WHUFC vs Southampton -- February 29th, 2020

here's the BBC version of the antonio near miss...

"CLOSE!
West Ham 3-1 Southampton
This would have been incredible!

Sebastien Haller, who has clearly gained in confidence from his goal earlier, sends Michail Antonio through on goal with a rabona on the half-way line.

Antonio does well to control it and open up the opportunity but it's deflected wide by Alex McCarthy.

Just about keeps Southampton in the game."

Soton free kick after a Cresswell booking...

ends with Fabianski diving to his left to smother it at the foot of the post...

65 minutes played... halfway through the half...

the Bournemouth score currently drops us to 17th and just above the thin line between success and failure... 2 points ahead of Villa...

Come on Chelsea you useless blue fucks...

despite the possession stats not really showing it... we're going all out for another goal... Ogbonna tries his best after a training ground corner from Noble...

soton bring on another pair of fresh legs... will it be enough?

fornals runs through but pushes the ball too far and loses possession...

BBC:

"A bit quiet
West Ham 2-1 Southampton

Simon Stone
BBC Sport at the London Stadium
The home supporters have been a bit quiet since the second-half started.

There is a slight nervousness that will only get worse the longer the game goes on.

A win here would be huge for West Ham, taking them out of the relegation zone."

yes... that's exactly it... we've seen this play before...

and that little patch of "defending" is exactly why we won' believe it until it's done and dusted.

70 minutes gone...
Soton are hampering us... no pun intended...

bowen picks up a lose ball... heads up field the three west ham platers make space and runs to await hi... he skies over from thirty yards...

what did I warn him about in the first half???????

we were overlapping, in good positions and he pisses it all away for selfish glory...

chelsea are kinda trying...

"Chelsea have brought on Michy Batshuayi, in the hope of getting back into the game at Dean Court. The erratic Belgian has just slotted home ... but from a clearly offside position. VAR does its job, and Bournemouth remain 2-1 in the lead."


West Ham are defending gallantly... Ogbonna dives to head clear giving Soton another corner...

bowen comes off to rousing applause... probably to stop him pissing away any more golden opportunities... Snoddy comes on to replace for the final 13 minutes....

not a bad switch... Bowen did hurt his ankle earlier and he's done all he needs to do.

fresh legs will be needed to survive the inevitable final onslaught

Haller, swarmed by several defenders goes down under a clumsy challenge form Ings - who is none too happy about it.

we piss away the resulting free kick though...

ten minutes to go... plus any overages the officials see fit to add on...

be nice to escape the weekend ut of the drop zone but we really need Chelsea to buck their ideas up.

we could do with Burnley stepping things up a bit as well... here's the report from St James...

"Absolutely nothing has happened at St James’ Park in the match between Newcastle and Burnley. Nothing, nowt, zilch, nada, nix, bugger all. There: if that doesn’t guarantee some late drama, nothing will."

wow... some great defending there from us...

haven't seen the likes of that in a long old time... but fair play... we're defending like we actually have a clue...

85 minutes and Soton are having a go...

it ends with the ball just squirming past Fabianski and out for a corner...

soon handball it from the corner and we get a breather...

fornals wins the ball aa we clear...

a long ball up field concedes possession to Soton but then we challenge and it goes out for a throw to us.


this is probably the best we've played all season... even better than at Liverpool...

we actually want this, are doing everything to get it and are actually getting it...

87 minutes gone...

great tackle from Snoddy goes out for a corner...

we defend the corner well but the clearance goes up field to no one because everyone is back defending...

Soton come at us again...

antonio gets a long ball out of defense and goes on a run... he takes it into the corner as the 90 minutes tick by... 3 to be added...

antonio is playing keep away in the corner...


fornals comes of to a standing ovation... well deserved.

Anderson replaces Fornals...

1 1/2 minutes to hold on...

we go on the attack... Snoddy and Noble play it back and forth down the wing...

noble runs with it to the corner... but he's no antonio... he trips over his own feet and gives possession back to Soton...

Anderson gives away a foul and free kick just outside the area...

Diop easily heads behind...

Soton corner.

Fabianski easily grabs the corner...

and the whistle goes...

it's all over.

for probably the first time this season, the team actually did the job from start to finish... maybe one little blip for the Soton goal and maybe a better team would have done us... but credit where it's due... they didn't quit, they didn't stop attacking...

the three top players all got a goal...

the defense were probably the best I've seen them this season.

Even Noble wasn't as bad as he usually is.

we broke Bowen's Premier League jinx...

we scored three goals...

we put in a good performance.

we won.

Chelsea get a late equalizer at Bournemouth and Newcastle and Burnley ends in a goalless stalemate...

all of which means...

we are 16th... above Bournemouth on goal difference only...

Vila and Watford have a game in hand on us... Villa are 2 points behind and Watford 3...

but Watford are about to take the field against Liverpool and hopefully there's nothing for them in that game...

villa are playing Man city tomorrow in the cup... but their next game is against Leicester and we hope they get nothing but thrashed n that game...

if those things happen... we'll go into the week out of the relegation zone and that can only be a good thing.


I hope Charlie enjoyed the game.

well... Watford and Liverpool have done us no favors whatsoever...

three teams now on 27 points... with only goal difference to separate...

our next 5 games will be crucial... it's so close between us, watford and bournemouth that even defeats will be crucial based on the number of goals scored or conceded...

westhamonkey wrote:Chelsea get a late equalizer at Bournemouth and Newcastle and Burnley ends in a goalless stalemate...

all of which means...

we are 16th... above Bournemouth on goal difference only...

Vila and Watford have a game in hand on us... Villa are 2 points behind and Watford 3...

but Watford are about to take the field against Liverpool and hopefully there's nothing for them in that game...

villa are playing Man city tomorrow in the cup... but their next game is against Leicester and we hope they get nothing but thrashed n that game...

if those things happen... we'll go into the week out of the relegation zone and that can only be a good thing.


I hope Charlie enjoyed the game.

Hi Monkey,

Thanks, I did enjoy this game, the first in a long while.

3 up front did cause Southampton problems and I would like to think this is the way we should go.

Midfield was our problem and I would like to see Noble out.