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Excellent West Ham fans comments on Rafa Benitez and Newcastle United – Very honest

6 years ago
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West Ham fans have had some interesting things to say after Saturday’s match.

Obviously very disappointed to lose to Newcastle but very honest, in most cases, when it comes to evaluating the match.

Their comments are pretty much split between praising Newcastle United and pointing out the shortcomings of their own players.

A lot of credit is given to Rafa Benitez for his game plan and the team’s performance.

As for individuals, the likes of Atsu, Ritchie and…Joselu, picked out for special mention.

Well worth a read.

West Ham fans comment via their top Knees Up Mother Brown message board:

‘Our beloved owners were keen to get Rafa Benitez (may still be) as manager, perhaps this is why.

We were never going to suddenly become world beaters and Newcastle really weren’t as bad as their recent results suggested.’

‘We scored two goals. So the attack has done it’s job.

We let in three. All starting with Zabaleta who was utterly awful. Bloke lost the plot and was thumping the ball into OUR players regularly. Atsu murdered him.

Joselu also sat on Cresswell and Masuaku.

I think Cresswell was picked pretty much because of his set play capabilities. Understandable in Lanzini’s absence.

Benitez picked the two weaknesses and they exploited them well.

We missed a pen, had one off the line, missed a clear header etc. They played a fluid, counter attack game.

Cracking game. Flew by.’

‘Ritchie murdered our midfield. Did very well and helped them terrorise the flanks.

Newcastle did a great job on the counter. Only wasteful finishing on their part (and the bar/post) stopped them from shipping six past us.

We lost the match tactically. It was obvious that hoofing the ball repeatedly forty yards plus wasn’t working after the first ten minutes. It continued for 90 plus. Our long balls repeatedly mostly ended up with Newcastle possession and as far as I can recall didn’t end up creating a single decent chance for us.

Credit to Newcastle – played well and deservedly won. Their midfield dominated ours and won the match.

Ayew’s penalty was both hilarious and embarrassing. He needs to be made to watch that again a dozen times over with the squad. Hope they all subject him to the ridicule he deserves. Cost us a point that we didn’t deserve.

Both the contact and the foul for the penalty happened outside the box. Perhaps karma for Newcastle.’

‘A lot of people around me were screaming for us to pump the ball forward but it was blatantly obvious that Newcastle could deal with that all day.

Our main joy was getting wide but we persisted with 50 yard punts to Carroll on the edge of the 18 yard box who couldn’t win the header but even if he did, was in no position to impact the game.’

‘Even the huff and puff last half hour never looked like it would pay off. Too little quality, guile or precision to deserve reward. Lumping to Carroll year after year after year. And some say we’re in the elite.

And this against a dreadful team who must have had more clear cut chances in this game than in any other this season.

Three goals conceded, the woodwork unluckily hit twice and clear cut chances spurned.

If we could have had three or four, not through our brilliance, but through sheer desperate pressure / poor defending on their part then they could have had seven on another day.’

‘The Newcastle games are a perfect illustration – people are now calling for the same technical players who got thrashed by Newcastle in August.

We don’t have many who combine technique and physical prowess. Arnautovic is a rare example in our ranks of a player who has both athleticism and technique. Still, it was only a month ago that this place was rife with people wanting him out. Now he’s on a completely different level to all our players except Lanzini.

We are where we are in the table because we started so badly. Yesterday’s performance was not even remotely bad in comparison to at least half a dozen others this season.’

‘Both teams could have scored more than they did and yes, we had real trouble coping at times. A lot of their stuff stemmed from long diagonals to Joselu who we didn’t deal with all game.

We never dealt with him at theirs or with Atsu either.’

‘I thought we were the better team throughout. The result could easily have been 5-5. Disappointing – yes. Our worse performance? Far from it.’

‘For someone who is supposed to be a defensive manager, Benitez certainly set them up in an attacking way yesterday.

They were constantly getting 5 and 6 players in our box. Even with five at thr back we are still ridiculously suspect to teams who attack at pace on the counter, esp from wide areas.’

‘They overloaded us on attacks, we didn’t seem to track them so they had options when attacking. Fair play to Rafa they totally exploited our weaknesses and deserved the win.’

‘I’m a big believer that if a Keeper sets a wall one side and mainly guards the other, then good luck to the free kick taker to get it over the wall into the bottom corner which he done. It was a quality free kick well placed with pace (from Saivet).

The Keeper had no chance and it shouldn’t be expected of a Keeper to keep that shot out. However from memory the ones in the wall barely jumped high enough. I also had an issue with whoever it was that initially gave the needless free kick away.

As for the other 2 goals defensively, dear God it was awful defending.

It feels like after the good work done against the likes of Stoke and Chelsea, we’ve gone backwards again with Moyes having a mare of a week the last 2 games.

Let’s have it right, Newcastle battered us and the woodwork saved our blushes which kept us still in it at half time. A newly promoted team who struggled to buy a win in 10. Absolutely pitiful performance.’

‘Their first 3 chances after the equaliser (post, bar and just over) they had 3-4 players in the space between our defence and midfield completely unmarked every time.

And for their second there is no pressure on the ball whatsoever, Ciaran Clark is allowed to bring the ball down and take TWO touches and then play a forward ball under ZERO pressure from Kouyate who just stands there. Then Zabaleta jumps in like a ****ing amateur and we’re 1-2 down.

The way we gifted them the third is just keystone cops and again Zabaleta is at fault for not taking charge and then clearing it straight into his own player.’

‘Still can’t get over how we’ve taken points off Chelsea and Arsenal and lost to this mob. 1 point from their last 27.’

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