Stevenage 2-2 West Ham
twitter.com/whufc_official/status/48798857747...
twitter.comPosted Jul 12, 2014, 4:08 PM UTC
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twitter.comPretty clear that we're guna compete for the league this season
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Compete?! We have it in the bag!
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It's just a friendly. The sky is not falling.
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I was very worried when the score was 2-0... It seemed like Jarvis played really well though judging by the match report
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From what I heard, a game of goalkeeping blunders on our side. Here's hoping they pick up as pre season goes on. Goals by Jarvis and downing mean good things though!
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That's your lot. It ends 2-2 at the Lamex Stadium, with two late West Ham goals ensuring the Hammers start pre-season with a draw!
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Just got back from the match. 1st half was pretty shocking, didn't create anything and looked sloppy at the back, particularly Chambers, who had a very poor game (too short to be a CB if you ask me). The other youngster of the first half Mccalumm did pretty much nothing all half, don't really remember him touching the ball. Cresswell made a few mistakes and wasn't great, but saw some glimpses of what he could bring to the team, and Poyet didn't really do anything good or bad. Tatics-wise, we played the same sort of formation as last year, 4-2-3-1, but we played very wide with the O'brien and cresswell pushing up a lot, and noble dropping back to cover, almost as if we were playing 5 at the back with 2 wing backs. Hardly any long balls, though. This didn't really work, as vaz te, nolan and morrison all played quite central and it would just become congested, and when stevenage got the ball back the defence seemed out of position (particulary Chambers) and gave stevenage a lot of space, who looked more threatening all half. However, their first goal was a joke, Adrian had the ball under control and their striker just kicked it out of his hands, but they did hit the post and miss an easy chance when Adrian flapped at a cross.
2nd half was much better, same sort of tactics, but worked with jarvis and downing playing wide. We looked much more likely to score, but they managed to get a goal with their only real shot of the half. We scored 2 in the last 10 mins, with 2 great crosses into the 6 yard box and then their goalie didn't really have a chance, as Jarvis and Downing headed them in. I was pretty impressed with Lee, I thought he made some great runs, good pace and good movement, creating some chances out of nothing. Potts was decent, got forward well and defensively solid. Kouyate and Whitehead didn't do much, and the two subs who came on (don't know who they were) were decent, but didn't have much time to form an opinion. My man of the match would be Jarvis.
Overall, its a friendly, so not really bothered about the draw, but I'm glad we didn't lose. We definitely need to improve but its good see Sam trying out some new tactics and seeing some youngsters, although going on this match, Lee and Potts are the only ones I'd be comfortable seeing on the teamsheet.
Cheers for this! Really happy to hear Potts playing well. I was hoping he would get more of a shout this year. I thought Lee was a year or two away from contributing but he sounds like he may have improved immensely.
Disappointing to hear Chambers was out of position so often. I would rather we see him at his natural position (RB) than in the center, where his height is exposed, however!
It's strange to me to think of Nolan and Morrison on the pitch simultaneously. There is no way those two didn't get in each other's way.
Happy to hear Sam is trying to loosen his tactics up a bit, too. Fullbacks getting forward is something we could definitely use more of if we want to score!
just saw the highlights on sky sports news, and yeah, seems about right. The first goal against us was a damn joke. But it seemed our players were running at half speed from what I saw, it looked very slow.