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Episode 023 - Reacting to the Embarrassing Spurs Loss!
19 Plays2 months ago
In the aftermath of the poor 4-1 loss to Tottenham over the weekend, Tom and Jacob discuss what went wrong. Highlighting the issues within the squad and suggesting potential paths forward if West Ham want to turn their form around!
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Transcript
Introduction and Spurs Loss Recap
00:00:09
officialgspn
Hello guys and welcome back to another episode of the daily GSP and West End podcast. It's maybe a slightly more downbeat sombre podcast than we've done in a while. I'm John with Jacob. How are you doing, mate?
00:00:21
Jacob
Yeah, I'm good. Thank you. How are you?
00:00:24
officialgspn
I've been better to be honest with you. um We've not done a podcast for a couple of days and we've been busy so we apologize for that but it's been difficult to to come back and really do this one because it's after a pretty embarrassing loss to Spurs for one away at the Tottenham hot first stadium. What are your kind of now it it's had a chance to settle down. Obviously every West Ham fan was upset and frustrated and you know every probably every negative emotion is what we felt at some point in the past couple of days. Now it's had a chance to settle down a bit. How how are you feeling about it.
00:01:00
Jacob
Um, I, I'm not sure how to feel about it.
Tactical Analysis and Defensive Woes
00:01:06
Jacob
Um, it was, especially after the start that we made, I think it's a very tough one to take, you know, to be in the fashion that it was as well, you know, um, with the own goal and the, the kudos red card right at the end. I think we made it worse for ourselves. You know, we.
00:01:31
Jacob
We were just bettered, really. We were just bettered by a better team. and Yeah, it's just, it's tough to take really. ah What do you think?
00:01:41
officialgspn
Yeah, it's it's just difficult, isn't it? Because like light you say, the if you you look at the game as a whole, the first half wasn't actually too bad. like We weren't setting the world alight, but it was you know a relatively even game. And you look at how the game progressed in the second half, it it's really difficult to justify it in any way. like the the changes that they made addressed the faults in the tactics that they'd started the game with. So that's obviously Ange, Postock, Ogloo looking at the game and realizing what needed to change. That's why James
Managerial Pressure and Player Morale
00:02:16
officialgspn
Madison came off. and
00:02:18
officialgspn
that's the kind of tactical adjustment that if we had done something similar and it it would work then you would kind of compare it a lot more to the first half in it being even but the way that we just completely capitulated is it's embarrassing it's really embarrassing and you look at the players that we have now the squad is better than it was before but we seem to be just as bad defensively which it's so difficult to actually pinpoint where that comes from. So with all the pressure that's being put on like the club generally and the Lopategi pressure, it's really difficult to steer the blame anywhere else when you you look at
00:03:00
officialgspn
the players that we have and the sort of window that we had, it it just isn't good enough. It's really not like we need to find some way to improve defensively and I really don't know where that comes from right now. is It's just really bleak and I think if we do stand any chance of progressing further up the league and starting to get some decent performances whilst also having Lopotei as any sort of long-term manager defensively, it has to improve and that's something that needs to be a drastic change in.
00:03:36
Jacob
yeah i agree i think the the manner in which we lost is the hardest part i think that you know, they're obviously a good team. They have their own defensive issues, which we've seen so far this season. And yeah, just the it's, I don't know what the difference was after halftime, you know, they lost one of their most creative players in Madison straight, you know, at halftime and then proceeded to score three goals in eight minutes. And I think,
00:04:14
Jacob
Yeah, we just we just fell apart. um I think it's come to the stage now where we're we're all starting to question the
Speculation on Manager's Future and Team Dynamics
00:04:23
Jacob
how much, how how any are other the players for the manager, you know, like, does he really get their backing, you know, to to see them fall apart in the manner they did?
00:04:36
Jacob
um i was I was watching it and I i was shocked. I was not expecting it. I was in good spirits feeling good. I was thinking, oh, if we can we can take at least a point from this, you know we're in the right direction. But you know after the third their third goal went in, I just basically gave up. I couldn't see any way back. The changes he made, quite obvious ones, bringing off.
