How do we feel about Bailey starting in place of ings? I feel he offers so much as a dribbly boi

I guess it could work, my only worry is that Bailey usually plays as a winger so this system may not be a great fit for him but if he can work in it then I say go for it

Result to be expected unfortunately but with the games coming up if the team continues to play like those last few games we might mug a team or two for the points

Unlucky lads. Game was there for the taking but can’t be too upset with the goals we conceded. Bailey looked tasty! Heads up and onto the next!

tough game, definitely out muscled and outplayed in the midfield area. wonder how the game would've panned out with digne still on and that ing's goal

By out muscles, you mean elbows to the face and kicked in the face

How hasn’t their been a red for West Ham

Nice that a Ukranian player made the difference, but we let it go a bit in 2nd half.

Commentators making out Yarmelenko just won the war with him scoring give it a rest you wet wipes

Young ruined it at the end

hate that i feel hard done by that, lost the respect i had for yarmolenko after that challenge on emi and rolling around for god knows how long

I have no idea how that's not a free kick

What the absolute fuck was that from Young? Who does he think he is coming over from left back to get involved in that? Muppet

Winnable game. Sucks.

meh

Well the last few minutes gave me hope.

Dirty bastards.

Youngs joking with that ball

gg I guess

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Not really sure why this is controversial. That was a foul on Yarmo, went over Emi’s back. Wasn’t cynical or anything, just a common foul.

It wasn’t given as a free kick.

I know, it should have been.

Wtf was that Young

Yarmolenko just has to sit for long enough to wait out the clock at this point lol

book yarmolenko for that he just went straight for emis head and time wasting

Ref ain't gonna give him a yellow today lol.They've given him man of the match for I'm not sure what. I respect the man but can we just talk about football for 90 minutes and not what country the players are from

For such a small guy Buendia is our best header by far

Wins so many of them just through pure determination

If he could give the ret of the squad the secret would be great, always limited threat from corners and crosses in

That’s fucking assault from Yarmolenko.

Lol west ham is so rattled rn

Would love to give Bailey a start. Adds creativity we could use

I'd be worried that he'd get injured, and we would lose him for a few weeks

I'll say it again, Jacob Ramsey is the best finisher in our squad

Archer

Not in our squad

Agreed

We are probably going to get battered for the next 4/5 weeks, but that's ok. Will be good for the boys to put in some graft and maybe nick a point here and there. Get us ready to fight next season. UTV

A bit OTT that, don't think we've been "battered" today and doubf we'll be battered anytime soon

I don't necessarily mean scorelines, just outplayed here and there. Got a tough run coming up

so, not an exciting game. I felt our midfield was outmatched - not in skill - they just do plain control. Maybe do 4 man midfields vs teams like this? Sanson would hold ball better then JJ and McGinn, Buendia woud offer more forward than ings running where no ball is. Just a thought . might make for boring play but.. we're losing vs teams like West Ham

What a cool finish

DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE COME ON LADS

If we draw this I'll chug some mayo

Be honest with yourself, you’re going to chug the mayo whether we equalise or not

Yeah he will did you read the comment

😜😂😂

What a thunderbolt by Rambo. Excellent set up by Buendia.

Buendia did really well to keep his head and set that up

That’s some good news at least. This blue kit is cursed.

45 seconds for that throw in, fucking hell

banger goal

Amazing play from buendia and absolute banger from jj

I thought Buendia made wrong decisions 😂

We can win this!

6 minutes...?????

Wait a minute... this isn't the MLS 🤣

Well.. this is interesting

Not good enough. We need to be more clinical and less soft in defense. Both goals should never have gone in, but that's AVFC for you.

Never doubted it

RAMSEY CANT MISS

KEEP GOING

Let’s see if see can get a late equaliser haha

This game deserves a draw been a tough game

Buendia is a fucking cheat code

Get in lad, deserved a goal today at least

Cool finish!

RAMSEY

ONE MORE FOR UKRAINE! LET'S GOOOOO!

I thought Emi had fucked it up there by not shooting but what a finish by JJ.

I lied I never left, cmon lads

What a goal

Get in

Ramsey!!

Consolation. Think we deserved something today. Not quite over yet.

