15/04/2014
19:45
Emirates Stadium
Arsenal vs West Ham United
Goalscorers:
0-1 Matt Jarvis 40'
1-1 Lukas Podolski 44'
2-1 Olivier Giroud 55'
3-1 Lukas Podolski 78'
Analysis
Usually, losing to Arsenal isn't a major disappointment for me. Usually, Arsenal play really well and blow us away. Usually.
Not this time.
We were better than them in the first half, and then we just stopped playing to our ability.
You can see the difference in our impact by looking at the heat maps below. The first image shows the West Ham heat map until Matt Jarvis scored the opening goal. You can see that we were, understandably and predictably, on the back foot at times, and defending in our own area. However, there was also a significant amount of the game being played out in the Arsenal defensive third, including a decent amount of action in their penalty box.
After we scored, however, it was a different story.
You can see that we spent a huge amount of time defending, and playing in our own half. But what I find most disappointing, is that we were not able to produce anything in the attacking third. If you look past the white line on the image below, you'll see that, after the 40 minute mark, a huge majority of the game was played out in areas that West Ham were never going to trouble Arsenal from.
A large reason for our ineffectiveness in attack on Tuesday night, was the mightily disappointing performance of Andy Carroll.
The big striker is often a talisman for West Ham, but was largely ineffective up against Per Mertesacker and the returning Laurent Koscielny.
Carroll won just 11 of his 20 aerial duels, completed just 15 of his 26 passes, and displayed some incredibly wayward finishing.
The image below shows Carroll's attempts on goal. As you can see, all three were from the centre of the penalty box, and all three ended up wide of the goal (and the six yard box).
One shining light among the team though, was a vastly improved display from Antonio Nocerino.
The Italian international has been disappointing in his brief appearances for West Ham so far, and his start against Stoke City failed to live up to the expectation that an Italian international brings.
But against Arsenal, Nocerino showed exactly what his game is about, and how he can offer a different dimension to West Ham's midfield play than both Mohamed Diamé and Matthew Taylor could, when stationed next to Mark Noble.
Nocerino completed 81% of his 42 passes, created two goalscoring opportunities for his teammates, completed 1 take on, and made two interceptions.
But what really impressed, was his ability and desire to get forward and support the attack, rather than sitting deep in a defensive position. The heat map below shows Nocerino's all action display.
If we compare this to Taylor's heat map from the previous game against Liverpool, you can see that the Italian provides a completely different aspect to West Ham's team performances.
So after a rather disappointing result, we turn our attentions to in form Crystal Palace.
If Nocerino can provide a repeat performance, and Andy Carroll can put his boots on the right feet, we could see a good result for West Ham, and finally reach the promised land of 40 points.
General Play
4-2-3-1 Formation 4-2-3-1
(16) Wojciech Szczesny - Adrián (-24)
(23) Bacary Sagna - Guy Demel (13)
(15) Per Mertesacker - James Tomkins (12)
(9) Laurent Koscielny - Winston Reid (5)
(32) Thomas Vermaelen - Pablo Armero (-22)
(36) Mikel Arteta - Mark Noble (-5)
(3) Kim Källström - Antonio Nocerino (43)
(-11) Tomas Rosicky - Stewart Downing (10)
(58) Santi Cazorla - Mohamed Diamé (-38)
(37) Lukas Podolski - Matt Jarvis (25)
(28) Olivier Giroud - Andy Carroll (6)