00:05:06
Jacob
Antonio, after 60 minutes, he you know that's about all hes all he's got in the tank nowadays. um But I just think there's something wrong with the way he's saying setting the team up. um There's no way we should be in a worse position now than we were last season. It just doesn't it doesn't make sense, to be honest. um With the caliber of players we've brought in,
00:05:36
Jacob
there's no reason for the performances we've seen so far. You know, it's not all been doom and gloom. Not every single game has been poor, but on the whole, it's not been good enough.
00:05:43
officialgspn
Thank you.
00:05:49
Jacob
And I think he he must be feeling the pressure now. I
Player Reactions and Tactical Clarity
00:05:53
Jacob
don't know what you think. Do you think he's, I wouldn't, I don't want to speculate about his potential departure, but it could, it could it be on the cards?
00:06:03
Jacob
You know, I know we're not rock bottom of the league. We're not, got one point like wolves, but what do you think? Do you think there's any possibility that could happen?
00:06:14
officialgspn
It's really difficult to defend him when you're looking at games and you're really struggling to see what the ideas are when it comes to how we like, how are we approaching this game? And in the first half, it was okay, but it wasn't brilliant. And then like in the second half, it's how can we can see that many goals that quickly?
00:06:34
officialgspn
like surely after you can see the first one it's like right let's regroup defensively let's put into the game what we worked on on the training ground and make sure that we can get some defensive solidity and then we can go again on the offensive but to just concede and concede again is you just really struggle to to understand what the kind of defensive strategy is um that's why
00:07:00
Jacob
Yeah, i think i think I think that's a big part of it, to be honest. I think some of the the ways in which we react to going behind have not been right at all. And I think, I don't know whether that's a loss of certain experienced players, you know, stuff like that, you know.
00:07:24
Jacob
um having a ah newer group who don't know each other as well you know there's been a lot of change and heads just seem to drop you know um when you know you you go one one and it's like right we've got something to fight for and then you can see three in eight minutes and then it's flat there's nothing you then kudos for whatever reason decides to to take it into his own hands um lose his head and then
00:07:56
Jacob
that's put us in even worse position for next week. I don't know if he's going to get a three-match ban, a two-match ban, I'm not sure, but you know it'll give maybe give Somerville a chance, but um it's not it's not what we need right now. you know I think that ah player acting out like that shows his frustration of the way the team is performing and I'm sure that Lopateki feels the same way.
Commitment to Club Ethos and Improvement
00:08:27
Jacob
um Something's got to change.
00:08:31
officialgspn
Yeah, I completely agree. I've got some thoughts about the whole Cuda situation and I will give you guys those after we have a small word from one of our sponsors. so
00:09:21
officialgspn
Yeah, so when we have the Kuda situation, for me, it was actually, it's kind of a double-edged sword when you look at him getting sent off. And obviously, is a on the surface, it's not good. he He's lost his head. It's definitely a red. like There's no reason to put your hand in someone else's face. But the the redeeming factor with that whole situation is that he seemed like one of the only players on the pitch who actually cared like the way that he carried himself was like he was trying and he was getting so frustrated that maybe the the level of energy and commitment that he was putting into the game wasn't being replicated and I think that's kind of a larger thing for him this season because he's not got as many goals or as many assists as I think he would have liked or maybe the stats would suggest that he should get by now. um So when something like that does boil over and he kind of lashes out in a way that's
00:10:20
officialgspn
that dangers him getting sent off, then for me it's not necessarily a 100% terrible reaction. like I'd much rather that than just none of them care, which seems like what happened with a lot of them. like We've had a lot of new players join this this season.
00:10:35
officialgspn
and it it doesn't seem like the the gravity of playing West Ham has actually got through to a lot of them. Like West Ham is a big club and we're very proud to to be who we are and we want players that are gonna play for the shirt every single week. And I know one example of that is, I think julia Julian Alvarez does that every week. I think Jarrah Bone does that every week, but you look at other players and you you just question whether they're are they gonna die for the shirt basically is the question that I ask and capitulating that embarrassingly it just doesn't give you that impression it doesn't feel like these players are really trying to die for the shirt when defensively it just goes to pot that easily um so yeah i I'm obviously not happy about the outcome you you never want to see one of your players get carded or sent off but
00:11:32
officialgspn
I kind of like the feistiness that he's bringing because no one else is really bringing it. I think Jared Bowen is probably the only other player that could kind of slightly redeem himself. He was involved in the build up to the goal. Like it seems like I'm saying basically every game at this point, it seems like he's got a hand in every positive thing that West Ham create. And that's obviously brilliant, but you can't, but Sometimes there's there's things about a squad or a team that you can't coach. You can't give someone the desire to play for a for a team in a way where they're willing to put themselves on the line so passionately. And I just don't get that vibe from a lot of these players, which is it's a bit alarming, to be honest.
