We really should have got
something from this. I’m up among the Gooners for this, sitting opposite the
West Ham fans in the Library.
Ramsey has an early header correctly disallowed for the Gunners. But West Ham, wearing the new blue and yellow away kit, play pretty well in the first half, looking speedy on the break through Masuaku, Antonio, Fredericks and the excellent Anderson. Sanchez has come into midfield for the injured Noble and does the simple things well in front of the back four.
Ramsey has an early header correctly disallowed for the Gunners. But West Ham, wearing the new blue and yellow away kit, play pretty well in the first half, looking speedy on the break through Masuaku, Antonio, Fredericks and the excellent Anderson. Sanchez has come into midfield for the injured Noble and does the simple things well in front of the back four.
The home fans become
frustrated with Arsenal’s tactic of Cech playing the ball short to his centre
backs, both rapidly pressed by the Hammers forward line. After Arnie hits the
side netting following a fine through ball from Snodgrass and Antonio shoots straight at Cech, the Hammers take the lead on
25 minutes. Anderson plays a one two with Arnautovic, leaving the Austrian
plenty of time to slot into the corner of the net.
WE'RE WINNING AWAY
“How shit must you be, we’re
winning away!” chant the away fans. The Irons don’t keep the lead for long
enough though. Five minutes later Bellerin is given space to cross and the ball
flicks off Iwobi to Monreal who finishes. Before the break West Ham have more
chances with Arnie having an effort disallowed for offside and then Snodgrass fluffing a one-on-one as Wes Ham walk through the home defence.
Lacazette comes on for the
Gunners and makes a difference. Fabianski has to make a couple of fine saves, most notably from Mustafi's header. Anderson's shot ricochets off Cech and Arnie injures himself as he fails to connect properly after a great Anderson
break and cross. Hernandez replaces him
as Pellegrini pops up in the technical area looking like Peter Capaldi trying
to apply a sonic screwdriver to Arnie’s injured knee. But on 70 minutes the Gunners
score a rather fortuitous second as Diop's sliced clearance causes confusion in the box and Lacazette’s chip into the box is luckily deflected
in off Diop’s body.
It’s a flattering score for
the Gunners. But there were signs here that this group of players could develop
into a decent team, while Anderson looks like he will be a delight to watch.
The defence needs to improve and the partnership of Balbuena and Diop is a work
in progress, while Masuaku gets exposed in a back four. There might be a case for
playing five at the back to shore things up, as with Anderson we now have a
player who can break at speed. We just need to learn how to finish. A bad
result, but a better performance.
PLAYER RATINGS: Fabianski 7: Fredericks 6, Diop 5,
Balbuena 6, Masuaku 5; Snodgrass 5 (Yarmolenko 5), Sanchez 6, Wilshere 5,
Anderson 8, Antonio 6 (Perez 5); Arnautovic 7 (Hernandez 5).
2 comments:
Good review of the game, while I am trying not to panic its hard being bottom of the table, but as you say there was a lot to feel optimistic about and we did look good to watch (away!).
Fingers crossed we will become a good team under MP and the players have to get confidence again.
As supporters we need to build out confidence which is also low, but we have been doing this the hard way for the last 25 years so we do know turn its possible to turn things around.
Think I am over for the Man U game just the sort of game we could win! COYI
Yes, it will take time. Like you I'm more optimistic when we play good teams and nothing much to lose... we really could have had three or four goals at Arsenal. Though playing three defenders with no PL experience is a worry...
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