Daily WHUFC News - 18th September 2017

Bilic: Time on the pitch can only benefit Carroll
WHUFC.com

Slaven Bilic says Andy Carroll's threat will only grow with the amount of
time he spends on the pitch. The centre forward again led the line in
Saturday's goalless Premier League draw at West Bromwich Albion, where he
unleashed three of West Ham United's six goal attempts. And Bilic believes
the No9, who returned to action in the home win over Huddersfield Town after
four months on the sidelines with a hip problem, will get sharper and
stronger as he gets more game-time minutes under his belt. "Andy is always a
threat and he was good in the air and also with stopping the balls and
laying it off to the flanks," said the manager. We put a lot of balls in
where he couldn't find a position to get a clean header, which is also down
to West Brom, because they are known to defend well from those situations.
"It is very important for him to get the games under his belt. He looks good
now, touch wood. This was his second game and he looks fit and he looks
competitive and the quality will come through the games. It's a big boost
for us and hopefully long may it continue. "He looked unhappy [to come off]
but we have quality players on the bench and we changed the whole three up
front because, as I said, we had Ayew, Arnautovic and Sakho, and I was very
happy with the way they kept the shape, defended and pressed. "We wanted to
score a goal, which is why we put three quality players up front."

While Carroll led the line with typical determination, he was upstaged by a
truly audacious strike from Pedro Obiang, which was the width of the
crossbar away from winning the game for the Hammers. The Spaniard allowed
the ball to roll across his body just inside the West Brom half before
opening up and curling a wicked, dipping 45-yard effort that beat Ben Foster
and cannoned back off the woodwork. "It was special quality from Pedro," his
manager observed. "That was great individual skill and great vision that he
noted that Foster was out from the line a little bit and it was a great
strike, of course, and he deserved a goal for that wonderful piece of skill.
"Unfortunately, it did not go in for him, because it would have been a
magnificent strike."

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Fonte: We felt the game was there to be won
WHUFC.com

Jose Fonte says West Ham United need to build on the solid base a three-man
defence gives them and find ways to break down resilient opponents in
future.
The Hammers looked secure at the back for the second successive game in
Saturday's goalless draw at West Bromwich Albion, where they made it two
clean sheets in a row following the 2-0 home win over Huddersfield Town.
But, at the other end of the pitch, Fonte and company struggled to break
down a Baggies team that was not just well-organised, but also sat deep in
their own territory to restrict the space available to their visitors.
"There is a lot of disappointment in the dressing room because we felt, and
I think everyone saw, that the game was there to be won," he said. "Having
said that, West Brom made it really difficult. They didn't really come out
to play, they were only playing on mistakes and defending very, very deep
and frustrating us and making it difficult for us to play in the last third
of the pitch. "But, having said that again, we had two or three good chances
to score but we didn't manage to do it. We should have won, but we have to
take the clean sheet and the point."

Bilic opted to send on midfielder Marko Arnautovic when centre-back James
Collins was injured early in the second half but, rather than switch to a
more attack-minded formation, he simply moved his players around to new
positions in the same 3-4-3 system. Fonte had no issue with his manager's
tactical decision. "Some people might say, perhaps we could have changed or
gone a little bit more offensive but, in my opinion, first and foremost you
have to keep clean sheets and if you don't concede, you know that's the
base," the Portuguese explained. "We feel very comfortable and very secure
when we play like this and now it's just about working the system and trying
to find solutions when we play against teams like this, to break them down.
"We have the pace, we have the quality players, we have the players who can
create, so I feel certainly that this has helped us, like last year, when we
had a very good run with this system. We like it and the results are coming,
so we just need to keep working on the training ground, improving and
finding ways to break teams down."

One moment which could have opened up more space for the Hammers to operate
in came midway through the second half, when Ben Foster raced from his
penalty area before bringing down Chicharito. Referee Paul Tierney decided
the offence was worthy of a booking rather than a sending-off and allowed
the Baggies goalkeeper to stay on the pitch. Again, Fonte had no issue with
the decision. "On the pitch, we felt it was a sending-off, but having seen
it, if the touch was a little bit more straight, we could have argued that
it was definitely a red card, but the touch was a little bit too much to the
left, so we can't focus too much on that one, unfortunately. "The decision
didn't go our way. It was a frustrating game, but we have to take the
point."