00:12:22
Jacob
Yeah, I think it's a balance um with the manager trusting the players and the players trusting the manager, you know, I think that that comes, you know, it's clear to see at the moment that nobody feels completely trusting in each other to get a good result. um You know, you see with ah a um, Manchester city win, you know, the way they celebrate the way they fight. Because they, they always believe that they are going to somehow come away with all three points, regardless of anything else that's happened in the game. and You know, what the, we saw that, you know, with the, with the John stones goal, the way they celebrate the way pep, um,
00:13:20
Jacob
was spoke individually to every single player afterwards about one thing or another that's the kind of ethos we need really but that that's another thing obviously nobody's expecting us to have that now anyway being so early in um lopategi's tenure but at the moment it's hard to see any sort of
00:13:50
Jacob
good factors that that have come out of that game. I was feeling quietly confident
Facing Manchester United: A Chance to Rebound
00:13:56
Jacob
for some reason. I'm not sure why. And then we scored. I thought, yeah, this actually could go our way. We might be starting to settle a bit and find our form after a ah difficult start, but it just went downhill. And I think Kudos, without a doubt, was the best player on on the pitch.
00:14:19
Jacob
for the majority of the game. um And you're right about the whole showing the passion and, you know, wanting to fight for the shirt. And, you know, maybe he went about it slightly the wrong way towards the end. It's just pure frustration and, you know, maybe the feeling like there's there's nothing we can do now. Because at that stage, they the way the goals went in so quickly, you know,
00:14:49
Jacob
three and eight minutes. It's at that point that you're like, well, we're not really going to be able to get back into this. We've still got half an hour and we've, we've, yeah, we've got a couple of players to come off the bench, but are we going to score three? No. Um, we're just going to have to see it out and you know, that's, it's going to weigh on their minds and they're going to be thinking, Oh God, I don't want to make another mistake here. Um, you know, it,
00:15:17
Jacob
It must have been a long afternoon for for most of them out there. Um, but I feel like it surely can't get any worse. Is the only, only thing I'm thinking is that, you know, surely this has to be a wake up call for the whole team that you, you, you know, you rest on your laurels for for one minute, you know, and you're,
00:15:45
Jacob
three goals behind and you've lost a 1-0 lead to, you know, a top six team. So it's, yeah, I think, I think it can only improve basically.
00:16:02
officialgspn
it it has to realistically like the season is becoming increasingly embarrassing by the game which
00:16:03
Jacob
Yeah.
00:16:12
officialgspn
its We just can't have that. we've We've got European ambitions and we're just repeatedly underwhelming.
00:16:20
Jacob
Mm hmm.
00:16:20
officialgspn
That's why it's so difficult to to find ways to rationalize it and to to have any sort of serious tactical discussion. It just isn't good enough across the board. It seems like the tactical decisions being made by the manager aren't great.
00:16:34
officialgspn
The players just have not been performing. Like obviously there's been some standouts that have played well in parts but I think you look at the squad on most match days and you go, oh, there's at least three or four players that weren't amazing today, which if you're trying to build any sort of momentum for a charge at the table, you just can't afford that. And I think that's the most frustrating thing. I don't think, there's there's no West End family saying we have to win every week and we're gonna lose games and there's gonna be games that we lose that we should win. And that's kind of by the by, but
Lineup Strategy and Player Performance
00:17:08
officialgspn
If we get embarrassed by a London rival in that fashion, it there's just no there's no way to rationalise or justify it. It just shouldn't be happening like that. And you hope now after the feeling that embarrassment and that frustration of how that game went, we can now kick on and be like, right, let's stop feeling and sorry for ourselves. Let's cut this kind of embarrassing wave of momentum that we've seemed to have been building. the you know Playing Ipswich was
00:17:41
officialgspn
I think kind of slightly an anomaly it was a really good time for us to have that fixture and The fact that we've not been able to capitalize any positive momentum from it just shows how poor we were because you know winning winning for one I think we kind of it flattered us a little bit when you look at how we played in this game because like it's it's just it's really poor it's really poor and it's frustrating and I guess the the positive that you mentioned is that we'll get to see some of it a little bit, which I think will be good.