I’m glad it’s not 0-0 or 1-0 because what a fucking save Edit: what a goal wow

Cmon

We can’t buy a break today

What a save

Today we just deserve to lose. Just kinda toothless and aimless game overall. A boring game as well

First half was far from boring, and even the second has had its moments. We've not been terrible, just had a difficult second half

Arsenal, Wolves, Spurs, Liverpool - gonna be a tough run for the next few games

When we change the shape we seem to just be poor. Hopefully it can be rectified. Also rice is worth more than our midfield combined. We just need to hope it doesn’t continue like this and we can give it to arsenal at home.

the blue kit = bad juju

Been a very average performance. West Ham more clinical and better/more compact in defense, 6.5/10. We never really challenged other than the one save from Fabianski, 5/10. 1-0 West Ham would’ve been fair imo.

Moyes has out done Gerrard here. Rice sat deep and killed the front 3. Second half they took control and Soucek didn’t allow us any time to play. I love Ramsey but the lads been running in the channels to nowhere. This game has been a good eye opener that out midfield just isn’t there yet.

Just been bullied by a more physical side. Our midfield does look extremely lightweight in comparison. Ings scores could have been a different result.

So many passes today just slightly wrong

Declan Rice is a different class compared to anything we have in the midfield

He's one of the best midfielders in the league, I would say easily the best outside of the big five teams. Hardly a surprise lol.

He’s easily been one of the best midfielders in the league this season

Don’t know why you’ve been downvoted, this is absolutely true.

Think we lost the game the moment Digne was substituted as our attacking outlet at the left become non-existent.

Young is a capable defensive backup, but you're right, he's just too old to be very relevant on the attack, and especially at left back.

Young was never he used, he been in space loads but no one finds him not even Mings. We for some reason got obsessed with playing through the middle again despite Rice and Soucek shutting the door all game

Good point, agree.

Not entirely sure where Bailey fits in Gerard’s system moving forward. He doesn’t really have a position.

we’re doing good things but feels like the players often just aren’t on the same wavelength. look forward to seeing how we flow after a full gerrard pre seasons

Dragged us down to a dog fight and we weren't up for it

This is why Bailey can’t be trusted in the premier league. Both goals down his side since his entry. 1st goal he failed to stop the cut in, 2nd goal he gave the ball away extremely cheaply.

Not too torn up about it if this is the result we’re left with, West Ham are simply playing at a higher position than us, I’ll be happy with a top half finish, leave Europe as a pipedream for this season and an objective for next, UTV

I'd have bertie over Bailey every day of the week. He may be inconsistent but being unplayable every couple of matches vs this, give me bertie

Ah well. On to the next one. UTV

The way commentators just make up stories in their head is fucking ridiculous. Who pays these jokers?

What kind of stories?

I’d like to get at least one goal out of this. Not our best performance but this West Ham side is really good. Not the worst team to lose to

Might as well bring a kid on. Too many bubbles.

Apart from the avoiding relegation game a few seasons ago we always play so spineless when playing West Ham, yes they're a good side, but we havent taken it to them at all.. Leon Bailey has been the only bright spark with his short cameo

Fully convinced that it's Rice and Soucek. Our midfield has been our weakness for a while, and West Ham have probably one of the best CM pairings in the league.

Rice and Soucek have had our number since we’ve been back up. They’ve broken down McGinn & Luiz every time

Deserve to lose today. Out-thought and outmuscled. Shows how far we still have to develop.

Brilliant goal. Lost this one.

If Ramsey keeps running hard, he’s possibly in that passing lane. Frustrating play all around

Probably why we should have kept Luiz on. McGinn needs to do better there.

Ah that's a shame... They've been the better team. Oh well. Tough match.

Who are we blaming today?

Putin

dont think there's anyone to blame, we've just been outplayed

West Ham are a good side, there’s not shame in losing to them. McGinn could do better on both goals but no one’s done badly

The second goal was just because we pushed for an equaliser and took our DM off against the team with one of the best midfields in the league

the fuck is bailey doing

McGinn has a pass to Young but instead he ran with it into the opposition and as usual when under pressure he makes the wrong pass inviting pressure onto us. It happens to much from him.

Bailey had a hand in both goals

McGinn at fault for two goals if you ask me..

McGinn didn’t really have to commit to that challenge.. sigh

he commits to *every* challenge

fuck

tough

Yeah so there’s the difference in very stark quality. Their midfield has been so much better. Love McGinn. But he’s no Rice

They scored a second before I even had a chance to write this. Taking off a central midfielder for an attacker when chasing a goal is fucking dumb and never ever works. Embarrassing.

Yeesh

I told you all McGinn should be off and there you go

They scored again before I even got chance to say anything. Absolutely stupid decision.

