Official Matchday 21: West Ham United v Nottingham Forest. 6 January 2026. 8pm

[JustARed]

Was one of the least appreciated victories I can remember....

Personally. I thought it remarkable that our team turned things after half time, around , with one of our least vocally supportive crowds .
Not like Villa or Fulham where we got behind the team

I'm all for a wider group getting to watch games - yet when they don't know the words of MOK or can;t be arsed to sing YLTLF when we equalise , realise there's work to be done

Who are we to suddenly to lord over a team that's been in the PL since , what? ... 2012?

Team even seemed to be nervous to come over and celebrate with the fans, We really can do better together,

So the fans.... Entiltlement or fear?

Fear due to entitlement?

Does it matter? .Who cares?
Three fat points.
Maybe just celebrate.

Tired of this recurring snide comment about plastic fans, or 'wider groups'.
I was also there, so want to respond to the bit about the fans. MOK at kick off was late (which was weird) but sung with gusto, but the whole support went flat when their goal went in, so let's not throw this 'wider group' comment about.
Second half kick off - let's be honest, we were all flat and expecting a loss at that point - it's not about "entitlement or fear" - this is an awful season, and our apathy has been mirroring what we've seen on the pitch.

As soon as that goal was ruled out, we were all up and singing.

It was an awful game of football, we were poor in possession the whole game, but we beat Nuno's West Ham, and I'll take that all day long.

 

[Ian Storey Moore]

We won, VAR finally went our way, new day, new hope.

 

[StanleyVictorCollywobbles]

Absolutely got away with that last night. Appalling performance and we deserved f*** all. Saved Dyche’s job I reckon.

 

[MC Plantpot]

100% and that is why the back room staff did not follow him to West Ham, they were equally as dismayed at Nuno.

That’s an hypothesis. An alternative hypothesis might be that they weren’t offered the wages they felt they are worth, so better off being paid by Forest for a few more years.

And I’m sure there are other hypotheses too, but we’ll never know for certain because we’re not partial to the facts.

 

[Harry1982]

If we manage to survive this season we need a major clear out in the summer, I wouldn't be sorry to see most of this lot leave.

Why, this is practically the same team that was 3rd in the prem for a considerable amount of time last season? The only thing thats changed is the manager? So why do we need a complete rebuild of players?

 

[Cloughie1975]

Why, this is practically the same team that was 3rd in the prem for a considerable amount of time last season? The only thing thats changed is the manager? So why do we need a complete rebuild of players?

I think we’ll need significant rebuilding and changes to the squad.

I can’t see Wood returning and being as effective so we require quality and fresh blood up front for a start.

It’s almost inevitable that at least one of our ‘Crown Jewels’ departs for big money and several of our periphery
players aren’t at the required standard.

The recruitment team needs scrutiny as I reckon it’s going to be a busy and important summer-we need to get
this right or our luck will eventually run out.

 

[Erik]

I think it says it all to me that when the penalty went in my son and I didn't celebrate as such. There were two deep sighs of relief and then he tapped my shoulder and me his.
Usually we wake the neighbours when we score.

 

[DB1702]

Probably only came on because Hutchinson was completely useless in the first half and something had to change.

Hutchinson looks lightweight keeps getting knocked off the ball and is missing the acceleration needed to get away from his man. Needs to do some serious strength work to make himself harder to just knock of the ball. He is one for the future maybe best off the bench but we do not appear to have the depth so have to start him week in week out.

 

[MaxiRobriguez]

Why, this is practically the same team that was 3rd in the prem for a considerable amount of time last season?

It isn't.

The defensive unit is the same but the attacking unit has changed, and more importantly the way the attacking unit plays has changed as well with the loss of Elanga who would run in behind replaced with Bakwa/Ndoye/Hutchinson who don't. We lost the ability to counter quickly with that swap and compounded it by making Sangare the playmarker. That tactical change was planned and deliberate, and it has caused us no end of issues.

