West Ham V The Vultures from the north

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Sheffield United: Howard, Alcock, Harris, Basham, Flynn, Doyle (c), Baxter, McNulty, Collins, Davies, McGahey

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Any one tell me the score I know it's in extra time?

we lost on penalties... Valencia missed the final one...

The reason I don't go to these early cup games.
You can always rely on the team to let the fans down.
Piss poor, we lose 5-4 on penalties.

Was at the game last night: the team that was put out was good enough to beat Sheffield United. However, the way it was set up led to our downfall. Sakho and Valencia should have been paired as a front two; Valencia should not have been played in the centre on his own and Sakho should not have been played to the right.

Similarly, Diame (a player who cannot make a telling decision nor pass) should not have been played in the creative role off the striker. Ravel Morrison was left to play a holding role alongside the outstanding Diego Poyet. The talents of Valencia, Sakho and Morrison were therefore negated.

I am not one to blast the manager for the sake of it but Allardyce now has flexible options in attacking personnel - last night showed he does not have the flexibility in his system to either accommodate them or get the absolute best out of them.

My boys went yesterday and one has said he was not impressed with Valencia
Someone else I know tat was also at the game was very critical about Morrison.
It just seems certain players don't want to know.

A number out there yesterday I would move on:

Demes: Too old now and we have two players in his RB position.
Reid: want to move on. Need a good centre half to replace him.
Diame: Need to move him on and bring in a replacement.
Morrison: does not want to know so get what we can for him and bring in a replacement.
Vaz Te: move him on and bring in a replacement.

We did not play to either Morrison's nor Valencia's strengths last night, hence the comments from your sons and friend Charlie.

We have seen a change in approach in terms of passing. We are looking to play the ball on the ground more and this has helped in retention of possession and number of chances created in our matches so far. However, last night was a perfect opportunity to change the formation. Instead, Allardyce kept the same formation (4-3-3/4-5-1) and forced the players to fit into it. Consequently, some players were out of position and we did not see the best of them.

Valencia was always too far away from both Sakho and Vaz Te, in terms of width across the pitch. Had either Sakho or Vaz Te been 15 yards further inside, Valencia's threat would have been more potent.

Sakho is a central striker - if we are going to play him in a wide right position in the three, then we are wasting the talents of a good finisher (a la Baldock).

Diame is a powerful central midfield player. He is not Eyal Berkovic. Diame was trusted with the creative role, which is not his game - we did not play to his strengths either.

To accommodate Diame's advanced role, Ravel Morrison played as a deeper-lying midfield player. Morrison's tricks and creative flair are dangerous in those areas, for the wrong reasons - he is more liable to give the ball away in positions from which we could be punished. His invention is better served on the edge of the opposition penalty area where he can thread balls in to Sakho and/or Valencia. Instead, most of his work was done 30 yards or more from the opposition goal.

Last night's team would have been better served in the following formation:

Jaaskelainen
Burke, Reid, Potts
Demel, Diame, Poyet, Vaz Te
Morrison
Sakho, Valencia

Instead, the system reigned supreme over the players selected - stifled, uncomfortable players led to frustration all round and the failure to pick up a positive result.

Great Stuff Dan

 
 

So frustrating when a fan can talk  so much sense yet the bloke who is paid millions to do the job cant see this.

Dan C wrote:Was at the game last night: the team that was put out was good enough to beat Sheffield United. However, the way it was set up led to our downfall. Sakho and Valencia should have been paired as a front two; Valencia should not have been played in the centre on his own and Sakho should not have been played to the right.

Similarly, Diame (a player who cannot make a telling decision nor pass) should not have been played in the creative role off the striker. Ravel Morrison was left to play a holding role alongside the outstanding Diego Poyet. The talents of Valencia, Sakho and Morrison were therefore negated.

I am not one to blast the manager for the sake of it but Allardyce now has flexible options in attacking personnel - last night showed he does not have the flexibility in his system to either accommodate them or get the absolute best out of them.

Agreed Dan. It was a travesty to see that much attacking talent on the pitch resort to sideways and backwards passing at walking pace for most of the game. No real urgency or pace until Downing came on

Dan C wrote:We did not play to either Morrison's nor Valencia's strengths last night, hence the comments from your sons and friend Charlie.

We have seen a change in approach in terms of passing. We are looking to play the ball on the ground more and this has helped in retention of possession and number of chances created in our matches so far. However, last night was a perfect opportunity to change the formation. Instead, Allardyce kept the same formation (4-3-3/4-5-1) and forced the players to fit into it. Consequently, some players were out of position and we did not see the best of them.

Valencia was always too far away from both Sakho and Vaz Te, in terms of width across the pitch. Had either Sakho or Vaz Te been 15 yards further inside, Valencia's threat would have been more potent.