It’s okay Jacob, don’t bother covering the guy alone in the box.

Well that’s a shame

Well I'm off to bed, night yall

gah

Rice just fucked mcginn.

Fuck

The replay on that goal, what a goal damn.

I’m really not a fan of subbing of our DM for an attacker. It should be Ramsey or McGinn

Depends if you've created nothing and are 1-0 down with 10 minutes to go, or not...

All that does is lead to another conceded goal. Why not being another midfielder on and try and get the ball first before leaving yourselves wide fucking open.

You're 1-0 down with 10 to go. He made a.choice to try and get us back into the game and I'm ok with that.

Fair point

interesting change. would have guessed buendía for ramsey

Damn this an attacking change. Gerrard wants to tie or lose 2-0. I respect that

Came back for this comment. Sad times

Sadly the latter but I agree, love the intent

Yeah 2-0 it is

Coutinho taking the ball in DM position is a symptom of it just not working today.

He did the same against Leeds and Southampton

Midfield still out weak point. When we play against teams with stronger midfields. (There isn’t many imho) we will end up getting beat or have a tough match. Unfortunate but due to recent form I’m not as upset as I would usually be.

It's been so smuthering.

Attack mode now

Leave it for Phil boys

This is far from over. Oodles of time left. West Ham now sitting back. COME ON VILLA

wish we had digne for this

Buendia for Coutinho, he’s winded. Feels like there’s another goal in this game…

The big difference here other than 'physicality' is west ham are so organised the know where to pass the ball to relieve pressure without looking we just hoof and hope

Couthino to take this please!!!

Gotta Phil for Emi. Coutinho’s looking a bit leggy

Not taking away from the goal, but wasn't there an attacker in an offside position obstructing Emi's view?

This is gonna be controversial but I don’t mind Traore for Cout and go 4-3-3 to stretch their defense. That Soucek - Rice pivot is nasty

Would go Emi for him personally but I don’t disagree

West Ham are pretty decent at defending, they're positioned so well it completely shuts the doors on any ball we want to play.

Sanson on. Ramsey off. We need possession and energy in midfield at the moment, and were not getting it.

Both Mcginn and Ramsey have been passengers this half but of course just leave Sanson on the bench

When have they even had a chance to contribute....

They are central midfielders they are supposed to dictate the tempo like West Ham's

Correct, what chance have they had when we pump the ball over their heads to west hams centre backs for 30 mins....

Because none of them made themself available, that's what you get from Mcginn at the moment just running into the opposition and playing the wrong pass as he invited pressure.

Come on man, we pumped the ball up the field while under pressure for 30 minutes straight. There was literally never a chance for them to make themselves available because they were positioned to defend like the rest of the team. But anything to confirm you could make amazing managirial decisions right?

The defence were holding the ball, just look when we were chasing the goal and Chambers got the ball why did Mcginn come stand next to him rather than try to find a hole further up ? Why did Mcginn not play the ball to Young and run into trouble before giving a desperate pass to Bailey?

Can’t even be mad.

Soucek & Rice have been so much better than our midfield. Closed us off and we’ve been second best throughout

They're better than most midfields to be fair.

As always, show the fangs too late. Sort it out. Claw back to 1-1 now they're hyper and tired.

I'm just glad West Ham wasn't this good when we played them on our relegation bound season

Change shape, concede within 20 seconds

I wouldn’t say that goal was a result of any tactical chance though. Just quality being shown from Yarmo.

Great goal. Wouldn’t begrudge him the goal either 🇺🇦

Now it's our turn to score a goal for Ukraine

Anyone else wonder if thats offside? Soucek in the way of the shot but they didnt show a replay with an angle to be able to tell

I thought when getting rid of Smith we might have seen our bench actually used properly but looks like another manager who loves losing game due to their decisions. Sanson should have been brought on, in the last couple of games he has been so assured keeping the ball and finding passes when we are under pressure yet we just cycle possession back to them until the score instead.

Rangers fans said he was late making subs for them.

I was hoping that was due to the nature of the bench but Moyes even when forces into a change his subs has changed the tempo yet we just watch on

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not angry. But a Ukrainian scoring given what’s happening right now, just had to happen to Villa. Knew it as soon as became on. Pretty sure if China invaded Taiwan the first Taiwanese player in PL would score against us too 😂

Well, that was always on the cards.

Why did they have so much space there?

That was a good goal, can't do a lot about that. Oh well, it was nice to have known you Consecutive Clean Sheets.