[Albion] Did Hughton do anything wrong last night?

[Bozza]

I've read a few comments about West Ham being bold with their substitutions and/or Hughton not making any changes, and I'm scratching my head slightly, so thought it warranted its own thread.

From my vantage point we were putting in a very solid away performance against a side that has very much been in form of late (although you could make a case for them having a dip after their loss at Burnley and being rather lacklustre against us). We took the lead, probably deservedly and then doubled that lead. It could have been even better had Bernardo managed a third, or squared the ball for Murray to do so.

In short, however, I thought we were looking very comfortable.

West Ham rolled the dice, but at two down with half an hour to go, they had little choice.

I really don't see why Hughton would be making substitutions before their first goal, and the second came so fast, there was no time to react before that went in either.

From 2-2 I feared the worst and thought we'd go on to lose 3 or 4-2. Arnautovic was strutting, West Ham had their tails up and the crowd was back on their side. We held firm however and saw out the game in a relatively assured manner.

Do you think Hughton played it wrong last night?

 

[father_and_son]

I've read a few comments about West Ham being bold with their substitutions and/or Hughton not making any changes, and I'm scratching my head slightly, so thought it warranted its own thread.

From my vantage point we were putting in a very solid away performance against a side that has very much been in form of late (although you could make a case for them having a dip after their loss at Burnley and being rather lacklustre against us). We took the lead, probably deservedly and then doubled that lead. It could have been even better had Bernardo managed a third, or squared the ball for Murray to do so.

In short, however, I thought we were looking very comfortable.

West Ham rolled the dice, but at two down with half an hour to go, they had little choice.

I really don't see why Hughton would be making substitutions before their first goal, and the second came so fast, there was no time to react before that went in either.

From 2-2 I feared the worst and thought we'd go on to lose 3 or 4-2. Arnautovic was strutting, West Ham had their tails up and the crowd was back on their side. We held firm however and saw out the game in a relatively assured manner.

Do you think Hughton played it wrong last night?

No.

Simple case of taking our eyes of the ball for a second (well 120+ seconds).

Would have taken a point before the game, predicted a point, bet on a point, got a point.

No Blame-Game from me this morning.

 

[tubby]

Unfortunately we lost our shape defensively which, combined with their substitutions, gave them more space and put them on the front foot. I didn't think at the time that we needed to make substitutions and had we got our shape back there would not have been a problem. By the time it was obviously a problem it was too late. No blame and at the end of the day a good point.

 

[Mellotron]

I would’ve gone for Andone about 5 minutes earlier, but otherwise no, not really.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

I've read a few comments about West Ham being bold with their substitutions and/or Hughton not making any changes, and I'm scratching my head slightly, so thought it warranted its own thread.

From my vantage point we were putting in a very solid away performance against a side that has very much been in form of late (although you could make a case for them having a dip after their loss at Burnley and being rather lacklustre against us). We took the lead, probably deservedly and then doubled that lead. It could have been even better had Bernardo managed a third, or squared the ball for Murray to do so.

In short, however, I thought we were looking very comfortable.

West Ham rolled the dice, but at two down with half an hour to go, they had little choice.

I really don't see why Hughton would be making substitutions before their first goal, and the second came so fast, there was no time to react before that went in either.

From 2-2 I feared the worst and thought we'd go on to lose 3 or 4-2. Arnautovic was strutting, West Ham had their tails up and the crowd was back on their side. We held firm however and saw out the game in a relatively assured manner.

Do you think Hughton played it wrong last night?

As I mentioned in person, my initial emotive response was that Hughton HAD made a mistake, but in working through the chain of events, logically, your point in completely valid; we hadn't looked in any trouble whatsoever, and there was no obvious reason to change the team.

Once West Ham scored the second I would suggest that we should have swapped Andone for Murray almost immediately, in order to harry and stretch them at the back with his pace, but I can see why we didn't as that period was all West Ham.

Later I would have also replaced the largely ineffective Gross with Bissouma, but once again, NOT doing that was not a mistake.

 

[Bozza]

Later I would have also replaced the largely ineffective Gross with Bissouma, but once again, NOT doing that was not a mistake.

I am certainly puzzled as to why Bissouma hasn't featured at all in the last three games whatsoever.

 

[dazzer6666]

No.

Simple case of taking our eyes of the ball for a second (well 120+ seconds).

Would have taken a point before the game, predicted a point, bet on a point, got a point.