(33) Aaron Ramsey - Joe Cole (0)
(4) Carl Jenkinson - Ricardo Vâz Te (-5)
() n/a - Carlton Cole (5)
Best Performance
(58) Santi Cazorla - Antonio Nocerino (43)
Worst Performance
(-11) Tomas Rosicky - Mohamed Diamé (-38)
60% Possession 41%
569 Passes Attempted 341
Kim Källström 84 Most Attempted 55 Mark Noble
85% Passing Accuracy 74%
78% In Opp. Half 62%
Mikel Arteta 93% Best Accuracy (min. 15 passes) 83% Matt Jarvis
49 Long Balls 56
9% % Long Balls 16%
Laurent Koscielny 8 Most Long Balls (excl. GK) 8 James Tomkins
Most Frequent Pass Combination
Podolski to Källström 18 - 11 Demel to Nocerino
24 Aerial Duels Won 19
56% Success 44%
Per Mertesacker 5 Most Won 11 Andy Carroll
Kim Källström 104 Most Touches 70 Mark Noble
Offensive Play
14 Attempts on Goal 12
8 On Target 2
3 Off Target 7
3 Blocked 3
29% From Outside the Box 17%
Olivier Giroud 4 Most Shots 3 Andy Carroll
11 Key Passes 9
Santi Cazorla 3 Most Key Passes 2 Antonio Nocerino
17 Crosses 24
Santi Cazorla 6 Most Attempted 7 Stewart Downing
4 Successful Crosses 7
24% Success 29%
Santi Cazorla 2 Most Successful 2 Stewart Downing
11 Take Ons Attempted 16
8 Successful Take Ons 8
73% Success 50%
Olivier Giroud 7 Most Take Ons 3 Mohamed Diamé
Defensive Play
28 Tackles Attempted 31
9 Successful Tackles 16
32% Success 52%
Kim Källström 5 Most Tackles 6 Guy Demel
35 Clearances 37
Thomas Vermaelen 7 Most Clearances 13 Winston Reid
15 Interceptions 12
Mikel Arteta 3 Most Clearances 2 Stewart Downing
3 Shot Blocks 3
Per Mertesacker 1 Most Shot Blocks 1 Winston Reid
Discipline
14 Fouls 12
Laurent Koscielny 3 Most Fouls 5 Mohamed Diamé
2 Yellow Cards 2
Arsenal: Tomas Rosicky, Kim Källström
West Ham United: Antonio Nocerino, Mohamed Diamé
0 Red Cards 0
Arsenal:
West Ham United:
Head to Heads
Wojciech Szczesny vs Adrián
1 Goals Conceded 3
1 Saves 5
4 Claims 2
4 Successful Claims 2
100% Success 100%
37 Total Distribution 32
27 Accurate 14
73% Success 44%
12 Goal Kicks 6
7 Accurate 2
58% Success 33%
6 Throw Outs 2
6 Accurate 2
100% Success 100%
1 Kick from Hand 5
0 Accurate 2
0% Success 40%
18 Other 19
14 Accurate 8
78% Success 42%
0 Errors Leading to Shot 0
0 Errors Leading to Goal 0
Per Mertesacker 12 Most Passed To 7 Andy Carroll
Per Mertesacker 4 Most Passes From 4 James Tomkins
Per Mertesacker vs James Tomkins
12 Aerial Duels 3
4 Duels Won 3
33% Success 100%
0 Tackles Attempted 5
0 Tackles Completed 4
0% Success 80%
5 Clearances 8
2 Interceptions 2
1 Blocks 0
0 6yrd Blocks 0
0 Errors Leading to Shot 0
0 Errors Leading to Goal 0
54 Passes Attempted 21
47 Successful 18
87% Success 86%
0 Crosses Attempted 0
0 Successful 0
0% Success 0%
0 Chances Created 0
0 Attempts on Goal 0
0 On Target 0
0 Goals 0
Mikel Arteta 12 Most Passed To 4 Adrián
Bacary Sagna 13 Most Passes From 4 Mark Noble
Mikel Arteta vs Antonio Nocerino
72 Passes Attempted 42
67 Successful 34
93% Success 81%
1 Key Passes 2
0 Assists 0
0 Attempts on Goal 3
0 On Target 1
0 Goals 0
2 Take Ons Attempted 1
2 Take Ons Successful 1
100% Success 100%
0 Crosses Attempted 3
0 Successful 2
0% Success 67%
5 Tackles Attempted 0
1 Tackles Completed 0
20% Success 0%
4 Clearances 2
3 Interceptions 2
0 Blocks 0
0 6yrd Blocks 0
0 Errors Leading to Shot 0
0 Errors Leading to Goal 0
Kim Källström 15 Most Passed To 7 Stewart Downing
Kim Källström 14 Most Passes From 11 Guy Demel
Olivier Giroud vs Andy Carroll
4 Attempts on Goal 3
2 On Target 0
1 Goals 0
2 Key Passes 1
0 Assists 0
40 Passes Attempted 26
29 Successful 15
73% Success 58%
3 Take Ons 0
2 Sucecssful Take Ons 0
67% Success 0%
3 Aerial Duels 20
2 Duels Won 11
67% Success 55%
Kim Källström 10 Most Passed To 4 Mohamed Diamé
Bacary Sagna 12 Most Passes From 7 Adrián
