Chapter 1: What key moments defined the late comeback in the West Ham vs Stoke match?
It's fallen to Joe Allen. Now Shaqiri. Still Shaqiri. Hard saves filled. It's followed in. And Peter Crouch has come off the bench to score what could be an absolutely priceless goal for Stoke City. Cresswell now. Carroll. Oh, this one's about the big men from the bench, isn't it?
Hammer blow that for Stoke City. The thoughts of Gary Neville in just a moment. The super subs, though, had a final say. And both are with Patrick Davison.
Chapter 2: How did Peter Crouch's performance impact Stoke's chances?
Guys, well played. Peter, you've just said to Andy off-camera, you've killed us. Does that feel like a right punch in the stomach?
Yeah, it did. We've got five minutes left. It would have been a vital win for us, a massive win. We said before the game to come here and get three points because there's a lifeline and something to hold on to. But listen, coming here and getting a draw is still a good result. But like we say, three would have done us a world of good.
Andy, does it feel like more than the point because it takes two off a direct rival? Yeah, of course, you know, I think we played well throughout.
Obviously, Crouchy comes on and scores, you know, it's what he does best and it was disappointing for us, you know, we had a few chances, we've had a couple of goals disallowed, but like you say, it's like taking points off them and for us, you know, so it's a good result. It seemed like a big moment when you got your goal, Peter. What did the manager say when he sent you on?
Because it just seemed like at that point in the game where it was turning towards West Ham.
Yeah, it definitely was. Just tried to unsettle them.
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of West Ham's draw for both teams?
Obviously do what I do and obviously keep following things in. That's what I did for the goal. It's just a shame because I thought we defended so well during the game and Really would have done us the world a good getting three points today, but that was a great finish by Arndt. Like I say, he did kill us.
You're afraid to say.
No, it was a great, great goal. But for us, yeah, it's a bit of a kick in the teeth. But I think we've showed, since the manager's come in, I think we've showed a lot of fight, a lot of character. We're not shipping goals like we were. So we've been a little bit unlucky in places again there today.
Andy, it was a sharp finish for a guy who's been out for so long. Did you feel as sharp as you looked? I don't think so, if I looked sharp. I didn't feel sharp, you know, the ball would come in, it's a little bit right in my path on my left foot, so I just swung and it's in.
Chapter 4: What did the players say about their performance after the match?
Have you trained much? Five days I've had training, so I've been working with the physio beforehand, Even with the lads, about five days, so not too much. And you were involved right at the end. I mean, you actually had the ball in the net three times, West Ham not counting. What happened at the end there? Because it just sort of bobbled off you to Hernandez. Yeah, well, it's played up.
I tried to bring it down and... It does hit your hand in fairness, doesn't it? It hits my hand a little bit, but if it's a shove in the back, it's a pen. If not, it's a play on, you know, but he didn't give it and at the end it's a point, so we'll take it. Last one for both of you then. Where does this leave you? Well, we've still got four games left. I mean, we've got to win them.
Chapter 5: How did the managers react to the match outcome?
No one's safe, you know. It's tough at the minute and we've just got to keep working. Peter, it is looking increasingly uphill, isn't it?
Yeah, of course, but it's like half and fat. I think we've got Burnley, Palace, Swansea and Liverpool. There are four games and I think there's winnable games in there. If we can win three, who knows what could happen.
Thanks for coming out. Well done, boys. Thanks a lot. Cheers.
Yeah, you can hear the disappointment, can't you, from Peter Crouch. Will that point, Gary, feel very different in both dressing rooms?
Yeah, I think the body language of Peter Crouch versus Andy Carroll tells you everything that West Ham before the game obviously wouldn't have seen, a point as being the best result in the world. But from where they were, 1-0 down with a few minutes to go, that is a better point for West Ham, there is no doubt. And Stoke will see it as a huge missed opportunity.
14 points now, Sucks City have dropped from winning positions. In the circumstances, with the number of games running out... Is there a way back for them?
There is. Yeah, there is. We said before the game we thought they needed 10 points, but when you come so close... We said at half-time, the game plan from Paul Lambert, that we're never going to come here and score three and four goals, that you would think that he was living off that injection of Peter Crouch at some point in the second half.
15, 20 minutes to go, get that scrappy goal and then hang on. and it was going perfectly until that Andy Carroll strike. And you feel for Paul Lambert because his game plan will have been to do that. That's all he'll have felt he's had in his armoury to be able to win the game or how he would win the game.
And there will be absolute hammer blow for those Stoke players travelling back to Stoke tonight. I'm looking at the table, Gary, behind you.
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Chapter 6: What tactical decisions influenced the game's final moments?
Had they got to 30 points, suddenly everyone else is in within touching distance.
year and you also look at West Ham's running it starts to create an anxiety and puts pressure on them and like you said they're within one game it's now two again and that becomes difficult but like you say it's hard to win any Premier League game away from home to get so close we've not seen Paul Lambert's interview yet but you can look at Peter Crouch to know the impact that that will have in that dressing room because he's a buoyant experienced player who will see the positive in anything that's the way he is he's a big character if he's down and showing that body language the rest of them the
massively disappointed and could be on the floor.