I tend to agree we need a mini-overhaul. Defensive unit is OK but needs a bit more depth, but midfield and attack we need a large exodus and a serious think about what sort of approach play we want to set-up with, because if we do want to continue being slow/possession based we will need significantly better players than we brought in and we'll need a manager who can get the most out of such a system.

Defensive unit also assumes players like Aina, Williams and Murillo won't leave in summer. I think we'll struggle to hold off bids for them given the players might well fancy a change of scenery after the calamity of this season.

 

[Locadoodledoo]

I think that’s unfair on Sean Dyche,Bob-since he inherited a total mess (caused by mismanagement) he’s got
16 points from 13 games which over a season is well clear of the drop.

We didn’t really play great football last season but it was obviously effective which caused the club and
some of its supporters get carried away in search of global domination.

If we stay up this season we need to take stock and recruit better and try and establish ourselves as a genuine
Premier League club whist the stadium in gradually rebuilt.

Only one has global domination in mind and it's his train set

 

[Monkman]

That was the luckiest win in recent memory for me. I'm not saying we didn't deserve it or that any of the decisions were incorrect, but to have those 3 separate incidents in the second half all go our way was just.... improbable.

VAR finds an offside that no one had noticed; then Dominguez's flick on header finds the one square foot of the goal that no one can reach; then VAR gives us a penalty that again I don't think any of us were asking for. And even then Morgan's penalty grazes Areola's foot on its way in! Holy shit. If I were a West Ham fan I'd be livid

 

[Mozza]

We play like we did last night I honestly don't know where our next 3 points are coming from.

I am thankful for the win and this 7 point gap but if I was EM is still be very nervous.

 

[Cloughie1975]

That was the luckiest win in recent memory for me. I'm not saying we didn't deserve it or that any of the decisions were incorrect, but to have those 3 separate incidents in the second half all go our way was just.... improbable.

VAR finds an offside that no one had noticed; then Dominguez's flick on header finds the one square foot of the goal that no one can reach; then VAR gives us a penalty that again I don't think any of us were asking for. And even then Morgan's penalty grazes Areola's foot on its way in! Holy shit. If I were a West Ham fan I'd be livid

I think Peter Taylor once said ‘there’s nothing wrong with being lucky’.

 

[Cloughie1975]

Only one has global domination in mind and it's his train set

Fair comment.

 

[Monkman]

I think Peter Taylor once said ‘there’s nothing wrong with being lucky’.

Was it Napoleon who preferred lucky generals to skilled ones? Or Caesar? Someone like that!

 

[Cloughie1975]

We play like we did last night I honestly don't know where our next 3 points are coming from.

I am thankful for the win and this 7 point gap but if I was EM is still be very nervous.

That’s why we need to strengthen sensibly in the transfer window (without breaking PSR).

Some players need moving out if we can manage it.

 

[Mozza]

That’s why we need to strengthen sensibly in the transfer window (without breaking PSR).

Some players need moving out if we can manage it.

Agreed. Sangare and Yates to come back so I wouldn't bother with a midfielder unless it's a loan.

Desperately need a striker.

 

[MaxiRobriguez]

I think that was the lowest quality game I've seen at this level for a long, long, long time.

Neither team knew how they wanted to approach the game, both teams offering the initiative to the other. Stray passes, crosses that couldn't beat the first man, taking unnecessary risks and losing out, refusing to shoot when a viable opportunity arose, not laying in a team-mate and choosing to shoot when that route wasn't on...

You name it, both teams delivered it.

Think by the end of the game Forest could have claimed to have deserved the win as they did slightly more probing, but really it should have finished 0-0.

Still, who cares. The main thing is that 7 point gap.

 

[Beardo7]

Slept on it thoughts.

