This week on The West Ham Breakdown, Jack and Darcy dive into a vital Premier League victory that has the London Stadium dreaming of safety. Following back-to-back wins for West Ham, we ask the big question: is the great escape officially on and who can we actually catch in the table?

Jack and Darcy provide a tactical breakdown of how the goals happened and debate whether this result was down to Hammers’ brilliance or Sunderland’s poor form. We deep dive into the stats, looking at our 74% dominance in ground duels and why our wingers—Crysencio Summerville and Jarrod Bowen—completely won the battle out wide compared to the previous fixture.

We also explore the growing on-pitch relationships transforming our season, from the Ollie Scarles and Summerville combination to the clinical partnership between Pablo Felipe and Taty Castellanos. Finally, we look at game management—how did we handle the lead from the bench and what does the squad need in the final week of the transfer window to stay in control?

Timestamps:

(00:00) West Ham 3-1 Sunderland: Match Review

(05:43) The Great Escape: Is it actually on?

(13:25) Breaking down West Ham’s goals from Summerville and Fernandes

(18:04) Sunderland’s Consolation Goal: Where the defence failed and Todibo's positioning

(20:56) Were West Ham great or were Sunderland just poor?

(28:43) The tactical relationships being built out wide

(30:48) The evolution of Ollie Scarles

(35:34) The New Front Two: Evaluating the Pablo and Taty Castellanos partnership

(42:46) Managing Game States: Stability vs. Chaos when holding a lead

(48:19) Analysing the second-half subs: How Callum Wilson affects the press?

(51:49) Transfer Priorities: What West Ham needs this January

(52:46) What's Freddie Potts' future now Guido Rodriguez has left?

(54:43) The Paquetá Question: Is the team actually better without him?

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