We all know it’s been a desperately disappointing second half of the season but one of the most concerning factors has been the seemingly relentless conceding of last gasp goals.
In 2015 West Ham’s defence has been breached on no fewer than ten occasions after the 80th minute of games in the Premier League. The only time we have scored ourselves in that time was the late winner from Diafra Sakho against Sunderland to give three most welcome points.
Conceding late goals in football is one of those things that happens to every team in football at some point in the season, but there has been no sign of Sam Allardyce’s side being able to stop the rot. So why does it keep happening and where does the blame lie?
Our appalling record in the dying moments of games can be put down to four possible reasons. Is it tactical? Is it mentality? Is it individual mistakes? Or is it down to fitness? I believe it’s a mixture of all four but mainly tactical.
The style of the team has changed since the turn of the year. It seems that Allardyce has been looking to grind out wins, which is down to a couple of key injuries and maybe fatigue, with a few key players having to play a lot more minutes than they should.
If we have got ahead in games we have sat back on that lead for too long and have been punished for it. I fully understand trying to protect a lead in the final 5-10 minutes but not for half an hour. Ironically we have been punished in those final minutes anyway because unless you have the Italian defence of the nineties, then it’s too long to hang on for as we have seen.
‘We were too gung-ho. We paid the ultimate price once again’ Allardyce said after Roman Lukaku’s last gasp winner for Everton last weekend.
Not only is this a deluded assessment from our manager it is also exactly the type of comment that has meant many Hammers fans have never warmed to him. At only 1-0 up at home surely the team should be going for a second goal until the final 10 minutes? The Everton equaliser came on 68 minutes, so with plenty of time to go is Allardyce seriously suggesting we should take the draw and not go for the win? At home against a team below us? When we are safe in mid-table?
He’s not pulling the wool over my eyes by saying we have been ‘too gung-ho’ It’s been the opposite since the beginning of January. At Tottenham after dominating the game for long periods and being 2-0 up we decided to make bizarre substitutions (Cole instead of Nolan for Noble was bizarre) and defend on the edge of our box for around twenty minutes. Result 2-2.
Against Manchester United at home we were one up but once again sat on the lead on the edge of our own box and with Fellaini in their side we invited them to put in long balls into our box, until we once again succumbed, this time to a Daley Blind equaliser. Result 1-1. Stoke at home (1-1) and similarly sitting deep at Leicester away (1-2) losing in the final minute. I have not even included the two FA Cup ties with Everton which resulted in us conceding late, late goals in both ties before finally advancing on penalties. The game at Goodison in particular we were in complete control, looking very good but once we took the lead we sat back for the entire second half.
Why do we keep resorting to the same tactics in every game when it hasn’t worked? I understand the ‘respect the point’ point of view, but sometimes it is such a mediocre mind set.
The best way to see out a game is surely by attempting to slow down the game by keeping the ball and moving it out wide, drawing in free kicks. However our possession stats have not been great all season and we need to improve in this area. We need to be braver in this part of our game, not just retreat. Attempting to keep possession is the best form of defence and is certainly could not be considered ‘gung-ho’. Southampton and Swansea are sides at our level that do it so well.
Of course the players need to take responsibility as well. It’s difficult to know if there is a fragile mentality in the team. You wouldn’t have thought so. If you go through the starting eleven it seems to be full of players who seem strong in that department.
Also the manager cannot be blamed for individual mistakes. Adrian made a rare one this season at White Hart Lane, O’Brien at Everton in the cup springs to mind and there has no doubt been others where we can point the finger at an individual. It happens sometimes. That’s football.
I touched on fitness and fatigue earlier. The likes of Jenkinson and Cresswell have played many games and have done an incredible amount of running. Our two full backs in particular have been part of an overall success story this season and they both could have done with a rest on a couple of occasions.
Noble, Song and Downing have looked tired at times too and there have obviously been injuries in attack. This obviously needs to be considered as a factor too.
It’s easy to forget that this season has been a decent one but with the amount of late goals being conceded many of us fans cannot wait for the season to finish as we are almost expecting it every week now.
To summarise, next season whoever we have as manager we need to add a number of players to the first team squad, to allow more squad rotation so that fatigue is not so much of a factor. We need to look for that second goal a lot more often after taking the lead instead of just protecting what we’ve got and we need to keep hold of the ball better in the final 15-20 minutes of games when we are leading. Easier said than done I know.
