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Hammer Time As Blue Flag Inserted In Opposition's Proverbial

nevillenixon's picture
Submitted by nevillenixon on Sun, 10/12/2017 - 21:57

Now the dust has settled a little following West Ham United's vital victory over London rivals and last season's champions Chelsea, fans are beginning to believe in David Moyes' appointment as manager and in his ability to guide the club to Premier League safety. Essentially he and his staff have taken their players back to basics in order to give themselves the belief they lost when things began to unravel following the acrimonious departure of one time talisman Dimitri Payet to Marseille, ever since he left players who had excelled regressed and others just couldn't be bothered for various on and off field reasons.

It is easy to say that Slaven Billic's regime was too friendly etc or blah blah as he used to like saying, but no one seemed to care when West Ham were turning over all of the top teams and only narrowly missed qualifying for the Champions League. What else changed apart from Payet leaving? Prior to his departure the squad had already lost Alex Song, Carl Jenkinson and Victor Moses from the original 'Boleyn Boys' of Slav's era, in addition the manager was becoming a 'grown up father' with his new wife and young family which more than likely took his edge away, not to mention the dreadful transfer window preceding the move from the much loved Boleyn to the empty carcass that was the initial London Stadium.

The players who have stood up and been counted by their new manager are already reaping the reward by being selected on merit and not just reputation or wage packet, not playing expensive signings and players on big money is not always an easy option but Moyes seems to have got his point across to all those concerned at the club. The victory over Chelsea was vindication for Moyes' pragmatic approach and willingness to back up his judgment with his decisions, however politically or professionally difficult they may be. His hard work ethos was very noticeable in the extra effort and discipline shown by the players against a Chelsea side who were no mugs and who had five forwards on by the end of the match and most certainly couldn't plant their blue flag!

'King' Authur Masuaku was named man of the match for his scintillating display on the left, but Adrian San Miguel set the tone for the afternoon, as soon as his name was announced the crowd were on his side, every exaggerated save he made was received with mass applause and he bellowed at his team to play further up the pitch from the beginning of the match until it's end. Having the crowd on board set the tone for another great atmosphere, Moyes must know that a crowd favourite lifts everyone, we could only recall Adrian receiving a couple of back passes such was his emphasis on keeping the ball moving.

All the players put in a shift, 'Elbow's ' took his goal brilliantly, Zabaleta raced around like an under 21 and credit where it's due to much maligned Mark Noble, the Hammer's captain worked his socks off but more importantly kept his discipline, as was highlighted by M.O.T.D, he must have been drilled by Pearce and Co to not stray much past the half way line. In fact the only really poor pass Noble made was on one of the rare occasions when he did venture forward, fortunately Zabaleta was able to break Chelsea's interception down. Although most of Noble's work was in the centre of the pitch he was probably in need of an ice bath after the match, which does raise the question of whether he will be selected for the Arsenal game on Wednesday night or will it be a match too far for his weary legs?

The games are coming up thick and fast, so injuries and fatigue will be an issue for what is a relatively thin West Ham squad, most players will know where they stand with their boss by the time the transfer window opens where upon several departures have apparently been sanctioned if the money or terms are decent.

The happy crowd at the London Stadium sang with great conviction throughout the match that left the visiting Chelsea supporters in no doubt as to where they could stick their blue flag- Ed

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mcbikeman's picture

something you could not say with Bilic sides unfortunately....and another tough match against a quality passing side coming up...these kind of matches where you are not expected to get anything from the game take pressure off the players.....now lets see the attitude continue against stoke/wba/bournemouth/newcastle those are the games we expect results and points from......all in all we are looking much improved lets keep it up.

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200 users have voted.
La Vida Hammer's picture

It well get harder when we have to take the game to the opposition, however if we keep Lanz, Ant and Arthur fit we will have a good chance

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147 users have voted.
Dartford Bhoy's picture

king Arthur was different class. Probably the most skillful feet we have in the sqaud, watch this space with Arsenal and Blue Mancs poking their noses in!

Lets not get too ahead of ourselves. This was not pretty and looked just like Allardyces Everton yesterday with 5 at the back and swamp the midfield. The difference is that Moyes said in his post match interview that he also expects to one day play Chelsea style attacking football for the moment its about getting points... good on yer David!

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195 users have voted.

Disagree just a tad Dartford ,i thought we were excellent, alot of the time we played out of defence instead of hoofing it and you got the feeling we could score again ,right up untill the super subs Sac & Ayew came on ordered nothing from that point in attack just sat back and soaked it up

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155 users have voted.

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Dartford Bhoy's picture

Could be right Burkie and agree a lot more playing the ball out of defence which I didnt see so much last night, we gave the ball away far too easy :o(

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222 users have voted.

I'm not sure why everyone is going so mad about Arthur...the last few games all he's done is run the ball to the corner flag to be dispossessed by one or more defenders, usually two as they know what he's going to do. He has yet to prove to me he's the real deal and I would be making sure Antonio is the guv'nor of the wing play until proved otherwise.
I thought Noble did OK, but really thought his legs were gonna give way. He put so much in he had nothing left. Now ain't that a great thing to be able to say....I was so glad to see Adrian keep his place and I reckon he'll be hard to dislodge now. Hart goes back in January maybe or not allowed?
If we can give L'Arse some of that medicine we'll be taking 6 points from 2 games that not only me, but I'm sure most West Ham fans would not have expected even one.
I'm liking DM already. Talks the talk and so far the players are walking the walk.
Long may it last. COYI

Tin hat is on for my Masuaku comments btw...lol

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173 users have voted.
moore 6 legend's picture

Don't it get on ya tits,that us beating chelski and nearly getting something at ci££y,that these pundits ie Jamie redneck always come out with that they weren't on there game or at the races on the day,it's always focused on how poor they were and not how good we were,can't stand it or him.

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190 users have voted.

When Payet and Lanzini first came they wernt so special either untill all of a sudden they came into their own Payet for his running at defenses and his intercontiental ballistic free kicks and Lanz for his positional play ,skill on the ball and his 100%commitment ,even Mascherano and Tevez took their time settling, Masu has something special ,its called potential and sure Ant is king on the wing but on Saturday he was playing as a front man with Elbows lurking in behind him and only went back out there when Sak came on ,sure he's (Masu )got his faults ,rush of blood to the head being one of them ,bring him inside and take his collar and leed off and let him at them

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196 users have voted.

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