Wolves vs WHUFC -- January 29th, 2019

a trip to the black country hot on the heels of probably our two worst performances of the season so far...

we're actually below Wolves in the table...

we could drop lower if Everton win today and we don't

we could actually end the day in 7th if we win... and oh how many times is the lure of 7th place going to turn us into a bunch of headless shit gibbons...?


Let's look at the team...

the Beeb says... "The West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini also makes fives changes from the team that started their FA Cup defeat at Wimbledon on Saturday. The likes of Adrian, Andy Carroll, Javier Hernandez, Pedro Obiang and Grady Diangana are all relegated to the bench."


West Ham: Fabianski, Zabaleta, Ogbonna, Diop, Masuaku,Antonio, Rice, Noble, Snodgrass, Anderson Arnautovic

Subs: Adrian, Carroll, Obiang, Hernandez, Fredericks, Diangana, Coventry


Why the fupp is Noble still in the team?
I wouldn't even have Carroll on the bench tbh...

I know he's not been good but it just does my head in that Ogbonna is not even on the bench but that Noble remains in the starting line-up... makes no sense...

On the Beeb this looks like a 4-5-1 line-up... which doesn't work, even Arnie at his best needs support... we just better hope he gets some.

What happened to Cresswell? I don't remember him getting injured but his absence is hurting us a lot.

Oh well, half an hour to find out whether this works or blows up spectacularly...

Monkey Ogbonna is playing?  Do you Obiang?

impeccable silence maintained as usual...

Wolves will kick-off

at least we're not in that shitty away strip... in the full claret and... err... white.

so, we gave Wolves their first win of the season... jeebus, how much f a soft touch, secret santa are we to people?

hashtag wolwhu

are we surprised that Wolves are faster out of the gate than we are?

mottinghammer wrote:Monkey Ogbonna is playing?  Do you Obiang?

d'oh! my bad... I'm old and not paying attention... good job I went back and highlighted the team...

I think Obiang is better than Ogbonna

maybe I meant Perez... seems sad that Noble, Carroll, etc can be absolute pants but still get on the bench and first team... but Perez actually tries and then gets dropped completely - or is he part of the same mysterious absence as Cresswell?

Everton have already taken the lead in their game which means we're now down to 11th in the table...


Masuaku used to be pretty good... he teams up nicely from an Anderson pass but can't quite pull it back enough to avoid the side netting...

Antonio seems to have lost a lot of his skills... but he still puts in a shift... which is always to be applauded.

He almost cut through spectacularly into the box but the ball just got away from him.

from two teams in almost identical positions with almost identical records... it's suitably difficult to split them on the pitch..

it does bug me seeing Noble as a lone central midfielder... his passing is too erratic and his movement and pace non-existent...

we need two or three across the middle to hold the game not three or four running down the wings...

several minutes of Wolves possession... veery boring,

a: because nothing really comes of it

b: because they're not west ham

but having said that... huge shouts for a penalty as Masuaku tangles with a wolves player and brings hims down inside the area... fortunately the Ref points for nothing...

halfway thru the half...

bit better than the last two games... but not by much... I think Masuaku's shot into the side netting is our only chance so far...

all the wolves attacks are coming down the side where Cresswell usually plays...

bit better possession from us... anderson skips past a couple but his shot is weak and wide...

Wolves miss a sitter from 6 yards... heading just wide...

and wolves have the ball in the back of the net.... it came from the opposite side this time... a beautiful back heel eludes fabianski but hits the bar and then fortunately for us... the resulting header into the net is then flagged because apparently the initial player was offside...


very lucky break for us...

any chance it'll kick us into a higher gear to grab a hold of this game?

doesn't seem likely because wolves attack again, we bring down a player just outside the box and get a yellow card for our trouble...

okay... so wolves are very much on the up at the moment... 5 minutes till the whistle saves us.

Zab gets a knock and is receiving treatment after running into Ogbonna and cracking his head...

3 minutes added...

end of first half.

we're lucky to still be level at 0-0

apparently we're still in tenth, despite Everton leading...

don't really know what we should do...

bring on new forwards? why? there's no service for the one(s) we have on the park.. so new ones will not change that...

bring on a new midfield... of course... but how? we're stuck with shitty Noble and don't really have any options on the bench...

Masuaku is the most clunky player out there today.. but who do we have t bring on as a defender? no one?

We need the midfield to grab the game and start feeding the people up front... that's Anderson, Noble, Snodgrass...

Anderson has skills but he seems to lack the leadership and workmate to handle midfield... he should be pushed higher to serve Arnie... but then we have Noble and no one behind him to shore up the game...

Something is fundamentally at the moment and having to face Liverpool on monday, we're gonna get spanked...

numbers don't lie...

2nd half is on and cracking...

bizarrely taken free-kick... surely they can't have worked on that one at all...

almost resulted in a wolves counter attack...

cynical (as usual) tackle/foul from Noble yo give Wolves a free kick outside the box... but somehow he doesn't get booked like he usually does...

we're lucky to have Fabianski...

he made one error today that didn't cost us... but he's the reason we're not 2 or 3 down... (he made another great save as I'm typing this)

Wolves are totally on the front foot...

We're... kinda just out there...

so devoid of ideas that Carroll is warming up.

and once again it's only Fabianski's skills in goal that keep us in the game...

it's hard to even keep writing about this as a hobby...

we're just...

oh shit...

we're just a goal down...

corner after Fabianski's excellent save...

total free header as Ogbonna just decides not to challenge his man... Fabianski is wrong footed and can only watch as the ball stings into the back of the net.

totally what we deserve...

totally unfair to Fabianski who has been our only decent player...

Looks like Carroll will be coming on... jesus... we really are that clueless...


actually double change...

phew... Noble goes off

Carroll comes on

Snoddy makes way for Obiang

so expect us to just pump long balls into the box as Carroll hangs out around the centre circle wondering why he's not scoring any goals...