Five Things We Learned: West Ham United 2-0 Huddersfield Town

You couldn’t write it any better. West Ham United have just beaten Huddersfield Town in absolute form with goals from Pedro Obiang after 72 minutes, and Andre Ayew after 77 minutes.

This is Five Things We Learned from West Ham United vs Huddersfield Town

5: Joe Hart’s first clean sheet in West Ham colours

Joe Hart’s saves kept Huddersfield quiet tonight as the shot-stopper found form during the game. After a couple of shots slipped through the defenders, the England International made a couple of brilliant saves during the second half which earned him his first clean sheet since joining West Ham United.

Hopefully, he’s now resettled back into the Premier League and will return to keeping balls out of the net, rather than letting them in. Definitely watch this space as Hart continues to grow while with West Ham this season.

4: Chicharito, Andy Carroll and Michail Antonio nearly perfect together

Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images

This fixture saw the change in formation we’ve been screaming out for. Changing from a 4-2-3-1 to a 3-4-3 worked in our favour as it allowed for the wing backs of Zabaleta and Cresswell to drop back and create a five-at-the-back defensive line as well as giving us 3 strikers up top.

While Antonio is more of a winger, he was utilized as a striker which did surprise me. Instead of going with Chicharito, Carroll and Sakho up top with Martinez and Holland on the bench, Slaven Bilic opted for Antonio to take the place on the right hand side which then allowed for Sakho to come on in place of Carroll.

All three players showed a lot of class. Antonio was constantly getting in there, making those challenges and repossessing the ball, Andy Carroll provided that aerial presence again and Chicharito bounced between midfield and attacking thirds of the pitch, linking up with Antonio and Carroll on an as-needed basis.

3: Slaven Bilic chose a VERY strong Starting XI

West Ham United Football Club

With no Noble in this match, it was up to Winston Reid to do the team proud while wearing the Captain’s arm band, and do us proud he did. Starting from the back, Slaven kept Hart in goal following the heavy defeat to Newcastle two weeks ago. His back three consisted of Reid, Collins and Fonte and Collins with Zabaleta and Cresswell operating as wing-backs throughout the match.

In the middle, Cheikhou Kouyate and Pedro Obiang kept roaming, interrupting Huddersfield’s play and disrupting their system, with Antonio, Carroll and Chicharito leading the attack throughout the match.

Chicharito was the first to be substituted off with Andre Ayew coming on after 64 minutes, followed by Diafra Sakho for Andy Carroll at 82 minutes. Then, we witnessed Pedro Obiang substituted off for Declan Rice to finish off the game.

2: We deserved to win that!

Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images

Slaven Bilic enjoyed the first win of the 2017/18 Premier League campaign, and deservedly so. The Croat does have his critics, but after that performance, how could anyone speak ill of Slaven tonight?

After a turbulent few weeks which saw him have a sit down talk with the owners and the Board regarding his future at West Ham United, it’s clear to see he’s at least made a start to turning things around.

With three games left to prove himself, he could still find himself ditched by the Club, however if this success was anything to go buy, I doubt he’s going anywhere just yet.

Well done Slaven, and Happy Birthday!

1: That’s Three Points:

So where does that put us? Well, it’s still not clear skies just yet, I’m afraid. This win only puts us up in 18th with Bournemouth and Crystal palace dropping to 19th and 20th respectively.

It was announced that Crystal Palace had sacked Frank De Boer after just four games and no goals scored with rumours suggesting former England manager Roy Hodgson could take up residence in the Manager’s Office at Selhurst Park within 24 hours, however nothing has been made official as of yet.

AFC Bournemouth have spent the last few seasons playing top flight football, but after 4 defeats in a row, it seems Eddie Howe’s time at the club may be coming to an end if he’s not too careful. Granted, West ham United are in a slightly similar situation, it seems there may be light at the end of the tunnel for Slaven Bilic.

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