer having a say in this debate......?

First off, I thought you played some really nice football on Monday night; the kind of football we are usually (or used to be) known for. But it hasn't been successful - if it was, we'd still be in the PL. For years we've played the kind of football that the neutrals and most opposiition teams have loved to watch. A year ago, while we were still in the PL, you would have beaten us last night, because we couldn't play ugly and grind out results. We were the best there was at taking a one goal lead and losing 2-1.

BFS has said that this season we will play ugly. Not all the time, but when it's needed, we will. With four or five first team players out injured we were always going to play for a 1-0. On the other hand, if you've seen the way we played against Blackpool you'd see there is a Plan B. What Allardyce has done is make us more tactically aware - he analyses opponents like none of our previous managers and sets the team up accordingly, so against Blackpool we played 4-4-2, same at S'oton (but it reverted to 4-3-3 when Taylor got injured) and last night we went with a proper 4-3-3 with our wide forwards pushing right up to close down.

I've been a Hammer since the early 70's and no, I can't say I find the we played last night attractive, but it is effective. Boring 1-0 victories, away from home on a rainy night against a good footballing team like yourselves. Yeah, I'll take that - but not *every* week! And if we get back to the PL we'll need to invest in players who can play a range of styles.

(BTW the poster who said how much Sam has spent on the team? Fact is, we've shipped out a helluva lot more than we've brought in. Nolan was the big signing, paid for by selling Parker. Carew, Diop, Faye, O'Brien, Almunia - all cast-offs.)

All the best for the season ahead.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Big target men rarely cause havoc. More often they are big, fat, slow, useless and their only skill (if and when they manage to rise more than a couple of inches above the ground) is to win a few headers but put the ball way back into the top of the stands. We've gone down that route before and it has never worked.

It's not called the beautiful game for nothing - although a few wins would make me even happier

 

[Surf's Up]

put this on another thread but it fits here better

Hammer here!

Just thought i'd point out that while yes last night we played a dogged Allardyce Bolton style last night, that's not the way we usually play

However any side in this divison missing Rob Green, James Tomkins, Guy Demel, Henri Lansbury, Matt Taylor, David Bentley, Gary O'Niell and Carlton Cole all injured (who would all have started if available) is going to have to adjust it's style to fit the players left fit

Against Blackool the other week we played soem of the best football I've seen in YEARS at West Ham, scored 4 and it could and should have been 10

23 goals in 13 games shows last night was not our usual style

6 more than you've scored in fact

good luck for the seaon and I reckon yu'll make the play-offs

But don't make the mistake of thinking we play like that in every match

That's probably the real; answer to this question, it's best to able to play both ways depending on the opposition and the player at your disposal

Good points, well made