Premier League 2020/21: West Ham United vs Wolverhampton Wanderers – tactical analysis | OneFootball

Matchweek 3 had quite interesting games. This is West Ham United vs Wolverhampton Wanderers. West Ham playing their third match without earning a point in the Premier League whereas  Wolves are hoping to bounce back from a defeat by Manchester City. Both the teams needed a win and probability were with Wolves but then it’s the Premier League, anything can happen. West ham thrashed Wolves by 4-0, in which one was an own goal. Nelson Semedo – Adama Traore was a combination to look. David Moyes got his first victory while sitting on his couch due to COVID. Moyes tactics paid off and they got their first three points from a four-goal cushion. Here is the tactical analysis of the match.

Lineups

Nuno Espírito Santo lineup was a good strategy to use the new sign up as well to give more support to the attack. The formation was 3-4-3. The new signing, Semedo was directly involved behind Traore which was one of the reasons to sign him from Barcelona. Raul Jimenez player as the center forward whereas Traore and Pedro Neto were on the right and left-wing accordingly. Willy Baly was playing behind Semedo. It is a good formation which Wolves would be able to utilize to create good attacks. Wolves had a lot of possession during the game and a quite number of shots on goal but they weren’t able to get the ball inside the net. Here are the stats of the game

Match stats

Wolves had more than 60% possession in the game as well as almost double the passes as compared to West Ham. West Ham was able to score goals even when they had less possession. Wolves have 822 touches which are quite more than west ham(560). The Average rating of the West Ham team was 6.8 where have Wolves had only 6.9 ratings of their team. West ham had more shots on target than Wolves which might have given them an advantage of the goals they scored.

Tactical analysis

The four-goal thriller was unexpected as everyone had a thought that Wolves will be victorious. West ham was very powerful and had a different strategy for its gameplay. Here are the tactics and analysis of the game. Wolves had a pretty good game. They also enjoyed most of the position and we could see the Semedo- Traore combination during the game. The attacks were from the right flank to the center with the help of Traore. Semedo was continuously getting in for the ball.

Neto has the ball and he was quick enough to get past the defender because of his speed and put the ball inside the box. While Wolves were trying to counter-attack. West Ham got their first goal under 20 minutes. The defenders were not attentive and Jarrod Bowen was able to score the first goal of his campaign.

There was a foul on Antonio and the Hammers were smart enough to play the free-kick quickly. Pablo Fornals took a look in front and he found Bowen on the right. He gave a beautiful pass to him and he scored a bottom left corner goal. Wolves couldn’t do much about it and it was a clean goal.

After the goal, West Ham were attacking more than before. Wolves on the other hand had change their formation behind. They were 5 behind when hammers were attacking. They were also setting an offside trap for West Ham. Wolves had 5 behind whereas Hammers were sending their midfielders more in front to attack and score more goals. The first half ended with 1-0. The Hammers were the better team in the first half. Wolves needed to attack more as well as be alert in the defence. The strategy of West Ham would is to just sit back and defend. The second half was more interesting than the first half. In the Second half, while defending Wolves were having four in the defence rather than three which was their initial formation. West Ham had the same form during the attack also which was 5-4-1. Antonio was pressing quite high which troubled the Wolves. After having the lead West Ham was able to take the ball from the Wolves from and centre. Wolves were trying to attack.

West Ham was attacking from the center with two players on the wings and one in front. WolvesWithin 69 minutes they were three up and it was an own goal by Raul Jiminez. In the final minutes, most of the possession was with Wolves and they were attacking continuously but 5 behind for the hammers wasn’t letting them get even a single goal.

Towards the end of the game, hammers were attacking and Wolves had seven behind for them. But they weren’t marking all the players who were in their box. It was 4v7. Sébastien Haller was left unmarked in the box and Westham took the advantage and they scored the fourth goal to finish the game in style

Conclusion

West Ham had a pretty good game. Wolves were in more control of the game and had better stats. Hammers on the other side were the ones who could take the chances and convert it into the goals they needed. David Moyes would be pleased with the first victory in the

Wolves need to get back their winning ways soon to be able to be in the top six this season. West Ham will travel to Leicester City for their next game whereas Wolves will host Fulham for their next game. West Ham can be a good team under a great manager and can be in the top 10 this season. Watch out for Antonio, Semedo, and Traore in the upcoming matches.