West Brom held the Hammers to a 1-1 draw, earning a point that their first-half showing hardly deserved.
In a match that West Ham will rue as points wasted, the hosts dominated the first half, creating enough chances to have entered half time two or three goals to the good. Alas, they had scored only one, Mauro Zarate’s perfect free kick, and West Brom, armed with the half time substitute Rickie Lambert, enjoyed a far more impressive second half, equalising and holding on for another point away from home. West Ham’s profligacy came back to bite them, and equally distressing was the sight of Diafra Sakho clutching his thigh late in the first half. Their first half was as dominant as any this season, but failing to secure a two-goal advantage can always, in a league as competitive as the Premier League, prove inadvisable.
Formations and Lineups
Slaven Bilic made a number of changes, forced both by suspension, and choices voluntarily decided upon; Mark Noble’s yellow card last weekend meant he was ruled out of this match, with Pedro Obiang replacing him. That Andy Carroll was warming the bench, after three consecutive starts, was solely the result of his form, or lack thereof. Mauro Zarate took his place in the line up, joining Lanzini, Moses and Sakho in the attacking unit.
As for West Brom, Tony Pulis left Saido Berahino, always a player with whom everyone’s relationship seems to run hot and cold, on the bench. Salomon Rondon began as the sole striker. Defensively, Pulis began four centre halves across the back line, a stolid assemblage if ever there was one, and one that implied an acutely narrow defensive formation. Jonny Evans at left back and Craig Dawson at right back; not, one would say, the most agile duo, but a pair brimming with steel.
Noble’s virtues were not missed
Mark Noble rarely misses a match for West Ham, and without him, not only are the Hammers stripped of their only true local lad, but also their creative source from deeper midfield. Noble’s metronomic passing is so often punctuated by more ambitious longer balls, and Pedro Obiang, while a diligent soul, simply hasn’t got this in his locker. Bilic compensated for this by ordering Manuel Lanzini to drop deep, allowing some sumptuous play to occur inside the West Ham half between Lanzini and Zarate. With Zarate responsibly tracking back in his wider role, he and Lanzini often found deep spatial pockets to combine within, gathering momentum and surging up the park. Up ahead, Moses and Sakho were offering runs in behind the defence and so, with this system purring, Noble wasn’t missed too sorely.
Pulis edges the substitution game
After a woeful first half, in which striker Rondon was utterly absent, Tony Pulis brought on Rickie Lambert, a striker with that rare combination of bulk and craft, to assist. It had been clear that a single target man would hold no joy for West Brom, but a second was just what they needed. One more body, to draw those few extra defenders away so Rondon’s strength and speed could flourish. Lambert’s arrival had an instant impact as well, his deflected shot looping over Adrian to level the scores. Not a complicated personnel maneuver, but the required one.
Bilic, on the other hand, was less focused with his substitutions. By the end, with two strikers and three wingers on the pitch, and with Sakho only off because of injury, Bilic was basically throwing on all of his attacking options in a wild gesture, with no obvious methodology behind it. Of course, when you need a goal, sending on attackers makes sense, but it shouldn’t be done in willy-nilly fashion, ignorant of the tactical framework. When Andy Carroll came on with half an hour to go, there was no obvious need for him, outside of West Ham needing a goal. The time it took to adjust to these new players might even have stifled the fluidity for a handful of minutes after each interchange. Pulis made only one change, and his discreet method was far more effective than Bilic’s scatter-gun approach.
Carroll’s conspicuously welcome absence
West Ham’s attack, so zesty and rapid in the early rounds, has stagnated over the last month. It is no coincidence that this congealing has aligned perfectly with Andy Carroll’s inclusion as the primary striker, and today, finally, Bilic acted to solve this worrying trend. Sakho was deployed as the main striker, and immediately, and unsurprisingly, the attack was fresher, more potent on the break, and with West Brom’s four centre halves, infinitely more able to exploit their lack of mobility.
The irony, of course, is that the reasons to include Carroll; his aerial abilities, his strength, his back-to-goal play, all of these virtues are capably executed by Sakho, the man most likely displaced by Carroll in the starting XI. Multiple times in the first half, Sakho chested down ably and accurately, and it was his drawing of a free kick, his back to goal and with Gareth Macaulay tugging at him, that allowed Mauro Zarate to open the scoring.
Evans and Dawson’s foreign skillset
The modern full back has to play several parts these days; often the role of defender can appear secondary. So when a manager attempts to set up an entirely defensive back line, with centre backs filling in as full backs, certain mechanics cannot function. When a winger such as Stephen Sessegnon is driving at a full back, he needs a man in support, behind him, to relieve the pressure if a certain trick fails, or he runs out of turf to drive into. This release valve is generally provided by the full back, who shuttles forward, often down the outside of the winger, to provide a supplementary threat, a Plan B. But centre backs are groomed not to have the instincts to make those runs, let alone the required speed of leg or foot to cope in tight situations at the attacking end. Sessegnon and McClean were isolated in the first half, and with West Ham’s wingers tracking back, never had the time or space to have any effect at all.
And then more subtle knock-on effects occur; is it, for example, preferable to have a defender situated deep on the flank, ready to meet a counter-attacking pair of opponents, or is it better to have a second man further up the flank to disrupt a breaking move at the source? Lanzini and Zarate had no trouble jinking around the deep-lying Macaulay, and Moses simply ran around Jonny Evans on the other wing. Although West Brom grew into the match after half time, their main avenue forward was via long balls down the central corridor. Only when the match was stretched, in the final stanza, did the full backs really creep over the halfway line.
Conclusion
West Ham needed to emphasise their dominance with a second goal in the first half. A one-goal scoreline is always tenuous, and the nature of the Lambert equaliser only rammed home the uncertain nature of football. West Brom are to be commended for hanging in there, and by the end were probably worth their point, even with their dreadful first half performance. Four matches without a win for Bilic’s side, although they remain unbeaten in their last four home games.
What are your thoughts? Let us know by dropping a comment below via our Facebook comment box. Make sure you follow us on Twitter @Outside90 and like us on Facebook.
