It was crucial to win this game.
Upton Park is never an easy place to go to, that you have to be pleased whenever you get all the 3 points. Last season we have had 11-12 silly draws, that was about 1/3 of our whole campaign and many points were wasted at that area - draws. I'm happy we didn't just settled for a draw, but instead pushed on for the final goal despite the defensive fratalies we have.
Now 6 games in and it's commendable that we haven't got any draws on board yet. I reckon if we should keep the number of draws to less than five, we have a good chance of the title. I wouldn't mind losing more but winning more as well, because its always the points that count.
However, I'm very afraid of the defensive errors, especially from set pieces at the back. What was Carra thinking in the 2nd min? We nearly got bollocked there, and then our centreback pairing was constantly threatened by Cole and Hines, we couldn't take control of ourselves in central defence, Insua was only the bright spark.
It was a shambolic performance from both Skrtel and Carra yesterday, they need to get this sorted ASAP. Although we are winning now, we are walking on a tight rope and just about grinding out the right results. I don't want to see us brutally exposed when we face stronger teams, and Chelsea is coming up on 4th October.
We have conceded a lot of goals which is unusual for a side like ours, where we are usually very rock solid at the back. We seem to defend extremely poorly from set pieces, sometimes it's individual errors but then again I feel its the collective responsibility of the team to ensure that the goal is protected.
I also noticed we don't put 2 players on the posts to do a goal-line clearance if necessary. Any explanation on that?
The return of Agger from injury should help matters much, Carra and Skrtel looked very comfy as though their places in the team were assured as always.
I do hope we get it sorted out against Leeds and Hull, we need to really point out the errors made in defence. We were playing decently and against the run of play West Ham didn't deserve to get two goals at all, and we were punished for it.
Sort this out against Leeds and Hull, I wouldn't want to see mistakes repeating themselves time and again because if this continues, I honestly think that we ain't going to do the job against Chelsea - the defence might be a letdown.
Logged