Saturday, 29 September 2018

Player Ratings vs Man Utd: guess who gets MOTM?



The last time that things felt so good in the crazy world of West Ham was when we beat Manchester United for the last time at the Boleyn! In today's game we were equally as fired up and really from the very start West Ham's intensity seemed too much for a fractured Man United.

After top performances away to Everton and hosting Chelsea last week, this was a step even further upwards as Pellegrini's side pinged the ball around, for once enjoying the open space of the London Stadium.

Picking out a MOTM is a real challenge as this was a team that were totally on fire. The contrast with the Wolves performance of a few weeks ago was simply remarkable! This was a courageous front-footed assault that reaped dividends.

Here are our individual player ratings:

Fabianski: Calm, assured, good under crosses and an outstanding shot stopper, Lucas put in another tremendous performance and pulled off a stunning save to frustrate Fellaini towards the end. 8/10.

Zabaleta: Wow, just like last week, Pablo put in a young man's shift and even added an assist for Anderson's goal. Young Fredericks looked great in midweek but Pablo just keeps on justifying his starting berth! 8/10.

Masuaku: Still keeping Dressy on the bench and rightly so as he again looked tasty going forward and (reasonably) solid defensively. Kept Ashley Young under wraps in a feisty battle down the left flank! 8/10.

Diop: Tremendous stuff! What a signing and with Fabian Balbuena seems to have found their frequency. Physically imposing but also pretty nifty around the pitch and made a few decent forays forward. A tremendous find - as the Special One was keen to point out in his post match analysis! 9/10.

Balbuena: While Diop has been catching everybody's eye as one of the most promising talents in the league, Balbuena has been quietly putting in some truly assured performances and passed the dreaded Lukaku test today with flying colours! 8/10.

Rice: This young man is growing by the game and once again was everywhere today. Declan's positional sense is tremendous fir somebody of his age and he has the pleasing ability to move the ball quickly. If Perez is worth 50k per week surely this man is worth something similar? 9/10.

Obiang: Quietly putting in the yards and part of a dominant midfield, Pedro has been unlucky with injuries in the past but is still only approaching his peak age and now finding excellent form. At one point he looked all set to repeat his Spurs strike, but almost hit the corner flag instead! A real dynamo. 8/10.

Noble: The biggest cheer during last week's Chelsea tussle was for Captain Claret when he departed at 85 minutes. Again today he looked like a man possessed - simply everywhere and constantly nicking the ball and driving us forwards. This was one of his greatest Hammers performances!!! 10/10 (MOTM).

Anderson: Felipe has that x-factor that every team needs and is filling the massive void left by Manu Lanzini's absence. It was great to see him open his goalscoring account with a cheeky heal flick for the opening goal. Not shy about tracking back either, the question now is how we can accommodate both he and Lanzini when they are both available! 8/10.

Yarmolenko: Although Andriy is quite one footed, his penetration is such that he keeps defenders guessing. The relationship with Pablo is growing nicely and, of course, he is scoring. Today's strike looked headed for the top left corner until it deflected to the top right, but having a winger who can shoot keeps the opposition nervous and opens up all manner of possibilities! 8/10.

Arnautovic: A constant thorn in the Mancs side, Referee Michael Oliver really should have given him more protection today and one hopes that he wasn't injured too badly as the challenges became more and more fierce as they went unpunished. Marko had the last laugh though, as he put Man U to the sword from Noble's super through ball with a quarter of an hour left. What were Stoke doing with him out on the wing all that time? 9/10.
just before the end. Could do nothing about Rashford's goal. Thoughtful distribution from kick outs.  8/10.

Subs: Antonio had limited impact and perhaps could have looked more energetic. Snodgrass kept things ticking over while Diangana didn't have time to show his stuff.



2 comments:

  1. No problems when Lanzini returns-Anderson is given his roving role across the width of the pitch, while I'd like to see Lanzini revert back to a central attacking play-makers role. Imagine what lanzini could add to the present front trio of Anderson, Arnautovic, and Yarmalenko!!

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  2. A good article and very interesting.










    Gclub

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