Monday 4 November 2013

West Ham United 0 - 0 Aston Villa

02/11/2013
15:00
Boleyn Ground

West Ham United vs Aston Villa
 Goalscorers: 

 Analysis 
Well, at least we didn't lose for the fourth home match on the spin, I suppose.

There were moments when it looked like Aston Villa would smash and grab a victory on Saturday afternoon, but, let's be honest, West Ham dominated the game, and failed to take any chances.

Just to illustrate our dominance in the game, take a look at Villa's heat map. You see that massive red block? That's their penalty area. Compare the two for a second, and you can see quite clearly that it's an absolute travesty that we didn't win this game.


I don't like to blame any one particular person for a poor result, there were 14 different men on the pitch for West Ham on Saturday after all.

However, if there is one person in particular who needs to take a long hard look at themselves, it is our occasionally talismanic skipper, Kevin Nolan.

While many have criticised Nolan's form, I've always felt that Allardyce wants him in the team for that one golden chance. But his predatory instincts completely deserted him on Saturday - and not for the first time this season.

Last year, Nolan had 55 attempts on goal, 58% of these were on target, and he had a fantastic conversion rate of 18%. This season has been a completely different story. Of his 16 attempts on goal, only two (13%) have been on target, and his conversion rate has fallen to just 6%.

I tweeted an image on Saturday afternoon that I believe sums up our failure to get a result.

This is a different version of that image, but the same image nonetheless. Kevin Nolan had four attempts on goal, all from inside the box, all off target.


That said, Nolan is not solely to blame. Although he is recognised as a goal poacher, the skipper clearly isn't a striker.

Simply put, the lack of a centre forward cost us a victory.

On Saturday afternoon, West Ham attempted 40 crosses. Just 6 of these were completed. This is an outrageously poor return. Both Matt Jarvis and Stewart Downing had the Villa wingbacks on toast, but every time the ball went into the box there was nobody there to get on the end of it.

Had Andy Carroll been in the pitch, or had Christian Benteke been playing for the other team, there is no doubt in my mind that we'd have got at least a couple of goals.


As always, I like to try and find something positive to end on.

This week, there are a few things to choose from. Guy Demel was fantastic again at right back. Jussi Jaaskelainen made a couple of excellent stops. Tomkins and Reid continue to look like a top centre back pairing. Mark Noble was buzzing all over the pitch (103 attempted passes, by the way). And Mat Jarvis looked a little like the player we thought we were signing 15 months ago.

But I'm going to go with Ravel Morrison's performance.

Against Manchester City and Swansea, Morrison looked a little out of sorts for me. He struggled to get into both games, and I actually thought he might be dropped this weekend.

But he wasn't, and he put an incredible shift in, as shown in his heat map below.

Obviously his intervention when Andreas Weimann went through on goal was a real stand out moment in the game, but it was his use of the ball that was so impressive. The second image below shows his attempted passes. Incredibly, he managed a 96% completion rate, with 67 of his 70 passes reaching their mark.



All in all, one point is better than no points, I suppose.

But West Ham really need to start scoring goals, or one point just won't be enough.

 General Play 
4-6-0 Formation 3-5-2
(43) Jussi Jääskeläinen - Brad Guzan (24)
(47) Guy Demel - Ron Vlaar (48)
(34) James Tomkins - Nathan Baker (24)
(45) Winston Reid - Ciaran Clark (27)
(30) Rǎzvan Raţ - Matthew Lowton (2)
(38) Mark Noble - Yacouba Sylla (16)
(1) Jack Collison - Ashley Westwood (36)
(21) Stewart Downing - Karim El Ahmadi (20)
(-10) Kevin Nolan - Leandro Bacuna (-30)
(26) Ravel Morrison - Andreas Weimann (-8)
(9) Matt Jarvis - Christian Benteke (-1)

(-3) Carlton Cole - Libor Kozak (10)
(10) Joe Cole - n/a ()
(14) Mohamed Diamé - n/a ()

Best Performance
(47) Guy Demel - Ron Vlaar (48)

Worst Performance
(-10) Kevin Nolan - Leandro Bacuna (-30)

58% Possession 42%

613 Passes Attempted 420
103 Mark Noble Most Attempted 51 Ron Vlaar

80% Passing Accuracy 70%
74% In Opp. Half 59%
Ravel Morrison 96% Best Accuracy 88% Nathan Baker