No Blame-Game from me this morning.

Me neither.......new formation settling well, first half at Bournemouth and much of last night were huge improvements on how we've played away previously. Much more dynamic, willing to press higher up the pitch, fullbacks getting forward etc - looked much more like 'home game' attitude at times. Even Stephens is making forward runs and passes now. A mostly decent performance and a decent away point against a team that's been in pretty good form lately and with a player of genuine class up front in front of nearly 60k.......

 

[Papa Lazarou]

I am certainly puzzled as to why Bissouma hasn't featured at all in the last three games whatsoever.

Saving him for our 'Cup Run'?

 

[Stat Brother]

This Murray experiment needs to end!!

 

[Captain Sensible]

Good point, I wouldn’t say he got it wrong, but I was hoping for Andone about 5 mins after we went 2up! You could see how deep we were dropping and Murray was spending most of the time in our own Penalty area. No pressure on WH back line. We paid for that. 9/10 Hughton gets it right with subs even though we often want changes earlier. Last night was the 1 out of 10 where waiting with changes didn’t pay off.

 

[Icy Gull]

I am certainly puzzled as to why Bissouma hasn't featured at all in the last three games whatsoever.

Not good enough defensively for Hughton yet?

No complaints from me for the team and subs last night, two good goals from WHU

 

[Da Man Clay]

Not a lot wrong. I was a bit surprised Bossouma didn’t come on Gross as already suggested for a bit more drive and energy particularly after 2-2. Think it would have helped settle us down a little. That and i’m also a little surprised Knockaert didn’t get a run out. Would have liked to see him running at Zabaleta on the break.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I am certainly puzzled as to why Bissouma hasn't featured at all in the last three games whatsoever.

Too tall?

 

[LamieRobertson]

No in my opinion

 

[Richy_Seagull]

My only slight gripe was that Gross stayed on when he was absolutely knackered and tbh apart from assist from the corner was having a bit of a shocker of a second half. Think really could have done with Bissouma for some fresh legs in the middle of the park (IMO).

 

[wealdgull]

I'd have swapped out March for Knocky mid-way through the second half. March looked dead on his feet at that point, tracking back way behind his man and in general not being effective going forwards either.

In retrospect Kayal for Gross would have been a good move, but I didn't think of it at the time and we were doing okay as it was.

 

[Bold Seagull]

We still carried a threat until they scored, as Bernardo shortly before arguably had our best chance of the match from open play. The issue came when we simply couldn't contain Antonio on our left for 5 mins, and just lost composure at the crucial moments.

Not sure what happened to Bernardo? However once they equalised, they seemed to sit back happy they'd rescued at least a point and went very pragmatic themselves when you thought they could have gone all out for the win. Part of that is that we still carried a threat on the break, and still had good possession of the ball, but still, think they missed a trick not going all out for a win.

As others have said Andone could have come on 5mins earlier, Bissouma could have had 10mins or so, but can't really say they're altering the outcome.

 

[Eric Youngs Contact Lense]

There was no need to make subs before they scored their two goals - We had destroyed Pellegrini's initial plan and he was a desperate man with his Subs. The Home side played well, or at least had momentum, only for about 10-15 minutes in the second half. To that point, we had looked more likely to score with a counter-attack, than they did. The fact that we didn't buckle, and to a point, the normal pattern of the game had returned, with us looking more comfortable again, arguably vindicates the decisions made. The game was there to be won up to 65 minutes, but after 70 minutes, the priority was about re-establishing ourselves and making sure we didn't lose. The only change I might have made was to help Bong out with Antonio - I felt he was the biggest threat, and Locadia was lacking slightly on the 2nd goal and the subsequent chance that Antonio had when he ghosted past the two of them - maybe AK for Locadia, but there was no time between the goals. Ultimately though, I am not sure this would have changed the result.

 

[Bold Seagull]

I'd have swapped out March for Knocky mid-way through the second half. March looked dead on his feet at that point, tracking back way behind his man and in general not being effective going forwards either.

In retrospect Kayal for Gross would have been a good move, but I didn't think of it at the time and we were doing okay as it was.

I thought March was our main threat for most of the game. Not sure I saw him being dead on his feet, or not being effective. Even toward the end our most effective possession and attacking was happening down our right imo.

 

[kjgood]

We were two nil up away from home to a mid table team not particularly being put under any great pressure, why would he have been under any pressure to have made urgent changes? we went to sleep and let them back in, thats what I saw.