The very best (Man City) v The Worse (West Ham)

OK let me kick off with this.

What can one say, high scoring game. Good attacking football from the home team.

Great support from the away fans however will end in humiliation with result. Maybe.

Long and disappointing way home.

Good luck to our supporters

I'm sure there'll be plenty of dynamic attacking football full of commitment and passion

and then, of course... there'll be dear old West Ham


here in jolly old septic land, it's on NBC (kinda like the BBC) so it'll be free to everyone in the country who wants a good laugh at our expense.

and we're underway... 1 minute 52 seconds gone... fortunately no goals so far.

you can hear the cockney boys (and girls) singing... as always.

I do like our black away strip

Adrian is in for Hart

Antnoio starts

Masuako is on from the get-go with Arnautovic on the bench

it's all predictably Man City pressure... but their final ball is a little wayward... so that helps.

oh yeah... and Declan Rice replaces the injured Reid

ooh... West Ham corner... looked weak and low... but Cresswell got the flick on nd Antonio stretches at the far post and puts it over instead of the back of the net...

from the BBC team sheet, Noble isn't even on the bench...



13 minutes gone... it's still all relentless City pressure apart from that one corner we had.

I wonder what Kippax Cat would make of all this

As the commentators keeps saying... our gameplay is to stop them scoring... but what happens if/when they do?

if your plan is purely to be defensive and frustrating... what's your plan B?

ooh... bit of excitement there... almost an attack up the wing... somehow Masuaku manages to play in a low cross... the keeper and defender trip over each other but manage to gather up the ball before we can do anything about it.

Declan Rice has just been booked... so that'll put him under a lot of pressure as we move into the 18th minute.

I'm not sure why we haven't thought of using this 'don't let them score' game plan before now... it's kept us in the game longer than we usually are...

it's currently 179 to 50

that's the number of passes per team so far.

I'll let you figure out which team is which.

great finger tip save form Adrian to push a deflect off Rice over the bar...

we defend the corner

but it's all City pressure... relentless

another City corner coming up

antonio gets the ball from a defensive break - but he's the only West Ham player in the City half... so predictably the ball ends up with Adrian... and City attack once more.

great shot from Lanzini goes into the side netting... looked like a goal because of the angle but it wasn't.


36:50 and another City corner

Kouyate picks up a knock and is finally coming off to be replaced by Sakho...

holy shitballs...

you just knew it

Ogbonna rises to meet the 2nd ball in from a corner...

and West Ham lead...

0-1

keeper gets a hand to it but can't keep it out

Moyes jumps around with his arms in the air

Guardiloa tosses his water bottle away in frustration

4 mins of added time at the end of the first half

another good Adrian save from Aguero

and there you have it...

half time

West Ham 1

Man City 0


of course...

all those people who put a ton on us to win 1-0 must be shitting their pants at the moment - not to mention all the bookmakers who''l be out of business

VERY dangerous free kick to City right on the edge of the box...
beautiful footwork from delphi, I think it was but the replays showed he ended up going down with no contact...

Adrian makes the save...

but there you go... immediately City get the ball back in the box and West Ham defenders fall over themselves and block Adrian as the ball is slotted in from 6 yards out...

1-1

Arnautovic is coming on for Lanzini...

Cresswell looks like he's hurt his arm... but it's a midfield switch that's happening.

69 minutes gone...

Charlie Ham wrote:OK let me kick off with this.

What can one say, high scoring game. Good attacking football from the home team.

Great support from the away fans however will end in humiliation with result. Maybe.

Long and disappointing way home.

Good luck to our supporters

fortunately not so far...

Another save by Adrian... more than a bit of luck because he parries and the ball falls to Sterling but Sterling completely mishits from 6 yards out and we get to clear...
on any other day the second shot would have been in the back of the net...

Antonio gets a ball but is completely on his own up front... he hits a long range shot but the keeper padres...

other than that it's just wave after wave after wave

and now we're behind...

83 minutes...

we've taken Antonio off and replaced him with Ayew... hopefully it's because Antonio is injured because that's the only justification for such a swap

Few more performances like that and we'll be able to be relegated with our heads held high!!!