16/08/2014
15:00
Boleyn Ground
West Ham United vs Tottenham Hotspur
Goalscorers:
0-1 Eric Dier 93'
Analysis
So West Ham's season of free-flowing football began in the most typical of fashions, a one nil home defeat to neighbours Tottenham Hotspur.
As always, I'll focus on some positives, some negatives, and one player who stood out for me.
Positives
Despite the defeat, there were definitely some aspects to be pleased with. There were a couple of very good individual performances to be pleased with, there was the fact that we were generally comfortable with whatever Spurs threw at us, and there was a definite difference in our approach play.
Much was made over the summer about David's Gold and Sullivan demanding a more expansive style of play from the side this season. Whilst this was not a swashbuckling performance to send shockwaves throughout the division, there was an evident change in style.
Overall, we completed 84% of our passes on Saturday afternoon. In the previous two season, we have only ever beaten that level of accuracy once, achieving 85% in the 0-0 draw with Aston Villa last November. On top of this, we had 4 players achieving a pass accuracy of 90% or more, and a further 5 reaching 80% plus.
The images below show, firstly, the pass map for the whole team, and the second shows just Mark Noble's attempted passes.
One of the most pleasing aspects to the new style of play was that players who are not necessarily deemed the most technically gifted were able to adapt very quickly to the changes.
For example, prior to his sending off, James Collins achieved a passing accuracy of 89%. His average for last season was a measly 67%, and 2012/13 was even worse at just 66%. Perhaps more surprisingly, was the fact that 'Ginge' only went for the long ball option three times throughout the game.
Negatives
The really disappointing thing about Saturday's performance was our failure to capitalise on Kyle Naughton's red card and take victory.
In between the two red cards, West Ham only managed to create four goalscoring opportunities, and only touched the ball 10 times in the Spurs penalty area.
The image below shows the chances created by West Ham during that period. as you can see, two of those chances created came from crosses into the box, meaning we failed to impose our extra body in the middle of the park by creating chances.
Part of the reason for this failure to take control of the game against 10 men came because of an age old problem for the side. Whenever we operate with a solitary striker, there is a real failure to get forward and support them.
The image below shows the average positions for both sides on Saturday. The green shape shows the distance between the front four for both sides.
As you can see, West Ham's front four (Nolan #4, Downing #11, Vaz Te #12, Cole #24) were spread far across the pitch, with Nolan operating closer to his own half than his centre forward. Compare this to the Tottenham front four (Lamela #11, Eriksen #23, Lennon #7, Adebayor #10) and you can see a huge difference. The three players operating behind Adebayor were regularly in support of the striker, all operating rather centrally and getting in and around their centre forward.
This inability to support the front man typified by Kevin Nolan's performance whilst the game was 11 v 10.
During this time, the West Ham skipper managed 0 attempts on goal, created 0 chances, had a pass success of just 69%, and completed 0 passes in the opposition penalty area.
The image below shows Nolan's touches during this time. As you can see, he only touched the ball in the Spurs' box once in 35 minutes.
At the end of the day, a one-nil defeat against one of the better sides in the division isn't an enormously disappointing result. However, the manner in which West Ham failed to push for an opening after Mark Noble uncharacteristically fluffed his lines was very frustrating indeed.
Stand Out Individual
There were a few individual's who caught the eye for West Ham on Saturday.
Despite missing a golden opportunity from the spot, Mark Noble produced a very good all-round performance in the centre of midfield, breaking up play, creating chances and keeping possession wonderfully.
Aaron Cresswell impressed on his Premier League debut, and looks like he may well be the fullback we've been crying out for. And Stewart Downing was lively down the right hand side, creating a number of chances and posing a real thorn in the side of Danny Rose.
But the real star, for me, was Noble's midfield partner Cheikhou Kouyaté.
For a man making his Premier League debut, Kouyaté produced a phenomenal performance. The Senegal international was all over the park, displaying a fantastic engine and work rate as he put in an all round performance that will have West Ham fans everywhere sitting up and taking notice.
First things first, Kouyaté was exceptional in possession. The new signing completed a massive 97% of his passes, misplacing just the solitary pass.
But Kouyaté displayed so much more to his game than simply passing the ball. He attempted 4 take ons, won three of his four attempted tackles and three of his four aerial duels. He also made 4 interceptions, 3 clearances, blocked 1 cross and made 5 fouls (no bad thing for a player in his position, and none in dangerous positions).
His heatmap below shows just what a shift the midfielder put in on his debut, popping up all over the park, as he comfortably slotted in at both centre midfield and centre half.
Summary
All in all, a disappointing result, but some clear positives to take away.
The fact that the side was missing the likes of James Tomkins, Carl Jenkinson, Ravel Morrison, Matt Jarvis, Enner Valencia, Andy Carroll and Mauro Zarate, and still put in a decent performance overall is testament to the depth of the squad we currently have.
A loss against Spurs is always difficult to take, but all will be forgotten with a win at Selhurst Park next week...
