The fact that Tottenham holds the ball more is not surprising
West Ham are built to absorb pressure and the longer this game is stuck at 1-1, the less likely David Moyes is to tell his team to gamble in pursuit of a goal that could help them squeeze tight seventh position
Perhaps Moyes, based on this pragmatism, would like to see adequate defending following West Ham’s defeat to Newcastle
There was much talk of ‘resilience’ from the Scot, who regretted Michail Antonio squandered a great chance on this hour, and a palpable glee in the way he spoke about the deadline
Spurs have too few goals
“We had to defend,” said Moyes, who admitted a draw was right
“But that’s part of football
” Both managers are in philosophical mode
While Moyes decided not to make any substitutions, perhaps because he was still haunted by the memory of Kalvin Phillips’ appearance against Newcastle, Ange Postecoglou came off the bench five times
reserve
The Spurs boss may feel that his team, currently two points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa, need some extra equipment in the final third
They must have been disappointed at not being able to score more goals after West Ham responded to Brennan Johnson’s early goal with an equalizer from Kurt Zouma
“They sit deep and make things difficult,” Postecoglou said
“Maybe for us, in the final third, we lacked clear thinking
They are human
I would love to get a joystick and help them get through this
The first topic of discussion is whether a counter-attacking team can thrive without a strong foundation
There have been gaps in West Ham’s defense recently, with a clean sheet record in the league in 2024 frustrating Moyes, and Spurs scoring too easily after 5 minutes
James Ward-Prowse and Tomas Soucek are not close enough to James Maddison as the player appears in space
West Ham are looking for security from their suspended midfielder, Edson Álvarez
They struggled without Álvarez, who could have done more to stop Maddison isolating Timo Werner against Vladimir Coufal
There is a delay
Werner dropped outside and Coufal, who struggled against Newcastle’s wingers last weekend, was unable to prevent the striker from passing the ball to Johnson for a simple finish from range
near the
The next 10 minutes were difficult for West Ham
The indecision set in and Spurs almost took advantage of the intense high press
Pedro Porro and Son Heung-min came close after mistakes by Lucas Paquetá and Coufal
However, West Ham threatened to go 0-0 down, Jarrod Bowen cutting the ball out after Porro lost possession to Mohammed Kudus, and their physicality disrupted Spurs
Even Paquetá got involved, taking a moment from his performance to level Maddison
The score was 1-1, West Ham’s equalizer came when Spurs failed to take a corner kick
Bowen, a direct player on the right, won the match by edging past Destiny Udogie and the visitors were broken when the England winger lifted the ball into the six-yard box
Guglielmo Vicario was pinned on the line by Antonio, Micky van de Ven kept his eye on the ball and no one challenged Zouma
The goal energized West Ham, who saw Vicario challenge Ward-Prowse’s free-kick but at one point were pushed back
Johnson’s pace was worrying and Maddison continued to plot
Postecoglou feels Yves Bissouma excels in midfield
West Ham looked to step up their efforts early in the second half when Antonio successfully saved from Vicario following loose play from Rodrigo Bentancur, with Paquetá’s shot going wide
However, the possession statistics are very much in Spurs’ favor
West Ham steps back,
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