00:18:12
officialgspn
And this is so this is exactly his opportunity.
00:18:14
Jacob
Thank you.
00:18:15
officialgspn
This is the ah opportunity that he needed. And that I've been saying it's going to come all season. I've been saying it's a long season. He will get his opportunity. This is now the time for him to come on and grab games by the scruff of the neck and drag us through because if players aren't chomping at the bit on the sidelines to come on then why are they at the club we don't need people that are going to come and be passengers and be okay with not playing well we want people that want to play and when they do get the opportunity they take it so it's a really good opportunity i think for for some of you to come on and get some solid minutes and put in some performances and you know we've we've got man united next which is going to be a tough game but
00:18:56
officialgspn
I'm not so much fussed about the result. We just have to play well. We have to play better. We have to show like we actually have some semblance of a ah tactical idea because recently it's just been very hit or miss to whether the boys come out and play in a way where you understand what's going on.
00:19:17
officialgspn
And if we do like like that, then we won't concede as many goals as we did in such a short space of time because there's no tactical system that allows for you to capitulate that aggressively and embarrassingly. So yeah, its it's a tough one. And I know I've been rambling a little bit, but I think Kudos getting a red card has saved Paquetta quite a lot, to be honest. Because he's someone that I think has been quite poor this season, to be honest. And I know I've been trying to give him the benefit benefit of the doubt to say, like, oh, you know, it will come and with all the stuff that's going on off the pitch, all of the, you know, betting allegations, whatever.
00:19:58
officialgspn
We're going to do a podcast about that in the next week or so. So you'll have to watch out for that. But I honestly think that while we're in a bad turn of form and he's got so much kind of negative heat on him, he needs to be taken out of the starting 11. Because right now I don't think that his head is as in it as it has been in the past. Because Paquetta when he's on form is amazing. He's unbelievable. But right now he just isn't that player.
00:20:28
officialgspn
So I think taking him out of the squad, taking him out of the limelight, stop him being, you know, kind of in the public eye as much, just for a week or so, just to let him kind of simmer down mentally.
Previewing the Man United Clash
00:20:41
officialgspn
And then we can bring him back into the fold when he's had some time away from the spotlight, I think would be so beneficial. But with Kudos now being gone for what's probably going to be three games,
00:20:54
officialgspn
the I don't think the desire to have one of our best kind of attacking playmakers out of the team is going to be there when we've already lost one and there's no guarantee that some of it was going to hit the ground running so it he's quite fortunate to still have a what I think is probably a nailed down starting spot it's not what I'd want I'd probably rather him come out of it but yeah for for now I think I'll have to stay there but Either his form changes or he needs to be brought out because we can't just continue carrying passengers.
00:21:28
Jacob
Yep, totally agree. um Right, we've got one more ah short ad break to hear from and it will be back shortly.
00:22:05
officialgspn
So where do we go from here? What is the the next steps? The kind of last thoughts before we put this game to bed, forget about it and move forward to the next game.
00:22:20
Jacob
Um, I just think that we need to see, you know, there's, there's nothing we can do about what has happened. Um, I think we just need to see a reaction and so a bit more fight in general, to be honest, I don't think there's, there's any more than they can really do then improve.
00:22:43
Jacob
upon what we saw. and I know our next test is not a simple one at all and you know they've been a bit up and down for form as well so this will be a good test and I think that obviously there will be change to the lineup um So yeah, maybe a ah couple of players to get chances that they haven't had so far. So yeah, we we just need to see a good reaction.
Concluding Thoughts and Listener Engagement
00:23:16
officialgspn
Yeah, definitely. I think obviously with the change to the lineup, it has to happen because of Kudis being out. ah If I'm honest, I'd also like to see Mavropanos back in the starting 11. I think, you know, Tadebo scoring an own goal is, you know, own goals are really difficult to to evaluate in ah in a way that's kind of fair because they do happen. But the way that Mavropanos played over the international break, he played amazing against England. He was so good.
00:23:46
officialgspn
So I think players should be rewarded for playing well. That's why I think he should get the the starting spot, to be honest. And then you look at the Man United game, it's such a great chance to put some legitimacy back on West Ham's name.
