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West Ham match review: 5 Talking points from West Brom clash

By Scott Johnson

LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 02: Andy Carroll of West Ham United celebrates after scoring his sides second goal during the Premier League match between West Ham United and West Bromwich Albion at London Stadium on January 2, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 02: Andy Carroll of West Ham United celebrates after scoring his sides second goal during the Premier League match between West Ham United and West Bromwich Albion at London Stadium on January 2, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images) /
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LONDON, ENGLAND – JANUARY 02: Cheikhou Kouyate of West Ham United and Pedro Obiang of West Ham United look dejeted during the Premier League match between West Ham United and West Bromwich Albion at London Stadium on January 2, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – JANUARY 02: Cheikhou Kouyate of West Ham United and Pedro Obiang of West Ham United look dejeted during the Premier League match between West Ham United and West Bromwich Albion at London Stadium on January 2, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images) /

Our central midfield look all at sea

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Part of the reason for our slow start was our abject midfield. Despite previously receiving many plaudits bout Kouyate and Obiang have been poor this season. They look anything but assured and at times they looked like they couldn’t play football.

Obiang has been very disappointing, with his passes going all over the place. Kouyate has been the most unreliable player for me in recent games, because his positioning sense has been utterly confusing. Sometimes he pops up next to the striker. Other times he’s out wide and other times he’s next to Reid. Trouble is there’s no pattern or reason to his movements. He’s like a headless chicken.

Noble, and Rice later in the game, exuded confidence and calmed the game down. Moyes will have to seriously look at the central midfield for the Spurs game if he wants to not get demolished. Kouyate and Obiang will not be able to deal with the Spurs midfield. We were lucky to see it scrape past West Brom.