General Play
4-2-3-1 Formation 4-2-3-1
(15) Adrián - Hugo Lloris (40)
(27) Joey O'Brien - Kyle Naughton (-49)
(-18) James Collins - Younes Kaboul (39)
(38) Winston Reid - Eric Dier (60)
(-9) Aaron Cresswell - Danny Rose (27)
(69) Mark Noble - Etienne Capoue (56)
(-9) Cheikhou Kouyaté - Nabil Bentaleb (28)
(36) Stewart Downing - Christian Eriksen (15)
(16) Kevin Nolan - Erik Lamela (3)
(-10) Ricardo Vâz Te - Aaron Lennon (3)
(-29) Carlton Cole - Emmanuel Adebayor (-15)
(-5) Guy Demel - Harry Kane (22)
(10) Mohamed Diamé - Adros Townsend (26)
(-3) Enner Valencia - Lewis Holtby (0)
Best Performance
(69) Mark Noble - Eric Dier (60)
Worst Performance
(-29) Carlton Cole - Kyle Naughton (-49)
49% Possession 51%
401 Passes Attempted 449
Mark Noble 75 Most Attempted 75 Nabil Bentaleb
84% Passing Accuracy 82%
71% In Opp. Half 69%
Cheikhou Kouyaté 97% Best Accuracy (min. 15 passes) 94% Aaron Lennon
59 Long Balls 32
15% % Long Balls 7%
Stewart Downing 12 Most Long Balls (excl. GK) 8 Younes Kaboul
Most Frequent Pass Combination
Noble to Cresswell 11 - 16 Capoue to Bentaleb
15 Aerial Duels Won 12
56% Success 44%
James Collins 4 Most Won 3 Younes Kaboul
Mark Noble 100 Most Touches 91 Etienne Capoue
Offensive Play
18 Attempts on Goal 10
4 On Target 4
10 Off Target 2
4 Blocked 4
33% From Outside the Box 80%
Ricardo Vâz Te 5 Most Shots 3 Christian Eriksen
13 Key Passes 8
Mark Noble 3 Most Key Passes 3 Andros Townsend
28 Crosses 13
Stewart Downing 10 Most Attempted 3 Erik Lamela
8 Successful Crosses 0
29% Success 0%
Mark Noble 4 Most Successful 0 Erik Lamela
14 Take Ons Attempted 14
5 Successful Take Ons 9
36% Success 64%
Mark Noble 2 Most Take Ons 3 Christian Eriksen
Defensive Play
30 Tackles Attempted 28
14 Successful Tackles 15
47% Success 54%
Mark Noble 5 Most Tackles 3 Aaron Lennon
38 Clearances 31
James Collins 11 Most Clearances 7 Etienne Capoue
19 Interceptions 11
Cheikhou Kouyaté 4 Most Clearances 4 Etienne Capoue
4 Shot Blocks 4
Winston Reid 2 Most Shot Blocks 1 Erik Lamela
Discipline
12 Fouls 10
Cheikhou Kouyaté 5 Most Fouls 2 Emmanuel Adebayor
3 Yellow Cards 0
West Ham United: James Collins, James Collins, Cheikhou Kouyaté
Tottenham Hotspur:
1 Red Cards 1
West Ham United: James Collins
Tottenham Hotspur: Kyle Naughton
Head to Heads
Adrián vs Hugo Lloris
1 Goals Conceded 0
3 Saves 3
1 Claims 1
1 Successful Claims 1
100% Success 100%
26 Total Distribution 46
15 Accurate 27
58% Success 59%
4 Goal Kicks 21
1 Accurate 8
25% Success 38%
7 Throw Outs 4
7 Accurate 4
100% Success 100%
1 Kick from Hand 0
0 Accurate 0
0% Success 0%
14 Other 21
7 Accurate 15
50% Success 71%
0 Errors Leading to Shot 0
0 Errors Leading to Goal 0
Cheikhou Kouyaté 3 Most Passed To 9 Etienne Capoue
Winston Reid 5 Most Passes From 8 Etienne Capoue
Aaron Cresswell vs Danny Rose
0 Aerial Duels 2
0 Duels Won 0
0% Success 0%
4 Tackles Attempted 1
2 Tackles Completed 0
50% Success 0%
4 Clearances 5
1 Interceptions 1
0 Blocks 1
0 6yrd Blocks 0
0 Errors Leading to Shot 0
0 Errors Leading to Goal 0
42 Passes Attempted 25
37 Successful 22
88% Success 88%
3 Crosses Attempted 2
1 Successful 0
33% Success 0%
1 Chances Created 0
0 Attempts on Goal 0
0 On Target 0
0 Goals 0
Mark Noble 11 Most Passed To 6 Nabil Bentaleb
Mark Noble 11 Most Passes From 8 Nabil Bentaleb
Mark Noble vs Nabil Bentaleb
75 Passes Attempted 75
65 Successful 67
87% Success 89%
3 Key Passes 1
0 Assists 0
2 Attempts on Goal 1
1 On Target 1
0 Goals 0
3 Take Ons Attempted 0
2 Take Ons Successful 0
67% Success 0%
6 Crosses Attempted 1
4 Successful 0
67% Success 0%
6 Tackles Attempted 4
4 Tackles Completed 2
67% Success 50%
2 Clearances 3
3 Interceptions 2
1 Blocks 0
0 6yrd Blocks 0
0 Errors Leading to Shot 0
0 Errors Leading to Goal 0
Aaron Cresswell 11 Most Passed To 11 Etienne Capoue
Aaron Cresswell 11 Most Passes From 16 Etienne Capoue
Carlton Cole vs Emmanuel Adebayor
2 Attempts on Goal 0
0 On Target 0
0 Goals 0
30 Touches 28
8 in Penalty Area 6
27% % Penalty Area 21%
0 Key Passes 1
0 Assists 0
18 Passes Attempted 23
10 Successful 18
56% Success 78%
0 Take Ons 0
0 Successful Take Ons 0
0% Success 0%
4 Aerial Duels 5
0 Duels Won 1
0% Success 20%
Mark Noble 4 Most Passed To 4 Nabil Bentaleb
Aaron Cresswell 9 Most Passes From 8 Christian Eriksen