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

[bearwood red]

Rather like last season, we have a problem breaking down teams that sit in and deny us space to get in behind. Our best performances have been against Liverpool, Tottenham and Man City. However we have looked pretty clueless against Everton, Fulham and West Ham.

McAtee and Luiz were brought in to help us be better with the ball, but for different reasons, neither has made an impact.

It feels like we need to be a bit braver and move the ball more quickly, with more movement off the ball and first time passes. I’m not sure if our players are good enough to do that, but the ponderous passing around the edge followed by a terrible attempted cross is not working.

Igor is working his socks off but needs better service. I’m not sure Chris Wood in full flow would get many in this team at the moment.

Overall, they just seem to lack confidence in what they are doing, and they are knackered.

I think Dyche is doing OK, apart from his unwillingness to use the bench, which is baffling. It was so obvious that Anderson was knackered last night, probably Aina as well. He had Luiz and Savona on the bench - why on earth didn’t he use them?

We got the run of the green in an important game so will take that. But lots of work to do.

 

[Beardo7]

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

Napoleon "better to be a lucky general than a good one"

 

[redtreeant]

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.

Defence is OK if they stay fit, mgw and cho been poor this year, ando will leave, we are poor up front with no options and we've spent a fortune on bang average players and I'm not convinced by any of them.

 

[Cloughie1975]

Defence is OK if they stay fit, mgw and cho been poor this year, ando will leave, we are poor up front with no options and we've spent a fortune on bang average players and I'm not convinced by any of them.

Defence is okay only if Murillo stays……

 

[Cureboy]

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.

I hear you. It was actually the opposite for me and my son, we were both jumping around going mental copying Gibbs-White's celebration when he tucked the penalty home etc. I went slightly overboard flicking the v's when the camera cut to Nuno...not a proud daddy moment. It was a huge result though.

 

[Skoosh]

We need to be very very careful that we don't turn this usually positive forum into a West Ham / Spurs clone of negativity , toxicity and bullshit. We are 7 points clear of the bottom 3, a bottom 3 that will likely stay the bottom 3 . We are still in with a shout of progressing in Europe, FA cup run to come and as things stand, a prem team. Last season was a fluke, a glorious one at that and we punched way above our natural position.... all this talk of getting rid of the 3rd manager this season is absolute nonsense and would take us a few steps backwards..... we are good some weeks, bad some weeks and average some weeks but what the hell did we expect since Ange left...? We are playing with a very talented, young striker in his 1st season abroad and without Chris Wood yet we expect to win games at a canter and score more than we are.
I for one am positive and think we'll finish mid table under SD's stewardship....who a few weeks ago was our saviour....!!!!
Saying all that i do think a few players need a rest as we look tired at times... get back to basics with passing and tracking and we'll be safe.
We don't want to keep swapping managers and head back to the Championship.... or god forbid L1.
Things could be and were alot worse not many years ago.

Y O U R E D S..................!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Captain Sinister]

We need to be very very careful that we don't turn this usually positive forum into a West Ham / Spurs clone of negativity , toxicity and bullshit. We are 7 points clear of the bottom 3, a bottom 3 that will likely stay the bottom 3 . We are still in with a shout of progressing in Europe, FA cup run to come and as things stand, a prem team. Last season was a fluke, a glorious one at that and we punched way above our natural position.... all this talk of getting rid of the 3rd manager this season is absolute nonsense and would take us a few steps backwards..... we are good some weeks, bad some weeks and average some weeks but what the hell did we expect since Ange left...? We are playing with a very talented, young striker in his 1st season abroad and without Chris Wood yet we expect to win games at a canter and score more than we are.
I for one am positive and think we'll finish mid table under SD's stewardship....who a few weeks ago was our saviour....!!!!
Saying all that i do think a few players need a rest as we look tired at times... get back to basics with passing and tracking and we'll be safe.
We don't want to keep swapping managers and head back to the Championship.... or god forbid L1.
Things could be and were alot worse not many years ago.

Y O U R E D S..................!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whatever anyone thinks of Dyche, he has to stay for this season and keep us up.
We are not like West Ham or Wolves, who need to prepare for a major rebuild in the summer as they face life in Championship.
However EM needs to have a new manager lined up for next season.
Preparing for next season will be tough because of the Donald Trump World Cup.

 

[Berkshire Red]

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?

Yup. Only Jesus and Hutchinson, for Wood and Elanga. The rest would have started games together last season, successfully too. We don’t look like a team. Even shitty West Ham were slicker in possession and on the counter than we were.

 

[PlayedOnGrass]

Genuinely hope we send 11 kids out on Friday couldn’t care less. Let the lads have a week off and relax and see them next Tuesday refreshed for Arsenal, fancy us against them at home.

Tuesday - Isn't Arsenal on the Sat evening kick-off? Thats 8 days recovery time.
I would rest Anderson/MGW and a couple of others - but we should be going to Wrexham with a team good enough to beat them.

 

[Apollo11]

Unfortunately only watched the first 10 minutes of the match and then saw the result after the match had finished.

Doesn't sound like it's one many will be watching on repeat but you shouldn't care about that now but the 3 points which you got.

 

[Beardo7]

Whatever anyone thinks of Dyche, he has to stay for this season and keep us up.
We are not like West Ham or Wolves, who need to prepare for a major rebuild in the summer as they face life in Championship.
However EM needs to have a new manager lined up for next season.
Preparing for next season will be tough because of the Donald Trump World Cup.

I still think we will get Marco Silva in the summer if we stay up - he wants to leave Fulham and won't sign a new contact and apparently has a good relationship with EM from his Olympiacos days.

