Saturday 20th April
15:00
Boleyn Ground
West Ham United vs Wigan Athletic
Goalscorers
1-0 Matt Jarvis 21'
2-0 Kevin Nolan 80'
Analysis
Saturday's game was one of those rare occurrences where West Ham play badly and win. It's not a feeling I'm particularly used to, and I'm not sure it's one I'll be able to get used to. However, a 2-0 home win is what the record books will say, and that is what we should be celebrating.
There was plenty of good work, which I'll come on to shortly, but the reason I felt a bit flat after the game was a result of the way Wigan carved us open on a number of occasions. What we should be pleased about though, was the performance of Jussi Jaaskelainen. Once again, the 39 year old produced a performance of the highest standard, keeping out chance after Wigan chance.
The below image shows Wigan's attempts on goal on Saturday. The purple balls and lines show those occasions where Jaaskelainen pulled off save. You've got to take your hat off to any keeper who pulls off 6 saves from inside the box, and that's what I'll do. Easily my man of the match. (Red = Off Target, Orange = Blocked)
As I said, there was plenty of good work throughout the team too. According to Whoscored.com, both Gary O'Neil & Mohamed Diamé successfully completed all of their passes from the centre of midfield, and the overall pass completion was actually pretty good.
I was particularly pleased with Diamé's passing, as I've often felt that is too wasteful in possession, but, as the image below shows, he completely found his range on Saturday. What impressed me about Diamé's passing wasn't just the fact that they all reached their mark, but there was a real range on show.
Another strong point was the fact that we created chances from all over the field. We've been rather reliant on getting the ball wide to Matt Jarvis to get it into the box this season, and, although we did employ that tactic again on Saturday, there was bit of variety.
The image below shows all passes that led directly to a shot. Although there are a number that came from the left flank, there were also a few chances created from the centre of the pitch, and even a couple of classic hoof's thrown in for good measure!
I also felt that we did rather well in holding our shape. A problem that teams can find against Wigan is that their unfamiliar formation leads players to move out of position, creating holes for their tricky wide men to attack.
The image below shows the average positioning of our starting eleven. As you can see it is almost exactly as you'd expect a 4-2-3-1 to be. Good width from the fullbacks and wingers, and some good support up to the lone striker.
Finally, I wrote before the game how important it would be to keep out Shaun Maloney and Arouna Koné from the wings. Well, Martinez surprised me a bit by moving Koné into the centre forward position and playing young Callum McManaman on the right.
As a result, I felt that Koné wasn't as dangerous as he might have otherwise been. The image below shows where the Ivorian took his touches on Saturday. As you can see, for a central striker he didn't really trouble the penalty area, and when he did it was often from the corners of the box.
All in all, a good win. Not the greatest performance in the world, but a winning one nonetheless. More importantly, a win that takes us into the top 10! Whether or not we'll be able to stay there or not with Man City on the horizon is another thing, but let's take confidence from 5 games unbeaten.
General Play
4-2-3-1 Starting Formation 3-4-3
Matt Jarvis Best Performance Maynor Figueroa
72.35 CI Rating 64.89
Joe Cole Worst Performance Shaun Maloney
52.63 CI Rating 59.47
39% Possession 61%
(averaged from whoscored, bbcsport & skysports)
77% Passing Accuracy 83%
68% in Opp. Half 76%
Gary O'Neil 100% Best Accuracy 100% Callum McManaman
306 Passes Attempted 524
Joey O'Brien 28 Most Passes Attempted 60 Maynor Figueroa
57 Long Balls 59
James Collns 9 Most Long Balls (excl. GK) 14 Gary Caldwell
Offensive Play
20 Attempts on Goal 19
8 On Target 8
7 Off Target 7
5 Blocked 4
10 From Outside Box 13
Andy Carroll 7 Most Attempts on Goal 3 Jordi Gomez
3 Corners 6
4 Offsides 2
18 Crosses 25
7 Successful Crosses 3
Gary O'Neil 7 Most Crosses Attempted 6 Jean Beausejour
47% Aerial Success 53%
Andy Carroll 4 Most Duels Won 2 Paul Scharner
Defensive Play
14 Tackles Attempted 18
10 Successful 13
Kevin Nolan 3 Most Tackles 4 Emmerson Boyce
45 Clearances 17
James Collins 11 Most Clearances 4 Antolin Alcaraz
17 Interceptions 12
James Collins 3 Most Interceptions 3 Jordi Gomez
4 Blocks 5
Winston Reid 2 Most Blocks 2 Gary Caldwell
Discipline
14 Fouls 12
Mohamed Diamé 3 Most Fouls 3 Shaun Maloney
3 Yellow Cards 1
West Ham United: James Collins, Joe Cole, Andy Carroll
Wigan Athletic: Gary Caldwell
0 Red Cards 0
West Ham United: -
Wigan Athletic: -
Head to Heads
Jussi Jääskeläinen vs Joel Robles
2 Goals Conceded 0
8 Saves 6
0 Crosses Claimed 2
50% Passing Accuracy 62%
16 Total Passes 13
12 Long Balls 10
75% % Long Ball 77%
Joey O'Brien vs Maynor Figueroa
0% Aerial Dules Won 0%
2 Tackles 3
0 Blocks 1
0 Interceptions 1
8 Clearances 1
1 Fouls Committed 0
93% Passing Accuracy 83%
28 Total Passes 60
1 Long Balls 4
4% % Long Ball 7%
Matt Jarvis vs Shaun Maloney
81% Passing Accuracy 85%
21 Total Passes 46
2 Long Balls 1
10% % Long Ball 2%
6 Crosses 6
4 Successul Crosses 1
3 Chances Created 4
0 Assists 0
0 Tackles 0
0 Blocks 0
1 Interceptions 0
2 Clearances 0
1 Fouls Committed 3
1 Attempts on Goal 2
1 On Target 1
1 Goals 0
Andy Carroll vs Arouna Koné
0 Goals Scored 0
7 Attempts on Goal 2
2 On Target 0
57% Aerial Duels Won 0%
74% Passing Accuracy 83%
19 Total Passes 40
1 Chances Created 3
1 Assists 0