We started well and on the front but again I didn't really see what we were trying to do apart from pass it sideways and then lump it into the box. We did manage to work an opportunity for Neco (who was again Excellent have Taken my Williams shirt into the office today to hang on my office door what a player) which required an excellent save from Areola, but them Forest did a Forest and Hutchinson faffed about with it in the channel and gave away a needless Corner which lead to West Ham scoring via an OG. We then went to Pieces for the rest of the half and reverted to hoofing it long and misplacing our passes we were very poor.

Hutch was taken off at HT was this as Punishment for not hoofing it? Who knows. Bakwa came on and was equally as dreadful if not worse it was because of him again giving the ball away that West Ham scored again on the break, our defending for that was equally as all over the place it was like panic stations back there where as last year Milenkovic and Murillo would have just calmly clearly with and at 2-0 my head went and I was close to turning it off. BUT Var to the rescue and it was correctly ruled out for being MILES offside how it wasn't given by the Lino I don't know, get some glasses mate.

That seemed to be the point where the game changed and Forest finally woke up and realised we are losing here to the worst side in the League who lost 3-0 to a side who hadn't won a game all season last week manged by the bloke who engineered his own sacking and we started pressing and showing some fight and scored from a corner, yes it was a bit of luck and but Dominguez movement was good and we finally deserved a bit of luck.

West Ham's heart went then and we had a 20 minute where we were on top and pushing them back but still continued the habit of over hitting/Under hitting passes constantly and only really created 1 half chance for Dominguez from 18 yards out, and as the game seemed to be petering out to a Draw Areola decided to punch MGW in the head and again the VAR came to the correct decision and we were awarded the Penalty that MGW converted (I'll be honest I couldn't watch it and went off the Mrs and Crowd reaction) i've seen Nuno and a few otehr West Ham players say it wasn't a pen - they must have been on the packet if they think that's the case you can't come racing out your net get no were near the ball and then punch a player in the head. We then manged the remainder of the game out very well and West Ham didn't have a sniff after that.

Was it pretty? Nope but as Al Davies said for the Oakland Raiders "Just Win Baby" and we did and now have a comfortable 7 point gap and an 11 day break until out next game. Friday I don't want to see a 1st team player near the side and expect Wrexham to beat us and I have taken Bet365 up on their very generous offer of Wrexham to win in 90 mins at 4/1.

I still am not a fan of Dyche and can't see him here past May, seems to be the game has passed him by and he doesn't actually know how to use the talent in the squad and we at times seemed to be playing 4-5......1 with Jesus 40 yards away from anyone else his hold up play is excellent but he often finds himself with nobody to play to and then when we do get up the pitch there is no real idea of what they are supposed to be doing we slow it down and then it gets passed sideways and backwards and then just tossed into the box.

And his inability to make any subs to freshen it up again is alarming I know we don't have much on the bench (which is alarming after spending £200m!) but yesterday Anderson, MGW, CHO were out on their feet last night but he still refused to make any changes Douglas-Luiz? McAtee? Kalimuendo? just to freshen it up, Only made a change on 92 mins again and brough Morato on to see it out.

Overall relived we got the 3 points and manged to win an important game for once! But I am still not happy with "Dycheball" we will do enough to stay up I think he has 16 points from 13 games? Continue on that vein and we will end up on around 40-45 points which will be more than enough to stay up but he won't be here next season and I would be carful giving him money to spend in Jan as we don't want to be stuck with some cloggers brought in to play hoof-ball. Maybe a Loan with an Option and a few squad players?

Anyway good to have that wining feeling back and can enjoy all tonight's games and then FA cup 3rd round weekend despite us likely losing to Wrexham - I will not be upset (unless Dyche decides to play our starting 11 then I will be as we are in a run of 10 games in 40 days) if we go out the FA cup, a sad state of affairs I know but we need to stay in the PL.

COYR.

 

[Indored]

Big relief with the result, but at no moment did I think we would not mess it up.
Happy and hopeful right now, but we do need to improve.
Glad Aina is back, will improve with game time.

 

[Captain Sinister]

If we manage to survive this season we need a major clear out in the summer, I wouldn't be sorry to see most of this lot leave.