Sakho is a central striker - if we are going to play him in a wide right position in the three, then we are wasting the talents of a good finisher (a la Baldock).

Diame is a powerful central midfield player. He is not Eyal Berkovic. Diame was trusted with the creative role, which is not his game - we did not play to his strengths either.

To accommodate Diame's advanced role, Ravel Morrison played as a deeper-lying midfield player. Morrison's tricks and creative flair are dangerous in those areas, for the wrong reasons - he is more liable to give the ball away in positions from which we could be punished. His invention is better served on the edge of the opposition penalty area where he can thread balls in to Sakho and/or Valencia. Instead, most of his work was done 30 yards or more from the opposition goal.

Last night's team would have been better served in the following formation:

Jaaskelainen
Burke, Reid, Potts
Demel, Diame, Poyet, Vaz Te
Morrison
Sakho, Valencia

Instead, the system reigned supreme over the players selected - stifled, uncomfortable players led to frustration all round and the failure to pick up a positive result.

Thanks for your comments Dan.
I've already made up my mine end of last season that SAM should have gone.
He should be playing to players strengths and not a system that some are not up to playing.

I really believe that BFS wanted to give Sakho, Valencia & Ravel game time in a less important game than the PL so just put them into a system irrespective of the positions where they are most effective. He has no regard for the fans, the owners or the cup competitions IMHO

My player ratings for what they are worth

Jussi 6/10. Why did he decide to lump it all second half? Poor distribution. Poor communication with Reid for their goal. Dropped a pee roller late on. Never looked like saving any of the Blunts' penalties. Adrian has no real competition with Jussi here
Demel 7/10. Impressive first half and gave us a real outlet going forward. Tired hugely second half
Burke 8/10. Very impressive for a 17 year old. Read the game well. Good distribution and comfortable carrying the ball out of defence
Reid 6/10. Doesn't look interested to me and looks like he wants out. Considering we were up against ONE striker for the entire game he often was wrong side and trying to be too clever in possession
Potts 5/10. Sorry but he is not going to make it as a PL player. Positionally very poor. Their No.16 continually found himself in acres of space to cross into our box. Gave us nothing going forward whatsoever. Every pass was backwards or sideways
Ravel 5/10. Apart from a couple of runs and one great shot he gave us nothing offensively. Admittedly he spent most of his time in front of our back four and passed it sideways or backwards to defenders. An outrageous dive for which he, quite rightly, got booked
Poyet 8/10. Comfortable in possession. Doesn't give the ball away. Takes the safe option most of the time. Noble's replacement eventually. A very impressive full debut
Diame 6/10. As usual plays in spurts. Some great mazy runs but equally does too much and gets caught in possession. Like Ravel, was played out of position which didn't help. Against League One opposition he (like many others) should have shone but didn't
Vaz Te. 5/10. Another one who just didn't look interested. The Potts/RVT combination down our left was anonymous. Won't get many more chances once Jarvis and/or Valencia are fully fit
Sakho 6/10. Another one played out of position and it showed. Some flashes of pace and a good goal but looked lost out on the right. Tired second half and was substituted. If he is played down the middle looks like he could be a real handful
Valencia 6/10. Was mostly anonymous. Hardly any service to him whatsoever. To give him his due he lasted for 120 minutes which was impressive in itself. A poor penalty his straight down the middle but was probably knackered by that point. Much more to come from him I am sure

Subs: Downing (for Sakho). 7/10. The whole pace of our game was lifted when Downing came on. Some woeful shooting but we look better with him in the side.
Zarate (for Vaz Te). 6/10. Played out of position on the left but looked to get on the ball and make things happen. Often ran down blind alleys and his shooting was ineffective. Still better than Vaz Te on the left !
Noble (for Morrison). 7/10. Another sub whose introduction raised our game just by his presence. Did nothing spectacular but was more effective than Ravel

Manager: 5/10. Yes he gave some of the new signings game time - but in the WRONG positions. The team lacked urgency, pace or the attitude to win a very winnable game. He must take ultimate responsibility for that

Tony P wrote:I really believe that BFS wanted to give Sakho, Valencia & Ravel game time in a less important game than the PL so just put them into a system irrespective of the positions where they are most effective. He has no regard for the fans, the owners or the cup competitions IMHO

That puts it in a nutshell for me.  No wonder most of them seem uninterested, being played out of position and being made to look bad.  Who would take kindly to turning up for work, only to be constantly made to do some other job that they were not cut out for?


Allerdyce has no right to disregard any game by using it as a practice match. Nor should he have the right to toy with players and their careers, just because he is in the position to, and is ignorant enough to do so.

Then there's the knock on effect it had on the crowd ......... The biggest grudge match since I can't remember when and no incentive to carry it through ..... the football world will think we've gone soft!