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Dominant in possession: How the Hammers controlled the game v West Brom
WHUFC.com

West Ham United fans will consider their side unfortunate to come away from
The Hawthorns with just a point after a hard-fought goalless draw with West
Brom.
In truth, the away side were the better team, creating seven chances
compared to the Baggies' five and registering nine shots, significantly more
than the five attempted by West Brom. In possession, West Ham were also
dominant. Slaven Bilic's men held 63% of the ball in what was, on paper, a
tricky away test. The home side – despite their decent start to the campaign
– only enjoyed 37%. It was the same story for pass accuracy. West Ham earned
86% whereas West Brom could only register 73%. These statistics are more in
keeping with how a home side might be expected to perform, which just shows
how much West Ham have improved since the international break. The Irons
have now claimed four points from the last two matches.

A big part of the two good showings in the past week has been Jose Fonte,
who has stepped into the side as a part of a back-three, starting both
Saturday's draw at West Brom and the 2-0 home win over Huddersfield Town
alongside Winston Reid and James Collins. The Portugal defender was
outstanding against the Baggies. Fonte attempted 82 passes, easily the most
on the pitch, and also attempted the most tackles of any player in the game
with four – winning two of them.
But Saturday's draw was about more than Fonte. It was about a dominant team
showing; One in which West Ham bossed the ball by playing almost 200 more
passes than the Baggies – the away side attempted 484 compared to West
Brom's 289; One in which Bilic's side touched the ball 642 times to the home
side's 433.

Tackles? West Ham won 18 to West Brom's 12. The picture the statistics
paints speaks a thousand words and, in crucial areas in crucial metrics, the
game was bossed by West Ham. However, as both Bilic and Fonte said
afterwards, the Hammers need to find a way of turning that dominance into
clear-cut chances and goals. Despite their controlling of proceedings, West
Ham unleashed just one shot on target - Michail Antonio's low first-half
shot - and another from Pedro Obiang, which hit the crossbar.

Saturday's performance against the Baggies will give the fans, the team and
the manager heart heading into three successive home games. Bolton Wanderers
in the Carabao Cup comes next on Tuesday before matches against Tottenham
Hotspur and Swansea City in the Premier League.

If the Hammers can keep doing the basics right, and turning their possession
into opportunities to score, then their chances of extending their current
unbeaten run will certainly increase.

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OTHER PREMIER LEAGUE TEAMS HAVE A CLEAR STYLE OF PLAY, WHAT'S OURS?
AUTHOR: EXWHUEMPLOYEE. PUBLISHED: 17 SEPTEMBER 2017 AT 8:03PM
TheWesTHamWay.co.uk
Written by Daniel Fisk @fisko27

While I think some of the criticism from the Anti-Board and Anti-Bilic
brigades is over the top, it seems that everybody can agree that West Ham
are underperforming as a football club.

Away from Bilic's tactical ineptitude and The Dildo Brother's amateurish
antics, one of our major issues is a complete lack of strategic direction.

Other clubs in the Premier League with less resource than West Ham punch
above their weight because they have a clear game plan.

West Brom play a brand of football that even Big Sam must find turgid, but
at least they back Tony Pulis by signing 6.4ft workhorses that buy into his
philosophy.

People seem desperate for us to play 4-4-2 but do we have the players for
that? Burnley are one of the few teams to play 4-4-2 because Sean Dyche has
very deliberately built a squad designed to make things difficult for other
teams by playing direct to big forwards. Bournemouth have a completely
different style of play to Burnley, but it's distinctive and they stay true
to it. Both teams massively punch above their weight based on their revenue
and net spend.

We may not be a selling club anymore but you look at teams like Southampton
and Leicester and you question why their scouting is seemingly so much
better than ours.

I think it's brilliant that we now can sign players with the quality (and
wage demands) of Chicharito, because that hasn't always been the case. But
it is was so obvious that absolutely no thought was given to a system which
could accommodate him! Big Sam was hounded out for his style of play but 2
years later we still play the ball long because we haven't signed brave,
technically sound midfielders that are comfortable on the ball under
pressure.

So whose fault is our lack of strategy?

I don't think the board help matters with a Del Boy approach to the transfer
market, but ultimately I think the buck stops with the manager.

