The Hammers scrape a win against struggling Wolves to keep Lopetegui as manager …. For now
Hope everyone is safe and well.
The Marshes have fallen foul of the various viruses and illnesses that have been circulating at the moment with both our boys off from school and me and my wife struggling through the days in the hope we can see the worst of it through before the Christmas break.
We are so looking forward to having time off this Christmas and don’t want to be laid up for 2 weeks because we were unable to shake off anything that the boys seem to share with us. It starts with a runny nose, then headaches and pains and before you know if, its full blown flu and rest and recuperation are needed.
I feel I’m over the worst of it and took a day out from work myself as did my wife previously. We are fortunate that we work together so we can cover the work when either one of us are off sick. But as we know, once the kids have it bad, it’s only a matter of time before me and my wife are totally floored. As day follows night, no matter what preparations you take – you’re going down, as we say in the Marsh household.
The thing about West Ham at the moment, there is something that is affecting the team, it started with a small snivel and has now ballooned into full blown flu because the owners are refusing to take the right precautions. The most important job in the club – the manager – is always seen as some after thought, with Sully going for the cheap as chips version instead of paying what is needed otherwise get a decent manager in place. Imagine wasting £30m or more on a player that can’t even get into the first team, but scraping around for a bargain basement or ‘unemployed’ manager that you don’t have to pay compensation for, to manage your team. We don’t have to imagine it, as we know.
I struggled to the match on Monday, knowing I’ve just managed to avoid any full on cold or flu and hoping not to get any worse, only to see an unconvincing win against a team we should be beating more easily. There are no real ‘easy’ games in the Premier League – ask Mann City! – but we should be able to see out Wolves who are in a dire situation at the moment and potentially going down.
The problem we have at West Ham is the owners refusal to make a decision – back the manager or not, either he is the person for the job or not, not this kicking the can down the road nonsense that just feeds into the negativity and infects the team and divides the fans. It starts with a snivel, then aches and pains and before you know it’s full on flu.
I took my Canon nifty 50 lens with me this time, along with my Sigma 70-300mm lens which I need for the shots of the action on the pitch. The 50mm offers a very different kind of image and requires a different kind of photography to get decent shots at the matches, but it has the advantage of offering a very open aperture to let in what little light there is at evening games. Why not give it a spin tonight? I thought, there’s nothing wrong with trying something different.
And try something different Lopetegui did with the team selection with Paqueta on the bench and Bowen up top and Summerville starting and Todibo in defence. I was glad Paqueta had been benched, he needs time out of the first team and didn’t offer much when he came on in the second half, giving the ball away again so often. But, if one of your strikers scores a goal, surely he plays at the start of the next match? Crazy idea, I know but I’m old school like that. Fulkrug was reduced to warming up on the touch line.
The usual pyrotechnics provided the backdrop to some pumping music to get the atmosphere up for a game that was over shadowed by Antonio’s car accident at the weekend that left many of us wondering ‘How on earth did Ant manage to get out of that?’ It was nice to see the team wear No 9 shirts before the game, and for the whole crowd to sing ‘Antoniooooo, Antonioooo, Antonio, Antonio, Antonioooooo!’ On 9 mins into the game.
But beyond that the first half reminded me of sitting in my hospital bed at the start of the year after my hand operation waiting for pain relief to be administered. It was one of the most boring halves of football I’ve seen in many of my years watching the Hammers. Strewth! It honestly had 0-0 written all over this match. The performance was a worry and lends itself to the need to rethink Lopetegui as our manager. The players – well most of them, are not playing for the manager at all. Bowen was the stand out for me and was always trying to affect the game.
I struggled to take any photos of anything because nothing was happening. I can’t remember how many times I checked my watch and then the big screen to see how long we had left before the half time whistle …. Felt like we were caught in some kind of Groundhog Day watching the same predicable passage of player on a loop. A few have chances here and there from both sides stuck in first gear.
When the ref blew for half time, what a relief! 45mins on my life that I won’t get back that’s for sure. I do believe that the indecision of the board, the way they allow rumours and information to circulate because they cannot make a solid decision infects the players and impacts what happens on the pitch. Are you seriously going to be 100% committed to play your best when you believe the manager is one game away, or two or maybe three, from getting his P45? You should be because that’s what a professional does, but this is the modern game and things work a little differently in the world of professional football.
The second half started and we pressed with a bit more urgency and deserved our lead after Soucek scored from a Bowen corner with a wonderful looping header into the top left corner. His celebration showed how much it meant to him and he passionately dedicated his goal to Antonio, running up to the pitch side cameraman and screaming into the lens.
Bowen continued to show his quality and it’s clear he has been able to lead the team on and off the pitch through a difficult time since Antonio’s car accident. He fed Kudus in to score that saw him run to the barriers behind the goal for a trademark celebration only to have it ruled out for offside.
The match continued to frustrate with stop starts for fouls by either side. Then Matt Doherty threatened to pour cold water on the party with an excellent equaliser but it felt that we had this game and it was only a matter of time before we retired the lead.
Step up Bowen, with an amazing individual goal, twisting in and out of defenders to thump the ball beyond Johnstone in what was a frenetic spell of football. The total opposite from the paint drying first half!
It proved decisive and we felt the benefit of a few VAR decisions that not only upset Wolves manager Gary O’Neil but once the final whistle had gone, but also Mario Lemina, who correctly asserted that the corner for Soucek’s goal was wrongly given as the ball had gone out off Wan-Bissaka.
Lemina earned himself a yellow card for his confrontation with Bowen after refusing to shake hands and had to be dragged away by his team mates.
A game dubbed as El Sackio was actually El Yawnio, but we secured 3 crucial points to keep us further away from the drop zone and looking up the table. By the end of the match – which had 8 mins of extra time added! – many fans had left their seats unable to watch anymore. For now, at least, both managers retain their jobs, but the scrutiny and pressure remains on both.
I didn’t hang about and went out of the stadium to wander around with my nifty 50 in place to see if there were any interesting shots. You have to judge your distances better with a 50mm lens because if you’re too close it crops the scene too much, if you’re too far away then the depth of field is very narrow when the aperture is wide open.
I think I’m going to bring this lens again. It was an interesting challenge for me and brought out some different shots and I’d like to explore more of how I can capture different aspects of the match day at London Stadium.
Well, you can’t argue with 3 points and looking at the table we are only 1 point away from Man Utd and 2 points away from both Fulham and Spurs. Not a complete disaster, except for the fact that performances really haven’t filled any of us with confidence going into the busy festive fixture list.
Onwards and upwards because all I want for Christmas is another win, then another … you get the idea!
Be safe everyone and take care.
Dawud
From the Stands 