 

[PlayedOnGrass]

The law was altered around our promotion season - the touch from a defending player has to be deliberate (i.e. more of a measured pass than 'going in for the ball) to count as "touching the ball" as the old law had it.

Milenkovic didn't "deliberately" play the ball so the offside is judged from the play by the attacker.

We've been dicked a couple of times by it, so it's nice to get one go for us instead

What I don't understand is that all of this was unneccessary. It cam from a goalkick that was a corner.
VAR checked whether it hit the defenders arm or knee and - fair enough - it was his knee.
But how is that a goalkick?

 

[redtreeant]

I still think we will get Marco Silva in the summer if we stay up - he wants to leave Fulham and won't sign a new contact and apparently has a good relationship with EM from his Olympiacos days.

Hope so!

 

[Wheats]

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.

Not sure I agree with your point on crossing …. After the Everton game Dyche was severely criticised for 52 crosses, playing into the hands of the opposition with two huge centre halves. Last night Jesus was facing similar, so why just keep putting in crosses when he wasn’t going to win much in the air.
Yes I saw our goal but that’s a lucky header in the extreme.
I also think MGW playing deep was to try to get him into the game more.
Please see my previous point on planning for the future with ref to overhaul - I think it’s inevitable.

 

[Beardo7]

What I don't understand is that all of this was unneccessary. It cam from a goalkick that was a corner.
VAR checked whether it hit the defenders arm or knee and - fair enough - it was his knee.
But how is that a goalkick?

That also annoyed me - I assume VAR can't get involved there but why not?
"We have had a look it's not a pen but it IS a corner"
Nobody would moan about it as it was a clear corner kick

 

[PlayedOnGrass]

Granted I was hiding behind the sofa for most of that, and so might not have all the info available to me (!!) but were we really as poor as people are saying?

I’m not saying we were great, but I’m not so sure we were that poor either.

Looking at the positives - apart from their goal - which was via a deflection and happens - I thought we looked a lot more secure at the back with lasts seasons back 5 in tandem for the first time in 4 months. That was very encouraging.
Get Sangare back after the Arsenal game and we start to look strong defensively again.
For me the main problem is where do the goals come from?
How far away is Wood?
If we sell/loan Kali - Jesus has to play all the Europa games as well as being the only real option for EPL games.
We need someone in and quick

 

[Wheats]

Tuesday - Isn't Arsenal on the Sat evening kick-off? Thats 8 days recovery time.
I would rest Anderson/MGW and a couple of others - but we should be going to Wrexham with a team good enough to beat them.

Personally I would rest as many as possible v Wrexham. I love the FA cup and went to all of our cup run games in ‘88, ‘89, 91 etc …. however the game is all about the premier league now (thanks to those bast**ds at sky and so the FA cup is now a distraction we don’t need.
I’d go with
Sels
Savona, Cunha, Morato, Abbott, Zinchenko
Luiz, Dom
McAtee
Bakwa, Awoniyi
Give all the key players a rest - send Ando on hols for 4 or 5 days!!

 

[king_congo_red]

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.

I'd agree with that assessment - but I'd also add, that some of the team spirit and togetherness that served us so well last season also seems to have waned. Not sure if that's down to the new arrivals not buying into the culture or whatnot, but it definitely doesn't seem to be where it was.

 

[Beardo7]

Looking at the positives - apart from their goal - which was via a deflection and happens - I thought we looked a lot more secure at the back with lasts seasons back 5 in tandem for the first time in 4 months. That was very encouraging.
Get Sangare back after the Arsenal game and we start to look strong defensively again.
For me the main problem is where do the goals come from?
How far away is Wood?
If we sell/loan Kali - Jesus has to play all the Europa games as well as being the only real option for EPL games.
We need someone in and quick

I don't think he will be seen again this season he has had to have another op.

I personally don't think he will play for Forest again and he will be moved on in the Summer he is 35 next December and after not playing for the best part of a year I doubt he will get back to where he was at that age.

 

[Statto]

That also annoyed me - I assume VAR can't get involved there but why not?
"We have had a look it's not a pen but it IS a corner"
Nobody would moan about it as it was a clear corner kick

AIUI the ref can change his mind provided play hasn't restarted. So once VAR checks it and says there was contact but it wasn't a PK, because it came off his knee not his arm, then surely he doesn't need VAR to give a corner anyway?

 

[bearwood red]

That also annoyed me - I assume VAR can't get involved there but why not?
"We have had a look it's not a pen but it IS a corner"
Nobody would moan about it as it was a clear corner kick

Me too! I assume that on field goal kick/corner decisions are not able to be reviewed by VAR. It’s a nonsense though. The ref will know he should definitely have awarded a corner, but can’t change his decision. All the more galling given that we have conceded two goals this season from corners that should not have been given.

We are so conditioned to VAR screwing us over that some people think we got lucky last night. They were both the correct decisions!

 

[Beardo7]

I don't think he will be seen again this season he has had to have another op.

I personally don't think he will play for Forest again and he will be moved on in the Summer he is 35 next December and after not playing for the best part of a year I doubt he will get back to where he was at that age.

Speaking of which I just noticed that one of our Dogs, Daphne has the same Birthday as Chris Wood.

"Chris Wood(s)" again ole ole!"

 

[king_congo_red]

So - just to make sure it isn't missed - Dyche has now achieved something that Postecoglu, Nuno and Cooper didn't manage.
This was the first time since our return to the League of Honey and Oil that we've managed to win a game that we were losing at half-time.

 

[Annesleyred]

Two VAR decisions one good one bad. Not hand ball it came off his leg - OK I agree - I’ll give a goal kick .

 

[jdthebrit]

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

After Hamburg? "They really had you under pressure at times there Peter..."
"Yes, but we won the Cup."