Despite being a passionate, articulate, all-round top bloke, it seems highly
unlikely that Slav will find an effective, consistent style before his
contract is inevitably not renewed at the end of the season.

Which all adds up to what feels like a big missed opportunity based on the
size of the club compared to the likes of West Brom, Burnley and
Bournemouth.

COYI

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Playing Javier Hernandez on the wing denies West Ham a clinical goalscorer
and it has to stop
The Hammers can't keep playing one of their biggest assets out of position
Football London
BYADAM JONES
19:32, 17 SEP 2017

Whilst it has been great to see West Ham finally picking up some points in
the last week of Premier League action, there is still one thing that will
be irking a lot of supporters. Players not being lined up in their correct
positions sometimes produces a hidden gem, with Antonio Valencia's
metamorphosis in to a right-back for Manchester United a perfect example of
it working out. Playing Javier Hernandez on the left wing, however, will
never be one of those scenarios. You can see the thinking behind it from
Slaven Bilic - he wants to get all his best players on to the pitch at the
same time, and Hernandez is certainly a very hard-working and energetic
player. Playing the 29-year-old on the flank frees up space for the
returning Andy Carroll to make his mark which, granted, has played a big
part in West Ham's turnaround in results. But, the simple fact is, Hernandez
was brought in to score the goals that the Hammers were missing last season.
How is he going to do that playing from the left wing? Many would describe
the Mexico international as a real penalty box poacher - with all of the 39
strikes in his Premier League career coming from inside the opposition area.
Playing the him from the left flank, with the added defensive
responsibilities that position brings, gives him so little time in the
position where he would be most dangerous - right in the six yard box
harassing the centre-backs. Over the last couple of matches it's been clear
to see that Hernandez isn't too comfortable on the flanks either. Not
blessed with blistering pace or skill, the striker has been ineffective at
really delivering where it matters on the flank - not able to whip in
dangerous crosses or really test a full-back. Having played up front
throughout his career, Hernandez's intelligence at making darting runs has
been a major factor in how he always seems to have a yard of space whilst
inside the penalty area. Amongst his biggest assets are his intelligence,
his work rate, his ability to get in behind a defence and, when the right
ball is played to him, his ability to dispatch it in to the back of the net.
You're taking that all away if you play him on the left wing to try and
accommodate Andy Carroll in the centre.
West Ham's 3-4-3 system might have worked to collect points in the last two
matches but it's far from perfect if you're playing a £16 million striker
out of position.
To get the best out of Hernandez, he needs to be playing centrally - get him
up front with Carroll and lets see what kind of partnership they can make
with each other. It could be a match made in heaven - but we'll never know
if one of them is left on the wing.

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Bilic repeating Antonio mistake by playing Hernandez out of position
HITC
Vincent Ralph

The West Ham United manager has history with playing his best players out of
position. When West Ham United signed Javier Hernandez from Bayer Leverkusen
earlier this summer it was hailed as a masterstroke, the Hammers finally
bringing in a striker capable of scoring 20-plus goals a season and one with
substantial Premier League experience to boot. So what does West Ham manager
Slaven Bilic do? After seeing him shine through the middle, scoring a brace
against Southampton earlier in the campaign, he switches Hernandez out wide
to accommodate Andy Carroll and watches as the Mexican international
subsequently disappears. Hernandez is not now and never will be a winger. He
does his best work playing as a central striker, bursting into space and
putting the finishing touches to the great work of the players behind him.
He needs to feed off wingers, not act as one himself, and his anonymous
display for West Ham against West Bromwich Albion was testament to that.
Javier Hernandez of West Ham United reacts to being fouled by Ben Foster of
West Bromwich Albion during the Premier League match between West Bromwich
Albion and West Ham United at The...

The problem for West Ham supporters is that Bilic has previous in this
regard, utilising one of his finest attacking players - Michail Antonio - as
a right-back last season and wondering why everything was going wrong. West
Ham have the players to get out of their recent fug, but they need to play
them where they can excel. Using Hernandez out wide is like playing with 10
men, and while he can sometimes drop out there as he did to good effect at
former club Manchester United, stationing him there for a whole match is
foolish in the extreme. West Ham have one of the most naturally goal-scorers
of his generation at their disposal, and the sooner they realise how to get
the best out of him, the better.

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