00:24:00
officialgspn
so many times we've come up against a ah team that's in air quotes better than us and we just seem to get steamrolled and it doesn't seem like there's any chance that we're going to win those games so if we could pull a result out against man united who are yeah like you say that their form has been up and down and both of the managers or the manager for each team is under quite a lot of pressure so if we can pull a result here out of nowhere that would do such amazing things for general squad morale and the way that we we're respected by other teams in the league because right now teams go West Ham's probably a pretty good place to go right now like they're not really showing a lot of fight
00:24:42
officialgspn
So if if there's a game ever to bring that fight, it's got to be against a team that are there to be got at. Like we've seen so many times over the past few years, Man United are beatable and they do defensively, especially with them not basically not having a left back and potentially be using like Johnny Evans there.
00:24:59
officialgspn
our wingers are well you know some of our strongest positions so we have to at least look good in this game we don't have to win it would be amazing if we did but a good performance is crucial again in this next game otherwise the it comes so hard to develop any positive momentum if it's just poor performance after poor performance after poor performance what do you think
00:25:22
Jacob
Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I think, I think we just need to see something positive that we can say, you know, regardless of the result, you know, we've seen a bad result and that was down to just being poor, not being good enough on the day. And yeah, we just, we just need to see positivity and then hopefully the rest will come basically.
00:25:50
officialgspn
Yeah and I hope that Lopategi has the people around him telling him what it means to be a player for West Ham because it's always, I feel like there's always that thought in the back of your mind when you have a foreign manager come in, especially if he's been working abroad and then he comes into the Premier League for your team. Obviously he was at Wolves but I don't know how much prior knowledge he would have had about West Ham. Obviously he's done his homework, but you'd like to think that he's got people around him that have been around the club for a long time. You know, your Mark Nobles and people of that ilk telling him that
00:26:28
officialgspn
We don't, we can't keep getting embarrassed because that isn't what West Ham are about. we're not We're not a team that does capitulate. We don't, you know, we we do the the the physical work, you know, we run the meters, we make the tackles, we put our body on the line and we commit 100% regardless of the outcome. That has to be one of the minimum standards that we expect every game, every player.
00:26:56
officialgspn
and right now it just doesn't really seem like that's there so hopefully he's got people having those conversations and hopefully he's having those conversations so that you know not necessarily winning every game but we're not getting embarrassed like that because it's just so it's so demoralizing and it's so difficult to stay positive when you know you are capitulating in that way but It's done now, let's move forward from it. And I'm hoping for such a, I want a feisty game. I want us to show so much fight and passion against Man United because yeah, it's just a great opportunity. Have you got any parting words?
00:27:32
Jacob
No, just just echo what you said, really. I think that we've got a great chance. um a If we can start the way we started against Man United, like we did against Tottenham, then we're in with a great chance.
00:27:52
Jacob
you know If we can keep that momentum throughout the game, then I'm sure we'll come away with something, basically.
00:28:00
officialgspn
Yeah, also, it doesn't like we're going to have any full krug anytime soon.
00:28:04
Jacob
No.
00:28:04
officialgspn
and Hopefully, in the next few weeks, we'll get some positive updates, but for now, we're still missing him, which which is heartbreaking, I think.
00:28:05
Jacob
No.
00:28:09
Jacob
Yeah.
00:28:13
officialgspn
When he comes back, that's going to lift the squad so much because, you know, a player of his quality being involved so little when there was so much hype around him signing, it it's tough.
00:28:16
Jacob
yeah
00:28:22
officialgspn
and We just need to dig in, we need to grind out some results and then as soon as he comes back, that's when we have to push on and we have to make sure that when he's back, we we make it count.
00:28:34
Jacob
so Yeah, that seems like a good place to end it. Thank you all very much for watching ah the daily GSBN West Ham podcast. Say goodbye, Thomas.
00:28:45
officialgspn
Goodbye, mates.
00:28:47
Jacob
and Yeah, so please feel free to rate the podcast five stars and check out all the social media that's linked in the description. um Also feel free to check out all the other GSPN Network podcasts. We've got a fantasy football pod, women's football pod, wrap-up pods in multiple different languages, and of course all the other and other teams daily podcasts. So thank you and speak to you soon.