I find this rather irritating in its over simplified view of the individual players:
Sels - keep; decent keeper;
Aina - keep; quality right back;
Williams - keep; defines consistency;
Milenkovic - keep; should be made captain;
Murillo - keep; pace and power personified;
Dominguez - sell; hard worker but too small;
Anderson - will have no choice but to sell to a big club;
Hutchinson - keep; needs time to develop physically;
MGW - keep if we can, but EM may have agreed to let him leave in the summer;
Hudson-Odoi - sell if price is right ;
Jesus - keep; but recognise he needs a strike partner;
Bakwa - keep; needs time to settle.

Our problems are not about individual players, but about coaching and team building.
Dyche is a stop-gap manager, likely to be released to join Pardew, Pulis, and Allardyce on a sun lounger in a retirement home for football managers who outlived their purpose.

 

[MaxiRobriguez]

Feel like I was the only one who was calm throughout and thought we'd win, even at HT.

 

[Wheats]

With a few hours sleep under our belt we can look more objectively at last night and where we are at, I feel….
On the game itself, yes it was a bit fortunate but f*+k me how many times has luck gone against us this season so far? I reckon we were due our fair share - case in point the game against Citeh when they absolutely 100% should have been down to 10 men.
These things tend to even up over the season and did before VAR, btw.
In terms of massive overhaul as suggested by a few I’m not sure I’m in that camp… I think a couple of the players we’ve signed look promising and just need more time, unfortunately this season we haven’t been able to get ourselves in a comfortable position to bed theses guys in. I think case in point is Sangare - I was really excited when we signed him as his reputation was huge and I always felt that we needed a strong defensive midfielder who can use the ball well in attack too. I think we were all completely underwhelmed when he arrived and indeed he’s only really started firing this season but now he’s settled and fit I think he’s a really good premier league player and he’s shown it on a number of occasions this year, not least the Spurs match.
So, in essence I think some of these players need time to bed in - personally I think Jesus, Hutch, Savona, Cunha and even Bakwa would have been great additions to the squad IF our first choice from last year had stayed fit and / or not been sold. (Elanga, Wood, Aina).
Now here’s the conundrum going forward - I think it’s nailed on that two of Ando, MGW and Murillo will go in the summer, whatever league we’re in, and I just don’t see NDoye (not quick enough), McAtee (too lightweight), Zinchenko (just all round crap) and Kalimuendo (too small and not quick enough) making the grade… Bakwa might not too(?). In addition Morato is not good enough/ makes too many mistakes (imo) and Luiz is a massive injury concern.
With all the above in mind next summer (assuming we stay up) will be huge in terms of recruitment. Personally, and I’ve made my feelings known on this, I sincerely hope that Edu is not steering the ship through that period….. his recruitment of Zinchenko alone should be enough to tell anyone how far away he is from what we need.
The worrying bit for me is who’s doing the planning for all this right now because hoping we’ll keep Ando, MGW and Murillo IF we stay up is not a strategy …. it’s a forlorn hope.

 

[incapable hulk]

Two of those 20 yarders almost brought us 2 goals. I'd stick with a few of those a game.

Neither of those 20 yarders did bring us a goal and the keeper actually only had to make a save for one of them.

We are being restricted to long range efforts in almost every game, is the point, and we absolutely have to do more than that to give whichever poor sod is playing up front at least half a chance of scoring.

 

[tricky_tree1982]

I'm sorry but I don't feel we need a player overhaul at all in the summer! These players are under performing massively. And let's be right, they'd play better football with better management! Polar opposites last night, lumped it up top to Jesus every single time 1st half - 2nd half we play it on the floor with much more impetus and decide not to cross it in every single time to try and reach another Forest player or cut inside and make a backwards pass. I think I counted x2 successful crosses into the box last night, one of which was from a corner and the goal. Morgan also played far too deep last night, meaning massive gaps between striker and midfield.