Hammers legend Cottee reflects on sensational win against Manchester City and the need to back it up with a win over Norwich City
It was an unbelievable performance by West Ham on Saturday against Manchester City and I think we deserved to take the lead the way we did and to get the second goal was just fantastic.
I was watching the game and it was quite surreal to be honest because we just don’t go 2-0 up at Man City, West Ham don’t do that! But we defended excellently in the second half.
A lot is made now of stats and possession, but the only thing that matters is the score. We got the goals that matter and the three points and it does emphasise the point that you can have 75 per cent possession and 200 shots, but if you don’t take your chances you don’t win football matches.
There has definitely been a shift in emphasis when we go away from home. There is more of a focus on winning the game in the way we set the team up.
We are looking to score goals and try to get a result rather than be solid, keep it tight and try to nick a point or three, so Slaven deserves great credit for that.
It is important we don’t get carried away, even though we have had a good start because we also started strongly last year and we couldn’t maintain it and the challenge is to keep it going.
We need to be consistent and if we can do that it could be a special season. We always knew it was going to be a special year, but if we can continue this form then it could be even better than we all expected.
It is not going to be an easy game this weekend against Norwich. They have got some good players and drew with Liverpool on Saturday, so anyone that thinks we will beat Norwich just because we won at Man City is mistaken.
As I said they have got a lot of good players and I love Wes Hoolahan. He really makes things happen for Norwich so if we can get in and around him, stop him getting on the ball then I think we can get another result.
The problem we have had at home this year is we have to take the game to the opposition and although we did it against Newcastle, we struggled against Bournemouth and Leicester.
Football is a strange game and has a real habit of kicking you in the teeth when you least expect it to, so it is really important that we get our tactics right against Norwich and we prepare for the match in the right way.
Consistency is what all clubs, all players and all fans hope to achieve and if we can build on this strong start it could be a great season.
I am going to go for a difficult 2-1 home win on Saturday. I think there will be goals and it will be tough, but we will struggle over the line and get another victory.
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