UK Edition
Were West Ham right to be so defensive in their approach at Tottenham?
The last time West Ham United visited Wembley, they were ripped asunder by a Tottenham Hotspur counter-attack within six minutes. Slaven Bilic’s reckless defenders were caught either upfield or out of position, and Moussa Sissoko ambled through the middle of the pitch to give Tottenham an early lead in October's League Cup meeting.
David Moyes, it seems, watched that tape back in recent days and decided that there was to be no repeat this time around. Not on his watch. So out trudged his starting eleven into the January night, and nine of them promptly set up base deep within their own half.
Whenever Tottenham had the ball, West Ham appeared to revert to what can only be described as a 8-1-1 formation, with Manuel Lanzini and Javier Hernandez given the sorry task of chasing any lost causes. It was, therefore, no surprise to see Hernandez ruefully shaking his head in the first half, even if the second minute did feel a little early for such grumbling.
The clear caveat to all this, though, is that the Moyes masterplan almost worked to perfection. Tottenham were slowed, stymied and frustrated for long periods, struggling to create goalscoring opportunities and severely lacking in incision. After all this, one can only imagine the deserved sense of satisfaction Moyes must have been feeling when Pedro Obiang blasted his side into the lead with a strike that appeared to catch the entire stadium by surprise.
Tottenham created a couple of half-chances in the first half, and one clear opening for Harry Kane after a long ball, but that was largely as good as it got for Mauricio Pochettino’s side until the second period, when the pressure was slowly increased on those tiring West Ham legs, and Son Heung-min could eventually launch home a rocket of his own.
West Ham took a similar approach to their meeting with Manchester City in December, and came just seven minutes a point. But that was against a City side who had won 12 consecutive games, while West Ham came into that match without a win in six.
In those painful first 70 minutes here, it all begged the obvious queston: are Tottenham so good, and West Ham so bad, that such a negative approach was necessary again? After 45 minutes, it felt like overkill. West Ham had recorded just 26 per cent of possession, had not taken one shot or forced one corner.
This was still the case with 20 minutes remaining, at which point Pedro Obiang arrowed his thunderous drive through the January air and into the top corner. “One shot,” the West Ham fans sung, revelling in what was fast becoming a classic smash-and-grab. “We’ve only had one shot.”
Now the defensive approach became a desperate approach. In truth, it was already heading in that direction before Obiang’s spectacular intervention. Bodies began flying in the way of shots, while frustrated Tottenham players appeared to be running out of ideas. All apart from Son, who eventually proved the best way to beat the West Ham wall was to simply smash through it.
Moment which changed the match
The match never changed. Even when West Ham had forged an unlikely lead, the game followed the same pattern. We defend, you attack. All credit to the visitors for sticking so doggedly to their game plan.
Most influential player
Winston Reid and Declan Rice were both excellent at the heart of West Ham’s deep-lying defence, and cannot be faulted for the Tottenham goal. Adrian, the West Ham goalkeeper, also excelled.
Crowd rating 7/10
The frustration began to seep through as Tottenham toiled, but there was never any defeatism from the home crowd.
Referee rating 5/10
Should Mike Dean have spotted a foul on Lanzini in the build-up to the Tottenham equaliser?