Interesting subplot to tonight's game was the fact that the two biggest goalscorers in both teams started the night on the bench. We touched on this at half-time, Gary. Was a lot of this this evening in terms of the management of this game about when to make those crucial decisions, when to introduce these guys?
That was the thing at half-time, it's the most difficult thing, particularly as the game was drifting. I think for Paul Lambert it was simple, this was his game plan. For David Moyes, less so, but I think it got to the point whereby even he had to act and there was just no goals on the pitch. You know, you think of Arnautovic, I think, has scored 11 in one season.
I think that Marm Dufus scored 12 in one season, but the rest of them have never reached double figures, so there was no goal-scoring instinct. The game opened up and when those goal-scorers were introduced, you thought something was going to happen and it happened that way and...
Maybe David Moyes would, in hindsight, reflect and think, well, maybe I should have been more positive and played two up top. Maybe gone with Karol Nav out of it and out of it, you know, Chicharito earlier in the game. So actually just put some pressure on that Stoke defence. I think for Paul Lambert, that was plan A, game plan executed just for that last goal.
Do you think because of the circumstances that Stoke find themselves in, he almost had to take the initiative and throw Crouch into the action first?
He had to, but I think for Paul Lambert it was a lot more simple. That's what the plan drew in the game, that he wanted to basically play on the counter-attack, stay in the game, create anxiety in that stadium, which can become a moody place. He'd done that and he absolutely was seeing it through to the end and then he has that killer blow at the end with the Carroll goal.
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Chapter 7: What does the future hold for Stoke City in the relegation battle?
is a really good pass, and this is the pass that starts everything off, just playing it into the feet there of Malmdjouf. And once you get it into those areas, defenders start to make bad decisions, defenders start to become disjointed, you start to get back fours that aren't coordinated in together, and you see what happens here.
I mean, as that ball then ricochets back, and I think it's... Joe Allen gets it and goals back there now. Just took it back a touch, sorry. At that point, West Ham have done what you would need to do. Circle in, close the gaps, narrow in. But as that ball travels back, you've then got to get up the pitch. So these players now have all got to get up together.
And they've got to make those three, four-yard movements. The most experienced defender that you could ever wish for, and this is mistake number one for the goal, for some reason, I have no idea what Pablo Zabaleta is doing. For someone who... I've got great admiration for.
He's been one of the best right-backs, probably has been the best right-back for the last three or four years before these last couple of seasons. If you just look at what he does and really focus in on what he does, if I can get the thing to move, he starts to drift back and back and back and keeps going and keeps going and finds himself in...
I mean, what I can only describe as a ludicrous position for a full-back and a defender to be in.
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Chapter 8: How can West Ham build on this result moving forward?
You do not do that. You do not go back. When that ball shifts up to the edge of the box, you shift up with it. There is no reason for you to be in there. What can you do? If you're on the line, maybe it's so close to goal, you can stop it on the line. But all you can do there is one of two things. Provide a lack of sight for your goalkeeper and play people onside. That is it.
Does he not just think that Shaqiri might just drop one in there and he can just set it away? No, but... But even so, you're going in there against Peter Crouch. If he's thinking that, he's inviting a one-on-one header with Crouch if Shaqiri's going to dink a little ball, which is a difficult one to play from there. There is no good reason or any reason why a defender would go back in there.
He has to get up. And what he does is Shaqiri plays that ball. We're just trying to stop it as he kicks it there. Now, he's just standing in there where there's two players clearly offside. And then you move on to the next mistake. Yeah, you said that was the first error. I don't know, to be fair, what Joe's doing. I think that he'll look back and not know what he's doing.
I've got no explanation, really, for it. We'll move it on a little bit quicker to get to the point whereby we've seen the first mistake and the fact that there is too much space. But as we just slow it down here, now as it comes back out again... He makes a right mess of it, and I was thinking, I think he gets a really good sight of it, actually.
You're thinking sometimes, you know, you've got three and four players, but actually there's a gap there between the Stoke player and the two West Ham players. He's not really a powerful shot, but then you just start to think about his technique.
The only thing I would say is that it's right in the middle of his hands, so usually a goalkeeper would collapse down to be able to save it like that or like that. Because it's here, he goes down with both hands and tries to almost... Push it away? Push it away with ball. It's a really strange technique and something that, to be fair, you don't see much of.
And then he goes with his foot to try and clear it. Because the goal-scoring instinct's on the pitch, because Zabaleta has played them onside, and for the first time Stoke have got somebody in there who has an instinct to get in there and score a goal, Crouch goes and gets what could be a massive goal at this stage in the game and season for his team.
and he becomes Stoke's record Premier League scorer in the process. Stoker thinking of three points and thinking of the fans are going wild, thinking of the impact that could have on these final few games of the season, then Andy Carroll introduced. What difference did he make?
Andy Carroll will always create problems. He is West Ham's Peter Crouch in the sense that he just basically pushes. What I would say is if you're looking at it from a Stoke point of view to start with, what teams tend to do, and this is why I think Manchester City, Tottenham...
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