82 Long Balls 77
Rǎzvan Raţ 16 Most Long Balls (excl. GK) 9 Ashley Westwood

Most Frequent Pass Combination
Demel to Downing 22 - 10 Vlaar to Baker

 15 Aerial Duels Won 21 
 42% Success 58% 
Winston Reid 3 Most Won 6 Christian Benteke

Mark Noble 120 Most Touches 66 Ron Vlaar

 Offensive Play 
17 Attempts on Goal 8
4 On Target 2
7 Off Target 4
6 Blocked 2
7 From Outside the Box 4
Kevin Nolan 4 Most Shots 2 Andreas Weimann

14 Key Passes 12
Kevin Nolan 4 Most Key Passes 2 Christian Benteke

40 Crosses 8
Stewart Downing 15 Most Attempted 4 Matthew Lowton

6 Successful Crosses 3
15% Success 38%
Guy Demel 3 Most Successful 1 Matthew Lowton

 Defensive Play 
6 Tackles Attempted 24
5 Successful Tackles 20
83% Success 83%
Guy Demel 2 Most Tackles 6 Karim El Ahmadi

30 Clearances 44
Winston Reid 11 Most Clearances 11 Nathan Baker

16 Interceptions 13
Winston Reid 4 Most Interceptions 3 Ron Vlaar

2 Shot Blocks 6
James Tomkins 1 Most Shot Blocks 4 Ashley Westwood

 Discipline 
 8 Fouls 15 
3 Most Fouls 5

0 Yellow Cards 2
West Ham United:  n/a   
Aston Villa:  Matthew Lowton,  Leandro Bacuna  

0 Red Cards 0
West Ham United:  n/a   
Aston Villa:  n/a   

 Head to Heads 
Jussi Jääskeläinen vs Brad Guzan
0 Goals Conceded 0
2 Saves 4
  
3 Claims 8
3 Successful Claims 8
100% Success 100%

22 Total Passes 45
16 Accurate Passes 18
73% Success 40%

8 Long Balls 23
36% % 51%

5 Throw Outs 4
0 Kick from Hand 7

0 Errors Leading to Shot 0
0 Errors Leading to Goal 0

Rǎzvan Raţ 3 Most Passed To 7 Christian Benteke
James Tomkins 3 Most Passes From 8 Ron Vlaar

Guy Demel vs Matthew Lowton
6 Aerial Duels 2
3 Duels Won 1
50% Success 50%
  
2 Tackles Attempted 2
2 Tackles Completed 1
100% Success 50%
  
6 Clearances 1
3 Interceptions 2
0 Blocks 0
0 6yrd Blocks 0
  
0 Errors Leading to Shot 0
0 Errors Leading to Goal 0
  
89 Passes Attempted 45
72 Successful 30
81% Success 67%
  
7 Crosses Attempted 0
3 Successful 0
43% Success 0%
  
2 Chances Created 0
  
0 Attempts on Goal 0
0 On Target 0
0 Goals 0
  
Stewart Downing 22 Most Passed To 6 Ron Vlaar
Stewart Downing 16 Most Passes From 7 Ashley Westwood

Mark Noble vs Ashley Westwood
106 Passes Attempted 45
93 Successful 34
88% Success 76%
  
1 Key Passes 2
0 Assists 0
  
1 Attempts on Goal 0
0 On Target 0
0 Goals 0
  
0 Tackles Attempted 1
0 Tackles Completed 1
0% Success 100%
  
0 Clearances 0
2 Interceptions 1
1 Blocks 4
0 6yrd Blocks 0
  
0 Errors Leading to Shot 0
0 Errors Leading to Goal 0
  
Stewart Downing 17 Most Passed To 7 Matthew Lowton
Guy Demel 20 Most Passes From 6 Karim El Ahmadi

Kevin Nolan vs Christian Benteke
4 Attempts on Goal 2
0 On Target 1
0 Goals 0
  
4 Key Passes 2
0 Assists 0
  
27 Passes Attempted 38
23 Successful 22
85% Success 58%
  
4 Aerial Duels 15
1 Duels Won 6
25% Success 40%
  
5 Guy Demel Most Passed To 5 Leandro Bacuna
6 Ravel Morrison Most Passes From 8 Ron Vlaar

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